Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tsunami Warning
Apparently a Tsunami has struck the Samoan Islands today. This was breaking news in New Zealand, and a Tsunami warning was issued for the large parts of the west coast. Paihia being a coastal town is protected by the bay and all of its islands. So in the end the biggest waves hit the East Cape and where less then a meter high, and the waves hitting Russel / Paihia were even less. So luckily nothing bad happened here.
This morning I had booked a trip out in the bay (of Islands) to visit the hole in the rock. The trip was not canceled but due to safety we could not go out to visit the hole. We did see quite a number of nice islands in the inner section of the bay. So if someone is considering to move to New Zealand this is by far the nicest place i have seen so far. On the return trip it allowed me to visit the Town of Russel as well. It's a nice town opposite of Paihia and one of the oldest settlements in New Zealand. It's more upmarket then Paihia and has some nice old wooden houses.
Yesterday evening i joined in at the local poker tournament at which i enjoyed a nice glas of Grolsch (yes they do have decent dutch beer over here!). Eventually I finished 3rd overall (12 participants) playing against some seasoned veterans (elderly couple). Poker was a lot better then watching a girl flic at the hostel. Anyway I have seen most things in and around Paihia which means that tomorrow i will be heading south to visit Whangarei and while traveling in that direction i will stop over at the most famous toilet (Hundertwasser) in New Zealand at Kawakawa.
This morning I had booked a trip out in the bay (of Islands) to visit the hole in the rock. The trip was not canceled but due to safety we could not go out to visit the hole. We did see quite a number of nice islands in the inner section of the bay. So if someone is considering to move to New Zealand this is by far the nicest place i have seen so far. On the return trip it allowed me to visit the Town of Russel as well. It's a nice town opposite of Paihia and one of the oldest settlements in New Zealand. It's more upmarket then Paihia and has some nice old wooden houses.
Yesterday evening i joined in at the local poker tournament at which i enjoyed a nice glas of Grolsch (yes they do have decent dutch beer over here!). Eventually I finished 3rd overall (12 participants) playing against some seasoned veterans (elderly couple). Poker was a lot better then watching a girl flic at the hostel. Anyway I have seen most things in and around Paihia which means that tomorrow i will be heading south to visit Whangarei and while traveling in that direction i will stop over at the most famous toilet (Hundertwasser) in New Zealand at Kawakawa.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
And onwards by Car
When we left on the 26th the weather in opononi was once again 'very nice'. However by the time we (a german girl Steffi joined) reached Kaitaia it looked a little better. Traveling together sounded like a good plan then the both of us could pay attention to drive on the left hand side of the road.
The plan was to stay at the Pukenui backpackers but before going there we had a nice meal at the fish and chips shop in Mangonui. This was my first time of Fish and Chips and to be honest it could not have been fresher.
The hostel in Pukenui also had a group of Germans. Actually i have not yet spend an evening at a hostel without germans so far. And I guess this will remain the same for the rest of the trip. Well what can I say, in europe you meet plenty of germans and apparantly they also really like New Zealand. Now i can brush up on my daily german ;-).
In New Zealand summer time started on the 27th so the night was one hour less. We left early for Cape Reinga and the weather looked promising. To be honest it was a nice drive up to the Cape. The weather could not have been better, compared to the rest of the week.
The hostel in Pukenui also had a group of Germans. Actually i have not yet spend an evening at a hostel without germans so far. And I guess this will remain the same for the rest of the trip. Well what can I say, in europe you meet plenty of germans and apparantly they also really like New Zealand. Now i can brush up on my daily german ;-).
In New Zealand summer time started on the 27th so the night was one hour less. We left early for Cape Reinga and the weather looked promising. To be honest it was a nice drive up to the Cape. The weather could not have been better, compared to the rest of the week.
The Cape offers you the most amazing view to see the joining of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea. There are clifs and beaches and sanddunes. Walking up the Sand Dunes was quite a challenge but the view was rewarding as well.
From the Cape we travelled to the South heading for the Bay of Islands. Eventually we arrived at Keri Keri. This is where we split again, by this time I was really glad about that.
