Hola! Currently we are in Whanganui in a sort of internet cafe. The computer does not seem to want to let me to post photos. So I will just post what we have been up to! My last update was a while ago and we have seen a ton since then.
I last left off at day 23, when we were still in the Coromandel penninsula. We rode 50KM to Opitere. About 7km off the main road was a beautiful campsite, beach and bird sanctuary. The campsite reminded us both of summer camp, and was full of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen.
After Opitere we rode to Waihi beach (65KM) where we spent the night at a campsite that had thermal pools. It was here that we met Gill and Geoff, an older Kiwi couple that has biked just about all of the south island. Older New Zealand couples are just about the nicest people in the world. We stayed in Waihi beach for a day where we hiked about 5 KM to a secluded bay where we basically had this beach to ourselves. I wish I could post photos, it was paradise. The Coromandel is where all of Auckland goes for their Christmas/Summer holiday, so we couldn't stay longer as hoards of people were coming to take up accomodation and fill the roads with cards, buses and campervans.
Day 26 was christmas eve and we had a pretty magical one. We rode only about 50 KM inland, but we went through this gorge that had a network of different walks through old mining tunnels and buildings. There was suspension bridges (Indiana Jones style) and you could walk through old mining tunnels that went deep into the mountain. It was all free and open, and nothing like that would be allowed in the US. There was also an amazing bike path we got to take for a bit that went along the old railway tracks. We even got to go through about 1.5km of a dark railroad tunnel. The whole thing was one of the highlights of the north island. That night we spent in a campground in Te Aroha that time forgot.
Christmas we rode 50KM to Hamilton, only to discover that everything was closed and Hamilton was a ghost town. We got a hostel for the night as a christmas treat and ended up partaking in a christmas party with some other travellers. It was a quiet christmas and easy. We spent the next day in Hamilton in hopes of catching a few things open, but ended up just sleeping and relaxing. We did get to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show statue, as it was written in Hamilton.
Day 29 we had planned to ride to the Waitomo Caves, but realized that it was completely booked to go through. New Zealand holiday season is right now, meaning everyone is out of school and work. So we are competing with the Kiwis for activities and the road. We ended up riding 85KM to a town below Waitomo. On the way down we stopped at a parking lot in the middle of no where to eat our lunch where we met Peter and Heather. We talked to them for about 5 minutes before exchanging contacts and they went on their way.
The next day we rode to Moukua(the spelling might be off on that one), about 80KM. Riding from Coromandel to there was a coast to coast ride, taking us from the northeast, to the midwest basically of the island. The terrain changed a lot during this ride, turning rocky and hilly, kind of reminding us of Scottland. Lots and lots of sheep line the hills, its just about as beautiful as it gets. Moukua was the start of getting back to the coast for us and the beaches there all had black sand. It is really fine and can be used to make metal. I have never seen anything like it before. We had trouble finding a place to stay that night and ended up staying with a bunch of campervans next to a golfclub. Again, we met just about the nicest older couple to exist and spent a while chatting with them in their 1950's camper.
Day 31 was the final stretch to reach the city of New Plymouth, about 80 KM. It was a long hilly ride, and we had planned to only do about halfway to New Plymouth but couldn't really find anywhere that was worth stopping for. It also was raining off and on, so we just kept peddling. As we got into town we figured we could be getting a place to stay, but out of no where appears Peter, the man we had met a few days ago on the side of the road. He basically stopped traffic to get us and then brought us home with him. He and his wife Heather took us in (smelly, wet and tired) and treated us like family. We got fed, showered and a lovely place to sleep. Peter entertained us with the many stories of his life, and Heather helped us so much with planning for our trip. We ended up staying with them for 3 days through new years. We got to see all the sights in New Plymouth with their help (they even drove us around for a day showing us) and they spoiled us rotten. We have never met anyone who would treat two strangers so well, it was amazing. The New Plymouth musuem taught us a ton on the region and local history. New Plymouth is at the base of Mt. Taranaki, one of New Zealands many dormant volcanoes. It looks a lot like Mt. Fuji, the Last Samuri was even filmed using it insted of the real Fuji. The mountain has great Maori history, including the Maori story of how it came to rest in the area. Look it up if you get a chance.
New Years eve was rather low key. We got treated to a wonderful lunch with Peter and Heather, shown around the area and then went out to a bar to do the countdown. The weather has been really really rainy so not too many people were out and about. New Years day was our last day with our wonderful hosts and we really just putz around town. Peter gave Dale a haircut (he had tried to cut it himself but ended up with lots of patches) and we enjoyed a really nice going away dinner.
This is getting a bit long, so I will finish up the next time I get to a computer. Currently we are about 3 days outside of Wellington, meaning we have almost finished biking the north island!!!! By the time we finish we will have biked about 1700KM, or a little over 1000 miles. Then we will take the ferry to the South Island and keep on going.
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