Monthly Archives: August 2015

Day 7 – Week-i-versary

Celebrating our first week on the road! Only many more to come. 🙂

 

Frost just out of Katikati. There was hail left in the ditches, too.

Frost just out of Katikati. There was hail left in the ditches, too.

Since we had a lovely warm bed and a breakfast with home-made lemon curd in the morning, we were able to hit the road at 8am. Looking out for the first time in the morning, we realized how cold it must have been in the night: Everything was frozen. This made for some awesome winter pictures on the road and a couple of stops more to warm up hands and stretch next to the road.

The weather forecast didn’t look too bad so Flo and I decided to face Coromandel one more time. Maybe, after that rainy Christmas in 2012, we could see it in sunshine?

Sunshine was lovely and we made good progress up the east coast of the Coromandel peninsula. In Coromandel town we had lunch at the Driving Creek Cafe which is quite dear to us as it sheltered us in 2012 when we got drenched. This time, we arrived in sunshine. Filling our bellies with nachos and hot peppermint tea, a hail storm started outside. Hail is really unhelpful on the road so we waited it out with another coffee.

The weather coming around as we come close to camp

The weather coming around as we come close to camp

At 3pm, still in rain, we started northwards as we wanted to stay at a DOC campsite at the top of Coromandel. We had a recommendation from Michael for either Stony Bay or Fletcher Bay. Going along and around the coast seemed like the option with a better chance of the sky clearing so we went to Fletcher Bay.

The Coromandel coastline is beautiful. Even in rain and on gravel. The rain stopped before we reached the campsite so we were able to put the tent up dry. We had the whole beach to ourselves, no one else was staying here.

Day 6 – Along the coast

The shoreline looking east

The shoreline looking east

In the morning, we realized that once again, we had camped in a swamp. After packing away the tent, we looked like pigs. But it promised to be a nice day so we started our riding.

We went along the coast towards Whakatane the whole morning. The White Island was visible on the horizon spitting white smoke into the sky. It looked rather impressive. The White Island is an active volcano just off the coast here. Small stops for photographs and more Gisborne oranges followed.

It turned out that Whakatane for lunch was a bit of a stretch goal. I am just not good at judging distances at all so this will be entirely Flo’s task from now on. 🙂

A cosy warm night, Sasha agreed

A cosy warm night, Sasha agreed

Late lunch turned into an even later start back on the road. By this point we were just looking for a place to set up camp tonight and a last refuel. About 5 meters behind the gas station, we waved to a couple next to their motorbike…and then Flo turned around to briefly talk to them. What started out as a roadside conversation turned into an invitation for the night.

Michael and Sandra have just simply been the greatest hosts. They welcomed us into their home, offer food and a bed and are just in general amazing people. The icing for me was obviously their cat, Sasha, hogging the wood fire oven all evening.

 

Day 5 – East

 

the island off the east cape

the island off the east cape

This is as far east as we will go on this trip. If and when we finally reach Frankfurt, we will almost be equal distance away from this place on earth regardless of looking west or east. It also happens to be as far as one can go on the North Island of New Zealand.

As for our day itself: It was a blast. I cannot understand why this region is not more popular and so much undersold. We had a glorious sunny and only mildly chilly day. The landscape reminds me of an enchanting mix of Scotland and the Bretagne. Steep cliffs, hills and paddocks, and then always coming back to the sea.

Tolaga Bay pier

The view back down the pier

Even though we had a late start, we walked down the pier at Tolaga Bay before lunch. We both enjoyed how the powerful surf was crashing against the steep limestone cliff on the one side and the brave lone surfer in it on the other.

Brief side note: Might have met the dumbest sheep yet. It took off from the road full tilt into a fence and got stuck in said fence rather comically.

Lunch alone on the beach at Tokomaru Bay. With Gisborne-grown ripe avocado on toast and local oranges for dessert. Sooooo good.

The absolute highlight though was the ride out to the East Cape lighthouse: Horses with their fowling and the cows with their calves, the surf always right there and the sun in the back down a beautiful gravel road. Later on, the ride back into the sunset was pure magic.

