an amazing nite on the beach...

had a great nite sleeping on a beach with no sign of anyone around me.. the east coast is desolate and i set up shop near some freight train tracks along the coast.. absolutely beautiful with one of the most amazing sunrises id ever seen.. i ate some bread, apricot jam and sausage. also treated myself to a single beer that i had with me from earlier.. maybe it was the fact that i was so alone, but i was prompted to take off all of my clothes and spend the evening completely naked on the beach!! so thats what i did and just sat in awe of the ocean, sky, wind, and later the stars until i passed out.. i didnt even mind getting eaten alive by sand flies.. beautiful clear nite with a crystal clear view of millions of stars.. awesome

DAY 7: ON THE ROAD, PICTON TO NEAR WARANUI

left picton around 10ish to head south and made it to somewhere near waranui.. not quite sure exactly, slept on a desolate beach and had a great night.. very dry and mountainous..

in picton with val and don...

stayed with my new friends don and val here in picton, which is a small quaint port town here on the northern tip of the south island.. awesome people who have done extensive cycle touring and plan on riding from maine to atlanta in the u.s. this year.. had some great food along wiht some great scotch and my first 'real' bowl of pourage with sugar and milk.. hope my america advice proves helpful!! (when giving advice about visiting east coast usa cities, its more important to tell people where NOT to go than where to go!!)

ferrying from wellington to picton...

said goodbye to the north island and headed to the south for some more remote scenery, and some seclusion.. put me back $60 though, but swimming with a bicycle didnt seem that practical!

wellington graffiti

so my theory that the more i like the graffiti in a large city, the more i like the city holds true with wellington.. its an amazing city that feels similar to san francisco in that it has crazy hills everywhere and a similar climate and coastal bay views.. super dense city with lots to do.. i spent a few days checking out the museum, a southeast asian market, and trying to wiggle my way into a big cricket match without paying (unsuccessful).. also i found an american style pool hall with tables and pockets im used to and (they have a great rule here in new zealand that if you beat someone at 8ball and leave all 7 of their balls still on the table, the loser has to run around the table in his/her underwear.. great rule!!) i spent an afternoon trying to 'downtrouser' a bunch of local teenagers.. had a really great time here as i prepared to ferry to the south island.. as with so many places here in new zealand, im really gonna miss this city!

DAY 6: ON THE ROAD, SANSON TO WELLINGTON

WELLINGTON!! made it across the north island just over 2 weeks after arriving in new zealand (750 km (465 miles) six full days of riding).. been a blast and here on day six i pushed a hard 150k to get down here.. pretty flat with nice weather.. its uncanny how much this city reminds me of san francisco.. the topography is almost the same and its a dense, urban city which i prefer to auckland.. stayed a couple nights with helen and hank and their family whom i met the last weekend at womad.. great people, had a killer meal and enjoyed spending some time there before ferrying to the more remote south island..

DAY 5: ON THE ROAD, PATEA TO SANSON

after the wind the day before, the fifth full day of riding had me super tired and sore.. managed about 110km and after passing through wanganui around midday it flattened out.. nothing exciting just some cloudy weather and 4 flat tyres... almost across the whole north island to wellington..

DAY 4: ON THE ROAD, STRATFORD TO PATEA

wow what a day to start off with after a 4 day rest.. until now i thought that 25 mph headwinds were too much to ride.. today i had an insane headwind all day with gusts that had to be 50 mph.. to simulate what that sounds like, stick your head out of your car window on the highway and keep it there all day. to simulate how enjoyable it is, cover your body in honey and sleep naked in a jungle along the equator.. but i figured that i had to come to terms with it the same way i came to terms with climbing and rain so i put my head down, stayed in my highest gear and pushed through it.. i only got about 60km (37 miles) and went into a pub for a much needed beer.. it was a strange pub owned by two filipino women, i turned to an older guy next to me and said 'hey any idea where i can pitch a tent?'
he looked at me for a second then pointed out the window and in a thick kiwi accent said 'you see that white house over there'
i said 'the one with the cow in the yard?'
he pulled out a key that looked as though it would belong to a medieval wizard and said 'yea, i own it but its gutted with no power. stay as long as you like and leave the key in the back door when you leave.'
it was a creepy, old wooden house. i found a room with carpet and curled up in my sleeping bag with a loaf of bread, rice and beans, a book and a flashlight.. i fell asleep listening to the wind hammer the south side of the house

here is a clip of the wind.. careful its kinda loud:

TRAMPING ABOVE THE CLOUDS!!

within the first couple of days of coming to new zealand i was having a conversation with someone who said something like 'im a bit sore because i went for a tramp yesterday'.. so naturally i assumed that he had spent the previous day at his local brothel, it wasnt until later that i realized that 'going for a tramp' meant 'hiking'.. when my friend rhys asked if id like to join him and 2 american cyclists on a 19.5km tramp across the tongariro crossing i was happy to say yes.. the 2 americans, barb and zig, are retired friends who have both recently ridden across the u.s. and were here in nz riding around and climbing mountains for a couple months.. fun people.. so on the eve of the hike the 4 of us got a room at a hostel in a town called national park near the center of the north island.. from here we took a bus up to the starting point and began the trek through miles and miles of highly active volcanic terrain.. there are 3 major volcanos here one of which left behind a crater that took us about 1/2 an hour to walk through, and they say that when it blew it wouldve moved the earth off of its axis... truly amazing, fascinating place with lots of eerily blue sulfuric pools and smoke coming from crevices in the ground all over the place.. it smelled like rotten eggs from all of the sulfur and there were spots near the lakes that would warm the bottom of your feet.. as we descended we went into thick native forests for about 3km.. beautiful day, up there in natural beauty with the caves in new mexico.. awesome