Coming to New Zealand for a 6 week tour (Jan-Feb 2011)

[Highlander]

Whole heartedly agree with what hawk eye said about Plugz for Lugz, I rate them as my best bit of biking kit.

Good to meet up with you and show you some of what our patch has to offer. Plenty more if you have time to come back for another go.

[olegeezer]

Thursday, February 17. I took the Orient Express into Napier to do some banking. People were walking around in 1920s' dress and riding around in vintage cars from the era. I was enjoying the view of the Napier festival about to take place over the weekend but I want to head north and see the street motorcycle race in Paeroa. I rode toward Gisborne and then up Route 2 to Opotiki which took me through a really nice (and long) gorge. I found a room in the Whakatane Hotel. There were some nice views of the Bay of Plenty as I rode into Whakatane with White Island and Motuhora Island in the distance.

Friday, February 18. A Kiwibiker (Highlander) met me at the hotel and had volunteered to tour me around the area for the day. We had a nice ride and I enjoyed his company as we stopped to rest and chat along the way. We ended up in Rotorua by the lake. Highlander lead me to Tokoroa to meet up with the next group of riders to go to the mc race in Paeroa. These riders, Glen, Carla, Rhys and Bianca fed me well and I had a bed at Rhys' place.

Saturday, February 19. Breakfast was on Rhys and we gathered with the other riders to go up and ride the Coromandel loop which had been recommended by other riders. Now I am riding with 4 friends on Ducati Monsters and my ride was affectionately termed the "Sherman Tank". So, how was I to keep up with these guys and gals, I did know but I would try. I have to keep referring back to what "Clint" said in one of his Dirty Harry movies. They had to wait on me a few times but never more than an hour. Now bear in mind, I've already tested the tip over bars on Shafty's Orient Express and I damn sure didn't want to see the front forks touching the radiator. So, I tried to "take it easy and not let the sound of my own wheels drive me crazy".

Sunday, February 20. We made it to Paeroa and the race was great. I really enjoyed it but was fiddling with my camera when a crash occurred right in front of me. There were no fatalities and I got a good appreciation for how real (crazy) men ride fast motorcycles. Do we have street motorcycle races in the US?? I don't really know but I would like to go to the next one. I failed to find the vendor who made the molded ear plugs and plan to try to find them before I leave. I parted ways with the group and headed north to see what the top end looked like. Once again, it was good to have some fellow riders to hang out with and have their touring advice. I'm starting to get low on time now. I found a neat little cabin only 100m from the beach in Kaiaua. The owner was a very friendly bloke who offered me milk for my breakfast if I needed it. He left me to my own means with free access to his house if I wanted.

Monday, February 21. I headed north on the north island (sounds redundant) trying to stay as close to the water as I could. I got a little rain and hid in a gas station until the sun came out. I got back on the rhode and when I got to Orewa, I liked what I saw and found a room after another ST owner lead me to the address.

[Highlander]

We made it to Paeroa and the race was great. I really enjoyed it but was fiddling with my camera when a crash occurred right in front of me. There were no fatalities and I got a good appreciation for how real (crazy) men ride fast motorcycles. Do we have street motorcycle races in the US??

Can you imagine the law suits if anything went wrong?

... I failed to find the vendor who made the molded ear plugs and plan to try to find them before I leave.

Plugz 4 Lugz are based in Rotorua.
Contact details here I'm sure they will be happy to sort you out before you leave the country. Pretty sure I read that one guy here arranged for them to meet him at the Rotorua Airport when he was passing through and had the plugs made while waiting for his flight.

[Hawkeye]

I failed to find the vendor who made the molded ear plugs and plan to try to find them before I leave.

Oh Bugger Joe!! Plugz 4 Lugz are Rotorua based. You could have got in touch with Sue while you were there. I never thought to give you her contact details.

[olegeezer]

Oh Bugger Joe!! Plugz 4 Lugz are Rotorua based. You could have got in touch with Sue while you were there. I never thought to give you her contact details.

I hope to meet up with her on the way to drop off the bike. She sent here address and phone.

[olegeezer]