On Monday I visited all the sites in and around Keri Keri, The oldest house in New Zealand the Stone house. there is also a copy of a pre-european Maori village called Rewa's Village, and the most impressive site where the ... waterfalls.
In the afternoon It was a short trip to Paihia my next destination, which is 'the' beach resort in the bay of islands. Just before reaching Paihia you can visit the 'The Waitangi Treaty grounds' a historic site at which the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Over there you can visit a beautifull Maori meeting house, and the treaty house.
From the Cape we travelled to the South heading for the Bay of Islands. Eventually we arrived at Keri Keri. This is where we split again, by this time I was really glad about that.
On Monday I visited all the sites in and around Keri Keri, The oldest house in New Zealand the Stone house. there is also a copy of a pre-european Maori village called Rewa's Village, and the most impressive site where the ... waterfalls.
In the afternoon It was a short trip to Paihia my next destination, which is 'the' beach resort in the bay of islands. Just before reaching Paihia you can visit the 'The Waitangi Treaty grounds' a historic site at which the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Over there you can visit a beautifull Maori meeting house, and the treaty house.
I booked the full guided tour on tuesday morning, and luckily the weather was still ok. The tuesday afternoon however is really one more nice example of rainy new zealand.
I will upload some pictures if I have access to WIFI with an unlimited upload.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sinusitis
Apparantly the bad weather of the first 3 days is taking its toll. From thursday to friday I really had a bad night of sleep. Which resulted in a nice sinusitis. Yesterday I looked at all the options of continuing my journey. And continuing by bike is not the best option for the next few days.
Appart from the sinusitis, I also have to reconsider the travelling by bike in general. I honestly underestimated the New Zealand weather and countryside (steeper then expected). My travelling speed by bike is less then 60 km a day. During the cycling the main focus is to reach the nearest backpackers. Usually by the time i arrived at the backpackers I am exhausted. Now i know that this will improve over time. However my time in New Zealand is limited.
And when reviewing my priorities, then discovering New Zealand is the top one and travelling by bike is secondary to that. So taking the weather and the countryside into the equasion as well then the end result is that travellling by car is more suitable for discovering New Zealand.
Yesterday I could join Sue the owner of the Opononi backpackers for her grocery shopping trip to Kaihohe and Keri Keri. And while doing so i decided to rent a car for the next few days. Just to check out how the left hand driving is.
In all travelling by car will allow me to cover larger distances and save more time to see and do things.
Appart from the sinusitis, I also have to reconsider the travelling by bike in general. I honestly underestimated the New Zealand weather and countryside (steeper then expected). My travelling speed by bike is less then 60 km a day. During the cycling the main focus is to reach the nearest backpackers. Usually by the time i arrived at the backpackers I am exhausted. Now i know that this will improve over time. However my time in New Zealand is limited.
And when reviewing my priorities, then discovering New Zealand is the top one and travelling by bike is secondary to that. So taking the weather and the countryside into the equasion as well then the end result is that travellling by car is more suitable for discovering New Zealand.
Yesterday I could join Sue the owner of the Opononi backpackers for her grocery shopping trip to Kaihohe and Keri Keri. And while doing so i decided to rent a car for the next few days. Just to check out how the left hand driving is.
In all travelling by car will allow me to cover larger distances and save more time to see and do things.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Kauri Forest and Opononi
24th of september started at the campsite of the waipoua forrest. Initially i wanted to stay there another night. But the cabins are pretty basic, and i had some wet clothes which did not dry during the night. Besides that the weather was also nice in the morning so i decided to continue my travels up north.
When leaving the campsite it started of with a nice 7 km climb up to 386 meters. Kind of like cycling up the 'vaalserberg' but this time with 40kg of luggage, it took me about one hour.
Up on the mountain there are two main sites to visit the huge Kauri trees. Both have a spectacular view on some of the biggest Kauri trees in New Zealand. I managed to see the Tane Mahuta (largest living kauri) and the Te Matau Ngahere (second largest) and the Four Sisters.
From the forest onwards there was a nice downhill drive into Waimamaku then the cruising to Omapere and Opononi was fairly easy, except for one steep hill just before Omapere. This one is similar to the 'Cauberg' and with all the luggage I was not able to cycle all the way up.
