Week 1!!

Friday, 3 October: Arrived in Auckland (via Ho Chi Minh City & Sydney)

From the airport I took the bus to downtown Auckland where my warm showers host (warm showers is a website like couch surfers for touring cyclists), Simon, picked me up and took me to his home in North Auckland. Weather was right around 10 degrees C (for those of you in the U.S., in F that = frigid). 

Simon and Michelle and their two kids, Emma and David, were incredible hosts. Over the years they've hosted many cyclists passing through NZ, and they were so extremely helpful and generous. I stayed at their house for three nights and they fed me the whole time. I flew in Friday night (3 Oct), and on Saturday (4 October), we all got in the car, drove to the other side of the city, and Michelle dropped Simon and myself off at the bike store to pick up my bike. Simon brought his bike along to ride back with me to his house. 

Downtown Auckland...

At the bike shop we met a Dutch guy who just flew in that morning. Since he was also setting up his bike and preparing to ride around NZ, Simon invited him to stay at his house as well. The three of us rode the 45km from the shop (by the airport - all hills...no flat points, ever) to Simon's house.

Sunday Simon dropped off Michelle, Ewoud (said: Ay-vout - the Dutch guy) and myself at the beach near their house. He took the kids and we walked 5km down the coast and met them at Davenport - a beautiful across the harbor from downtown Auckland.

Perfect day. In the background is Rangitoto Island. Coming up the hill is Ewoud, Emma and David.

Below are the incredible hosts!

Monday morning we set off - Ewoud and I, as we both had planned to head north. Here's what we did:

It was hilly, windy, cold, and hard...but beautiful! At pretty much every major peak that you can see above Ewoud waited for me... he's a very patient and encouraging cycling partner. :)

In typical fashion we never know where we'll end up every day... at the end of our first day we found ourselves in a small town called Warkworth. We went to the town to find the i-site (information center), and it was closed. Right then, a lady came up to me and asked if we had a place to stay for the night - we told her we were just looking for a place to set up camp, to which she responded with an invite: come to our house and have a hot shower! 

In this first week alone we've had so many people pop their heads of out windows to ask if we need anything, if they can help, if we want to stay the night at their house, if they can bring us in the truck to the next town... really, it's overwhelming how kind and generous the locals are. I'm labeling it "Kiwi Kindess" as it is truly kindness that so many strangers have shown us.

So we biked (...ok I may have walked up a couple of the hills by that point...!!!) to their beautiful house in the country. Phil and Helen must have recently retired. They are avid cyclists themselves, and had all kinds of advice for us. We set up the tent in their front yard, made dinner and they made sure we warmed up with several glasses of wine and we chatted for a long time in their living room. 

In the morning they prepared a big breakfast spread with coffee and kiwi fruit and porridge... it was hard to leave and we were slow to get out the door :)