Monday 5 October 2009

SH1 :-(

Set off from Auckland on Friday. Got the train out of town to avoid the busy roads and had our first night under canvas at Piha beach. Lovely setting and natives friendly ;-) Only problem was huge downhill to Piha which we had to climb the next morning, lots of huffing and puffing for about 2 hours!!

weather getting wetter and cooler but some great roads and views.

First problem with kiwi maps are they have lots of place names every 10km or so but when you arrive there is nothing there, literally no houses or civilisation!!

Second problem is they don't like roads signs over here or if you do get one they like to keep the distance to the next place secret.

So lots of beautiful open spaces and rolling roads and weather changes every 10 minutes!!

stayed at Wellsford last night in lovely old dears B&B and currently cycling our way up SH1 (think A1) for 28kms until we get back on the quite roads.

8 comments:

mags said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mags said...

So here's the thing ... are you going up or down the SH!, cos isn't up down
and down up when you're down under ... ?!?

So now I know you're

here
(ish) - is it nice, are there sheep? Need pictures!

Take care, have fun and keep the shiny side up ...

Mary

Unknown said...

Had a look at Piha on Google Maps - Sat view, looks awesome - PaulH.

mike31967 said...

Hello Nick. Mike Hall here. Best wishes to you both.

Nice to hear you're doing some big hills. Maybe you should have practised on Birdy Brow...I was up there last Sunday. Rain should be no problem to you having lived in Lancs for so long.

Malcolm & I off to our favourite place tomorrow - Aarhus etc. Will try to find the bikes you wrecked!

Cycle Bill said...

Hi Nick.
Ex cycle buddy Bill Ingham here. Remember BAE do you or was it just a bad dream?
Me, Lamby, Matkin and Clarkey been reading your Blog.
Sounds like your having the time of your life. Good for you. Wish I was doing it too. Got me thinking on those lines now.
I'll let you know how I get on with the Sprite soon.

Unknown said...

Neat write up. Agree about those Kiwi maps, the place names can be anything from a single house, to actually a village with a petrol station, cafe, shop and backpackers.

Enjoy Cape Reinga, the beach, and scenery is superb. Return trip down the east coast should be super, be sure to take the coast road from the Bay of Islands (Russell) if you've time, despite it being hilly it's way better than SH1. There's a couple of backpackers along the way too.

nic said...

Hi Guys

I still think about BAE in the darker hours of the night but it soon passes ;-)

Aarhus should make a welcome change for you though Mike.

Some of the hills round here are pretty steep, think Birdy Brow but the length of Waddy Fell!!!

Graham would need a bigger dinner plate on his back cassette to get up em ;-)

keep following us and letting us know any juicy gossip from back home

take it nice and easy, winters on its way!!!

Nick

Anonymous said...

Just sending you both lots of kisses! Amy Phil and N