The Time Had Come, So Marvin Went.

March 3, 2013
Hunterville



A nice rest on Manaia. Town chores done. Hectic schedule for Bruce right now and he's done a marvelous job of hosting this crazy American woman...and it's time to move on. After a 2 hour lift by Bruce back up to Bulls, I was back on the road.

Hadn't gone 2 feet down the road and I was approached by a truckee that wanted to take my picture. He wanted to send it to Mike Avery. Now this is not the first time I've heard of this guy. If you'll recall when I was cycling over near New Plymouth some people stopped me on the road thinking I was he (or is that him? Being a grammar buff I hate not to know.). This truckee, Stan, gave me Mike's wife's cell number so I should call him up. He's a kiwi who cycled in 2010 from Bluff in the south to Cape Reinga in the north on a recumbent trike. Stan said he's planning to cycle across Australia this summer starting in August. Through the outback.

Pedal, pedal, pedal. Wonder where I am. Pull off the road into a V intersection to check my map. Oh no! Police car! No helmet on! Nailed! It's stopping here! They're getting out! One has equipment. Is that a speed gun? But we're not moving. What's he doing? Hi. What's up? We're filming a TV show for NZ about cops and strange characters. Can we interview you? I'm on my bike with my umbrella up trying to keep my head covered. After asking me a ton of questions about my gear and my trip, the filmer asks the cop "Are you going to say something about the helmet?" The cop shakes his head and then asks, "What's the helmet protecting?" I wished I'd thought to say, my wallet! But I explained my rationale that I can't fall on my head from a trike and that if a truck hits me, it'll be all over anyways...no helmet will save me. Nothing more was said. Whew!! Then they filmed me cycling away. A bit down the road I stopped to check a campsite and post about the cops on Facebook. While there, the cop car comes back. "You all right?" Ya, why? "He's hot his camera all set up ahead to film you coming down the road." Oops!





So I'm still trying to find out the TV show. It's on channel 1. That's all I know. And I won't air until the end of the year.

So I pedal on looking for a campsite and nothing a ways off the road is appearing. I do not want to listen to trucks all night. Please. Maybe I'll find something in the next town. Yup. Plenty of different spots. As I'm scoping out one a car pulls up and the lady says you can camp on the lawn behind the hotel. Flush toilet and shower. I'm there! It's the lawn the dog pees on by all the brown spots but I can't say anything it will do. And a bit later the delightful Irish woman I met at the grocery store shows up out the back of the bar where she's having a smoke. Anastasia. Been in NZ 4 years. And her inquisitive son, Darrough (but I may not have that right...please let me know) who asked me for my autograph. That's a first. So flattered me. I gave him my last biker card. (I do need to get more made up soon.)

We chatted quite a bit. It's been hard for him to be away from his Nana for the last 5 yrs...half of his life. He asked some great questions about my traveling and what it's like. Kudos to you, Darrough for such a wondering mind. Keep wonder and asking! It was dark and I didn't get a picture of this delightful mum and son, but I will remember them.

Bashful BagLady.

(Need to feel less shy about taking pictures of people...good thing to work on these next few days. )


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Another Lesson of the Road

March 2, 2013
Mana Marina, NZ

This is Sunday. Time flies when you're having fun. Or chillaxing:)

I took the bus back here. "I can't fit that bike on here. I already have a bike on here. That bike's larger than normal. I still have more passengers to pick up. I'm not restacking that luggage."

"I will," as I wait patiently to see what's going to happen. Driver was not a happy camper. Deep breaths. It will all work out. Don't panic. Whatever is meant to be, will be.

"Ok, bring your bike over to this other side and you put it in there."

Will do. Guy I just friended helped with hauling all my pieces over.

"You're a good packer," says driver:). "Thanks for finding a space," says I.

Unloading in Porirua was another challenge as this was into traffic on a busy road. "Ok, let's go see how this works," says the driver with a smile as we both disembark. It went fine and his mood was so much better.

