The Bridge To Nowhere in the Whanganui National Park is indeed an anomoly of crazy land development planning. It does indeed go nowhere. Such a beautiful bridge. To nowhere. I camped last night on the bridge. Birdsong in the morning was awesome. Just awesome. Sounds that I have never heard […]
Monthly Archives: October 2008
From a Wikipedia article about the Mangapurua Valley: THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE Started in January 1935 and completed in June 1936, this bridge was built by the Raetihi firm of Sandford and Brown, for the Public Works Department. It is 130 feet long, and 125 feet above the stream. The […]
Day 831 – NEW ZEALAND: From Cootes Clearing to The ...
Today had overtones of those four days pushing my bike in Kyrgyzstan (starting on Day 51). What I had expected to be a perfectly navigable by bicycle track ended up being a serious hiking trail with steep gully descents and absolutely un-rideable terrain. I was following the Mangapurua Track from […]
Day 830 – NEW ZEALAND: From Whakahoro to Cootes Clearing
I was up and away from Taumarunui Holiday Park early today with the first stop the local Beaurepairs tyre repair shop. Here I scrounged out back for four large truck tyre tubes. With help from the staff, I walked out with four grand second-hand tubes, expertly patched up for NZ$10. […]
Day 829 – NEW ZEALAND: The mission is on!
Awoke today to frost! Today was Labour Day in New Zealand. This is a national holiday celebrating the 40-hour week. The holiday is strictly observed, except for large supermarket chains. The plan to get tubes today for the Whanganui National Park mission was thwarted, so I checked into the Taumarunui […]
Day 828 – NEW ZEALAND: A rest day in Taumarunui
Another reluctant farewell today, as I rode off from Bruce and Melanie’s into a cold day with occassional showers and lots and lots of uphills, gravel roads, and no traffic. I have to give a big thanks to Bruce for discussing with me possible routes south. The beauty of travelling […]
Day 827 – NEW ZEALAND: From Te Kuiti to Taumarunui ...
I got to sleep on a spare matress in the living room of one of the most spell-binding homes I have stayed in on my travels. Waking up to birdsong, sitting up and being greeted by a commanding view over the lower valleys, shrouded in low cloud…I’m pretty sure that […]
Day 826 – NEW ZEALAND: A quiet day at Bruce ...
Progress called today, and I was on my bike by mid-morning, heading for Waitomo. Bruce, co-owner of Huhu Cafe and Store in Waitomo, contacted me after reading updates on my blog since he saw me on national TV when I was still in China. Once again I stuck to the […]
Day 825 – NEW ZEALAND: From Hamilton to Waitomo
Read more of the book 50 Marathons in 50 Days by Dean Karnazes today. A great read.
Day 824 – NEW ZEALAND: Another chill day in Hamilton
A day in Hamilton updating the blog, and helping Mike and Andrew shift a washer-dryer in the evening.
Day 823 – NEW ZEALAND: Chill day in Hamilton
Mike had thought ahead to my arrival, and had taken a day off work today to ride for a day with me. Since I was taking the most back of back roads as possible, last night we came up with a suitably out of the way route from Hamilton to […]
Day 822 – NEW ZEALAND: Turned out to be a ...
There was not even a hint at a suggestion that I was to be sleeping in my tent last night. Ann from Nikau Caves and Cafe showed me to an upstairs room at the cafe. “This is your room for tonight,” she said. I tried to quench my amazement at […]
Day 821 – NEW ZEALAND: From Nikau Caves to Hamilton
I was smiling this morning as I packed my tent away and watched as the sun slowly climbed over the low hills. Dew covered everything, but my tent dried quickly once it was draped over some convenient dry brown gorse in the sun. The dry dying gorse was in stark […]
Day 820 – NEW ZEALAND: From Tuakau to Nikau Caves
My first full day back on the bike. I feel strong enough, but my mind is still on skateboard pace, so I’m taking it easy. Which is very nice indeed. Cycling through Auckland into South Auckland and finally into the rural Waikato region was a blur of good old New […]
Day 819 – NEW ZEALAND: Starting towards the south…from central ...
Waaay back in Switzerland when I decided to send my bike back to New Zealand, I got a shock when I did some research on how much it was going to cost to get a regular sized bike box to New Zealand. I was even considering just leaving the bike […]
Day 818 – NEW ZEALAND: Street Machine GTe back to ...
I have been blown away by the sheer number of thank you’s and congratulations over the last few weeks since I completed the journey by skateboard. It has been a whilrwind few weeks since completing the trip, and I have been feeling way behind in my blog updates. So, without […]
Day 817 – NEW ZEALAND: What next?
A big thank you to the New Zealand Academy of Sport in Auckland today. Joe McQuillan, a sports physiologist at the institute put me through my paces to see how fit I really am. TV3 National News was there to record the pain! Click on the text link below to […]
Day 815 – NEW ZEALAND: Grueling physical test
A few weeks before arriving in Shanghai, on the last 300km stretch of the skateboard leg of my journey, the mood on SkateFurther.com was buzzing. An online home for distance skateboarders in the UK and around the world, SkateFurther was alive with talk of the next 24 Hour Ultraskate. An […]
Day 813 – NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand CanTeen 24 Hour ...
As I sat in the taxi, being driven through Shanghai to the train that would take me to Pudong Airport, I felt a tinge of sadness. As much as I had become frustrated at trying to understand the ways of the Chinese, I was going to miss this place, I […]
Day 810 – NEW ZEALAND: Arrival in Auckland; not home ...
I’ve just completed an interview with an online China lifestyle blog Lost Laowai. You can read the interview here: http://www.lostlaowai.com/blog/2008/10/04/skateboarding-from-switzerland-to-shanghai/ A great set of questions that had me thinking hard!
Day 806 – CHINA (SHANGHAI): Interview with Lost Laowai
For the last three days I have done little but sit on the couch. Highlights from the couch so far include: I put together some random footage of Michele (my host here in Shanghai) and I skating around Shanghai (above). Youtube version of the same video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O36qc1ufk9o Read Moods […]