By the time I reach Whakatane I really will reduce the number of kilo's of luggage. So I am already thinking about which things to leave there.
That last hill really cost me quite some energy. However the view from the top was a real compensation. Looking ahead the closest backpackers past Opononi would be in Kohu Kohu, which is another 30KM of cycling.
Luckily I decided to to stay in Opononi and guess what when i got my room it started to pour and it continued to rain for a couple of hours so it was a good choice to stay here for the night.
Tomorrow morning I will add some pictures to my latest posts.
When leaving the campsite it started of with a nice 7 km climb up to 386 meters. Kind of like cycling up the 'vaalserberg' but this time with 40kg of luggage, it took me about one hour.
Up on the mountain there are two main sites to visit the huge Kauri trees. Both have a spectacular view on some of the biggest Kauri trees in New Zealand. I managed to see the Tane Mahuta (largest living kauri) and the Te Matau Ngahere (second largest) and the Four Sisters.
From the forest onwards there was a nice downhill drive into Waimamaku then the cruising to Omapere and Opononi was fairly easy, except for one steep hill just before Omapere. This one is similar to the 'Cauberg' and with all the luggage I was not able to cycle all the way up.
By the time I reach Whakatane I really will reduce the number of kilo's of luggage. So I am already thinking about which things to leave there.
That last hill really cost me quite some energy. However the view from the top was a real compensation. Looking ahead the closest backpackers past Opononi would be in Kohu Kohu, which is another 30KM of cycling.
Luckily I decided to to stay in Opononi and guess what when i got my room it started to pour and it continued to rain for a couple of hours so it was a good choice to stay here for the night.
Tomorrow morning I will add some pictures to my latest posts.
Leaving Dargaville
Day 2 on the bike, after a good night of sleep in Dargaville the weatherforecast for today is not that great. Not that great means some rains are forecast and there will be a northerly wind. In short I suffered from a lot of headwind (= tegenwind in english). The headwind was even worse then on the 22nd, in fact on a steep hilly climb my average speed dropped to 6 km/h which is my absolute worst ever. I spend about 3 hours to on a 30 kilometer leg to visit Kaihu.
At the local Tavern i hoped to have a nice hot meal but unfortunatelly the cook was sick today. Luckily one of the guests recommended the minced meat and cheese pie, and these were great. From Kaihu towards the Waipoua Forest Camp grounds it is a 23 kilometer ride with some very steep hills. So we discussed all options on how to best cycle uphill.
Eventually 3 alternatives are available, one which the owner of the Backpackers in Dargaville recommended and another one only known by locals. But by the time i finished my 2nd pie Jack offered to drive me up the peak. Eventually he even drove me as far as the Waipou Forest camp grounds which proves once again the new zealand hospitality. This was due to the bad weather, it had started to rain continuously and the headwinds were fierce on top of the ridge.
At the camp site a number of cabins are available and luckily there were plenty available since it is not peak season.
The nice girl at the reception explained the difference between a 1 and 2 person cabin which resulten in 2 person cabin for 2 nights. It was a 300 meter walk from the reception to the cabin, and long enough to become really wet. Anyway the cabin is nice and dry, And since there is no TV nor internet i have plenty of time to write this story.
The actual ride is spectacular the countryside between Dargaville and Kaihu is simply stunning however due to the headwind I focussed mainly on my new friend the white line. In order to avoid problems with other drivers I stay closely to the white line on the lefthand side of the road. Due to the serious headwinds controlling the bike turned out to be quite a challenge.
Anyway i made it and that is what counts.
At the local Tavern i hoped to have a nice hot meal but unfortunatelly the cook was sick today. Luckily one of the guests recommended the minced meat and cheese pie, and these were great. From Kaihu towards the Waipoua Forest Camp grounds it is a 23 kilometer ride with some very steep hills. So we discussed all options on how to best cycle uphill.
Eventually 3 alternatives are available, one which the owner of the Backpackers in Dargaville recommended and another one only known by locals. But by the time i finished my 2nd pie Jack offered to drive me up the peak. Eventually he even drove me as far as the Waipou Forest camp grounds which proves once again the new zealand hospitality. This was due to the bad weather, it had started to rain continuously and the headwinds were fierce on top of the ridge.