"Thanks muchly!"

"No worries!"

I want to write about something but I don't want folks to get upset and worry about me. I've tried several times over the last 10 days to write about this. Not easy. Now I have it in perspective so I hope this is a lesson in the law of attraction.

A friend posted on my Facebook timeline an article about 2 British world touring cyclists that were killed when hit by a truck outside of Bangkok, Thailand. She told me to take care and I said there was no care they could have taken to prevent the accident and that it's a constant danger to cyclists. But the thoughts of Peter and Mary weighed heavy on my mind. Such a tragedy. Such a loss. And I pedaled on.

But something had changed in me. I now was more aware of the traffic. And it seemed vans were coming closer to me. More close calls. More anger in me towards drivers. I once told a driver to F*#k off. I also added a branch that hung an orange bandanna off out to the right to keep drivers further over. Stay away from me!

What was happening? Before this I had told all who asked, the drivers are great...so courteous. And now all things had changed. What was going on? What had changed? Me. My thoughts. That's really the only change and now I was attracting all this negative energy and fear.

Enough. Stop this. You created this negative place and you need to go back to the way you were. No more side flag. No more fear. Just common sense and share the road.

We must be careful of our thoughts. They put ripples into the Universe. I need to change those ripples:). Another lesson of the road learned.

I'm enjoying my down time back on Manaia. Bruce is working crazy hours, getting up at 4 am. When uz the boss, that's what ya gotta do! And I'm getting "town chores" done like laundry, gear repairs, redo toe nail polish, downloading photos to iPad and organizing and thinning them,and designing new biker card. It's always nice to have no place to go. I like down time.

Oh and I listened to Wayne Dyer's PBS special from last year on Tao Te Ching and its 81 verses about living life. I was pleased to realize I've integrated many of them already, but there's always opportunities for improvement. I'm going to study this a bit further while traveling on.



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Hiking Around the Volcano

Feb 26
Day 4



5 hour hike out. A bit of "going for the barn" but trying to hold back and enjoy the scenery. Got hotspots in the tops of my toes today. Hiking in mountain bike sandals is not recommended. Screw just collected in them because they had closed toes, unlike my Chaco hiking sandals where the sand, etc just flows through. And now my bike sandals are so dusty I don't know if I can ever get them clean-er again.



We had weather to die for on this hike. Sun. Sun. Sun. And full moon. Spectacular! So glad I did it, but must say that 4 months on a bike beforehand did not prepare me. Different muscles. Shin splints totally! Hiker limp at day's end. Left knee sharp twinge on one step down right at end. It puffed up. Biking a short but yesterday and Vitamin I last night made it good to go today. My body likes biking:)

And got an approved campsite in National Park Village last night. After scoping the town and seeing many potential places, I stopped by the Outdoor Store. It was closed thus particular afternoon so I just hung out on the steps making phone calls to reserve a bus for today. And in pulls the owner. They'd seen me on the steps and thought I was waiting for it to open. "Do you think it would be okay for me to camp down by the railway station tonight?" "Why not camp right here?" SCORE!!!

Now I could set up before meeting the gang for dinner at a nearby restaurant. And get spruced up...as spruced as a cycle tourist can get: slightly dirty capris and lightly worn T shirt. Brush the hair. Looking good! Did score a shower at the campground that stored Blaze for me. So only 6 miles of biking sweat on the body in the blazing afternoon heat...insignificant.

Tonight's full moon rising from behind Mt. Ngauruhie (Mt Doom, Lord of the Rings movie) . Photo does not do it justice. Couldn't tamper down the exposure on the phone.


Blistered BagLady

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Hiking the Volcanoes...Day 3

Feb 25
Day 3




Please note the very small pack:). Looking out at Mt Ruapehu.




View from our hut tonight.




The gang eating.


-And view inside. This is the nicest. Like a ski chalet!

