My Marae

May 2-4, 2013
Herekino, Kaitaia, Pukenui, NZ

Yvonne, the Maori woman I met in Miranda at the campground (also met her daughter Zara) who hosted me with her daughter, Nicola, in Papakura, south of Auckland...well, she and her daughter hooked me up with her ex-husband, Steve, and his wife, Erina when I got up north. That's where I am now. Getting her wasn't easy. The road I biked down yesterday was gravel and steep...and I knew there was no way I could pedal up it. Sure hope this is the right road and I haven't passed the house. Stopped a car. Nope. Next mailbox on the left. Pull in. Go to gate. STEVE! ERINA! No, I'm not him. They live up that driveway. You've got to be kidding! I can't bike up that! It's washed out and way too steep. I'll help you push it. Ok. And up we went.

What a warm and wonderful welcome. Steve, Erina, and grandson, Harlem.

Stayed 2 nights spending a day touring the area, a peak at Shipwreck Bay and up 90 Mile Beach, meeting family, touring the family's valley, and spring cleaning the marae. I felt so honored being able to connect with this Maori family and meet so many aunts and cousins! And now that I've left my energy in this marae, I belong!







Then Friday headed out:



with Blaze getting a royal treatment because she couldn't get herself up the steep gravel road. But I wasn't going far. Just up to the next town where Erina was going to help her cousin, Ruth with a garage sale. Another night with the family (Grady, Ruth, Erina, and William:).




Now it's Saturday, May 4th and I cycled out after the rain eased up. Met Ian mowing by the side if the road and he invited me home for tea and to meet the family. They moved up here in the Far North from the Bay of Plenty and have found it more temperate not even needing heat. They're busy growing edibles of all kinds! NZ's amazing for growing fruit trees and all kinds of veggies year round.

The rain really let loose later today and I opted for a backpackers for tonight. Sometimes ya just need to be cozy.

Saw this kauri museum with a 45,000 yr old tree dug from being buried and finished off with a staircase up the inside!




Cape Reinga in 2 days! (If the weather doesn't slow me up...)

BagLady

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Feeling Alive!

May 1, 2012
Herekino, NZ

I'm writing this morning at a gravelly gated entrance to a pasture. I want to capture this moment.




It's been a quiet road I've been cycling and that's a treasure in itself. It was overcast for several hours and not unpleasant, but I've noticed my mood shift with the burst of the sun.

The wind on my skin and in my hair.
The sun warming me.
The smells of grasses, dried leaves, cow manure, and trees
The strong beat of my heart powering my legs around.
Birds chirping and fluttering by.
I am alive!



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Road Weary

April 29, 2013
Omapere, NZ

I've gotten behind in my journaling. I think I'm feeling road weary. I can keep pedaling, but seem to be tired of all the other parts of traveling: the food shopping, the blogging, the picture taking.

And given my poor memory, I'm not sure what I'll recall. One wonderful night was deep in the kauri forest at a lookout. So dark. So quiet. Utter joy! Then in the morning when my back tweaked, I thought what would I do if I put my back out so far from anything. Wait until someone showed up, I guess. But a few spinal waves (yoga cat and cows) and it was all better:).

View from the lookout:



I got there from a recommendation from locals, but I was a bit concerned cycling a long ways down a gravel (or as they say here, metal) road. Luckily I could continue down in the morning and didn't have to climb out. It's staying in remote places like that that I feel most serene. Magical place. But in the morning I heard this whoosh. A big bird flew in and landed. Then cockadoodle do. Rooster? Really? What a pesty bird it was harassing me all morning while I did chores, dried gear, and cleaned my chain. Maybe it wasn't a chicken but a special NZ bird, for all I knew...someone suggested to me.

Looking back through my photos jars my memory. I stopped at the Kauri Museum. The biggest slats of wood! Enormous logs!



Breakfast of apple, yogurt, and muesli by the side of the road. Standing up using the back if the bike as a table.



View from a bridge in the kauri forest. So beautiful.




And then there are the kauri trees! In the middle of woods with trees of all sizes, you turn a corner and a humongous tree appears:



With these stats:





I'm currently camped at a hostel. My second night. Delightful place. Met an amazing woman from England (actually the town my trike comes from:)) who is doing her first trip. Wild woman, Mandy! She spent 5 months in a very Aboriginal area (northwest) of Australia because she wanted an aboriginal experience. And it came to her. She knows about the Universe delivering and trusting. We've agreed to hook up for a backpacking adventure some time, some place. It will happen.

