Today's ride started with a ferry ride across the harbour, where the beautiful, clear skies lifted my spirits immensely. There was only one other passenger, as everyone else was heading in the opposite direction. When I disembarked the ferry, there were thirty or so people lining up along the ramp. I wasn't keen to take … Continue reading Day 21: Riding Auckland to Warkworth

I was hoping to sleep for ten straight hours, instead I woke up at 2am and barely slept at all. I shook that off and decided to take it easy today and soak in the perfect weather. There were clear skies all day, which would have been useful yesterday. My first stop was to find … Continue reading Day 20: Auckland, rest day

This ride was an easy one, the flattest leg for my whole trip, so there's not much material for an interesting post. It's okay though, tomorrow's ride was going to be brutal, so a breezy ride adds some variety to my journey. I rode in almost a straight line and kept an even pace, the … Continue reading Day 18: Riding Matamata to Thames

By no means am I claiming to be a philosopher, but during this ride I had a fair amount of time to contemplate and reflect on the trip so far. I'm not at all surprised that I would make it. I knew that on Monday, 15th June, I'd be standing in Auckland with my trusty … Continue reading Day 19: Riding Thames to Auckland (philosopher version)

This ride was a bit of a mixed bag, parts of it were silky smooth, rainy and of course hilly. Nonetheless it was a long day, I left Thames at 7.30 and arrived in Auckland at 5.30, fun times. The first 60km was easy, there were no hills and only drizzly bits of rain so … Continue reading Day 19: Riding Thames to Auckland (cyclist version)

After having a bit of a blue day yesterday, I decided to start off the day with some pleasant activities. First I watched the sunrise while enjoying a cup of peppermint tea, then I treated myself to a hot breakfast. The Med Cafe was just around the corner and it was awesome. My mocha came … Continue reading Day 17: Riding Tauranga to Matamata plus Hobbiton

This ride wasn't very interesting, so this will be a short post. I was feeling a bit low on energy and it felt like my bike was way heavier than last time. I only had 60km to go, but there were no stops along the way. After 20km I reached the Mangorewa Gorges, where the … Continue reading Day 16: Riding Rotorua to Tauranga

I came across this café on the way back from dinner last night and knew I had to come back. The name says it all. It was even cooler on the inside; beautiful photographs on the wall, rainbow coloured leather couches and so many pictures of Fat Dog. I took a seat and wrote in … Continue reading Day 15: Rotorua, rest day