And for evening fun we played Pictionary...ugh. My words: game of Two Halves (what's that?) and Prawn Cracker (and what's that??). But I was good at guessing!

The night before we played "500", I think it was called. I'm writing down the rules so I won't forget them. I know I've played this before. Deal out as many cards as go around fully. Number of players can vary. Then turn up top card of remaining. That's trump. Each player bids how many tricks they will take, starting to dealer's left. Dealer bids last and cannot make bids equal tricks. Dealer leads first trick. Score is tricks plus 10 if you got your bid and 0 if you didn't. Next hand is one less trick going all the way down to one and back up to number of tricks you started with. Fun way they play the 1 trick is you can't look at it. You put it to your forehead and everyone else can see it:). Fun game!

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Hiking the Volcanoes. Day 2

Feb 24,2014
Day 2
Pretty warm in the huts. Freezing was not the issue. Not bringing sleeping shorts and cami was. Couldn't sleep in long johns. Had to sleep in hiking shorts and top. Wore those suckers 4 days straight...24/7!



Up and across and over and down.



Hiking a crater.


My Ngaruhu


Mt Tongariro in background. Gang taking a break.

(Deleted panoramic. Wouldn't load)

The pic above is from my 360* app and I'm testing using it in my blog. Hard to know from my iPhone what it really looks like, so please give me feedback.



Red Crater.


Emerald Lakes

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Hiking the Volcanoes. Day 1

Feb 23, 2013
Day 1

What a chilly night! OMG! Do I have warm enough bag to go any higher? Bit worried. Guess I won't freeze to death. And it's only 3 nights.

Off to putter around waiting for the gang to arrive. And as usual met some folks. Delightful German mother, Kerstan, and daughter, Jessica driving around NZ. Jessica spent 5 months bumming around Australia with a friend and mom came to visit before she goes home. What a good time it was sharing stories and philosophies. Mom's English was limited so Jessica had to translate. Thanks for making my morning:). It's these moments that are the most important part of my journey. Some day I'm sure I'll visit y'all in your town!



Right on schedule, the 9 other hikers showed up. Deb, Mike, Kathy, Doug, Raewin, Keith, Ian, Peter, and Moa. After lunch in the lawn, storing my gear in a car and Blaze at the Holiday Park, we loaded up and headed out.

Today we had a 3 hour tramp through brush and scrub with many spots washed out making many challenging moments of scrambling up and down banks. The sun was hot and my heart went to those who had large packs and no umbrella. Was not easy. Tomorrow will be challenging as well. But oh the views!





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FAQs

Feb 21, 2013
At the foothills of the Three Sisters (3 volcanoes)



Had a serious catastrophe today. My spork broke in half. It's now truly an ultralight gadget. Like cutting the handle off the toothbrush. But it's so small now, it's a bit challenging to use. And how will I stir my coffee? Hope I can find something in this wilderness to use as a substitute.

I'm on schedule to get to Tongariro National Park tomorrow. The rest of the tramping group is driving up from Wellington Saturday morning. And we'll head out that afternoon for a 4 day, 3 night hike. Hoping the pack I've borrowed from Moa isn't too uncomfortable. Tough it out. It's only a few days!

Today was a town day. And it's hard to get much done when everybody wants to talk to me about my bike. First was the 76 former champion bike racer. "That looks like hard work!" No it's not really. It's my trike-a-lounger. "Still looks like hard work."

And this I hear often: "We passed you on the road!" Sometimes it was days ago. Often it's a store clerk or other local.

Most frequently asked question: "How far have you come?" And I have no clue how to answer it. Today? In New Zealand? This month? This year? Since I got Blaze? Then..."How far are you going?" This is an island. How far can one go? To Cape Reinga (which is the most northern tip), I say.

Then there's: Traveling alone? I can handle that one.

Aren't you afraid? Of what???

How do you afford to do this? Saved my money. Live cheap. Only have to buy food mostly.

