NZ Tour

A fitting day to leave Sydney, putting my bike together in Auckland, a photo of Auckland railway station, which was one of the big reminders that I'd changed countries. In Sydney there are fences, warning signs and real barriers to keep people off the tracks. In NZ, there's a sign pointing out the obvious but apart from that no real bother.

The actual railway station building is now a residence for tertiary students. The old Manakau bridge.

A view from the bridge, The cycle way under the new bridge, the new bridge. The recessed, colored cycle way seems to work fairly well, I met several pedestrians and none were walking on the cycle bit.

Kelly arrived in the rain, and we rode back from the airport. We even got offered a free lift by a taxi-van, and the driver seemed confused that we turned it down. Photo is Kelly wet, in the garage of the inlaws-to-be. Next day we left to ride north. Auckland harbor bridge from the ferry, Kelly in the tent.

Kelly hiding from the camera (behind the tent). We camped on the outskirts of Auckland behind a bush. The ride north out of Auckland was pretty nice, traffic was bearable even on the main roads. Next day was the start of Easter weekend, and the road was awful. Narrow shoulder, lots of traffic, everyone in a hurry. We stopped for a rest and decided to take the bus for a bit. Bumming around while working ourselves up to fighting traffic.

We caught the bus for about 80kms. Where we stopped was this wonderful shop - music and cycles. Very cool. And at a rest stop was this somewhat bizarre plaque, telling us that a past prime minister was born 18 miles from there.

Arrived in Whangarei, and camped in a campground. With two people and a tent it's quite different to my usual camping style of sleeping beside the road or in a park, the tent meant we spent more money on camp grounds. A wall of punga (tree fern) logs on the way out of town.

A dead possum. In NZ these are a major pest that are devastating the native plants and birds. This one's ok though, it's dead. Only 60 million more to go... Then some of the Northland bush country that the possums love. A wee river we biked past going towards Russell in the Bay of Islands. Kelly.

The chain idler was rubbing on the seat mount on my bike, so I carved it down a bit while I was in Sydney. Then I carved it down a bit more on the side of the road. Then a photo of the volcanic hills we biked past - you can see the tracks sheep have made the terraced ripples on the side of the hills, but Kelly took a bit of convincing that it was just sheep, not people. She's seen too much of Asia for that to be intuitive. Setting up camp at Whangaruru

We turned off to Whangaruru to camp for the night. The view from the camp kitchen, sun rising over the sea, the beach. It's a nice spot, a bit out of the way so not very busy, and very restful.

Some sand, a road built by the locals when the council wouldn't do it. That's the only vehicle access to the next bay round except at dead low tide. Moz on holiday.

Some Kelly photos of a tree. And some sand, and the tree again.

Kelly being grumpy in the morning about having to get up, and bike back up the hill we rode down the next day. Oh, and riding round to the next bay only to discover that we couldn't get out that way, and we would actually have to bike back up the hill.

On the gravel road to Russell, which we took because it's less used than the main road. My bike didn't like the gravel, not enough weight on the front wheel made it very hard to control. I fell off lots going down. Still, the views were nice and it was a pleasant ride. Good to be back in NZ bush again.

A tree. My bike having a rest. A big tree.

Kiwi attitude again. In the kitchen at Russel. Packed up ready to go.

On the way to Paihia. Overlooking the ferry - there's a 10 minute boat ride to avoid the 100km ride around the road.

The big war canoe named Ngatokimatawharaoroa, at Waitangi. Waitangi is where the treaty was signed that made Aotearoa and the Maori tribes that lived there part of the great British Empire. Didn't stop the wars when the British found that the Maori expected them to actually follow the treaty, but has made it easier to build a peace later. New Zealand, you see, actually has a legal foundation, unlike, say, Australia or the USA. Anyway, here's some photos of the meeting house at Waitangi.

The famous flagpole at Waitangi, as chopped down repeatedly by Hone Heke to express his disapproval of the British. Now steel for the first 3m to stop anyone emulating him. The treaty house where the white governor lived. Kelly looking at a reproduction of the actual treaty. Written in both Maori and English, with the Maori version found to be the legally binding one on the basis that the British wrote it and many of the signatories couldn't read or understand English very well.

