The other side of the road on the other side of the world

Well mates, these two cycle crazy fools have made it New Zealand. We landed in Auckland on Christmas day in the afternoon. The sky was dark, and rain continuously poured and poured as we assembled our vehicles, organized our bags, and got ready for our trek through the city to Ema's flat. Ema is a fellow couchsurfer who was courteous enough to take us in for the holiday. Combined with the fact that I was so famished when we arrive at her place and how delicious the roast smelled that she was cooking... yes I did the unthinkable. I ate a slab of chicken! It was worth it, considering that steamed vegetables were my only other option. Ema was great! She not only fed us but she gave us a quick tour of the city at night and showed us some spectacular views from a local mountain.

Not really in the mood to see the urban sprawl that is Auckland, we hustled out of the city early the next morning. It was incredible! One second we were wedging ourselves between the curbs and the traffic and the next we were in a green wonderland of rolling hills and grazing sheep. There was absolutely no gray area in between, and if there was I must have been concentrating on the blisters accumulating around my perineum (just kidding, kind of). Seriously, the terrain is beautiful. Even through some of the climbing and rain that we ran into there was pure joy resonating through out my body.

We follow the coastline/bay until we ran into the Coromandel Peninsula. I specifically remember when I woke up that morning prior to the Coromandel the first thing I said to Brandon was, "Let's take it easy on our legs today." I kept this promise to myself until we literally ran into the Coromandel. Well, I can only say that we got a dose of some serious climbing. The civil engineers in New Zealand don't really like to slowly wind you up and around the mountains. I am positive that they have cameras on the road so they can openly laugh in the comfort of their homes at the assholes who chose to ride these roads via bicycle. So, needless to say I lived in my granny gears for the rest of the day. Never again will I wake up and curse myself by saying we need to take it easy today. Expect the worst and you will probably get a pleasant surprise. In the Coromandel we checked out a beach called Hot Water Beach. We were told of how you can dig a hole in the sand at low tide and geothermal heated water would rise into the hole you dug as to create your own personal spa. We got there when all of Auckland was on holiday, so our dreams of a personal spa turned into were not quite realized. It was more of neighborhood of spas with small streams of burning hot water feeding each little spa. Fun, but crowded. That night we ended up meeting some Kiwi's (Joel and John) who were spending the holiday at their "batch." A batch is what we call a cottage. (Here is a bit of some Kiwi talk for you to translate. YEAAAH, Get your togs and your jandels we're headed to the batch.) Anyways, they were up at Cook's beach and they said we could pitch a tent at their place. They were great people, and we plan on meeting up with them again when we are in Wellington.

We have been guerrilla camping were ever we cannot make friends and arrange for a spot of land or sometimes even a garage. As I work toward becoming one with the universe, I feel that I am more and more becoming one with my tent instead. She is my baby, my life line, my home, and soon she will be a part of my soul. There have been very shot spans of time on this trip that we were forced to stay in a backpackers lodge. When we finally got out of those barracks and I began unrolling the tarp, fly, and tent I felt I had betrayed a part of my soul for staying elsewhere.

Back on track... From the Coromandel we headed south. Not much to talk about other than the beautiful scenery until we hit Rotorua, AKA RotoVegas. Tourism central of the north island with good reason too. Rotorua is the center of geothermal activity, and Maori culture in New Zealand. We bought a couple nights at the backpackers in "downtown" Rotorua, celebrated our New Year there (about 18 hours be for you slow pokes did), and hiked around the area viewing geysers, boiling mud pools, boiling lakes, sulfur pits, smoking holes, etc... I cannot say that it was the highlight of the trip: a. because I was not sleeping in my tent, b. the tourism is absurd, and c. once you have seen boiling mud how many times can you see it again?! I actually threw my back out some how, so much of the day before we left was me trying to move from the couch, to the bed, to the floor, and back to the couch. I cannot say that I am healed, but I can at least raise my arm above my shoulder! A chiropractor will likely be in order for a rib adjustment. (That one is for you mom! I just want to make sure you are worrying about me! Wait until you find out what I did in Taupo!)

We left on Rotorua on the 3rd, in order to meet our Italian friend Gio, who we met in Fiji, in the city of Taupo. What a day the 3rd was. The heroes that you all know as Brandon and Justin decided that it would be fun during the 80km ride from Rotorua to Taupo to take a break from cycling and summit Rainbow mountain. The climb was fantastic! I did not really even realize how much we were hiking up hill until the grade presented itself on the decent. I guess my legs are just numb all the time these days. The view from the top was like the view from any mountain top, breath taking.



We arrived in Taupo safely, and found our friend Gio. Some of you maybe wondering why the hell we are meeting Gio in Taupo. Well, back in Fiji we made some plans to plummet ourselves from a tiny little plane toward the earths crust. That's right, we made some plans to skydive (just typing that word makes my adrenal gland pump). Mark the date people. January 4th, 2008, I openly decided to toss myself out of a plane from 15,000 feet. I take that back! "Openly" is probably not the right world for it, well maybe it is! I had a guy strapped to my back that sat me on the edge of plane door and then openly lunged me forward. Of course, I told him prior to jumping that I wanted to flip, spin, twirl, and fly through the air. When I told him this I saw his eyes light up like a kid in a candly store, and I thought to myself, "Fuck!" He obliged. Before I even realized we left the plane we were spinning head over heals. It is almost an impossible feeling to relate to someone who has never done it before. Talk about a sensory overload. The visually stunning sceanery, the power of the air passing around your arched body, the emotional overload from before you even left the ground, the what if's, and the lack of oxygen are but few of things that one has to deal with. We were in a free fall for over 60 seconds, speeding along at speeds over 200km per hour. Spectacular! I cannot wait to do it again with less fear and more focus.










Much love and peace to all my friends and family. I look forward to hearing from all of you in emails or through the comments.