Where'd ya come from? Back there.

Where ya going? North.

You're too young to be retired! I love that one!!!

You must be fit! Of course I am! If you did this all day, every day you'd be fit too. And some days I do interval training where I push myself in sprints, especially uphill. Gotta keep that old ticker a pumpin'!!!

And so it goes. But I never tire of it. I appreciate the curiosity. And I think it opens minds to what might be possible for them to do in their lives.

The last guy I talked with was walking the sidewalk as I was trying to get out of town. We must have chatted for half an hour. He said he was so inspired to meet me but it wasn't going to make him bike around the world:)

But alas, another goodbye. I gotta get some miles behind me tonight and its after 4 o'clock. And off I pedal.

Then going down the road, all the toots and waves...just warms my heart to see all the smiling faces my crazy bike creates.

And now tonight. Absolutely alone. Absolutely quiet. And a gorgeous night sky out my tent door. Camped by an aqueduct that must supply water to Wellington, I would guess. Reminds me of the LA Aqueduct in the Mohave Desert.

Someone asked if I missed my home when I'm on the road. This is my home, wherever I am.

I do miss staying still for a bit, so I'm heading back to Manaia (the boat) and Bruce after the volcano hike to put my feet up for a week. Then I'll catch a bus back up here to Turangi and continue north. Got lots of town chores to do like get my hair touched up (come on! it's been 4 months!), reprint my Triker cards (I've run out), go see a movie (it's been a long time), and work on organizing my pictures. I'm probably going to need to show some soon after I get home and that takes some culling. And stretch and yoga. And sunbathe to fill in the white spots:). And rest. I've still got a lot of miles to go yet.

A gent this morning who has a retirement avocado farm further north gave me his number to stop in and stay. Another guy the other day while I was at a rest stop (sunning in my bikini) stopped and gave me his contact info too for a place to visit further north. I'm gonna be busy when I finally get up there:). See how friendly?

Picked up this new paperback at a 2nd hand store. It passed the size test.



Its 1400 pages! The picture doesn't really show how big it is. Biggest paperback I've ever seen!! Hope the story is good.

And one last photo.



Its not a good shot, but those are deerskins hanging on the fence. And one seemed pretty fresh. Don't have a clue why they're there. A kiwi mystery.

Goodnight!


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Rolling on Down the Road

Feb 18, 19, 20, 2013
Tokaanu, NZ

I've been working my way across the middle and then down the west coast of Lake Taupo.

Camping spots have been:

18th - Lake in Mangakino that the clerk in the grocery store told me about. Free camping and the cutest Bus Stop Cafe. I had a hard time leaving that place in the morning.



19th - Tihio Tavern after I stopped for ice cream I noticed lots of green grassy spots nearby.

20th - Marina in Tokaanu. Another sweet spot on the water.

Been lots of rolling countryside, cows, sheep, and horses. Reminds me so much of Oregon or even Wyoming. Every road is beautiful.

And it's hot! Searing sun. Without the umbrella, I'd be toast.

The other problem has been food. Not many stores in these here parts. I've had mashed potatoes for 3 nights in a row. With steamed veggies. And added flavoring like creamy chicken soup flavoring or garlic margarine. It's amazing what comes out of that feed bag some nights. Tomorrow I have to shop for the next week's food including the 4 day volcano hike. My pack for that hike is small. I'm going to go ultralight. But have to be prepared for all weather up there. Should be interesting to see how this all comes together: the food, the gear, the small pack.

We'll know in a couple of days.
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A Day That Ends Well

Feb 17, 2013
Kopaki, NZ



This morning I was stopped because these folks thought I was someone else. This guy, Mike Avery, from Hawera rides a trike and has toured all over NZ. They thought I was him. Gotta google this guy and check out his blog.

Then I stopped for a treat at a fruit farm where a lot of cars were parked and this lady says "How did you get here already? I passed you just outside of New Plymouth and I was driving 100 kph!" Turns out there's someone else riding a trike too.