Entranceway to the museum at Waitangi. The roofed bit takes you from the car park to the museum, and is very effective at putting you in a quiet mood.

Us at Paihia (having kumera chips at a cafe). What is a zorb, and why would anyone ride one?

That night we decided to ride out of the tourist zone, so rode after dark. Of course, I got a puncture, so we stopped and camped right there. When it was light again I fixed it. Kelly reading the map. Digital camera means I could take photos of signs and look at them later rather than writing the details down.

Camping in Kaikohe (in Maori you often drop a repeated trailing word from placenames, so Kaikohekohe is known as Kaikohe). It started raining, we stayed for a couple of days coz I was feeling lazy. There were kumera chips in the cafe to keep Kelly happy. Bus back to Auckland for the wedding.

Jan, Moz, Colin (my parents). Obligatory family photo series for next 10 images... Colin *really* likes having his photo taken.

Jan tries to ride a recumbent for the first time, left to right Mark, Laura, Jan, Moz, Jenny (and Bridgett, inside Jenny). Kelly riding the Kotzur. Kelly falling off the Kotzur.

Jenny with Laura, Colin back on the correct end of the camera, Jan, Mark. Respectively, my sister, niece, stepfather, mother, brother-in-law.

Kelly likes wearing dresses. I like taking photos of Kelly (not that you've noticed this).

Me waiting (I don't like waiting). Kelly ready to go... maybe. Me at the wedding. I don't like suits. My great uncle Bill, and my uncle Doug.

My cousin Christian, and his new wife Donna.

Wedding photos... Laura, Jenny, Jan, Moz. The father of the bride, Tom. The wedding group.

Did I mention that Kelly really likes wearing a dress? Lights on a tiled floor. The siblings - Margaret, Doug, Jan.

Donna and Christian in their group - a photo that nearly came out. Christian and his parents, Margaret and Chris. Me, after it was all over. A wee house in a park opposite the hotel.

Sunset at the railway station as I left Auckland. Riding through Queen Charlotte Drive in the Marborough Sounds. Much nicer. There were quite a few "no spray" signs through here, which I now think indicates just how for the organic food/ GE free movement has gone in NZ.

I rode through the scenic bits from Picton to Pelorus, then got the bus because I was having trouble - the front suspension on the bike got in the way of my knees when I tried to straighten my legs, so I had the boom pulled in close to avoid that, which meant going up hills was pretty hard. From Pelorus to Nelson is about 600m of climbing... This is Pelorus Bridge, where I stopped and got the bus.

Some of the entertaining "improvements" that have been made while I was away. The first sign replaces a platform on the side of the bridge that used to say "do not jump from this platform". The second bridge is just really big and impressive. Since Cave Creek they've really got into warning signs, hence this photo.

The Pelorus River, with my bike.

In Nelson I stayed with school friends - Adrian and Steph. Adrian, going for a ride with friends of theirs who have tandems - a tandem touring bike, a tandem mountain bike, and a tandem sea kayak. A shot of the Waimea estuary from the hills above Tahunanui.

Steph and Adrian riding my Kotzur. The really impressive cycle way along the old railway reserve through Stoke. The bike lane along Rocks Road into Nelson (off the end of the cycleway).

My bike in the bus to Christchurch. One end of the St James walkway (in the Lewis Pass).

I rode 25km into a head wind in Christchurch to get to Simon's place. My bike once I got there. Simon and his bike.

Simon's room, Simon's house. Both messy. Shoei, Tess and probably Patrick.

My rear rim where it failed, making the bike unrideable. I'm really glad I didn't ride from Nelson to Christchurch now, as this would probably have happened on the way, leaving me to hitch with the bike. Some nice photos of the bike while I waited for a taxi.

Cathedral Square in Christchurch, showing that the planner's fascination with bare, windswept concrete in public spaces has reached Christchurch as well. Some geeks just above Cathedral Square.

Christchurch airport. Photos from Adrian of me in Nelson. My camera is in the brown cardboard "box" under the seat in the second photo from the right.
Material on this site is copyright © Moz, 2003-2006 (mozphoto@moz.net.nz).
To enquire about using images please email me. Generally I'll allow free use for non-profit users.