Updates From the Road - The Amtutz Family

click on any date to view journal entries and photos

October 12, 2001 - El Portal/Yosemite, California, USA

Nov 3 - Rotorua

Everything has just fallen into place perfectly this last week... Bright sunshine every day, no trouble with either our bikes or our bodies, the kids haven't cried or complained in days, and we just learned that it's now all downhill to the South Island! The girls even learned to pack up the trailers & lube the bikes while we sleep, and then bring us tea in our tent.... aaaaaahhhhhh what a nice fantasy..... POP! Wake up you dreamers!

Our ACTUAL "typical day" looks more like this: We all awake stuffed inside our cozy tent to a light rain and start stuffing sleeping bags, dressing and feeding the kids, and pack up for the day. Hopefully a lull in the rain allows us to bail out of the tent and load all our bags into the trailers somewhat dry... occasionally we find an overhang or a kind Kiwi's garage in which to do the final packing job. Most days the tent gets packed last and remains wet... We're usually riding by around 9 or 9:30am, which is well-timed for Sylvie's morning nap. She'll do up to 3 hours of snoring if we time it properly, while Eliza is usually quite content with books, her toy lion and dragon, and an occasional snack while she repeats every song she's ever heard in a really high pitched voice. Lunch break hits when Sylvie starts to fuss, and we try to time that in or near a town so we can eat out, or at least find a shop with shelter to picnic under. Road ay, and managed a 75 km day yesterday... We've done 620 kms total since starting at Cape Reinga.

So, from Auckland we did a long 65k day with great tailwinds to a hot springs camp on the Firth of Thames. Not a wilderness soak... more like a KOA-resort-public pool type place... but hot water at the end of the day is just fine with us! In fact, the route we're cycling these days has been dubbed the "Thermal Explorer Highway" by the NZ tourism folks. We've taken full advantage, soaking in hot pools 4 of the last 6 days. With a couple of days of, surprise, partial sunshine, we rode a few mellow days (stopping for long relaxed "teas" in small towns) to give Karen's sore knee more rest. She switched to cycling in sandals, which improved her condition enough that we concluded her ill-fitting Nashbar shoes were the culprit. New Cannondale's here in Rotorua will hopefully be the cure! One of those mellow days was a whopping total of 14km of riding, including a mile long abandoned railway tunnel navigated with headlamps, and an unexpected historic open-air

A visit to Karen's honorary "grandpa Gerry" in Waihi fell on Halloween. Eliza got to wear her treasured rainbow fairy skirt, and "trick or treat" in Gerry's living room. She was thrilled with her bounty of one jellybean and one hard mint candy. She's taken 2 days to finally suck them down to nothing... Down the coast of the "Bay of Plenty" to Tauranga where some signs say we've entered the "BOP" district; it should be the BOPOK district, as in Bay of Plenty of Kiwifruit district. The orchards are everywhere, as well as avacados and oranges galore. One of our favorite features of NZ thus far are all the "honesty" fruit stands. Many of the farms we pass just have a little stand out by the mailbox with bags of produce and prices. You pick what you want, and drop the appropriate money in the big money jar sitting there.... so simple!

Leaving the Bay of Plenty, we did a long haul (~75km day, most of it uphill including 6km of mud and gravel in the rain) over the 500m ridge to the resort area of Rotorua. Big city, tons of motels and "attractions" like bungy jumping, skydiving, chairlift rides, and sheep shearing shows at the "Agrodome." We're doing a layover (camping at the "Thermal Holiday Camp")day here to soak in hot water, pickup a few tidbits in the bike shops, and visit some colorful guysers and spewing mud pots! We unfortunately won't have time to hit the beekeeping show at "Bee World," but maybe next time. Onward to Lake Taupo tomorrow! Oh by the way, the Dogwood trees are in bloom here! So are we....ahhh.

Nov 13 - Wellington

Nov 22 - Thanksgiving Day - Kaikoura!

Nov 23 - The day after Thanksgiving

Dec 5 - Wanaka...

Dec 14 - Riverton

Dec 17, 2001 - BLUFF!!! The "Land's End" of southern New Zealand