At the camp site a number of cabins are available and luckily there were plenty available since it is not peak season.
The nice girl at the reception explained the difference between a 1 and 2 person cabin which resulten in 2 person cabin for 2 nights. It was a 300 meter walk from the reception to the cabin, and long enough to become really wet. Anyway the cabin is nice and dry, And since there is no TV nor internet i have plenty of time to write this story.
The actual ride is spectacular the countryside between Dargaville and Kaihu is simply stunning however due to the headwind I focussed mainly on my new friend the white line. In order to avoid problems with other drivers I stay closely to the white line on the lefthand side of the road. Due to the serious headwinds controlling the bike turned out to be quite a challenge.
Anyway i made it and that is what counts.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The first day of Traveling & Cycling
The weather this morning in Auckland was not the best so far. However yesterday evening i looked into the options of leaving Auckland for Northland.
And taking the weather forecast into account the best option was to take a bus to Dargaville. So early in the morning I left the B&B and headed to the Auckland Ferry Building. Guess what the driver of the mini bus was a dutch guy. So we chatted for nearly the entire journey. He recommended to visit the Kauri Museum and continue to Dargaville on bike. (Kauri is a huge tree, similar to the trees in yellow stone park)
So I spent one hour at the Kauri Museum and then started cycling. And to be honest the first kilometers were quite a challenge, steep climbs and 'tegenwind'. When i reached Ruawai I bought some additional supplies (water, coke and some muesli bars) and continued the last 28 kilometer towards Dargaville. In all it was a really nice ride and I was happy to reach Dargaville. The backpackers hostel is nice and there is currently one other guy (german) staying here.
After taking a nice hot shower and having dinner i spent part of the evening chatting with the other guest. And i really felt sleapy already at 21.00. Which is a good thing, it looks like cycling will help in adjusting to the local timezone ;-). Anyway will do some grocery shopping before leaving for a nice ride to a camping close to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. So this will be a day without internet will be nice for a change but i guess i will have to buy supplies for 2 days.
And taking the weather forecast into account the best option was to take a bus to Dargaville. So early in the morning I left the B&B and headed to the Auckland Ferry Building. Guess what the driver of the mini bus was a dutch guy. So we chatted for nearly the entire journey. He recommended to visit the Kauri Museum and continue to Dargaville on bike. (Kauri is a huge tree, similar to the trees in yellow stone park)
So I spent one hour at the Kauri Museum and then started cycling. And to be honest the first kilometers were quite a challenge, steep climbs and 'tegenwind'. When i reached Ruawai I bought some additional supplies (water, coke and some muesli bars) and continued the last 28 kilometer towards Dargaville. In all it was a really nice ride and I was happy to reach Dargaville. The backpackers hostel is nice and there is currently one other guy (german) staying here.
After taking a nice hot shower and having dinner i spent part of the evening chatting with the other guest. And i really felt sleapy already at 21.00. Which is a good thing, it looks like cycling will help in adjusting to the local timezone ;-). Anyway will do some grocery shopping before leaving for a nice ride to a camping close to the Waipoua Kauri Forest. So this will be a day without internet will be nice for a change but i guess i will have to buy supplies for 2 days.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Skytower in Auckland
Adriaan mentioned that visiting the Skytower could best be combined with a visit to the Orbit restaurant on top. And i completely agree, the restaurant rotates a full 360 degrees so you have 'the' best viewing experience of Auckland. And having a nice dinner while you enjoy the beautiful view is a nice added bonus.
Forecast for today are not so good and tomorrow might be even worse. So I might reconsider my plans to start cycling. Next to that I still suffer from Jetlag, now it is 4.24 in the night so I am still in between timezones.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Travel is all about meeting people
During my trip i already met a number of nice people.
Starting with my encounter at Schiphol airport I met Mrs. Vanderveeken. A 76 year old lady with dutch roots living in NZ for the last 50 years. She participated in the master games in Finnland prior to visiting some relatives in Holland. She invited me to visit her and her family in Whangarei.
