A little road scenery. Yes, it was all like this.

3500 kilometers around New Zealand and still I've barely scratched the surface! I'm saving the rest for next time...

Last Post from New Zealand

Well, things have been squared away with the bike and I'm on my way back to SFO tomorrow. I'll abandon the BMW in Auckland and John (poor John!) will head down later in the week to pick it up. I picked up some luggage today to stand in for the luggage that's up at John's place until he can post it to me in the US, and we're good to go!! My new motorcycle helmet carrier is a sylin' new picnic cooler, and I've got a trick wheelie bag from Target for everything else :)

Tonight I head out for another night on the town with my new German friends, then it's off to AKL! I don't want to leave!! But I will, and I'll see you all on the other side

Stranded! Bit of an electrical problem. John and i are working the issue (well i'm blogging). Couldn't think of a nicer hostel to be stranded at though. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment!

Yes, i paid the extortionist fee to purchase this blurry photograph of me abseiling down a gloworm cave in Waitomo. Holy crap it was fun!!

Wandered into the production facility of the South Taranaki Star on my way back from the pub. Thought it was fascinating! But that may only be because i've tipped back a few Speights

Ah! That's why i'm suddenly seeing (and hearing) sup'ed up Fords and Chevys all over!

Incidentally, I discovered that a lot of U.S. txt messages are not getting to me properly out here in NZ. If you'd like to send me a txt (please do!), you can send it to 011 64 211 081 513. Don't just reply to txts I send you, they don't seem to reach me that way.

If everything is already working fine for you though, disregard this notice :)

I cannot believe I'm missing this... Have I mentioned that my next trip is going to be bicycling around Spain? Just figured that out yesterday.

RABOBANK'S GRAEME BROWN WINS STAGE ONE
Amgentourofcalifornia.com
Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California from Sausalito to Santa Rosa ended in a dramatic photo finish win of two centimeters by Rabobank's Graeme Brown (AUS) following a crash on the second circuit around downtown Santa Rosa. An earlier crash about 70 miles into the race resulted in one of the race favorites, Team CSC's Dave Zabriskie, being forced to abandon the event. He was taken to a local hospital for tests and has been released in good condition with a mild concussion and no fractures or other injuries. Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) retained the Amgen Leader's Jersey after a determined dash over the final 30 miles, which was spearheaded by his teammate, Italy's Ivan Basso, to catch a breakaway group of four talented climbers. "Ivan Basso was ripping it up. I am very proud, very honored to have him lead me into my home town. It feels great (to put on the leader's jersey) here in my home town. I did that last year, and I've been looking forward to repeating that," said Leipheimer...

Radical and legendary Britten V-1000, custom built by an amateur kiwi. This is for Terry who introduced me to the bike not two weeks ago! Spotted at the lovely Te Papa museum

Mike's take on how things might be different now if humans had evolved from new zealand bird life, ala Stanley Kubrick

Another of New Zealand's ridiculously oversized flightless birds. This one's named Weka. Evolution took an entirely different path out here.

Sunset over the seal colony in Tauranga

Pancake rocks. Suddenly very homesick for Orphan Andy's

Two Wine Regions:
An Accurate and Complete Comparison of New Zealand's Marlborough Valley to California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

By Michael Burton B.S., M.S., Ph.D., M.D., Esq.

The End.

You can see quite a bit of where the glacier has advanced and retreated over the centuries

Help me I'm drowning! Or just stupid. I did this voluntarily, and my it was brisk!

Can you spot Waldo in the upper right?

Approaching the terminal face of the glacier. One of the three lowest glaciers in the world. One other is a few kilometers from here, and the last is in Patagonia. More glacier photos here

The Southern Alps as seen from the baby blue Okarito River. Some of the riding into Franz Josef was just STUNNING

A pretty pit stop just outside of Whataroa on my way to the Franz Josef Glacier (!!!!!)

Oh, so that's where that little bugger went. Thought I heard something.

That rock on the left is a seal. He was vaguely curious about us, in a slothful couldn't-be-bothered sort of way.

On the ridge between Anchorage Bay and Watering Cove in the Abel Tasman. You can see a pool of that metallic water in the lower left.

The runoff from the trees collects in pools and adds a metalic sheen to the top of the water. In it you can see the reflection of the ridges

Anchorage Bay, Abel Tasman. There are thousands of 6-inch long fish in the bay waters. Dad asked for more beach photos.

Black and gold sand on an island beach only accessible by kayak

I want to move here. We hiked through the park to get to our kayaks

Mike, Kat, and friends in the Abel Tasman. More Abel Tasman photos here

Drafting off of farm machinery in wine country. It's not cheating if you're on the Worst Bicycle Ever! (tm)

Most NZ sav blancs tend toward the fruity. Bladen is a lovely boutique winery with the most CA-like sav blancs I've found so far (more grassy). That being said, every white wine here I've tried has a sharp coniferous flavor that's not pine. Manuka? Now where to pack that bottle I bought...

Taking the ferry through the Sounds to south island.

Right then! Enough of this north island business, let's go see some glaciers!

Teeny-bopper club in Rotorua. This is going to hurt in the morning

447 rat traps built, baby! Time to see the rest of New Zealand...

Dawn baked me a Pavlova to celebrate kicking me out tomorrow!

The local beach at Waikawau Bay

Bees are goners once they get their wings wet on the beach.

I found a penguin! On the BEACH!! Isn't he cute?! They stumble out of the surf here exhausted and fall asleep on their feet before returning to the sea in the morning.

Sandflies

Terrible terrible things. I read about them everywhere but being American perhaps didn't prepare me for the actual experience of the damned things. Think fleas with wings. Little black gnats that bite and are as numerous as fruit flies. They look innocuous enough when they hover around your ankles, small enough and far away enough that you don't really notice them until they nip and draw their bloody circular welts that last for days. I discovered though that if you dance about to your ipod they can't get a grip.

I opened up an R1150RS today! Only to discover that the reason it wouldn't start was not because the battery was dead but rather because the side stand was down ::cough::

FAQ

1. I'm in New Zealand riding a motorcycle around until the end of February


2. For the first two weeks of February I'm volunteering with a Kiwi preservation society in Port Charles, which is at the tip of the Coramandel Peninsula along dozens of kilometers of unpaved roads and way past BFE (B*tt F**k Egypt, to use a colloquialism from school)


3. I have not quit my job! 


4. I'm generally using my Moto KRZR cameraphone to post pictures to my blog, but while in Port Charles I've been resorting to a speedy 24kbps dial-up connection since we don't got no GPRS reception out here.  Not sure how easy I'll find it to post once I'm on the road again.


5. I would LOVE to hear from you!!  Email me, txt me, or leave me a comment here and I'll write you back as soon as I can!

Kiwi eggs are HUGE

Meredith baked me birthday macaroons!

... all to save kiwis like Tornado

Meredith sitting on a fine day's work

Spent the day Building a Better Rat Trap (tm)

No kiwis out this way

My sister and Nori at my "Baaa means No!" going away party. More silly pictures available here. Photo by Oskar

Dinner at the Pepper Tree in Coromandel proper (aka "town").

Meredith (Canadian volunteer, eh?) and I went for a Sunday ride into "town"

I herded stock today!

We released some rare brown teal ducks today into the wild

The moon over the glow worm cave at Sandy Beach ("Big Sandy")

Glow worms in a cave in Port Charles. These things are amazing. More cave, less glow worm here