ajft

  Total: 2512.5km
  Today: 49.61km

As we were leaving this morning we passed a familiar-looking cow at the side of the road, but thought nothing of it. Phil — driving out half an hour later — realised that it was the dairy cow that belonged to the farm and had escaped onto the road, so he stopped, caught it, and then managed to lead it several kilometres back to the gate. Judging by the way he looked at lunch time, he had the most energetic morning of us all!

The hilight of today's riding was the six kilometre descent from Gentle Annie, several hundred metres vertically, down from the rolling hills to the dead-flat coastal plain.

Gisborne was working itself up for the New Year's celebrations. Being a coastal town it's always popular as a holiday resort, and as the eastern-most city in the world, they are the first to see the sunrise of the New Year, so its become a bit of a ritual for some surfers to go there.

Where?

Glen Innis station , Gentle Annie , Gisborne 38° S 178° E

>

  Total: 2463.0km
  Today: 83.24km

We woke to grey skies and a howling wind — not very inviting weather for cycling. Breakfasted in Phil's room then the four of us packed the bus and drove the 30 or 40km up from the lake and down over the ridge to the end of the gravel road. We stopped at the spillway to look at the view, but the wind was really funnelling in across the lake so nobody wanted to stay and look around for long.

Started riding at Manapapa bridge around 10:30, a much earlier start than yesterday, and we made good time along the valley to Frasertown. The tailwind for the last 5km along the valley was great.

Morning tea in Frasertown consisted of chocolate bars from the only shop, then back on the road, up and down the valleys past sheep, cows and goats, with a few deer and pigs for variety. The lunch stop at Te Reinga falls was a nice spot, worth the detour down and climb back up. The falls had a permanent rainbow over them, just visible from the lookout and track. More a steep cascade than an actual waterfall, the vegetation around the lookout blocked most of the view.

After lunch there was about a 10km climb out to Tiniroto and beyond, then a great swooping descent, made a little more exciting by the gravel on the corners at 60km/hr! Both Jo and I have recovered from the plane trip, are feeling a little fitter, and are starting to have a good time.

The weather ended up quite hot, we were expecting more cold winds after yesterday, but I had to change out of my fleecy top at lunch time — one of the benefits of having all your clothes in a van, if it had been inside my panniers I might not have bothered unpacking! Glen Innis station B&B is in a beautiful spot, just up above the river across with fantastic views of the hills lining the valley. They have a huge vegetable garden and flower gardens. The house is surrounded by lavender and the lady running it is falling over herself to be friendly. She seems to believe that anyone from “the city has never seen a farm before and doesn't know which part of the cow the eggs come from. The invitations to come and see the chickens and watch the house-cow being milked were so overwhelming that we thought we had better keep her happy!

Dinner with the four who ran the place was roast home-grown lamb, and the conversation ranged through the farming and tourism part of their business, and covered a theme that we were to hear frequently, of more and more people leaving the land, with large companies buying up farms to bulldoze and plant conifer plantations. Presumably better than logging native forests, they all still believe that it leads to rapid erosion and wastage of the land, but massive profits to the overseas timber companies.

Where?

Waikaremoana , Frasertown , Te Reinga falls , Tiniroto 38° S 177° E , Glen Innis station

  Total: 2379.7km
  Today: 61.26km

We woke to a mostly clear sky. Sleeping in late and unpacking the bikes meant that we didn't get away from Paengaroa until about 10:30 for the drive down to Rotorua.

Parking the bus and trailer in Rotorua at lunch time on a Saturday wasn't easy, but Phil found a spot while Jo and I made our first visit to a New Zealand bank.

Then back on the road for the drive to Murapara, a quick look around the tourist information centre, and on to the riding.

Thick vegetation all around us, the roadsides were covered in plants that only grow in gardens in Australia. No birds or animals anywhere, just the odd dead possum. Derelict cars dumped at the side of the road, derelict cars being driven past. Most cars are full of Maoris, nearly everyone waved as they passed.

The town of Ruatahuna was shut. Supposedly our lunch stop, the motel/shop/petrol station was closed until further notice, so we set up the barbecue and had an early dinner on their lawn. Every dog in the town within earshot barked from the moment we arrived until we left.

Jo called it a day here, 47km of hilly dirt roads were enough. I rode on for another 10km, about two thirds of the way up Taupepe saddle, but by then it was getting dark and I was very tired, so I gratefully hopped in the bus when they caught me.

Amazingly, we had avoided the rain all day, and made it to Lake Waikaremoana in time for sunset, a cup of tea, a much-needed shower, and bed.

Where?

Paengaroa Rotorua Murapara Ruatahuna Waikaremoana

“Beef or Chicken? the hostess asked me on the plane...”

With apologies to Mick Thomas. The airline staff were handing out the meals, Jo looked at me, smirked and uttered the line, then, as I nearly doubled up with suppressed laughter, the large, walrus-moustached hostie repeated it.

A midnight landing at Auckland, two staff to process 400 passengers through imigration.

A call for Duke and Tritschler to go to the baggage desk — but it was only a book that someone else had left in the plane near our seats.

The customs staff weren't, then were, then weren't, interested in checking our bikes.

