October 20 - Friday
It was nice sleeping in our new tent. It'll take some getting used to but it's really reassuring to have the bikes in the porch so we know they're safe - especially since we don't have a window that we can just peek out of to see if they're ok. It was overcast but thankfull, not raining as we broke camp. Our neighbors walked back with cups of espresso, bright and cheery. I'm sure the espressoes were close to $7 US dollars. The thought of buying an espresso has left me feeling guilty for the money it would cost and bitter that I have such a tight budget now but thoughtful about just what it is and how I want the rest of my travelling experience to be like.
As we walked away, pushing our bikes up the massive hill out of the campgrounds, I shared this thought with Jon who listened but wasn't too sympathetic - maybe it's because he's not a coffee drinker.
I hate fact that I have to worry about buying an espresso. I was never extravagant with my money when we were back home and so far on this trip we haven't been totally denying ourselves of the little things.
My pack was really heavy.
We chatted with our caffinated neighbors as we packed up. They had a decent set up but now that I'm wiser to the ways of bicycle touring I could see some changes that could be made to their gear: like they full size road atlas they were looking at the night before, and the full size sleeping pad that I know fits end to end in that tent.
Also, they really need to learn how to secure their tent fly - it was not taut and had it rained overnight, their gear would have been drenched. Luckily for me, I am married to Jon who is totally on top of all the right gear and how best to set up our equipment - it makes a world of difference. He would not have stood for the fly flopping around like theirs was and now, neither will I even though I tease Jon about his anal-ness about "making sure it's taut" when we set up the tent. I know that our trip would have been a lot less enjoyable if Jon wasn't as vigilant about our gear and how we used it as he was/is - I'm really grateful for that. Looking at our neighbor's gear I also reminded myself that they were only touring for two months and since they were in NZ which has everything a tour-er could need - except bike trailers that fit folding bikes.
We walked all the way to Broadway which didn't take as long as I thought it would, caught a train into town which was super easy. When we got to the train station we headed toward the ticket agent who would sell us our bus tickets. On the way there were people handing out free samples of yogurt. I had fallen a little behind Jon and watched as he approached the gals giving away the food.
They gave him 8 containers of yogurt! We're talking full size, 99% fat free, 50% of your daily intake of calcium per container - size containers! This was great, we were also getting hungry. First things first - buy bus tickets to Thames.
We didn't know it was a long weekend so the 1:15 bus was full and the next wasn't until 1800. This totally sucked and I was wondering if we shouldn't wait one more day and take an early bus the next morning.
No. Jon had decided we would be on the evening bus and I didn't argue. To be honest I was so ready to leave Auckland and feel like we were actually making some progress on this trip! I waited outside with all our gear eating a yogurt watching people go by.
Boy, did we have a lot of time to kill. Next stop: post office to mail stuff home that we didn't need. We could also wire the rest of the money we owed to Speedmatrix in Singapore while we were at the Post Office which was super convenient.
It was around noon at this point.
