Welcome to the Flash Blog…

09/01/08
Howdy winter folks! ActiveSteve here, reporting from Tongariro National Park. Today’s bike ride was more or less a highway to heaven sort of thing. It was a steady all day climb, where we started at 380m, and ended up at 1140m, in a little place called Whakapapa Village, which is near one of the busiest ski areas in the North Island. Of course, it being summer over here, the town is a little more deserted. Basically, anyone who is up here is here for one reason alone. To do some hiking in the National Park area. Were there not so many clouds hanging out right now, I’d have a pretty splendid view of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Not to mention Mount Ruapehu, the tallest of the lot. So, what’s up now you ask? Well, read on and I’ll spin you a little yarn.

So, just how does one celebrate the return of a prized possession when floating around in the South Pacific on a boat anchored off shore? Well, apart from doing high jumps off the third deck, there were other options. I could of course drink my face off, but that leaves one feeling a little under the weater, and since I had already decided to do a scuba dive the next morning, that was out of the question. However, a German and Italian fellow each had a great solution. We decided we should try to source some authentic Fijian Kava. For more info on this, I would implore you to do a Google search on it. There is quite a bit of history and lore to Kava, and I had to try it, and the only way is for a Fijian to prepare it for you. Read on for more about this exciting tale of narcotics on the high seas, complete with the stealthy delivery.

31/01/08
Hi gang! Well, it’s hard to believe, but yet again I find myself a day late in my blog postings. Sorry folks. The main reason for this is that I’m still not feeling 100% at the moment, but more accurately, it’s because I’ve been a bit lazy. Basically, once I get done with titling all the pictures, and creating the custom map, I sort of run out of steam. However, I’ll do my best now to fill you in on yesterday and today’s details. I started the day yesterday in the little town of Westport, and made my way out to the true West Coast, and down along to a village called Punakaiki, home of the world famous Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes. Upon arrival here, I decided that this was basically paradise for me, as I’m right on the beach, surrounded by great limestone cliffs, and have some great walking tracks. As a result, within 5 minutes of getting here, I trudged back to the office and plopped down a second night’s payment. I’ve decided that rather than stop in Greymouth, I’ll just blow past it and head straight to Hokitika, another 40km down the road. Capital idea I figure. Anyway, read on for more about the ride, and don’t forget to check out the map.

23/02/08
Welcome back to my world folks. Well, another day is in the bag, but I’m feeling great today! The ride from Te Anau to Tuatapere was over 100km, but I was happy the entire way today. The road was generally downhill, and there was a nice tailwind for most of the ride. I can’t stress enough just how nice that is. There was only one hill of any concern, a 200m climb called Jericho Hill. Apart from that, it was just undulating terrain the whole way. My little map is up and awaiting your inspection. along with some shots for the day. Overall, I didn’t take too many pictures, as the scenery was generally not that remarkable. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary or really different from what I’ve been seeing for a lot of the trip. Farmland and rolling fields with sheep and cows. Yippee. Read on for a little more detail on this great riding day.