Tuesday, February 22. Looks (of the hostel) can be deceiving I've heard. When I woke up this morning, I had a lot of bites on my hands and a few on my forehead. I counted 50+ bites on my hands. I wasn't sure what to make of it, maybe sand flies or something. I loaded up and took off. I meet a nice NZ couple at Snell's beach and we ended up having coffee on the beach together. The lady noticed my hands and asked what was wrong and I said I wasn't sure. She suggested it could be bed bugs? I was already guessing that myself. She said "as in the US, they are becoming more common in New Zealand". Since then I have concluded that it is in fact bed bugs. I googled them and sure enough the red blister like bumps are exactly like the pictures I saw on the internet and it all started to make sense. I slept in my sleeping bag and I only had 3 bites on my legs but they had a field day with my hands which were outside the bag all night. I didn't feel anything while they were biting and I read that they inject a little anesthetic into you plus an anti-clotting agent and then just enjoy while you dream. Pretty crafty critters if you ask me. Thank God they didn't get on the boys!! They probably figured the blood supply there would be limited and hunted elsewhere. Its been about three days now and I have no new bites so I am hopeful that none of them got in my bag and luggage to start another colony. I emailed the home office of the hostel and have got no response so far. I am not angry, I would just like for them to address it for future customers as I hear they can be very hard to get rid of . So, when you travel, beware, but I don't know how you avoid them when you sleep in a different bed every night for 6 weeks?
I think I had a few bites on me once before on another trip but can't remember where it was and I did not know what caused the blisters. A good excuse to camp more I guess. They hide during the days and come out at night so how are you going to know? I previously also thought they were not visible to the naked eye but apparently they are big enough to be seen, if you can catch them out. The bites itch a little but mostly just look gross and disgusting. I'm not exactly excited about telling this part of the story but it is good to know for travelers.

Now the good news is.......... I had a nice ride, crossing over to the west side of the island and got to see the Kauri tree museum at Mamaranui. It gave me a good appreciation of the importance of the tree, its gum and the history of its use. I rode further north and got to see the "Big Kahuna" of the remaining Kauri trees (named Hane Mahuta. It was 13.8 meters in circumference and impressive to see. It is estimated to be over 2000 years old. The trunk is tall with branches and leaves only at the top. I imagine most of the remaining Kauri trees are protected. The tree was harvested (it seems) in a quick fashion in the early 20th century. I thought about how quickly America has used some of its best resources. Thousands of years to grow and only a few hours to cut it down.
I continued north to a place called Omapere. You pop up over a hill and a beautiful harbor (Hokianga) is below with a huge, bare sand dune on the opposite side of the harbor. I found another hostel room on an old farm and the owner cooked a dinner of lamb roast for myself, a young German doctor and his wife. The German couple were traveling with their 5 month old daughter. It was good and we had no TV, internet or bed bugs as far as I know. The owners grew there own veggies, fruit and their own sheep.

[ducatigirl]

Hi Jo, I enjoy reading your posts and am pleased you seem to enjoy the rest of NZ.
It was an absolute pleasure to have met you and I really enjoyed your company whilst riding/traveling North and around the Coromandel. Safe travels my friend and so long. Bianca x

[olegeezer]

Hi Jo, I enjoy reading your posts and am pleased you seem to enjoy the rest of NZ.
It was an absolute pleasure to have met you and I really enjoyed your company whilst riding/traveling North and around the Coromandel. Safe travels my friend and so long. Bianca x

Thanks B and good on ya!
It has been a great ride for the Olegeezer.....

[Hawkeye]

It has been a great ride for the Olegeezer.....

I think you will find that all of the KBers that have met you have really enjoyed your company and it's been our pleasure to show you around. I take my hat off to you!!
And I will take you up on that offer someday Joe. And then you can show me around your neck of the woods!
When do you head back to the US?

PS. If you manage to catch up with Sue to get some plugs.... They are great for killing the noise on the plane

[Old Steve]

My wife and I were just returning to our car in the parking lot at the Snells Beach shops when this guy rides up on a burguindy ST1300 and asks if there's anywhere around where he can get a cup of coffee down at a beach. We didn't think so, but directed him down to Snells Beach, lovely beach with pohutukawas to sit under right on the edge of the beach.

After he'd headed off down the hill my wife, ever the considerate one, said, "Why don't we take him a cup of coffee and you can have a chat with him."

So we went down, found out what coffee he drank, and the three of us spent an hour or so chatting right on the edge of the sand at Snells beach. Then I found out he was Joe, known as Olegeezer from KB, so introduced myself, and we spent some time plotting places for him to see on his map of Auckland. Gave him some solarcaine for his bites.

If you get this in time Joe, try to get to Matai Bay on the way down the eastern side from Cape Rienga. You go up this peninsular before you get to Cable Bay, Coopers Beach and Manganui, to the Department of Conservation land at the top, and there is this beautiful bay, almost no-one around. You can camp there for $8/day - honesty box on the side of the ranger's hut. We'd forgotten our swimming gear so had a skinny dip half way round the bay, no-one for kilometres. It's one of those places you'll remember for the rest of your life.

Ride safe Joe, and come back and see us one day. Always a spare bed at our place.

[olegeezer]

Hawkeye, I do hope you make it to my neck of the woods, but I'll have to beat the women off you with a stick when they hear that accent. (no joke)
I plan to try to get up to see Sue for the Plugz

Ole Steve, thanks for the coffee and "good on you and Jeanne"!!