At the B&B (Chalet Chevron) in Auckland i met the nice owners Kelly and Barb. They provided a number of wonderfull insider tips due to which i will spend some additional time in the Auckland region.As a matter of fact on my return trip i will stay at this B&B again for a couple of days, so i can highly recommend it.
If weather permits i will take a photo of the B&B either today or in december.
At the B&B i also met Sean a guy from the UK who recently migrated to NZ. That seems like quite a challenge to me, since his family will join him in early januari.
Last night while watching the rugby match between the all blacks (NZ) and the wallabee's (AU) which NZ clearly won i met Adriaan a South African guy who lives in New Zealand for a number of years now. His wife recently gave birth to their second child. He is living south of Whangarei and i will visit them during the return trip from northland.
Well this is the best thing about travelling meeting al kinds of nice intersting people.
Starting with my encounter at Schiphol airport I met Mrs. Vanderveeken. A 76 year old lady with dutch roots living in NZ for the last 50 years. She participated in the master games in Finnland prior to visiting some relatives in Holland. She invited me to visit her and her family in Whangarei.
At the B&B (Chalet Chevron) in Auckland i met the nice owners Kelly and Barb. They provided a number of wonderfull insider tips due to which i will spend some additional time in the Auckland region.As a matter of fact on my return trip i will stay at this B&B again for a couple of days, so i can highly recommend it.
If weather permits i will take a photo of the B&B either today or in december.
At the B&B i also met Sean a guy from the UK who recently migrated to NZ. That seems like quite a challenge to me, since his family will join him in early januari.
Last night while watching the rugby match between the all blacks (NZ) and the wallabee's (AU) which NZ clearly won i met Adriaan a South African guy who lives in New Zealand for a number of years now. His wife recently gave birth to their second child. He is living south of Whangarei and i will visit them during the return trip from northland.
Well this is the best thing about travelling meeting al kinds of nice intersting people.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Greetings to the people at Philips
It is always nice to see a familiar logo ;-) abroad. This is a nice 'lichtreclame' close to the Auckland Harbor District which is one of the main tourist attractions.
Philips is considered to be a brand of home appliances (mostly the former DAP product range) and light bulbs over here.
The harbour district and Queen Street are at the heart of CBD (Commercial Business District).
A good option to discover Auckland is to use the green link busses, they are cheap and provide a circle tour which show most of the city.
While enjoying the tour i discovered plenty of parts of Auckland which i still want to visit. So on the return trip i will plan in some additional days in Auckland.
And Barb (Kelly's wife), mentioned that you can also have sailing tour of the harbour on a competition sailing boat in Auckland. That sounds really tempting so i will do that in december as well.
Auckland view from my room at the B&B
This is a view of the eastern suburbs looking out over Hobson Bay.
Today the weather could have been better, however tomorrow's forecasts are very promising. Tomorrow I will visit the Auckland Skytower and make some nice pictures of the city skyline.
Fixed my problem with the phone charger today as well. Apparantly HTC branded phones are not being sold in NZ.
I am almost ready to start the actual cycling. Got some essential gear as well over here. Found a nice Icebreaker outlet shop which i will surely visit prior to leaving NZ in december.
I am almost ready to start the actual cycling. Got some essential gear as well over here. Found a nice Icebreaker outlet shop which i will surely visit prior to leaving NZ in december.
The bike arrived !!!! finally
The airline phoned the B&B already in the morning explaining that the bike would be on the first inbound plane from Hong Kong. The plane was supposed to arrive at 11.00 local time. And my bike would be delivered between 12.00 and 12.30.
So after doing some shopping i returned to the B&B at 11.30 anxious to receive the bike. However after waiting for the most part of the afternoon i was getting quite hungry. Luckily Kelly the owner of the B&B arrived at 14.30 and would stay at the frontdesk for most of the afternoon.
According to the airline the bike would be delivered before 15.00. So i enjoyed a very nice lunch at one of Auckland's finest Indian restaurants (Oh Calcutta).
However when i returned from lunch still no bike. So i contacted the airline a 3rd time and they confirmed that the bike arrived in Auckland, already passed through the bio inspection at the airport and was due for pickup by a minivan.
