If you think biking is a slow way to travel, then try hitch hiking! We’ve both done our fair share of hitch hiking over the years, but these days, being older and wiser, we’d only do it if locals give us the thumbs up (excuse the pun), which in this case they did.
Today we cycled from the campsite to the township of Te Araroa (about 14kms) and parked the bikes, and along with dozens of locals (many dressed in black), we waited for the shop to open. Once we’d stocked up on water we waited by the side of the road hoping for a lift to the East Cape lighthouse.
Te Araroa townshipHitch hiking out East!
Lots of local traffic passed us by, more than we’ve ever noticed in any of these tiny settlements, and it didn’t take long to realise that the entire community was attending a funeral at the marae, hence the black clothing, and the rush on the shop for supplies.
Tourist traffic is few and far between, in fact apart from one rental car, there was none!
Lucky for us one of the local roading company vans was going out to the lighthouse to check the recent rock slips and the guys stopped and let us jump in with them.
East Cape lighthouse
Ideally we would’ve liked to visit the East Cape lighthouse for sunrise. It is the most easterly point in New Zealand and one of the first places in the world to view the sun, but the road out there had way too much gravel for us to ride on so that justifies our park and hitchhike option.
It was a beautiful drive out the East Cape Road, and then a very hot, 800 steps to climb up to the lighthouse, but very worthwhile. Another bit of drone practice at the top, and then we waited around until the folk in the rental car turned up so we could hitch a ride back! The Mum and her teenage daughter who kindly agreed to let us jump in with them, had been out at the lighthouse in search of a geocache location – a fantastic global online treasure hunt concept that was new to us.
The plan for tomorrow is to get an early start and ride from the campsite here at Te Araroa to Tokomaru Bay. At approximately 90kms it is going to be our biggest day yet, but with nowhere to camp between here and there we have no alternative.
Perhaps it’s an age thing, but when choosing a tent for bike touring, our first prerequisite was space, closely followed by weight, and not forgetting budget. Our old faithful Fairydown 2 person tent that we bought in New Zealand in 2001 has served us well, but after taking a hammering in the winds of Patagonia last year we have had to retire her to sunnier climes and car boot camping only.
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Our tent selection criteria
Space – we now want a tent that has comfortable space for the two of us, plus has the capacity to store our bike panniers inside the tent.
Size& weight – we want a tent compact and lightweight enough to carry on the bike, and with the option to use it for backpacking trips too.
Durability – we want it to be at least a three season tent to withstand wet and cold weather as well as summer conditions.
Budget – and we want all of the above features without having to spend a fortune!
Meet Olive
It took a bit of shopping around, but we eventually found “Olive” who fitted the bill perfectly!
Weighing in at less than 3.5kg with a pack size of only 50 x 20cm, Olive is a Vaude Terra Space 3 person tent. The upgrade from 2 person to 3 person means we have slightly more space inside the dome, especially useful on wet weather days! And there is enough room in there for our panniers and bike gear.
We each have our own entrance and good sized porch making it easy to get in and out without climbing over each other. And all for 180 quid which we feel is good value considering the price range of a tent suitable for bike touring was averaging between £200-£500!
How she performs remains to be seen as today (our 20th wedding anniversary!) was only a practice pitch in the garden and the naming ceremony! The christening has yet to come…
6 May 2001, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
We imagine that most of you will be very relieved to find that this is our last travelling update. No more long posts for you to plough through. And what’s worse is this is probably the most difficult one to write as we cannot find the right words to describe the beauty of the South Island, but we will give it a go.
After Nelson we drove south along the west coast under a little bit of drizzle, but certainly not anything close to the amount of rain that is so common in this area.
By the time we reached Franz Josef the sky was blue and perfect conditions for a heli-hike on the glacier. We had about a 10 minute ride in the helicopter before it landed on the glacier where we were met by a guide who took us hiking on the glacier for a couple of hours. It was a really strange, but good fun experience walking on the glacier going through huge crevices and even ice caves. It could have been a whole lot different if Dave had fallen any further into some broken ice – the bruises on his shin were pretty spectacular. Thankfully, the ice kept the swelling down.
We spent the next few days taking it easy by Lake Wanaka. We managed a few short hikes with some fantastic views of the lake. The town itself was a lovely little laid back kind of ski town and it was just full of beautiful trees all shedding their colourful leaves. Some of the autumn colours we have seen en route have just been glorious – loads of deep reds and golden yellows.
Nap time in Wanaka!Stunning views in the Wanaka area
Our next stop was the explosive town of Queenstown, probably the tourist (and adventure) capital of NZ, and of course home of the famous AJ Hackett bungy jump. Dave had jumped last time he was here 11 years ago and Shaz was not desperate for an adrenalin rush so we gave it a miss. We did really enjoy a trip on the Dart River on a jet boat – the thrills were minimal, but the scenery was outstanding.
Probably one of the best campsites we have stayed at was our next one at Te Anau, which was our base for exploring Fiordland. The standard of campsites throughout NZ is really high and far superior to those we stayed at in Australia.