Today we did a coastal walk, plopped ourselves down in the deep grass and shared our stories with an amazing connection. What magic meeting her was!

Quiet afternoon doing laundry, reading, and napping. Just what I needed. In 2 days I'll be meeting up with the rest of the Maori family on a marae up north. Can't wait!

I'm scraping the bottom of the food bags. I'm out of bread because it went moldy. The gas station in town had nothing I wanted to give them my money for. So I made lentil stew with feta cheese. Quite tasty. I have an apple, an orange, a square inch of chocolate and some ginger snaps. There's always ramen noodles, mushroom soup packets, 2 hard boiled eggs, milk powder, macadamia nuts, honey, and butter (but nothing to put them on except maybe a block if ramen noodles...hmmm?). And yogurt and muesli for breakfast:)!!

BagLady




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Rugby Club

April 26, 2013
Dargaville NZ

Yesterday I titled my post "Crazy Yank" and then forgot to say why. That's how the 3 Aussie couples lovingly referred to me:). I hope to be able to stay in touch and reconnect when I cycle Australia...whenever that is.

Uneventful day for you. For me I talked to one of my daughters but Skype was herky jerky so it was challenging.

Camped tonight in the side yard of a Rugby Club. Always a good spot:)

Heading into the kauri forests and there'll be hills ahead I've been told. I love the challenge:)




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Crazy Yank

April 25, 2013
Ruawai, NZ

The countryside here looks a lot like upstate NY with its rolling green hills. The only thing that makes me realize I'm in NZ are the palm trees and Toi Tois (like the plant on my bike).




Stopped by the Kauri Museum today. Kauris are giant trees much like our redwoods. But many of them were cut down by the early settlers. I'll see some of the big boys when I get further north. They've even found trees buried in swamps still preserved after 45,000 years. The other thing was the sap of the kauri, called gum, and harvested out of the swamps for turpentine and other uses. Today it's a polished stone called amber and used in jewelry mostly.

Tonight I pulled into town and found a green patch near some johns. I needed to find a wind block because I was tired if being hammered all afternoon. Three campervans were parked there, so I asked if the minded if I cozied up with them. They're Aussies. Been interesting learning a bit more about Oz. Did you know they have intense gun control laws? They must be licensed and only the licensed individual can have access to the locked up firearms. And they must be locked up and hidden away. No gun racks in the back of trucks.

As I've been traveling this tour, people are always giving me tokens. Someone asked why I carried these trinkets and I said because they come with good energies for a safe journey.

Some examples are:

Necklace from around a Maori woman's neck
Metal snowflake
Medallion
Business pen
Laminated photo
Poem
Religious writings
Chocolate bar. Here, take this. I didn't know why I bought it, but now I do:)

And I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them.

BagLady


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April 24, 2013
Brynderwyn, NZ

Hilly terrain. Avg 25 miles a day and that's at 5.5 mph. Add the changing weather: rain, sun, wind, clouds, and calm. I can't decided to wear a jacket or not, use the umbrella or not.

Last night I camped on Council land in front of a farm. Met Virginia, the farmer, who offered me a shower and coffee in the morning. I'll take the coffee. (A shower's wasted in the morning...just going to sweat it off in 15 minutes down the road.). Then I met the neighbor, Althea, who was dropping off her daughter to ride Virginia's horses. Horses? Horses? She also gave me some tomatoes from Virginia that went into my lentil stew for dinner. Yum! And Althea brought over some trail bars later...I love how food just finds me:)

This morning I shared coffee with Virginia and David, the other farmer. They had farm chores up attend to so it was a quick visit, but I did get to feed the horses:).

Yes, challenging terrain with these here hills. Add to that weather that can't decide what to do. Fall in NZ. Yet I'm told it's still milder than usual. It can keep that up. Oh ya, and it's dark by 6:00 so I have to quit earlier or eat in the dark. But tonight as I lay in my tent with the wind whipping outside causing quite a breeze through here, I'm happy. I love being outside. On my bike. In my tent. At a picnic table. Sitting in a field or on the side of the road. Outside. That's what all this is about. I've finally figured it out:)

Today's Eggs Benedict:







Off to sleep my 11 hours!

