Custom Cycling Maps of the Trip

19/02/08
Just thought I’d let you all know that for the first time in the entire trip, there are no pictures, or maps, or really any stories to tell you for the day. Yup, I took the day off. Fully. I did laundry, did lots of Internet-y things, ran some errands in town, and even hired a movie to watch. Popped up some popcorn, and watched it in the late afternoon before the kids got home. Once Julia and Mark got in, I took them out for some Mexican food for supper. Tomorrw, I start the day with a ride on the historic TSS Earnslaw, a coal-fired steamer to get to a gravel road that will take me to the Mavora Lakes where I plan to camp for the night. Day after that, on to Te Anau, and my day trip to Milford. However, you’ll read about those things in due time, so there! Hope you all enjoyed your day off for Family Day as much as I did for my Recovery Day!! 🙂

26/03/08
Well folks, with mixed emotion, I find myself writing the blog post I’ve been dreading for a few months now. Yup, it’s official. I’m definitely leaving this beautiful country after having explored its many nooks and crannies by two wheels for a long time. After my last cycle trip yesterday to Waiheke Island, I knew that it was time to start sorting all the gear out and packing it back up into the respective containers. I’ve been fairly careful with my purchases on the road, so essentially, I’m leaving with pretty much the same amount of gear as I arrived with in this country so long ago. However, that doesn’t mean that it will all fit into the baggage the way it is intended to. However, all work and no play make Stevey a dull boy, so I did take a couple rest breaks and watched King Kong finally. After all, it’s another Peter Jackson flick, so it’s somewhat Kiwi in that regard. Anyway, read on for more info on my day of playing Tetris with my gear 🙂

04/01/08
Hi everyone! Well, although in the strictest sense of the word today was a day off, the effort I put into my day made it anything but a true day off. Today, I decided to try my hand at some of the great mountain biking that surrounds Rotorua. On the plus side, I have now at least justified bringing my full suspension mountain bike with me to New Zealand. It was an amazing day on the trails, I’ll say that much. There were just so many of them, and in so many different grades of difficulty. If it weren’t for a certain minor medical condition, I’d consider staying an extra day just to do more biking on the sweet sweet singletrack around here. For a map showing where I went biking, along with a few pictures from the day, you know what to do. For more info, just read on.