The drive from Te Anau to Milford was spectacular to say the least. We had met another couple at the campsite who came with us, as the road was not an easy one for them to ride their bicycles on. We were all booked on the Milford Sound overnight cruise on the Wanderer which set sail at 4.30 in the afternoon. Our luck was in again as this time the boat was followed by a pod of bottlenose dolphins. Once the boat had anchored for the night, we both took out kayaks for a paddle.
It was while we were on the water that we felt so insignificant in this place – we were surrounded by steep sided mountains with huge waterfalls tumbling down and baby seals playing under our kayaks. It is impossible to capture the beauty and mystery of Milford Sound in words; it just has to be visited.
As if the cruise wasn’t enough to captivate us, we also flew over part of the Fiordland and Milford Sound. We had a 70-minute flight from Te Anau, and to date, this has been the best ‘tour dollar we have spent. It was just the pilot and us and the scenery – mountains, fiords, and glaciers – it was simply stunning.
Once we got back down to earth, we were off to Invercargill, NZ’s southernmost city and a very depressing one at that. It just looks like a city that is dying and is the root of many Kiwi jokes.
Needless to say we didn’t hang around, but headed off towards The Catlins where once again we had beautiful scenery and wildlife to admire. It was here that we ended up staying one night in a cabin instead of the tent – the rain was catching up with us.
We also managed to view a flock (?) of penguins, the quite rare yellow eyed variety – they were really comical to watch and we were fascinated. Since then we have visited Dunedin where we watched our first game of Super 12 Rugby in a local bar and that brings us to where we are now, Christchurch.
We have a few more days left in the South Island, but must be back in Auckland in the North Island for Friday 11 May.
For those of you that haven’t heard the jungle drums yet, we will back in the UK for a quick trip, arriving on Tuesday 15 May and probably staying about a month. The time of course will be split equally between England and Ireland! We hope to catch up with as many of you as possible.
A few of you in the UK have asked us to bring some good weather back with us – not much chance of that as we would rather leave the drizzle and winter weather here and go back to some dry sunny days – some chance eh?
So as we say that’s your lot! It has been really lovely to hear from so many of you during this trip and hopefully you have enjoyed reading about it as much as we have enjoyed the experience.
New Zealand travel update 20 April 2001, Nelson, South Island
Kia ora (Maori greeting meaning hello, good luck, good health)
We are now in the South Island, but we better finish telling you about our adventures in the North Island first of all.
On our journey to the Coromandel we visited some distant relatives of the Brunts whose family had emigrated to NZ in the 1920’s. It was really fascinating to find out so much information and to be given such a warm welcome.
Sharon with Connie Brunt and family
We stayed so long with the family that day in Whangaparaoa it meant we ended up driving at night, something we have rarely done on this trip, but we arrived safely at Whangapoa and stayed at Marlisa’s beach house for a lovely, lazy weekend.
On our last day there the rain poured down and with gale force winds, followed us to the Bay of Plenty. Luckily we did not have to pitch the tent, but were hosted for two nights in Papamoa by a lovely couple, David & Sonya who were friends of friends.
From there we headed to Whakatane where again we experienced the warm hospitality of the Kiwis staying with Debbie & Brendan Davis. Actually it was the double whammy combination of Kiwi and Irish hospitality (it doesn’t get any better!) as Debbie is a friend from Tyrone. It was from Whakatane that we really wanted to go swimming with the dolphins and at last it happened.
About 15 minutes into the boat trip we spotted them – Shaz was just so excited – we were right in the middle of a pod of one to two hundred dolphins!! This certainly made up for all the previous times where we didn’t see any dolphins – it was just fantastic.
On this same trip we visited NZ’s most active marine volcano – Whakaari or White Island. Snorkelling there was like swimming in a giant glass of champagne as the bubbles continually rise from the volcanic rocks in the seabed.
Our next stop was a quick one night in Rotorua to experience a little bit of Maori culture at an evening concert and hangi (dinner cooked in the earth) – a bit over crowded, but was still a really enjoyable evening.
We were due a good walking day and were so lucky to have a perfect, clear day to complete the 17km/7.5 hours Tongariro Crossing. Another active volcano where we walked through the weird landscape of craters and had fantastic views over Lake Taupo. The following day we couldn’t even see the mountain!
On course to Wellington we stopped in at Palmerston North to visit the quaint, but interesting New Zealand Rugby Museum, followed by a lovely night at Paekākāriki with Prue Hyman, a Schindler family friend.
Dave catching up on the diary
We then spent a couple of nights in windy’ Wellington (we had to use the guy ropes on the tent for the first time) before taking the ferry to Picton in the South Island on Easter Sunday. The crossing was beautiful and we even managed to spot more dolphins en route!
We’ve arrived in the South Island
Our first night in the South Island was spent at, wait for it… Old McDonald’s Farm! This was in the Abel Tasman National Park where we then spent the next three days on a sea kayaking trip. We again had perfect weather for paddling around and enjoying the stunning scenery; we even had seals swimming alongside us! Dave braved the water at night and went for a paddle under the stars.