I am further pleased to report that I carried my GPS all the 135m / gazillion steps up to the lighthouse for proof and bragging rights …

Day 4 – Whole new world

A rainbow greeting us for breakfast

A rainbow greeting us for breakfast

It makes such a difference to have a full day of sunshine. So much in fact, that I am able to slightly burn my nose through the visor of my motorcycle helmet.

Going back the way we came out to Lake Waikaremoana was so much easier in the morning and with sunshine. Our spirits were high anyway from having dry gear.

 

Back to Wairoa and then further on the coastal road. We made a detour through Mahia and the peninsular which was well worth it. Looking at the white cliffs and then having lunch near the sea gave me a bit of a holiday feeling. We even saw a seal, napping in a wind-protected little nook.

Back on the road and towards Gisborne. Days on the road are so long, even in winter, that we decided to stay in the city tonight and take advantage of the wifi in the hostel.

Day 3 – The two sides of Aotearoa

Rain – lots of it. Last night on the ride here, all night and all morning. Plus grey skies and 300m visibility. We would not get our gear packed up remotely dry. The ride was also dodgy, the silt on the gravel roads becomes slick as soap.

Rocinante and our tent

Rocinante and our tent

So, a decision was made. Stick it out for one day, or at least until a pause in the rain gives us a chance to pack. And then, all went out again, when the DOC warden took pity on us and offered us a hut for a great price (budget is an issue for us now, especially in the “western world”). The hut was amazing! Warm, dry and enough space to spread our gear out to dry.

Te whenua also took pity and shooed the clouds away around 11am. It is hard to overstate what a difference the weather makes when one is so exposed to it all day. What set out to be a dreary and cold stake out between wet tent and cold public kitchen turned into a warm, sun-drenched dream.

The weather turned out to be so good in fact that we took off for 3 hours hiking the tracks around Waikaremoana Holiday Park. We explored some of the coolest waterfalls and had great vistas of the lake and surrounding mountainside.

Day 2 – Into the mud

 

After our 2 hour long brunch in Groove Kitchen Espresso in Napier, we took off again. This time towards Lake Waikaremoana.

Only picture of this day - to much rain.

Only picture of this day – to much rain.

Our brunch had included checking emails, voice mails and general stuff…one big damper happened but I am sure Flo will write about it at some point. On the bright side, my red rain jacket was finally found and will most likely be posted to Auckland by Brendan so that I can have it again. I dearly miss my fleece gloves at the moment which are in the pockets.

Back to riding in rain. The landscape is still beautiful, even with clouds hanging around hilltops and fog drifting in and out of street-level. I didn’t get the camera out much as I’m scared that the rain will damage it.

There was quite a bit of life stock around us including an escaped sheep that panicked when we got closer, tried to run up a steep bank and then slid back down because it was too steep. Luckily, by that point we had already passed it and it was able to relax again.

Wild or at least escaped goats also roamed the streets. One was especially sneaky and hid its great coat on a grey surface so we saw it quite late.

Wairoa was the last ‘bigger town’ so we shopped for dinner and breakfast tomorrow before going towards Lake Waikaremoana. The last 28km of the road are unsealed and with all the rain lately, it was quite a mess to ride it. The bike and Flo are covered in finely sprayed dirt.

We arrived at the DOC campsite (this time with hot showers, WOOT!) just before dusk, put the tent up in a hurry and hid in the warmer kitchen for a cooked dinner.

Day 1 – NZ in winter

We left Wellington at a reasonable time around 9.30ish. Leaving Welly was hard. I cried into my helmet. Oh well, now it is baptized. I take it as a good sign: We had an amazing time in our second home and I rather cry while leaving than be glad to go.

Nina and Flo on the bike

ready to leave wellington

Wellington cried with me. At least that is my explanation for getting absolutely drenched for the next two hours going north. I remembered again why a new suit was not just a requirement for the hot and humid conditions of the tropics…it didn’t take very long and my suit capitulated to the water. Given that it was also about 15 degrees and we were doing 100kmh, I started shivering quite quickly.

We managed to get out of the rain when we hit a small town called “Bulls” in the proximity of Palmerston North. A cafe gave us refuge, allowed my hair to dry again and we had a lovely hot soup to warm up.

