Beautiful New Zealand

It ain't no kiwi, but since I've spending so much time on shores with lots of birds it'll have to do

A good week into my trip to one of those destinations on most people's bucket list I have to say that I really couldn't be happier with my choice of vacation. So far, everything (except the fender bender less than an hour after I had picked up my rental camper van) has worked out smoothly and without stress. Really, it's all smooth so far, and sitting in the first craft brewery that charges what I would call a fair price for a beer I am determined to crank out this first blogpost from Down Under.

Lots of good cycling infrastructure in NZL

A few miles southeast of Auckland proper

Riding out here is a continuing lesson in nature

My simple plan was to fly from Lubbock to Auckland on Valentine's Day (and lose a day in the process, thanks to the international dateline) with arrival on the 16th, check into an AirBnB for two nights, pick up a camper van on the 18th, and start touring the North Island. And it all worked out, just as planned: The flights were on time (with a complimentary upgrade to Premium Economy for the 13+ hour monster from Los Angeles to AKL), my luggage arrived, Joeye (the landlady) picked me up at the airport, and that same afternoon I went for my first ride on the south-east side of Auckland. The best way to not allow jetlag to even think about entering the system is to not acknowledge that it might exist!

My AirBnB hosts' bonsai garden

For two days I explored Auckland by bike, riding about 65 miles and seeing cool sights in the central part of the city. The Ritchey allowed me to get used to riding on the "wrong" side of the road, and of course it allowed me to look at local neighborhoods and get a first whiff of this new country for me. Auckland is a sprawling city that's made up of lots and lots of small boroughs that create a large metroplex; the city center itself is busy with construction activity with condominium complexes going up around the harbor area as if there were no tomorrow. I loved the cycling infrastructure and the general laissez faire attitude of the Kiwis in cars. Once again I am relying on the mapping app "Locus," which allowed me to pre-select long loops before embarking on my ride. With Project FI's global data services it was (and is) easy to find local craft breweries, wineries, or other attractions. Man, life has become so easy!

The Ritchey with Auckland's skyline in the very far background

Fine taps at one of Auckland's many craft breweries, Garage Project

On Monday (February 18) morning I rode my bike from the AirBnB to the Lucky Car and Auto Rental place near the airport, completed the paperwork, was instructed on how to fill the water tank and dump the greywater, and off I was. I picked up my luggage at Joeye's (she and her Chinese husband had agreed to keep my bike case for the duration of my stay in NZL), filled the 55-liter freshwater tank, and set off on my adventure--only to be rear-ended by an inattentive driver in a grocery store parking lot after buying provisions for the first few days. Oh well, shit happens, and I didn't get into too much of a tizzy despite the dent in the Lucky Rover. I decided to drive back to the rental place to take up a report (it was less than 10 miles away) and I hope things are settled, more or less. I did take out full insurance, so let's hope that was the last of it.

For the past week I have been driving my Toyota camper van (born in 2006 and with about 450,000 kilometers on the odometer) southward, mainly along the east coast of the North Island. It's what is called a "self-contained" unit, meaning it has a little dry chemical toilet that so far I haven't needed to use since all my campsites either have had public toilets or were close enough to a town with (clean!!!) public toilets nearby. But being "self-contained" allows one to use so-called Freedom Camping sites that can be found all over the island. No tents--just self-contained camper vans. I am using an excellent app called Rankers that lists all camping spots on the island, with exact coordinates--which I put into the Garmin GPS that I had brought from the US and in which I had installed an open source map of  New Zealand. So far I haven't had any problems yet navigating or finding these sometimes very small Freedom Camping sites.

Hiking at Karangahake Gorge and exploring the old Talisman mines

All this time I have camped within sight and earshot of the coast. Wonderful! For one person and one bike, the Lucky Rover is perfect. At night the Ritchey sleeps in the front seats while I have a queen-sized bed in the back. There is an "upstairs" area where two kids who are not claustrophobic could sleep, but even with two adults and two bikes things would get quite cozy. I have an electric fridge, an inside two-burner gas stove, linens, pots, pans, plates, and cutlery, and enough storage space. This beats the hell out of taking everything along on a bike--and then not being able to camp because tents are not allowed! I have a 2-gallon solar shower that I've used on those occasions when there wasn't a beach shower. What more could a man want?

