January 22 - Whitianga to Tairua - 53 km

Another short day, but the hills are getting smaller or maybe we're getting a little fitter, or 

both.  We left Whitianga by taking a short 3 minute ($5 including bikes) ferry ride across the bay

and climbing a hill (what's new).  This headland is the next bay over.  This area was visited by 

Captain Cook during his voyages and he named some of the local features.

We made a side trip to Hot Water Beach.  At low tide, hot (up to 170 deg. C) water seeps up 

through cracks in the rock and heats up the water on the beach.  Unfortunately, low tide was 4 

hours away and the weather was closing in, so we left (I can take a warm shower at the hostel).

The two beach photos are of Surf Beach (next beach over) and of surfers at Hot Water Beach.  The

hot water pools are just to the left of the furthest breaking wave.

The last photo is a grove of Kauri trees we passed.  

We're staying at a hostel in Tairua tonight, and will decide in the morning if we should go anywhere.  The weather forecast is pretty stinky, with rain (heavy at times) and the possibility of thunderstorms and 100 km winds.  The weather improves in the following days.

I got some more time on the conmputer, so here are some of yesterday's photos.  The first two are looking back and looking forward from the peak of the Coromandel hill.  The climb is about 350 meters in 3 kilometers, or an average slope of over 11 %.  Compare this to the hll up Mount Washington which (I believe) averages 8% with two 11% sections.  Add all of our gear to carry and the fact that we haven't cycled a huge amount prior to this trip and you end up with a real gutbuster.  Luckily, it wasn't as long as Mount Washington or we would still be on it.  There are lots more hills like this, but hopefully our fitness will improve.

The 3rd photo is a logging truck coming up the road loaded with Radiata (sp?) pine.

And the cute little shack is our room in Whitianga, at a hostel.  Better than the dorm rooms.  Click on the photos to get a larger view.

We're heading south today, stoppng at Hot Water Beach and taking a day off there if the weather holds (which it isn't predicted to).

January 21 - Coromandel to Whitianga

Hi:
Just a short post today, as I'm on a pay station and there is a line up.  Will try to do more later.
We made it over the killler hill from Coromandel today.  (Yesterday some lady tried to scare the hell out of Laura and talk her out of doing it)  We got a good start and made the hill early in the day, berfore it got hot.  That didn't matter as it clouded over and is drizzling now. 

Whitianga is a combination tourist trap and the vacation "cottage" country for Auckland's monied folks. 

If i can get onto a computer later I'll put up some photos

Greg

January 20 - Thames to Coromandel - First Hills!

So, now we are into real NZ coastal roads, on a perfectly clear, warm day.  Note the shoulders on much of the road.  Pretty well non-existent with lots of logging trucks today.  We traveled 54 km today, and hit our first real hills.

The 2nd photo is the last flat corner before the first hill, about 30 km into the day.  Here is the view from the top of the hill (200 meters up).

And this is Laura booting it down the hills.  

A highlight for me today was a ride on the Driver Creek small gauge railroad, north of Coromandel.  Lots of photos (you'll love them, Al)

Tomorrow, we are crossing the penninsula to the east of Coromandel, towards Whitianga.  There is one killer hill near the beginning of the day, so we're up early to avoid the noon sun.  We'll see how far we make it.

January 19 - Pukekohe to Thames

 Today was more like it - 84 km in much improved weather.  There were a few hills out of Pukekohe, but then relatively flat to Thames.  The road was pretty good, with mostly good shoulders.  Drivers also pulled over more - perhaps everybody is more courteous outside of the big city.

If you look at the map I posted a few days ago, Thames is directly to the right of Pukekohe, just under the bottom left point of the W in Whangamata.
Tomorrow we will go straight up the coast, to approximately the highest road shown on that map (55 km).

The first photo is typical countryside as we got into the farming area. I didn't include my first picture of sheep (two of them looking at me as though I'm strange).  We saw more cattle than sheep and even a deer farm.

This is my typical view on the road.  The mountains in the background are part of tomorrow's trip.

 This photo is of the hills back of Thames, and I don't know what the light coloured trees are.

Thames is an old town, I believe dating back from the mid 1800's.  It was established as a mining town.

A couple of examples of the buildings in town.  The

 church is "New Zealand's Finest New Zealand example of wooden Gothic architecture.  It is made of Kauri.  The other building is a typical example of a building with the large verandas.

(Terri - I'm having trouble trying to get photos side by side.  Can you figure it out?  Also, thanks for the snack goodies you gave us for Christmas.  We devoured them.  Imagine - Skeet & Ike's in NZ!)

January 18 - Auckland to Pukekohe

January 18 - We made it!
After a long, mostly sleepless flight we arrived in Auckland.  We certainly weren't fresh as Daisies - more like stomped on Daisies.  And we lost a day crossing the International Date Line (I still think it's somewhere in Laura'a panniers).

The first thing we noticed about Auckland is that it's overcast and drizzling.  We've already been accused twice of dragging the weather with us.  So not many photos today - the obligaory photo outside the airport and one of me checking out new modes of transportation in Drury (bet its been a while since you saw one of those, eh?).
We cycled 42 damp kilometers today.  It's very warm so a bit of damp isn't a problem.  We're now at the Counties Inn in Pukekohe.

Cycling notes about the route - it appears that the Great South Road has had a number of sections of bike lanes added to it, so the traffic was not too bad, although trucks don't seem to make much of an attempt to move over for cyclists.

Just a Few Days to Go!

We think we're ready to go - that's code for we must have forgotten something.  We pick up Laura's cousins on Wednesday.  They are looking after our house (and dog) while we are away.  On Sunday the 16th we head for the airport and the big silver Air New Zealand bird.

The map shows our first day destination.  We land in Auckland about 0630 a.m. We'll put our bikes together, load our gear and then cycle 40 km to Pukekohe where we'll crash.

After that we expect to head east.  (On her first trip here Laura and the group headed more southeast.)