From there, luckily, the weather also started to get a bit better. Lovely afternoon sun helped dry us off again, except for my feet which remained drenched until we arrived at our camp spot. We stopped a couple of times to hang out in the sun and take some pictures of the NZ landscape in winter.

on route to Taihape

on route to Taihape

Taihape was our last stop to shop for breakfast food and then we were off on the road between Taihape and Napier. What a lovely road for a motorbike ride! Very enjoyable.

The DOC campsite was accessible through a horse paddack and though I did not take a picture of them, the horses in that landscape looked lovely. They just belonged there.

We were the only ones on the campsite as far as we see. Two other people were hiding on the far side but we only found them after quite a walk; also, it seemed to me as if they wanted to be left alone.

Put up the tent, changed into something dry and warm started to read. Then Flo told me that we couldn’t actually use our stove as we only had the wrong type of fuel for it with us. Tough luck, no evening tea then. Well, also no warm meal. Instead, we ate our supplies for breakfast and decided to have breakfast in Napier the next day.

Darkness dropped quickly on us and at something stupidly early like 8pm, we went to bed. It already felt quite cold so I put on an extra fleece and tugged the sleeping bag all the way around. Snug like a bug. 🙂

This morning, I get woken up by a nearly frozen Flo who had a terribly cold night and a big envy for my down sleeping bag. It had been cold. So cold in fact, that our tent froze and was covered in a tiny layer of ice. The motorbike as well. It took us way longer than on other mornings to pack everything because everything was stiff and uncooperative, including our own cold fingers.

Now we are in Napier, in the Groove Kitchen Espresso, which makes amazing coffee (Flo) and let’s us use the wifi and the power plugs. All good. 🙂

D-Day or not

D-Day. The day to leave Wellington for our epic trip.

It started with all working fine. Got up at 7am, packed our things for the bike and got the obligatory ‘this is all our gear’ shot.

ALL the gear

ALL the gear

Went to the doctor at 9.30am and things started to crumble slightly. Apparently, our awesome nurse has left her job and the replacement that we got was…less ideal. We had to have one last shot of Hep B here. Flo was fine but for me, this shot was the worst we got so far. It hurt with every single drop that was pumped into me. It hurts so much. Like my arm is useless. Meh.

Had to fix some stuff in town, like posting a hard drive with all our photos to my mom via courier and got home quite late. There was not much time to finish packing our boxes before they were picked up to be mailed to Germany to Flo’s uncle. Flo and I worked our *butts* off and Flo literally finished the paperwork while I was watching the driver pack our things into the van. We might have cut this one a bit too close.

Cleaning out our flat was quite the task. It breaks our heart to throw things into the trash that are still perfectly fine to use. So instead, we packed it all up, had a last sweep of our flat and were nearly off to a delivery to an OP shop when Flo had to pay tribute to the tradition.

Flo's nearly split forehead

Flo’s nearly split forehead

The tradition demands that Flo has to hurt himself before we go on a bigger trip. So while having a sweep of the kitchen, he ran head first into a closing cupboard door and got hit by it on the forehead. I might have slammed the door shut but Flo’s forehead was nowhere near it when I did and he just appear in the wrong spot with lightning speed. I am pretty sure he has a slight concussion so I immediately decided that today would be a bad day to ride the motorbike. Luckily, Brendan was around and offered us to crash his living room for one more night. It does feel like we’ve come full circle staying in the same living room we did on our first night in NZ.

All our stuff made it to the OP shop in the end and it did feel really good to not waste that much.

t -1d

Here we are, finally. The night before this trip starts.

Again.

me in the same pose, 3 years apart

Weird deja vu …

To calm down and remind ourselves of all the mountains (at times literal ones) we have climbed before, we had one last browse of our photo archive. Especially the ones from 2012 before coming to NZ. This also led to a kind of escheresque inception moment that we do not want to keep from you.

This is the last night in our flat. Again, there is no furniture left. One pile of boxes awaiting to be shipped to the left, the old bedroom filled with all our travel gear.

Everything is set. Goodbyes have been said, things sold, jobs quit.

Tomorrow, the road …