Wine and beer, of course! So, I have made a habit of having some local whites in the fridge, a bottle or two of red in the area under the bed where also the linens are stored during the day (my cave, as the French would label it), and a sixer of local craftbrew for the first quaff of the day after the van is parked and camp has been properly set up. So far the weather has been much better than what the forecast had made me fear: The spinoff of a cyclone has threatened rains for days (and even right now I'm keeping a watchful eye on the sky as there is a 100% chance of rain right NOW), but there have only been light showers at night and also a few times while driving. Yes, the skies could be bluer and prettier, but there's beauty in overcast conditions, too.

While most people go to New Zealand to bungee jump, whitewater raft, dive, or do other nutty stuff, my main objective has been and continues to be experiencing the country via my bike. The camper allows me to travel farther afield and have accommodations--but every day I have been trying to go for rides that have allowed me to see and hear and smell the country. No need to recount every single ride--they all have been special. I've ridden through amazingly fertile countryside, with some of the strangest agricultural practices that I've ever seen, such as hedges that are made up of trees to shelter kiwifruit and avocados from the harsh winds down here (another good reason not to go bikepacking down here, unless you have a lot of time). Of course there are the vineyards--right now I'm in Hawke's Bay, the second-most-important wine area in New Zealand after Marlborough (which is too far south for me to visit). There are huge apple orchards, vast tracts with milk cows and sheep, cornfields and all kinds of other signs that this is a land that produces a lot of its own food.

Vistas are often spectacular, be it the ocean or the hills. The South Island is the place where you have those Alpine vistas (although I think that I may see some of this in the next few days here on the North Island as well), but I have been through beautiful hills so far, hardly topping 1,500 feet, that are so different from other parts of the world. Well, that's not quite right: Maybe I should say not similar to one other part of the world. One moment I think I'm in Costa Rica or Puerto Rico, then I am reminded of British countryside, then I'm suddenly transposed to coastal California and a second later to Wisconsin. There is so much variety!

I have been trying to limit myself to driving not much more than about 100 miles a day. That can easily take the better part of three to four hours, partly because the Lucky Rover is a bit slow in the uphills, partly because the roads are rather curvy, and partly because I don't want to push the van any more than I need to as its consumption of $7 per gallon gas is rather on the heavy side....

And that brings us back to prices. I know, I know, I always complain about how expensive things are once I leave Lubbock. I realize that I live in a low-cost environment. But I don't' necessarily compare apples with oranges. I try to compare apples and apples. And when the average income in TX is around $59,000 and in New Zealand around NZL $49,000, then I know that a $6 pint of craft beer in Texas is a much better deal than a NZL $12 pint of craft beer in Napier! And that's why it was such a surprise to run into a NZL $6.50 beautiful pint at Roosters, outside of Hastings. I had a long conversation with the mate who runs the place, and made very clear how crazy he thinks that his beer fetches NZL $13 in taprooms in Napier. Well, go figure.

I would have loved to write a little more, about my various hikes, the funky townships of Wairoa, Napier, Katikati, and those others that somewhere strike you as a bit out of this time and age. But I'm severely limited by the remaining battery charge in the laptop, which is putting a halt to that quest. For example, I would have told you of the farmer's markets, like the one in Hastings today, that are throwbacks to our hippie days, replete with a musician who incants Joan Baez and Bob Dylan songs while some of the visitors gyrate to the tunes and children practice their cartwheels. Or the Art Deco town of Napier. Or the murals that tell the story of the immigrants that came over 150 years ago, in Katikati. New Zealand is something else. It sure ain't Textas. But the battery is out of juice, and I better go live.

Jürgen