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...

60km/hr headwinds. 53kms. Major hills. I was not about to cycle in those conditions with over 50 pounds of gear on my bike. I went back to visit Christine at the information centre. Man, did she ever feel bad that I didn't raft with the Irish rugby team. I told her I needed to get to National Park and she told me that it was almost 60 dollars to get the bus!!!! Not fit. So, I waited at the info centre all day writing postcards to pass the time between hassli...

I arrived in Turangi by 11am. It was a great 53 km ride. I wish all my rides could be just like that. I got to town and did what I usually do - go straight to the information centre. Christine, the lovely and friendly employee, immediately tried to sell me on white water rafting. She got on the phone with the companies to see if they were operating that day and one of them said that they could book me with the Irish Rugby Team if I wanted to go at 1:30pm. ...

Today I was cycling to gorgeous Lake Taupo. I was about 15 kms away when - BAM - caught in a heavy downpour. Again? Ugh. "OK...", i guess i havent much say about the matter. I reluctantly stopped to get out my rain gear (still in denial that it wasnt just a light shower) and as I was putting on my booties a farmer named Cliff stopped to see if I was alright. "Just putting on my raingear" I said. He looked out his windshield at the wipers on full speed and o...