The mornings and evenings are getting really quite cold now in the tent so it is a real luxury to stay with friends. We are now in Nelson and yet again experiencing the Kiwi hospitality from Dave’s second cousin Rob De Winter (Marlisa’s dad).
Nelson is really a beautiful area and we have really enjoyed looking around, but tomorrow we move on again and head south, closer to winter. There may be times in the next few weeks where the tent will stay in the back seat and we stay in a cabin! Anyway we will keep you informed…
New Zealand travel update 28 March 2001, Dargaville, Northland
We have been in New Zealand two weeks today and so far, so good. It is just simply beautiful – it doesn’t quite have the forty shades of green that Ireland lays claim to, but it looks pretty close.
Our first few days were spent in Auckland staying with Dave’s second cousin Marlisa, and it was there that we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by having a Guinness or two!
We are now back on the road again, this time in a rented Toyota estate/station wagon. It is costing us the equivalent of about 6 pounds per day so hopefully it will take us the distance! Our very rough plan is to spend a month in the North Island, and a month in the South Island before we make any longer term decisions.
From Auckland we headed north up the East Coast and apart from a little bit of rain here a there, managed to find some beautiful, sunny campsites with good walks and great swimming/snorkelling beaches – Martin’s Bay and Whangarei.
Although it is the start of autumn here it seems the Kiwis’ Indian summer is hanging on for as long as possible. Our only bone of contention at the moment is the dew (no puns please). The early morning dew makes it difficult to pack the tent away, but we are coping. We borrowed a six-man tent from Marlisa for the times that we spend more than one night at any particular place. It is really huge and like a house compared to our little two-man tent.
The Bay of Islands was our next stop and it was just stunning. We stayed in the small town of Russell for 3 nights and just loved it. We went sailing for a day on a 50ft racing yacht and had a fantastic time. It is Dave’s dream to own a boat, and a sailing vessel of some description is necessary to enjoy New Zealand at its best. No no doubt that will be one of our first purchases as even Shaz enjoyed the sailing! Mind you most days you will find us glued to estate agents windows just in case we spot the home dreams are made of, or the bargain of the century!
From the Bay of Islands we headed to Ninety Mile Beach where we were back to enjoying sundowners and great sunsets on the beach. It seems that even our daily lunch stops are getting more beautiful by the day – we stop at beach sides, lakesides or in forests. We also managed to make it to Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea.
We are now working our way back down the West Coast towards Auckland and plan to be in The Corromandel on the east by the weekend.
Well here we are in Melbourne with only a matter of days left in Australia. This is a long weekend in Victoria (Labour Day) and we will spend it with friends at a house by a lake, a couple of hours north of Melbourne.
Our flight from Perth to Melbourne was fairly uneventful and we arrived safely on a Friday night. Our friends Vito and Natalie took us straight to the buzzing Chapel Street where we enjoyed a fantastic Japanese meal. Melbourne is just full of cafes and restaurants, and the city seemed so big, busy, chic and sophisticated after the more laid back culture of Perth. We were able to spend the weekend catching up with another friend Jan and her family before setting sail for Tasmania on Monday night.
Ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania
Tasmania (the land under down under) is just a fantastic state to visit and we are so glad that we made it there, even if it was only for 10 days. The whirlwind tour was helped by the fact that we had glorious weather for 8½ days which made camping in our little tent a real delight (but of course we did miss Spot and all his luxuries.)
Back to the two-man tent in Tasmania!
Our first stop was the quaint little town of Stanley on the north coast; then two nights in Cradle Mountain where the walking was wonderful and the views just breathtaking. Apparently they only have one clear blue sky day in every ten, so we were thankful for the luck of the Irish to have two consecutive days there with blue cloudless skies – it was just beautiful. From there we drove (we had a hired car) to Strahan in the west, and joined a riverboat cruise on the Gordon River before heading to Lake St. Clair.
Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, was our next stop and what a surprise it was – a lovely clean city that seemed to be a perfect size for living in! The convict settlement of Port Arthur was not what we expected, but in all it’s historical misery was still well worth a visit.
HobartPort Arthur
We spent our last couple of nights in Coles Bay on the east coast and explored a little of Freycinet National Park – again great walking tracks and stunning scenery, and we had the added pleasure of watching five dolphins playing in the bay!
Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania
Tasmania is a definite must if ever any of you visit this land of Oz – we have travelled on a lot of roads (none of them yellow brick) and we haven’t managed to find the wizard yet, but we thank our lucky stars that we have been able to visit some of it’s most magical places over the past six months!
We fly to Auckland, New Zealand next Wednesday so that’s it from Australia for now.
Hi, we're Sharon & Dave an active and adventurous Irish & English couple who've been travelling together for more than 20 years. These posts are our travel stories and personal journeys. Follow our adventures to see where we've been and where we're going next!
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