Even after spending another hour of waiting still no bike. By that time i also started to become rather tired so i went for a small nap. And guess what after only 10 minutes of resting the phone rang with the best news of the day.
The cardboard box with the bike finally arrived at 17.00 local time and when unpacking it it is still in prime condition!!!
In short I can recommend carrying a bike on a plane (especially KLM which costs 80 euro's end-to-end).
So after doing some shopping i returned to the B&B at 11.30 anxious to receive the bike. However after waiting for the most part of the afternoon i was getting quite hungry. Luckily Kelly the owner of the B&B arrived at 14.30 and would stay at the frontdesk for most of the afternoon.
According to the airline the bike would be delivered before 15.00. So i enjoyed a very nice lunch at one of Auckland's finest Indian restaurants (Oh Calcutta).
However when i returned from lunch still no bike. So i contacted the airline a 3rd time and they confirmed that the bike arrived in Auckland, already passed through the bio inspection at the airport and was due for pickup by a minivan.
Even after spending another hour of waiting still no bike. By that time i also started to become rather tired so i went for a small nap. And guess what after only 10 minutes of resting the phone rang with the best news of the day.
The cardboard box with the bike finally arrived at 17.00 local time and when unpacking it it is still in prime condition!!!
In short I can recommend carrying a bike on a plane (especially KLM which costs 80 euro's end-to-end).
Friday, September 18, 2009
Day 2 in Auckland
Booked a nice and cosy B&B in Auckland, and since they have an internet connection i can update my weblog rather quickly. In future the updates will be less frequent depending on my access to internet.
Yesterday i had my first shopping experience in NZ, and was able to buy a prepaid simcard. So i do have a NZ mobile number now. The phone works nicely although apparantly the volume on the receiving end (NL) seems to be rather low.
This morning i received a phonecall from the airline and my bike will be arriving in NZ today, which is great news. Let's see whether it is also still in prime condition.
Yesterday i had my first shopping experience in NZ, and was able to buy a prepaid simcard. So i do have a NZ mobile number now. The phone works nicely although apparantly the volume on the receiving end (NL) seems to be rather low.
This morning i received a phonecall from the airline and my bike will be arriving in NZ today, which is great news. Let's see whether it is also still in prime condition.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Trip towards Auckland
At the Schiphol airport i met a fellow traveler to New Zealand.
She participated in the master games at the age of 76 (kind of an olympic games for 35 - 100+) in Finland and managed to win 5 medals. This is quite an achievement and means that i traveled in the company of a genuine world champion. After attending these games she spend spend some additional time in the netherlands to visit her relatives.
The airplane trip was quite a challenge. The KLM plane was delayed for 3 hours, which meant that we would miss the Air New Zealand flight in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong the groundstaff explained that the Air New Zealand flight was delayed as well. And their plan was to re-book us to a Cathay Pacific flight still on the 16th. Luckily that worked out nicely at least that was my assumption.
The flight to Auckland was fine however not all lugage was transported to Auckland. In fact my bike is most likely still in Hong Kong. However all other lugage arrived correctly in Auckland. So hopefully the bike will be delivered to my Auckland hotel tomorrow (18th).Once the bike is here i can finally start my cycling trip!!
She participated in the master games at the age of 76 (kind of an olympic games for 35 - 100+) in Finland and managed to win 5 medals. This is quite an achievement and means that i traveled in the company of a genuine world champion. After attending these games she spend spend some additional time in the netherlands to visit her relatives.
The airplane trip was quite a challenge. The KLM plane was delayed for 3 hours, which meant that we would miss the Air New Zealand flight in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong the groundstaff explained that the Air New Zealand flight was delayed as well. And their plan was to re-book us to a Cathay Pacific flight still on the 16th. Luckily that worked out nicely at least that was my assumption.
The flight to Auckland was fine however not all lugage was transported to Auckland. In fact my bike is most likely still in Hong Kong. However all other lugage arrived correctly in Auckland. So hopefully the bike will be delivered to my Auckland hotel tomorrow (18th).Once the bike is here i can finally start my cycling trip!!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Almost ready to go to schiphol
All gear has been packed neatly into the cycling bags. Will post a photo as soon as all the bags have been attached to the bike.
