Wow. Lamb and mint sauce; Im pretty sure eating this meal in New Zealand, cooked by kiwi farmers from a lamb that was raised by those very farmers on their land is the equivalent to being screeched-in in Newfoundland. That's right, I think I'm an honorary kiwi. And I'm quite proud of it. Before eating that meal I spent the day on the cattle farm learning the ropes and rounding up cattle to move into a different paddock. Stunning; that farm was picturesque....

Jim, the truck driver that I met in Atiamuri and stayed with in Napier connected me with family he has in Waipukarau. I would otherwise have probably camped somewhere. It's a good thing that I didn't. I had a lovely evening with Tracey, Shawn and their adorable three year old son who amazingly never had training wheels on his bicycle but went straight onto two wheels. They showed me around their lovely town, shared a beautiful meal with me, picked me up fro...

I casually met this guy, Jim, in Atiamuri. He's an older gentleman who was staying at the same hostel. He offered his name and telephone number and said that if I found myself in Napier that he has a spare room and I could crash at his place for an evening. I had no idea I would ever end up in Napier and I also had no idea how valuable that contact would be. After a couple of nights in a hostel I gave him a call to see if the offer was still on the table "Hi J...

The landscape. It just keeps changing. Valleys, farmland, pine tree farms, mountains, mountain ranges, rolling hills, gorges... It just never seems to stop changing and never ceases to amaze me. Just imagine how nice it would be to be cycling through the ever changing scenery taking in the abundance of lush greenery and charming wildlife on the seat of a bicycle without any worry in the world. Unfortunately, as close as I am, this will never be my reality;...

Even though I didn't go skiing, just being in ohakune made me feel like a ski bum. It was a relatively short and mostly uneventful ride from National Park. I thought I was going to have a nice relaxing evening at the hostel so went into town that afternoon to run errands and attempt to find someone to help fix my busted pannier clip. All the shops were too busy to help but the owner of the hostel was a bike mechanic and helped me secure my pannier with stronge...