Christmas in Tasmania

Burnie, TAS

lighthouse

My friend Ranjan was nice enough to drive me to the airport on the morning of my flight from Auckland to Melbourne, thanks again for the hospitality Ranjan! I was able to check my bike and luggage in with no extra baggage fee, thank you Virgin Airlines! Virgin seems to be one of the few remaining airlines to be bicycle friendly by allowing passengers to check in bikes with no extra charge. the flight went smooth and upon arrival moved through immigration and customs without much trouble. once in the city i spent the day exploring the central business district in between the occasional strong bursts of rain. was hoping to camp in a park somewhere or some such, however due to the rain i found a room in a hotel nearby the port. so the following morning i boarded the 'Spirit of Tasmania' ferry which would take me from Melbourne to Devonport across the Bass Straight. Tasmania is 240 kilometers (150 mi) south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. From the port at Devenport i rode to a medium sized town called Burnie on the north-western coast to visit a Couch Surfing friend. spent a night with her and then went back to Devenport and towards Lauceston for Christmas with the lovely Palmer family.

Launceston is one of the oldest cities in Australia and home to many historic buildings.
It has also been home to several firsts such as the first use of anesthetic in the Southern Hemisphere, the first Australian city to have underground sewers and the first Australian city to be lit by hydroelectricity.

i met Alex Palmer through my old friend Judah and he invited me to spend Christmas in Launceston with his family. i had a great time visiting with Alex and his parents and relatives, it was a very nice Christmas indeed and an honor to spend the holiday season with a lovely family celebrating life in a simple and relaxed manner.
i am now making my way down the east coast towards Hobart (the capital of Tasmania)for New Years. from there we will see where the wind blows...

Christmas day with the Palmer family

Palmer family

on the road

Auckland and conclusion to New Zealand Tour

my route through NZ

Auckland Skyline

at last i have made my way up to Auckland. not the capital of New Zealand but by far the largest city in the land.roughly 1.3 million people live in the sprawling metropolis. there are only 4 million people in this country one third are in this city. it was a little bit of a shock to arrive in the Auckland area after spending the past 5 weeks in mostly smaller unpopulated regions of the country. i moved up the center of the North Island to lake Taupo and then spent a couple days in the very touristy town of Rotorua,the center of Maori culture and major hotspot of geothermal activity. there are hot springs seemly everywhere surrounding this town which is accompanied by a distinct and ubiquitous sulphouric smell. from here i had to decide if i was to go east or west and eventually decided to send my trajectory west to the famous surf town of Raglan. this mellow/chic town is best known for its surf. Eight kilometers from the Raglan township is a series of surf breaks including Indicators, Whale Bay, Manu Bay and Vortex Bay. Manu Bay was featured in the 1966 movie The Endless Summer and has one of the longest left hand point breaks in the world. i figured that this would be as good a place as any to give surfing a try so i signed on at the Raglan Surf School for a 3 hour lesson. unfortunately it was a gloomy overcast day and the wave conditions
were not very good but i did manage to learn the basics and was able to stand up on the board a few times and got a small taste of the surfing sensation. perhaps when i am in Australia i will be to commit some more time to this amazing sport.
from Raglan i spent a night camping at a hot springs resort and the next day rode to a town on the outskirts of Auckland and put myself and bike on a bus into the city. i am glad that i did not ride into the heart of the city as the traffic looked treacherous.

so i now have a few days here in the big city before flying to Melbourne, Australia. From Melbourne i will take a ferry over to Tasmania for x-mas and new years, very much looking forward to the vast landscape in the land down under.
i have had a great time here in New Zealand and very happy with how things have unfolded although in hindsight i would have spent more time exploring the South Island.

camp at Waingamo Hot Springs

My impressions of New Zealand:

a very impressive country with a large variety of natural wonders. beautiful and diverse landscape filled with mountains ,volcanoes, hot springs,fjords and glaciers (and 40 million sheep). a new country with a rich history inhabited by the indigenous people of Polynesian decent. unfortunately it seems that due to globalization or perhaps westernization New Zealand has adopted most of their cultural traits from the British and more recently the United States. New Zealanders seem to be a very proper bunch with a sometimes staunch emphasis on order and obedience.

as a bike tourist here there are some difficulties to deal with. such as the small size roads with a very limited shoulder. the magpie birds dive bomb cyclists in the spring time when they are protecting their nests. if you are within a couple hundred meters of their nest they will follow you from behind and dive down and nail you on the head with their feet and beaks. some people even go as far as painting eyes on top of their helmet as they will not attack if you are looking at them. the weather can also be very unpredictable with a lot strong winds and rain moving in unexpectedly.




I have learned a lot from this place. Thank you New Zealand!

The Forgotten Highway

Taumarunui, New Zealand

my friends Jon and Sharon

'riding the bus'

Taumarunui school kids

after leaving New Plymouth i rode up to North Egmont village and spent the night at a very old lodge at the base of Mt.Taranaki. it was a great place to enjoy the views of the mountain and coastline and was able to explore a bit around the mountain. the day after i made my way down the mountain and towards the 'Forgotten Highway'.
a 150Km section of road following the old highway through the South-Western heartland of the North Island. it was a hilly but quiet road, very little traffic, a few tunnels and a 15km unsealed section of gravel road. there was only one store along
this route so made sure to bring enough provisions to last the entire two day trip.
on the second day after riding over some undulating and very steep roads i ran out of water and got quite dehydrated. when i was about 10 km outside of my destination (Taumarunui) a school bus pulled up next to me and the driver shouted "do you want
a ride mate!" - "throw your bike in the bus". i usually don't accept rides but this time i was happy to get a lift.
so with only a little hesitation i accepted his offer and put my bike inside the empty 50 seater Japanese school bus. the bus driver was a Dutchman who emigrated from Holland to New Zealand when he was only eighteen and never went home. his name was Jon and i spent the next couple days with him and his Maori partner Sharon. They were both very kind and generous hosts. feeding me, doing my laundry, letting me use their cars, showing me around town, etc. i even went on the school bus run as Jon's co-pilot when he went to pick the kids up on a sunny Friday afternoon.
i had a very pleasant time in Taumarunui and was lucky to meet up with some locals and get an inside perspective of a small New Zealand town. Thanks for the hospitality Jon and Sharon! see you next time.