It is a beautiful but cool morning as we get ready to begin our ride. Yesterday we rode a bus from Auckland which gave us a great view of the central North Island. The first fifteen miles or so are through the suburbs of Auckland, but the landscape then quickly becomes majestic with pastures, volcanic outcroppings and large dairy and beef herds, flocks of sheep, some horses amid even a few pastures full of deer. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing dairy herds out in pasture. For whatever reason, probably tied to land values, one just does not see dairy cows in pasture in the US. We saw milking herds of several hundred wandering in beautiful fields and later in the day being herded toward the milk house. They looked clean, robust and contented. The pastures too steep for cows had sheep grazing on terraced hillsides. I suspect as we move further south we will see more and more sheep since the population of sheep in NZ is reputed to be twenty times the human population.
We had put a lot of thought into the logistics of getting the two of us, our luggage and the bikes to Opitiki from our hotel in Auckland. In fact the maneuver unfolded better than we allowed ourselves to hope. I think Frank would be impressed with both the planning and execution. We selected a hotel only three blocks from the bus terminal figuring that walking was the only way to get everything there. No cab would take us with the bikes. The plan was for Claire to walk the two bikes to the terminal with me alongside wheeling one suitcase and carrying the duffle with bike paraphernalia over my shoulder. She sat in the coffee shop with an eye on the luggage and bikes while I went back for the second suitcase. Our bus reservation included the bikes, but the bus company policy is that the driver can refuse to take the bikes if he does not think there is room. We were quite relieved when's the driver showed up and cheerfully loaded our bikes and luggage aboard prior to loading anything else. We sat in the front seat with a terrific view of the countryside and enjoyed the ride in beautiful sunshine.
If I ever figure out how to attach photos to these postings I will do so. For now you are stuck with my descriptions. So far I would say that the towns and cities are nothing to write home about, although I seem to be doing exactly that! Every town we enter has a main street that looks like a long strip mall featuring lots of local businesses along with the ever present McDonalds, Subway and Burgerkings The countryside, iin contrast, is quite breathtaking. We cant identify many of the trees. Yesterday Claire noticed a suburban house from the bus with a lemon tree, grapefruit tree, and orange tree all bearing ripe fruit. Farm fields have their first hay crop wrapped in plastic in the fields. Corn is a few inches high and strawberries are in full bloom. Pastures are very lush and livestock looks well fed and content.
I need to load up the panniers on my bike and get ready to roll out. We will most likely not have Internet access during the ride, so do not expect to hear from us again until Saturday. Hope all is well at home.