BagLady

P.S. was doing so well, then I seem to have lost my little knife:(. And then today...what's that noise? Didn't stop. There it is again...oh no! My iPod is bouncing on the pavement at the end of my earbuds. The on/off button isn't working...but I've figured a workaround. When it's asleep, it wakes up if I attach it to a power source..then I can change songs or whatever..then it goes asleep again. Learning to accept everything: the good with the bad.

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A Weekend with the Sumiches

April 19 - 21
Henderson NZ

In the morning, Corie and Sonya, 2 women out for a walk through the park stop by to chat and the next thing I know, I'm invited to Corie's house to use the wifi to see if I can get my iphone activated after the unlock. Great.

Warren, the center manager also stopped over to chat. Turns out he had seen me on the Scenic Drive last night and called one if his staff at the center telling them to let me camp there. How sweet is that?

So I pedaled back down the road to Corie's house. But it was down, down, down. And I must admit I thought about not going. This is crazy. I should just go to town. When I checked my map and realized I could cycle forward past Corie's house to get to town, I kept going. I thought I'd only be here for an hour or so. Then I was invited for the night. That would help because the phone was going to be another 24 hours before being unlocked. Then John, Corie's husband invited me to go with him on a bush hike on Sunday. Sure if you don't mind if I stay until Monday. No worries.

What a wonderful weekend off the bike. Luncheon with girlfriends, birthday dinner with 8 friends at a winery


, shopping at a garden center, planting the buys in the garden, the bush hike rebaiting poison stations


, and Sunday dinner with the the 2 gramma's, daughter Kim and her boyfriend Nick. A full yet relaxing weekend doing "normal" things and meeting wonderful friends.

Thank you, Sumiches for a delightful weekend of laughs and relaxation...and good eats!




BagLady

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Cycling through Auckland

April 17 & 18, 2013
Auckland NZ

I headed out from the Goldswain's to exactly where I didn't know. I'm cycling through a city and camping is a challenge, as you can expect. Looking at maps, I decided to stay to the west side and out of the center city. I had spied a scout camp on the water and figured that would be a good option. So that's where I headed.

But first, I'm having technology issues that I have to resolve so off to the village to figure things out. The Telecom guy said I could probably get my 4s phone unlocked. Really? Not for $180? So I went down to see Faris and for $70 he said he could get my under contract iphone unlocked. Ok. Lets do it. It will take about 24 hours. I had real positive vibes about this guy's integrity. But I'll be up the road a bit if there's a problem. Well just trust, I told myself. But I also needed to find wifi to activate it and west Auckland libraries don't have free wifi (I found out later). That would pose another issue.

Back to biking north. Very congested area with busy roads and lots of commercial properties. And hilly! Oh well. About 5ish I find the scout camp with some nice places to camp, but lots of Private Property signs. Found some parents who couldn't authorize me and the scout meeting wasn't until 6:30. Too late to be hanging around. Lets see if I can find something else. Quite a woodsy neighborhood with a dense park across the way. A pedestrian I asked said go around the corner down to Green Bay. Ok. I head over there but the walkway to the beach was too steep to cycle back up. That won't work. Will I just trespass on the scout land? Then David shows up curious about my trike.

Know a place I could camp?

Sure, my yard! Just 2 doors up.

Camp spot, wine, hors d'oeuvres, shower, laundry, brake adjustment, and free wifi. Love the serendipity:).

Next day I hit a bike shop at David's suggestion to see about my brakes. Pads looked good. Minor adjustments. I continue on. Next destination is Arataki info center on the Scenic Drive through the Waitakere Ranges. There's a tent symbol on my map so I'm hoping I can camp there. I've been warned that the road is hilly, narrow and twisty. Ok. So what else is new? I get to the center and see a sign about self-contained vehicles only. Dang! Plenty of grass space. Lets see what unfolds. I park Blaze and climb up to the gallery. A park ranger meets me.

Is that your bike downstairs?
Yup.
A woman just called us wanting us to tell you that this road is too dangerous and you need to turn around.
I smile. I appreciate her caring about me but I've cycle thousands of kms on worse roads than this. I take care and watch the traffic, pulling over as needed. I'll be all right. But I do need to talk with you about where I can camp.

