Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Day 87: 14 January 2015, Wednesday.

I started the day building my bike. This takes about an hour after setting everything up and loading the luggage. Then it was time to cycle again.

First I had to ride back past the Auckland international Airport to head south, it was only four kilometres…

Back To The Port Of The Air.

From the airport I had to first cycle through the southern districts of the city of Auckland, this was the heaviest traffic I will encounter as Auckland is the biggest metropolitan area in New Zealand. While there I decided to buy a sim card for my phone and rang my brother. I had received an email from him letting me know his address and I wanted to try to get there on this day… but it was a long way.

After leaving the Auckland area I rode along the ‘Great South Road’ and into the countryside. At about the fiftieth kilometre of the day I passed Pukekohe which is a small town which boasts a very fine motor racing circuit. It presents a fantastic ‘Classic Motorcycle’ race meeting every year which I always attend if I am in the country… so I haven’t been to it for eight years!

Look At That Strip Of Tarmac!

I did not have time to linger, I still had eighty kilometres to go… Not far from Pukekohe I passed into my home province, Waikato…

Welcome To Cow Country.

The landscape in New Zealand is such a contrast to the ochre terrain of Australia, I had forgotten just how spectacular it all is!

New Zealand… Nuff Said!

I eventually passed by the fifty-first hundred kilometre of the journey from Perth so here is the road I was travelling…

5100km.

I was pushing along keeping a good pace, the road rolled along flat sections and then over hills, all very pleasant and nothing to severe so it was a nice place to ride along. I crossed the Waikato River a couple of times and I started to really feel like I was almost home. My home town straddles the mighty Waikato so it was a frequent vision during my youth.

The Mighty Waikato River, You Can Keep Your Nile, Thames and Amazons!!!

I passed through a small village called Pukekawa and there I discovered one of the smallest library’s in the world…

Open Friday Between 2pm And 3pm!

I mentioned that the region of Waikato is a cow area, so I have to at least give you a look at good ol’ NZ cattle…

I Am The Mistress Of All I Survey!

I took the above photo because initially the cow had a bird on it’s back and I wanted to capture that but the bird departed before I could take the shot.

I continued on…

I mentioned a week ago that the ride I did from the Morton National Park to Wollongong would be the last time I would exceed one hundred kilometres in a day. I was wrong. Today I rode the furtherest I have ever ridden in a day!

Eventually at nine in the evening I arrived to the Orini area of Waikato where my brother does dwell. It was good to see my brother after eight years, and to meet or reacquaint myself with his children. We ended up talking into the wee hours of the night…

133.34km 6:59T 19.0A 56.1M Total = 5179

So Long To The Land Of Wind And Flies

Day 86: 13 January 2015, Tuesday.

This morning I phoned the airline about my luggage, they told me it would cost two hundred dollars for the extra bag!!! Sod that. Scott recommended we go to the shopping area nearby and buy a large bag so I could fit all my luggage in the one bag and therefore not have the extra bag. At least someone was thinking!

We found an adequate bag for a mere four dollars so that was good. We then had lunch at a Malaysian restaurant (my favourite south-east Asian food!) and then it was time to repack and hit the airport.

Once at the airport I expected the drama to begin, my bike box was too big as well as overweight, but it all come to naught. The lady at the check-in counter was very pleasant and didn’t even weigh the bike (she asked me the weight, I lied) and then asked me to put it in the oversize luggage cart. That was it.

As per normal the flight was a bore. I had booked the emergency exit row when I booked and it came to pass I had the whole row to myself so at least I could stretch out. Then I was back to my home land, New Zealand, and only about one-hundred and fifty kilometres from home!

First I had to pass through customs. As I mentioned yesterday New Zealand is said to be very strict on imported goods, I declared my camping equipment and all they did was check my tent! No problem there. It was only eleven thirty in the evening when I was exiting customs, I thought it would take a lot longer, so I went to look for information about a hotel. This proved to be an easy exercise and I phoned a hotel on the courtesy phone and as they had a free airport transfers I left my bike in the box and waited for ten minutes before I was driven to the hotel.

And that was it. Tomorrow I’ll be back on the bike….