Outside the airport and we met Phil and Julianna, then began the arduous three hour drive to Te Puke. The full moon on the left was shining on enormous storm clouds, then clear sky above us, then another huge storm over to the right, complete with lightning and torrential rain. Not an auspicious start to the weather!

We hadn't even reached Auckland when three cars shot past — boys out on a Friday night. Travelling at least 120km/hr in the wet, the first tapped his brakes, the second slid a bit but recovered, the third slewed straight off into the wall, sparks and glass everywhere, then bounced diagonally back across the road in front of us, then off the side of the road to the left. Two minutes later, lights and sirens started up ahead of us as the police took off after the first two.

Nearly five am and we crawled into bed as the sky was just starting to get light. Off to sleep with the rain on the roof, roosters crowing outside the window, and no real idea of where we are!

Where?

Auckland, Paengaroa

Friday, nearly the end of the year, and so much seems to have happened. Lots of things that I won't be writing here, some I will.

Reading some more of Gerald Durrell's biography I was struck again by what a larger-than-life character he was, I'm glad I got to visit the zoo in Jersey, even if I did have misgivings about it at the time.

As the first stage of our trip to New Zealand I spent the morning packing the bikes in boxes—and foolishly forgot to measure the boxes, so my bike (the larger one) ended up in the smaller of the two boxes. Didn't realise until I'd nearly finished, no wonder Jo's was the easier of the two to pack!

The bags are packed, everything looks far too small with no panniers, no tent, we even left the airbeds at home once we re-read what can be supplied by Phil.

Melbourne's weather has finally fined up after the last few days of rain and wind, it is starting to feel like spring, rather than the middle of winter! I'm curious what the weather in New Zealand will be, neither of us is looking forward to a fortnight of cycling in the rain.

I've got my new toy to play with, I'm happy now. Canon Digital IXUS 300. It's a millimetre or two thicker than the APS camera, but the same size in the other dimensions. All I've got to do now is learn to use it properly!

[http://www.tvgohome.com/]

odd stuff

[http://www.steves-digicams.com/]

I think I'm going to get a digital camera to take on holiday.

[http://photo.net/]

A photo site

A pair of CDs from the market at Uni.

Stephen Cummings: Lovetown
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: L.A.M.F. Revisited.

Amazing, that last one was still in the original shrink wrapper from HMV!

[http://www.qni.com/~nyztyz/tenzo/tech/mod.htm]

Putting H4 globes in place of original 55/60W in a VFR

[http://www.electrexusa.com/honda.htm]

source of aftermarket voltage regulators.

[http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~edwinnew/reg-rect.htm]

possibly non-existant.

Aha! ^Q^J to insert a newline into the XEmacs minibuffer. Trivial, but it's been bugging me for a while.

Lest this journal turn solely into a day-by-day account of idiot motorists and their life-endangering activities, I'll try to add a few other bits 'n pieces as they occur to me.

An interesting selection of alternative news websites, accompanied by the quote: “And, of course, when I want to see the latest line of bullshit, I go to CNN or the NYT.”

[http://www.orlingrabbe.com/homepage.html]

[http://www.rense.com/]

[http://www.antiwar.com/]

[http://www.prudentbear.com/homepage.htm]

[http://www.emperors-clothes.com/]

Not a daily service, but well worth visiting regularly

So many car doors, so few motorists with brains.

There we were, riding up Swan street on the way home. Suddenly Jo yells out “lookout,” I screamed out “Door!” Yep, both passengers in the taxi (Vic. M-3561) had decided that sitting in the lane of stationary traffic was enough, so without indicating, pulling over to the side of the road, or obeying any other form of road laws, they'd just thrown open both left-hand doors and got out. Jo made it around them, I couldn't swerve far enough without hitting her wheel so I ran into the back of the calf of the rear passenger. Both passengers then started screaming at me to watch where I was FW#$%%%ing going and get off the F*#W$@#$%ing road. Taxi driver meanwhile had driven off, caring only that he'd made another fare in the minimum possible time.

A first apparently, a motorist in Chicago who deliberately ran down and killed a cyclist has been charged with murder. It'll set a precedent, and in one way I'm pleased with the verdict, but it sure is disturbing reading about the case ... especially knowing the number of times I've exchanged words with motorists after they either try to “scare me” by going a little close, or just don't look and don't care.

• [http://www.chicagocriticalmass.org/mcbride_main.html]

... and today's motorist of the moment award goes to the driver of the metallic green hatchback in Richmond. Why? I hear you ask. Well, I couldn't work out why he was having so much trouble making it around a right hand corner from a standing start, then as I went past I realised that he had a bowl of cereal in his lap, spoon in his right hand, and was driving with his left.

Something happened to summer! Yesterday was looking great, woke up today and it was gray and rainy from start to finish. Felt more like December in England than December in Australia. What to do on a day like that? Sit inside and read and fiddle with the PC, try to find out why, ever since it was “upgraded” by my employer, it won't run for more than a day or two without shutting itself off.

I did manage to get out of the house for an hour at lunch time, long enough to walk up the street in the rain, listening to the cars splash past. Poked through the second-hand CD shop and came away with two old Church disks that seemed to fit the mood of the day.

The Church: The Blurred Crusade
The Church: Gold Afternoon Fix