It's About to Get Dusty

Well, I think this is my last night in Auckland. So long as the weather is suitable in the morning I will hitting the road. My longtime friend Robert Ed will arrive in Wellington, which is on the southern tip of the north island, on the 23rd of December. So that gives me 23 days of open road and blue skies. I've mapped out the legs that i'm taking and it should be no more 11 or 12 days of biking, so I will have 10-11 days of hiking, exploring, and sunny naps in hammocks. Here are a few pictures of the bike fully packed. It is pretty heavy in the back so I might reconfigure but this is the basic set up while I will be touring. Wish me luck!

Cheers

-Matthew

Almost Time to Ride

Hello all, glad to hear people have been keeping an eye on the updates. Once I get on the road I will hopefully be doing daily or every other day updates in order to keep them short and sweet but with enough content to keep readers intrigued. I am popping in today to let people know that I have a bike and the majority of my gear. I just need to tie up a few loose ends before I hit the road. I will be making a post before I leave with pictures of myself and my chariot!

One other note, I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home! It is Thursday as I write this, and Wednesday for the majority of those reading this, so thanks to everyone who helped me get out here and eat plenty of turkey for me. I'm thinking of you all!

Love

-Matthew

Some New Zealand Pics

It's A Little Cloudy, But Really Green

Hello friends and family! It has been one week since I have arrived in New Zealand and boy has it been an amazing one! Since my arrival I have been greeted with amazing hospitality from my hosts, Craig, Priscilla, and baby Hugo. This first week would not have been nearly as amazing if were not for them. They have given me my own room to stay in and I've been fed wonderful meals, leg of lamb with roasted vegetables on my first night! They have brought me all over the city of Auckland to take in some amazing sights and to search for the mighty vessel that will take me all over this beautiful country (a bicycle that is). I honestly feel like I have been visiting family since I have been here. With that being said I will tell of my ventures thus far in a cloudy and green landscape!

The first day of awaking in this new country was an early one. I would like to note, and many back home would be happy to hear this, that I have slept past 11 am once since i have been gone. Actually twice, but the second time was because I was up till 5:30 am with the last remaining members of a wedding party to watch the New Zealand All Blacks face off against England (rugby teams...they are huge out here, and I can see why). Now the pleasure of sleeping in is getting up around 9 am. Anyways, my first morning was an early rise that brought me into downtown Auckland with Craig and Priscilla on there way to work. Craig showed me a few things that would help me get around town and back home to Mt Wellington where they live, if I needed to. Once on my own I killed a little time getting breakfast and looking for a road atlas of New Zealand. Afterwards I went to buy my ticket to take a harbor cruise to take in a few Auckland sights and see the city of Auckland from a new angle. I was only able to take half the trip because it stopped at a volcanic island called Rangitoto, where we could look around for ten minutes and being rather ambitious with my ten minutes I made it too far away to get back before the ferry left. Oh well! I was stuck on a sweet volcanic island for four hours until the next ferry came to pick me up. It was for the best because the island had some great hikes including a hike to the summit that took less than an hour, but boy was it exhausting towards the end. At the top I was able to see 360 degrees of Auckland and its harbor with many islands. I had a snack and snapped some photos and then I was on my way back down. I made it back to downtown just in time to ride back with Craig and Priscilla home from work. My face got rather sun burnt even though it was cloudy most of the day and it wasn't very warm unless the sun was out. You can feel the sun instantly when it is on you. So I learned my first lesson in New Zealand sun--the sun always wins even if it is cloudy! Later that night i went out with Craig, Priscilla, and a friend of theirs for dinner and a movie.

Later that week Craig had a day off and was able to bring me all over Auckland in search of a bike that was going to get me to the tip of one island to the tip of the next. I did not buy anything but saw and talked with enough people to fully grasp what I required for such a trip.

On Friday I road tripped it out of Auckland about two hours and I spent the weekend with Craig and his family at a beach house rental that was amazing and was privileged enough to attend a gorgeous small town, family oriented wedding. The wedding was at the bride's father's Bed and Breakfast in a small town called Te Puke (Tuh-Pookie). The B&B was a small villa on the property of a wine vineyard with horses and sheep! It was gorgeous. I turned out being the unofficial wedding photographer since I had such a fancy looking camera. It was the least I could do since they were so welcoming and the food was amazing. They roasted an entire pig on a spit! I was also lucky enough to meet so many amazing and friendly people that offered me a place to stay on my trip down the country.