Let's see if the pack lists of other people are good enough.The bag space is currently still ok, and there is still room for food etc. which i will buy in NZ.
The weather in Eindhoven is real 'nice' dutch weather, currently Auckland has similar weather so no big change ;-).
Let's see if the pack lists of other people are good enough.The bag space is currently still ok, and there is still room for food etc. which i will buy in NZ.
The weather in Eindhoven is real 'nice' dutch weather, currently Auckland has similar weather so no big change ;-).
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Now the real preparation starts
In mid april the tickets where confirmed and this was the actual trigger to start the real preparation.
So what gear do you actually need for such a travel experience?
A tent? a sleeping bag? and what else?
Luckily lot's of people have conducted these kind of trips prior to mine. And some of those people have shared their expertise on the internet.
One of the sites which provided a lot of information is: www.wereldfietser.nl.
The forum on this site provides info on all kinds of subjects and all the pro's and con's on the subject of which tent to buy proved very valuable.
Next to this forum a lot of people also provided packing lists. And if you combine all those you can create a nice shopping list. Anyway spending time on finding/buying equipment is a nice part of the pre-trip experience.
So what gear do you actually need for such a travel experience?
A tent? a sleeping bag? and what else?
Luckily lot's of people have conducted these kind of trips prior to mine. And some of those people have shared their expertise on the internet.
One of the sites which provided a lot of information is: www.wereldfietser.nl.
The forum on this site provides info on all kinds of subjects and all the pro's and con's on the subject of which tent to buy proved very valuable.
Next to this forum a lot of people also provided packing lists. And if you combine all those you can create a nice shopping list. Anyway spending time on finding/buying equipment is a nice part of the pre-trip experience.
Preparation of the New Zealand trip (2)
The next obvious step was to book the tickets. Well initially the plan was to use frequent flyer miles, however Korean Air (KLM partner in Asia Pacific) did not offer any of those bonus flights.
Anyway while searching the net it was rather easy to find a good alternative.
Now I will depart from Amsterdam (Schiphol) on the 15th of September with a stop over in Hong Kong and arrival at Auckland International on the 17th of september.
The traveling time (2 times a 11 hour flight) is not that appealing however there are no real alternatives.
Anyway if i spend 3 months of holiday in NZ then a 24 hour travel time is small price to pay.
Anyway while searching the net it was rather easy to find a good alternative.
Now I will depart from Amsterdam (Schiphol) on the 15th of September with a stop over in Hong Kong and arrival at Auckland International on the 17th of september.
The traveling time (2 times a 11 hour flight) is not that appealing however there are no real alternatives.
Anyway if i spend 3 months of holiday in NZ then a 24 hour travel time is small price to pay.
Preparation of the New Zealand trip (1)
The destination for my first cycling holiday was easily found. An aunt of my mother lives in New Zealand and from earliest memory she send nice postcards to my grandmother, that is when the new zealand virus struck me.
The preparation of this trip already started in early 2008.
Prior to 2008 i already bought a NZ travel guide, and this was augmented by the lonely planet new zealand cycling guide. Next to the travel guides my first searches on the internet provided additional useful information.
The initial plan was to travel to New Zealand in Q1 2009 (mid january - mid april). Weather wise this is according to all travel guides one of the best periods to visit the country.
However due to unforseen circumstances (a very nice project @ philips) the travel date eventually changed. Rescheduling meant that I had to look for another traveling period as an alternatives. So instead of visiting NZ in late summer to early autumn I decided to visit in mid spring to early summer.
The preparation of this trip already started in early 2008.
Prior to 2008 i already bought a NZ travel guide, and this was augmented by the lonely planet new zealand cycling guide. Next to the travel guides my first searches on the internet provided additional useful information.
The initial plan was to travel to New Zealand in Q1 2009 (mid january - mid april). Weather wise this is according to all travel guides one of the best periods to visit the country.
However due to unforseen circumstances (a very nice project @ philips) the travel date eventually changed. Rescheduling meant that I had to look for another traveling period as an alternatives. So instead of visiting NZ in late summer to early autumn I decided to visit in mid spring to early summer.
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