We're self-contained only.

Any suggestions where I could go? (Good to put the problem on them:))

Looking at a map, her suggestions were further than I could cycle before dark.

Can't I camp here?

We'll have to get permission. She then turns to her colleague who says, she can camp here. Sweet, again. Picnic tables and a bathroom. And a park to roam. All for $6. I'll take it.



A delightful evening stroll through the native bush with plant labels. Just what I need. Manuka tree that I've been seeing and hearing about for weeks is Tea Tree. So that's the healthy oil they get out. And I learned that the silver underneath of the Pongo frond the Maoris used the lay in the pathway for lighting.

Later a running club came swarming into the parking lot around dark. Jonathan was insistent that I cycle out to Piha tomorrow. After much deliberation I decided I didn't need to go that far to see another beautiful coast.



This woman was a street/sidewalk cleaner. She traveled on her scooter with a trash can on the back and picked up litter with a long grabby thing then tossed them into the can. Hey, it works!


BagLady



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Maori Family

April14, 15 & 16, 2013
Papakura, NZ
I took a zero day at Kawakawa Bay where I chilled, cleaned my bike chain, repaired my broken rear fender, took a walk and met the neighbors, Graham & Jeanette and Derek & Kay. G & J

were a delightful retired couple who opened their home to me for a shower or a sleep. I took them up on the shower, but I love sleeping in my tent:). Got to meet granddaughter, Caitlin, too. She's quite the artist and poet, I must say! Also met D & K who have a place next door, but still live in Auckland. They offered to put me up before my flight home in June. And also store Blaze while I fly back to Wellington for a few days at this trip's end. Amazing how it all works out, isn't it?
The following day, as I'm packing up, G & J come strolling by and offer me breakfast. How sweet is that? Of course I take them up on it! Yum!! But finally I have to break away, in the rain, and head down the road...or rather, up the hill! I don't mind the rain. It's the wind I don't like. Especially when I can't use my umbrella. And the rain forces better parking spots when I hit a town because if I'm not under cover when I get off the bike, the seat gets SOAKED! Not fun to sit back down and have the back and butt sopping wet. I like to usually find a dairy (think corner store) to get a snack and take a break. One with shelter preferred on a rainy day.
Delightful ride of 30 kms took me only a couple of hours. And I had plans to stay at Yvonne's house, the woman I met at the campground a few days ago.
So here I've been for a couple of days enjoying this loving family of Nana, her daughter, Nicola, Nicola's Dutch husband, Liam...and 2 granddaughters, Astra and Stella and grandson, Jaedyn. Plus 2 dogs. And lots of love!

When I awoke to a leaky tent this morning, Nicola suggested I stay over and fix the problem. So I did.
After much running around, I finally figured out to reseal the tent with silicone, paint thinner and a brush. Seems to have worked well:)
BagLady
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iPhone Issues

April 18, 2013
Auckland, NZ

I'm having some iPhone issues that I hope to get resolved:/. Old phone with NZ SIM card died again. Was told I could get 4s unlocked for $70. Going that route, but till waiting to see if it happens. Of course, the computer shop doing it is 30 kms behind me and I'm not going back, but he did say call if things didn't work. This is the stuff that makes me nervous. Losing connection and information. Technology when it doesn't work smoothly. But I'm keeping positive and not panicking. Yup! I am!

Also going to get my brakes looked at. May need brake pad replacements.

How am I doing this, you ask? With my ipad on wifi. Both phones are down.

Last night as I was trying to find a place in Auckland to camp...love a challenge!...David cycled over to check out Blaze.

Do you know where I could camp around here?

My yard!







And just like that I had not only a place to put up my tent, but shower, laundry, snacks, wine, and good company. When Annette came home she was bushed and excused herself...not up to company. Oh, I understand how hard a drop-in overnight guest could be when you're not up to it. I sometimes don't want to stay at someone's yard because I'm not up to being social. Getting better at it though, with practice.
No worries, Annette...David was charming and hospitable.

Older posts are on my iPhone so I'll post them when it's operable.
BagLady




BagLady

More pictures are posted at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104890875270597877610

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