February 23, Wednesday. I headed further north to find the "bitter end" of the north island. They had recently sealed the road all the way to Cape Reinga which was good for me and the Orient Express. I was surprised at the beauty of the place when I finally got there. (but why would I be surprised in New Zealand??) I took a bunch of pics and headed back south to find a room and food.
I stopped at Mangonui after having it recommended by two guys on bikes that I had a beverage with on the way up. One fellow was riding a Triumph Tiger which I currently have on the radar screen for my dual sporting acquisition. I ran into two gentlemen who were apparently on a quick trip up the cape that had turned into an annual tradition. I had dinner with Graham and John (Bluenose fish and chips and two bottles of whine). We all had rooms at the Mangonui hotel and the nice owner let me lock the bike inside the compound. The town was still a fishing village and we contemplated going out on a 1 day charter but the weather was forecast for "nasty".

February 24, Thirstday. Graham, John and I had breakfast together and I headed south, riding around the coastline where I could. I did not get very far this day and ended up in Whangaroa. I found a great room to myself with a large window looking down on Whangaroa Harbor. I went down to the harbor for dinner and someone had a striped marlin hanging on the dock that weighed 104 kg. It was huge and I had never seen a fish this big (other than one mounted). I asked a fellow there if it was a large one and he said no. It was not uncommon for them to weigh 240 kg. They smoke the fish and its illegal to sell it. I was wanting some to sample but apparently you must have connections to get it.

February 25, TGIF? Not. I went down for breakfast and ran into Graham and John to my surprise. We chatted for a bit but no place was open for breakfast. Graham told me call him and he would host me for a night if I was in his neck of the woods. I took off looking for more bays and beaches and of course, food. I rode around Takou Bay and found a nice cafe in Kerikeri and the very tasty breakfast (including black pudding, which is some kind of blood sausage?) I left and wanted to go to Russell, which was an old whaling town with quite a reputation for bad men and brothels back in the day? It seemed quite benign now and I had to take a short ferry ride to get there. I rode on south and found a campground at Ruakaka beach on Bream Bay.

Saturday, February 26. I headed south to Wellsford and turned west to Helensville just to avoid the same track I made going north. I stopped at a MacDonalds to try to use their (useless) WI-FI and a fellow there told me I should ride up into the Waitakere Range and to a beach at Karekare and Piha. I was glad I met this guy because the beach and ride there was pretty nice. I had to walk a ways to the beach but when I got there I ran into a friendly officer of the local surf club. They happened to be cooking sausages on the grill and I asked if they were for sale. The man called Phil said no but we will give you one. I insisted on paying and he suggested I could donate to the cause of building a new surf club building. I made a donation and ate two sausages. Phil was informative about the area and in the end he offered to let me camp on his "paddock".
Which I did, and after setting up the tent, I hiked back down to the beach to watch the sunset.....very nice. I sleep well on the paddock with the wind blowing all night and I could still hear the waves crashing on the beach.

Sunday, February 27. I woke up shortly after sunrise and Phil came down and offered me breakfast in his house, which I could not refuse. His wife made bacon and breakfast fritters and it was all good. Phil let me use his computer and when I checked my mail I had a message from Graham telling me his address and with an invitation to come and visit his home. I tried to compensate with another donation for the surf club and rode back up to top of the Waitakere Range. As I was coming back into a town I was stopped by the police. They were doing a safety survey on motorcyclist and I pulled over and surrendered my license. The officer quickly got on his radio and began checking out the bike registration. This prompted questions about whose bike I was riding. I simply told the truth and they were very polite. They liked my safety gear and I passed their inspection with a perfect score of 21 of 21!! The officer gave me good directions to Graham's address and I was on my way. I had no difficulty finding Graham's house and he was pulling into his driveway when I called him. He had a very nice place on ten acres and we toured the grounds, sampled his fresh, off the tree, figs and headed out for a tour of Auckland in his car. I really enjoyed my stay with him, we seemed to have a lot in common on how we thought the world should be, and as an added bonus, he was an excellent cook!! Graham had lost his wife about 16 years ago and I could tell that she was sorely missed.

Monday, February 28. I left Graham's place and had to fight a little traffic coming into Auckland but it was not really bad. I had decided to head toward Ragland on the west coast for the night where I ended up in farm hostel with at least 5 Americans and one Canadian, one couple was from Idaho. The owners were friendly and they had wi-fi. I decided to cook in and made a quick trip to store. All is well and the bike drop off point is within a good days ride.

[Quasi]

hey Joe,
Another interesting write up.Good to hear about the continuation of your travels.
Finally - the road kill picture

[olegeezer]

hey Joe,
Another interesting write up.Good to hear about the continuation of your travels.
Finally - the road kill picture

Yea, its like the fun never stops!! May have to change my user name to "olebugger"

[2wheeldrifter]

Hey Joe... that road kill is in good nick, you could of gotten a meal and made a hat from that one

Glad your still having a good time and you are feeding our night life while you sleep lol

Take care

[olegeezer]

2wheeler, you and Nutjob are the best cooks I know in Tokoroa!! (I won't tell anyone back home that Tokoroa is not a big place). I dont care where you got the chicken, it was good..........