Website Statistics
CoffeeWaffle

 






« ? KiwiBlogs # »

« ? ScorpioBlogs # »

photoblogring
Join | Random | List

Subscribe to "CoffeeWaffle" in Radio UserLand.

Click to see the XML version of this web page.

Email Me
Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

 

 

 

  Friday, 5 October 2007


Camping under the pines

I've just been sitting here watching a slideshow of photos from my xtracycle tour last summer, with The Warratahs (the best of) playing, while treating myself to a sip or two (or three, or four) of wild turkey bourbon, generously mixed with dry ginger ale. A nice way to spend a Friday night at home. Watching those pixelated cell-phone photos fade in and out has bought the feeling of being on the road flooding back. With everything I really need (as opposed to everything I mistakenly think I need) loaded on two wheels, with just the open road, and the New Zealand landscape in front of me... no set timetable or agenda. I'm itching to be doing that again.

Image004

I have a large laminated poster sized map of New Zealand pinned to my wall above my table which I now find myself gazing at longingly (again). This summer I think the East Cape of the North Island is calling me. I've been up there once before, back in the days when I was a commercial deep-sea fisherman for a job (ugh, I can't believe I ever did that). While we were fishing for the elusive Orange Roughy we had to duck into Hicks Bay to shelter from rough weather. The weather stayed bad for more than 48 hours so the skipper allowed us deckhands (5 of an 7 man crew) to go ashore and mingle with the locals. This area is a long way from the main highway and so doesn't see a lot of tourists. People are pretty down to earth. I remember walking into the pub there one mid-week evening, and almost instantly feeling as welcome as I have ever felt anywhere before. I think half of them were only at the pub because there was a unfamiliar fishing boat anchored in the bay, which in turn meant there might be some new faces to meet (and welcome) down at the drinking hole. Anyway the one encounter I've had with that part of New Zealand left me with a good feeling, so I'd like to take some time to see it properly; and what better way than on my bike.

Pushing into a southerly

Sunset

Image012

Let the planning begin...


10:35:33 PM    Comment []


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © Copyright 2008 Murray Neill .
Last update: 5/10/2008; 2:07:55 p.m. .

October 2007
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31      
Sep   Nov

NZ Time
Posts by Category

Xtracycling
East Cape Cycle Tour
South Island Cycle Tour
Photography
Kiting & Kayaking
Wallpapers
Peak Oil
Permaculture
Strange Links
Bird Watching
Bone Carving
Kite.Aerial.Photography.
folia | gardening serendipity
murrayneill. Get yours at bighugelabs.com/flickr
Reading

MetaEfficient
Post Secret
Clever Chimp
Bike Rubbish
Baghdad Burning
The Notebook
Dujour
No Traces
Durham Township
Round Here
Naive Zebra
Views of the NE
Blue Ridge Blog
MatthewWalker
Kiwifruit
D-Man
Steady Winds
Down on the Allotment
Xtracycle
Bike Hugger
Archives