This first week has been amazing and I owe it to Craig, Priscilla and their family for being so welcoming and generously hospitable!

Thanks!

-Matthew

Australia from the Lens

Finally an update huh?

Well sorry for the delay but I am finally making an interesting post about my travels! Australia was gorgeous place to visit this time of year. The sun was as hot as it gets on the best Minnesota summer day. I can't imagine how hot it gets in the middle of summer. The extent of my travel in Aussie land consisted of spending time on the beaches and when it got too hot i would go for a dip in the ocean. If i wasn't lying on the beach i was lying by the pool. I did not have much planned in the adventure department. It was just a relaxing time outside the country on some gorgeous beaches. I will go into some detail as to a few bits of fun and excitement that I have had so far. I spent about nine days in Surfers Paradise which is honestly the Miami of the Gold Coast. I was a gorgeous place to visit and the weather was perfect but it was very touristy and expensive. With that being said, it was still a worthwhile leg of my trip. I got to meet people from all over the world and had many enjoyable happy hours with them.

When i became tired of Surfers and needed a new perspective of Australia I hitched a ride, figuratively speaking that is, with a friend I made at the hostel I was staying at in Surfers and headed south to Byron Bay. Byron was a very lovely, and little hippie surfer town with a slower pace of life. It was a relaxing change. While in Byron I had my first experience with a full hostel dorm. I guess I should say that while at Surfers I had an entire four bed dorm to myself, which was nice, but it wasn't the full travel experience that I was expecting. Byron gave me the full hostel experience. I went there on my own and stayed with five complete strangers, three of which I ended up spending almost my entire time in Byron with. Byron was much more scenic than Surfers in regards to landscapes rather than shining urban high rises along the beach front. My first morning in Byron was an early one. Rise and shine, well not quite shine, but rise at five a.m. to catch a short bus ride up to a light house that is located at the most Easterly point of the Australian mainland. Whereupon, myself and my new hostel mates, some lovely ladies from Canada, awaited the rise of a new sunny day. The rest of my time was spent walking around town, hanging by the pool and chatting with my new friends about life and traveling. My last night in Byron was a quiet one. I sat on the beach and watched the sun go down, and had some very tasty fish and chips on my walk back to the hostel.

Sunday morning I had to be up early in order to catch a shuttle to the airport and fly Back down to Sydney for the day and catch my New Zealand bound flight the next day. Sydney was a gorgeous city with a beautiful harbor. My day consisted of a stroll around the botanical gardens that lined the harbor and the Sydney Opera House. My last night in Australia was spent with the four Belgium boys I was bunked with at the pub next to our hostel. They new how to drink some beer and we closed down the pub and called it a night, which was a good thing because i had to be up early again the next day to make my international flight to New Zealand. The next morning was pure hell. Lucky for me i had made it to the airport two hours early. I waited in a long line to check in and when I make it to the counter I am told i need either proof of a outbound ticket or a visa to enter the country. Lucky for me, my working holiday was recently approved and all i had to do was find a place to print out my confirmation letter, which proved troublesome in an airport was not familiar with. But I got it printed and made it to my terminal with ten minutes before take off...just kidding, an hour. It was rather nerve racking though. I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it to New Zealand that afternoon. Rest assured, when I sat down on the plane i was relieved that this was going to be last flight I take for quite some time. I was on my way to start my big adventure!

Where to Start

Well it's my first morning in surfers paradise (Wednesday Nov 4). I made it here tuesday night around 8 pm after what seemed like a never ending 48 hours of travel. In that period i was in four different airplanes and five airports. Also in that period I didnt get to sleep lying down, strictly sleep in chairs. I can't say how rewarding it felt to make it to my final Aussie destination in one straight shot of travel. I think i beat jet lag but we will see how today goes, i was up a bit late last night and up pretty early this morning but tried to keep sleeping to do some catching up. Regardless, it's pretty nice here, I've talked to more strangers in the last 48 hours than i have in the last 2 months. All is well and keep watching

Cheers
Matthew