New Zealand

December 2016 - May 2017

A 149-day adventure by Ben and Christine in NZ Read more

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Dec 22, 2016, 7:29pm
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- New Zealand Auckland Cockle Bay -36.896284, 174.94094136°53’47” S 174°56’27” E
Day 1
Aboyne
December 22, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Home for Christmas! This is the start of our travels, Ben in Aboyne, Christine in Kirkwall. It's been a busy December packing up a flat, moving possessions, and preparing bikes and travel bags.

A good few people have now asked if we will record some of our sights and movements somewhere, so starting a simple travel blog seemed like a great idea. I'm writing this initial entry at home about to sit down to yet another epic family dinner. Christine has flown home to Kirkwall for a few days over Christmas before we spend our final few days in the UK here in Aboyne preparing for our first flight of the journey out of Glasgow.

Hopefully this page provides a way of those friends and family who want to see a few updates on where we are and what we're doing the opportunity to see photos and read stories. It might also help stop us from filling up your Facebook and Instagram feeds...

Let the adventure begin!

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 3, 2017, 9:28pm
- 🌧 19 °C
- Altitude: 50 m
- New Zealand Auckland Howick -36.893026, 174.92379736°53’35” S 174°55’26” E
Day 13
Arrival in Auckland
January 3, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
Winter flying in Europe never seems to be trouble free....

We've arrived in Auckland a day later than anticipated but with very little trouble once we actually left Scotland! It's now the end of our second day here and we've just about recovered from travelling, two bikes have been built up and we're starting to settle in.

Our base for the next couple of weeks is with my family in Howick in the suburbs of Auckland. The next few days will provide an opportunity to pick up some essentials, explore the area and stretch our legs out on the bikes. For now we our sampling some of New Zealand's famous wines, cuddling with dogs on the sofa and enjoying the warm weather!

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 5, 2017, 10:14pm
- 🌙 13 °C
- Altitude: 132 m
- New Zealand Auckland Acheson Stream -37.094818, 175.15231437°5’41” S 175°9’8” E
Day 15
First day on the bikes
January 5, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
Today we got our first taste of Kiwi biking at Hunua Range south of Auckland. Blue skies, stunning views and jungle forest and trails.

Then back to Auckland to relax in the pool and hot tub with a few beers...

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Peter Fay Looks green
1/5/17Reply
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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 7, 2017, 10:36pm
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- New Zealand Auckland Bucklands Beach Motu Korea -36.83584, 174.89685136°50’9” S 174°53’49” E
Day 17
I'm on a boat!
January 7, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Yesterday I drove a boat, not a big boat, but still a boat. It was also my first time fishing. We didn't catch anything, despite the sea birds giving us their best hints, but we had a couple of cold beers, floated around and had a laugh in the sun!

David and Sam gave us a good tour taking us from south of Cockle Bay round past Howick and Musick Point to the mouth of Half Man Bay and then out to Browns Island. Blasting home through the small, deep blue chop and getting used to the feeling of a motorboat at speed was an eye opening experience! I could get used to this New Zealand summer!

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 13, 2017
- 🌧 17 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- New Zealand Auckland Maraetai Maraetai Beach -36.88081, 175.04411336°52’51” S 175°2’39” E
Day 23
Maraetai
January 13, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Maraetai is a small beach town east of Auckland and is home to the best MTB trails local to Howick! On Friday we spent a morning riding some of the best trails in the area, then cooled down with a swim in the sea and sunned ourselves on the beach! This is proper summer living!

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Peter Fay Is that Ben in the sea?
1/19/17Reply
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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 16, 2017
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 55 m
- New Zealand Auckland Howick -36.89305, 174.92462636°53’35” S 174°55’29” E
Day 26
Introducing Bobby (Jean) the Bongo
January 16, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
It's been a hectic week and we're only just catching up! It's also been an exciting week and we would like to introduce the third member of our traveling party, Bobby Jean. She's a last minute stand in for our original van which sadly isn't with us any more. But Bobby is even more awesome - a pop-top Mazda Bongo, 20 years old, a replaced engine and now a whole load of bike specific custom storage! It took 3 days of work to kit her out but she's now purpose built and has been a wonder over the last few days travelling!

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Peter Fay "Why BJ, I like that ..." ;-)
1/19/17Reply
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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 17, 2017
- ☀️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 1 m
- New Zealand Bay of Plenty Western Bay of Plenty District Waihi Beach -37.412372, 175.94533937°24’45” S 175°56’43” E
Day 27
Waihi Beach
January 17, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
My cousin Izzy currently lives and works in Waihi. The first stop on our road trip would be to visit her before she leaves next month to study in Canada. It was also a great excuse to visit Waihi Beach and spend a day lounging in the sun. We managed to get up early and have a walk in Karangahake Gorge before spending the afternoon body boarding and sunbathing! First couple of nights in the bongo were a success!

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 18, 2017
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 288 m
- New Zealand Bay of Plenty Rotorua District Whakarewarewa Redwood Grove -38.159527, 176.25918738°9’34” S 176°15’33” E
Day 28
Whakarewarewa (Rotorua)
January 18, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Impromptu stop at Whakarewarewa Forest (Whaka-where-are-we) in Rotorua and it certainly did not disappoint, sunshine and fantastic trails. We will definitely be back. After riding we continued our journey south onto Napier via Taupo with a wee stop to peek at Huka Falls.

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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 19, 2017
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 1 m
- New Zealand Wellington Lambton Harbour -41.281414, 174.78139741°16’53” S 174°46’53” E
Day 29
To the south!
January 19, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Crossing the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton. Bit of a bumpy journey but some good views especially coming into Picton Sound in the South Island.

C.
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Ben and Christine in NZ New Zealand
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- Jan 20, 2017
- 🌙 27 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- New Zealand Nelson Maitai River -41.27132, 173.28399741°16’17” S 173°17’2” E
Day 30
Nelson
January 20, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
Spent the day exploring Codger's Trails in Nelson. Rode some absolutely fantastic tracks with beautifully built berms and jumps. We hit up Turners, Top Dog, Firball and some others. Firball was a mint decent all the way down from the trig point above Nelson - several kilometres of beautiful singletrack! Nelson MTB club know what they're doing!

Sweet as!! ;-)

B & CRead more
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