Then tonight when I'm trying to figure out a place to camp at these crossroads, I see a guy walking his dog. Ask him. Sure, up by the old school building on the hill. Works for me. Then after dinner, when I was out taking a walk, his wife pulls up in the car and invites me in for tea. Tea here is dinner. I've already eaten but I'll join you for a hot drink. Ben and Cathy have an agricultural helicopter business. And been married nearly 40 years. There kids are all married with kids and live nearby. How lucky is that?!! And I got 2nd dinner...yummy steak! I'm a bad vegetarian but I can't seem to pass up meat in this country. It's so good and healthy. And I got a shower!! What a wonderful evening it turned out to be. Thanks for everything, Cathy and Ben, but mostly for your kindness! It's moments like tonight that proves to me how good people are in this world. And it just warms my heart.

The following picture is for my brother, Steve. I'm sure he doesn't read my blog but maybe he'll see it somehow.

That is a golf course with sheep grazing on it! The dark spots in the center are guys pulling their carts. And the green spot is the green.



Cheaper than mowing don't ya think? And you can sell the wool and mutton to support the course and keep the fees down.

Now I lay my down to sleep,

BagLady

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Heading Inland

Feb 16, 2013
Somewhere on Rte 3 just east of Mahoenui, NZ



My breakfast spot this morning at the mouth of the Tongaporutu River. Having my favorite breakfast of cantaloupe and yogurt. Just missing some dry oatmeal sprinkled in it. Can't have everything. Just appreciate what I do have.

Now the washing dishes, which actually consists of licking them clean. I have this fabulous plastic folding bowl by Orikaso that unfolds flat to make a plate or cutting board. It also makes it easier to lick it clean. Now the knife and the spork. All clean! Folks wanta know about life on the road:). I wash things a bit more in camp at night...maybe...if there's enough water:/

Did the math last night and to make it to where I'm meeting up with Moa to hike the Tongariro Crossing, I need to hike 50 kms every day. That's 30 miles. Easy peasy. If nothing else more interesting happens along. But because I go look at every view, chat with anyone who stops to talk, and find a million and one reasons to not pedal, it's a bit harder.

Like today. Early start. Before 8:30. Then stopped for that delicious breakfast. Then noticed unusual rock formations on the rock face behind me. Took pics. Caught a guy's attention when he tried to figure out what I was looking at. Went to tell him and ask him if he knew what they were. Circles on the cliff wall. All at the same height. About 100 ft up. He thought rocks fell out from there. No. Bye.

Pedal on to a small town. Go down to a view. Check my map app to see how far I've gone. Notice there will not be any stores for about 75 kms. Go to store. Must eat! Chat with folks about bike and trip. Get chicken pie and muffin and banana and water refill. Bike on to scenic point to eat. Meet guy. Want a hot drink. Well, not really...but Yes. He and family are renting house for weekend. We chat. They get the No TV idea for kids. Boredom movement. Kids hate to be bored and if left to their own devices they WILL entertain themselves. Nice to meet smart parents who "Get IT!" Let everyone ride Blaze. Leave. Go down big hill. Remember I left sari behind. Bike back up it:(.



Pedal, pedal, pedal. Oops. Forgot to dry tent from heavy dew. Stop. Lay out tent and ground cloth. Listen to music. Dance. Fluff tent. Dance. Pack up pedal on.

Beautiful gorge today. 36 miles. Long steep climb late in day. Found spot just off road where road gravel was stored some time. Challenge is getting a stake in this hard packed soil. Bam. Bam. With rock. Barely in.

Dinner of Brie, crackers, apple. Banana and Nutella for dessert. Tea now. And hot bath!

Journal done. Hugs to everyone. Thanks for all your notes back to me. Love feeling the connection. It gets lonely out here all by myself:(


Found this beautiful tiny bird dead on the road.

Bird BagLady



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