Heading South

Monday, 20 October 2014

As I write I’m sipping a coffee and watching the green rolling hills south of Auckland fly past. I’m on the Northern Explorer, a passenger train that runs from Auckland to Wellington (right at the southern tip of the northern island – my final destination today).

Ewoud and Ronald dropped me off this morning and I boarded with my bike to begin what I will call the “second phase” of my trip. I had so much fun the last two weeks cycling with Ewoud – we got along so well and spent a lot of time together; it’s kind of hard to say good-bye! But it’s my time. Ewoud is traveling four weeks more than me, so has more time to spend in the north island. I want to spend the rest of my time on the south island and am really looking forward to the five days or so that I plan to spend in the Marlborough area (north eastern part of the south island). If Ewoud is fast he’ll catch up with me at some point… ;)

Here are some pics from the train. SUCH a nice, relaxing and scenic ride. Highly recommended to anyone coming to NZ!

Ended the night at Barry & Fiona’s house – wonderful Warmshowers hosts. Barry met me at the train station and we biked to their cute little house on the side of a hill (as all houses in Wellington are nicely positioned – with a stunning view of the harbor). 

Fiona had an amazing dinner of steak and potatoes, asparagus, salmon pasta and salard (people here really know how to feed a hungry cyclist!). They were so kind – and Barry sat down with me and showed me great cycling routes on the map.