Murray Neill: Nelson - East Cape Cycle Tour 2008

East Cape Camping

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:17:49 GMT

The East Cape camp ground consists of a large mowed paddock with a dodgy looking long-drop in one corner, and a single freshwater tap in the middle. The sparse facilities didn't bother me, in fact, I kind of liked it. The beach, the swimming hole, and the expansive views made my stay here the best 'day-off' of my trip. I spent a day just walking and riding the beach, visiting the lighthouse, and swimming in the un-naturally warm swimming hole at the small river mouth (visable in this shot). I did my laundry under the tap, and dried it hanging on bits of driftwood poked into the sandy ground. Because the water was delivered via a long black hose that snaked several hundred meters across the paddock, and it was in full sun all day, each time I used the tap I got a couple of minutes worth of hot water. I was the only one tenting there that day so the hot water was all mine... so was the beach. I wished I had a kite with me, but I did have my camera...

Lake Tutira

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:42:23 GMT

Just north of Napier is little lake Tutira. It was a great find during my cycle-tour. There is free camping on its shores. Being on a bike I got the best spot in the place. A grassy little bluff under huge oak tree that the buses and camper vans couldn't drive to. I rode my bike up there through the trees, and pitched my tent so I got this exact view from my tent door.

The lake was bursting with bird-life including more black swans than I could count.

I had an early start the next morning and when I was packing up the lake was covered in a thick mist. The mist began to break up and lift, and the sun leaked through as I rode around the western shoreline to continue my journey north (into some of the meanest hills I encountered the whole 3 weeks on the road.)

The Rimutaka Rail Trail

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:48:46 GMT

The Rimutaka Rail Trail was one of the highlights of my bike tour up north. It came as a welcome break from state highway 2. The trail is only 18km but the points of interest along the way, like bridges, tunnels, old station platforms, and good signage, made it seem longer.

The Xtracycle after riding though the Summit Tunnel built around 1877. It is 576m long and kind of scary to ride through.

The way up, from the South was a gentle, sometimes winding, incline typical of most railway routes. The descent of the northern side was something else entirely. A white knuckle ride all the way to the platform at Cross Creek. I took a moment at the bottom to check the xtracycle over. All loaded up on a fast rocky descent like that must be near the limits of what the bike and free radical can handle. I half expected to find some sort of damage, but the rig handled it fine. The final leg was a 20 min technical little single-line walking track through manuka forest.With all the weight loaded low, keeping my center of gravity well below my knees somewhere, the xtracycle not only handled this track fully loaded, it excelled, even one the slow tricky bits.

Pakuratahi Bridge - 1876; 28m long, this is a "Howe" truss bridge. It is the oldest truss bridge in New Zealand, and was rebuilt in 1910 after a fire.

Pakuratahi Tunnel - built in 1876 and 73m long, this was the first concrete block structure in New Zealand. It was curved so you couldn't see the other end when you entered.... creepy.

A welcome sight.

East Cape lighthouse

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:34:23 GMT

I'm home, safe & sound... and I've been to the most easterly lighthouse in the world on my bike. 1974 kilometers there and back. It is good to be home.

Gone pedaling

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:13:40 GMT

Below are the latest 10 shot taken with my mobile phone during my Nelson to East Cape Xtracycle tour. I'm probably missing work terribly and having a horrible time ;)

Click through to my flickr account to see more... photos are tagged with Nelson-EastCapeCycleTour2008. See y'all in a few weeks!

www.flickr.com

More of murrayneill's photos tagged with Nelson-EastCapeCycleTour2008

liberation and pilgrimage and adventure

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:09:24 GMT

"The truest and most horrible claim made for modern transport is that it 'annihilates space'. It does. It is a vile inflation which lowers the value of distance, so that a modern boy travels a hundred miles with less sense of liberation and pilgrimage and adventure than his grandfather got from traveling ten. Of course, if a man hates space and wants it to be annihilated, that is another matter. Why not creep into his coffin at once? There is little enough space there." - C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

I'm leeeeaving, on a longbike.

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:21:53 GMT

I talked about it last year, earlier in the summer. Now here we are in autumn and I'm getting ready to go on my three week bike ride to the East Cape of NZ's North Island. My four-legged companion, Kaycee is staying with my parents this time partly because I want to travel lighter, but mostly because she's getting a bit old for it. At 16, going on 17 she's not as fit and agile as she used to be and tends to sleep a lot more. I fear another trip like this (after last years 6 week 'round the south' trip) might be a bit much for her. She'll be pampered while I'm gone, I'm sure.

I'll be updating here by the way of photos taken on my phone, just like last time. I'll post that widget just before I leave this afternoon. For now I've got a tube to change, a chain to lube, some bags to pack, and a bike to load.

Itching to ride again

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:35:33 GMT

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.

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.

Let the planning begin...