Category: Oceania

Princess Leia, Wonder Woman, Mother Theresa, Pippy Longstocking???? After a good week at Sam and Leon’s binge watching Star Trek Discovery I thought I’d better do some cycle touring so I took a trip to Waiheke Island; it’s a ferry ride away from Auckland. Beautiful island, very hilly with loads of vineyards and artwork around…… Continue reading Waiheke Island

After 5 days eating lots of veggies at the meditation centre Sam and Leon took me somewhere which served lots and lots of meat. My past few weeks has been spent in the Auckland area eating far too much, watching far too much Netflix and planning and researching the next part of my tour, which…… Continue reading Auckland

At the beginning of December I signed up to a 10 day meditation course in a place called Kaukapakapa; 30 miles North on Auckland, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. At the time of signing up there was a waiting list. The Centre got back to me and said that if I had a…… Continue reading Vipassana Meditation

I spent a few more days with the Mercy Sisters in Christchurch before flying up to Auckland. The picture above is Christchurch’s Anglican Cathedral which suffered in the earthquake of 2010. Christchurch is still struggling after the earthquake, a lot of people and businesses have moved out. The city hasn’t been rebuilt. There is a…… Continue reading Christchurch to Auckland

I’m in New Zealand for two months but I’m only cycle touring for two and half weeks as New Zealanders are really nice people but not great motorists when it comes to cyclists. I’ll also spending time catching up with ex-students and teachers from the Tongan school that I used to work in and also…… Continue reading Cycle Touring in New Zealand

The scenery continued to be spectacular as I cycled south to Wanaka. There were various names for all of the different creeks. Thirsty Creek was really thirsty and Black Creek was black. Sunset at Lake Paringa. New Zealand doesn’t have any poisonous snakes or spiders or bears etc. They just have sandflies, tiny little flies…… Continue reading Ross to Queenstown

I thought that it was a Kiwi, but it’s actually a weka. A very nosey bird. The scenery on the West Coast of the South Island has been amazing Get a hole in one and win $2k. The hole is on the little island in the middle of the lake. My first night of camping…… Continue reading It’s a Weka

The scenery so far has been amazing and so at the moment I’m trying to decide whether to extend my time in NZ or whether to keep it as it is. I know a very nice dilemma to have.

Margaret lives in Leicester and has come on a few of my bike rides back in Leicester. She’s a New Zealander and goes home every year and just by chance I bumped into her!! She lives in Christchurch when she’s back in New Zealand. The trail when I rode it had only a few people…… Continue reading It’s Margaret!!