OFFICIAL WORLD WANDERER STATIONERY

February 7, 1996

Krabi Thailand to Rangataua Forest, New Zealand, North Island

Greetings World Wanderer followers.

Seems like much time has passed since my last writing. That was just before Christmas in KRABI, THAILAND.

Here's the quick rundown. From KRABI the four of us Charles and Lisa, Ole and myself continued south to KO TAUTOU National Park. KO means island. The park is on an island. We skipped Georgetown (Pinang). Found out later that's where Regena and Helen hung out after finishing their island tour. Then went inland to the Cameron Highlands. Stayed in KUALA LUMPUR for a couple of days. Pretty much streaked through Malaysia to Singapore. Flew to Auckland New Zealand. Helen had trouble getting her discount family member Airline tickets and was still in Singapore when we left. Regena had ridden as far as Georgetown with Helen then flew from Georgetown to Singapore to meet us for the next leg. Helen went up to Cameron Highlands by bus, I think, from Georgetown. Not sure how she got to Singapore, probably by train. But she was there at the airport explaining she wouldn't be flying out till "some time later." Regena gave her a rough itinerary and said if you miss us, meet in Wellington before the ferry to the South Island.

Charles and Lisa had already announced plans to take some time for themselves in New Zealand that left Regena, Ole and myself as "the group". We headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula. At Mercury Bay I announced I wanted to be on my own for a while too. The rigors of always being in a group was getting too much for me. New Zealand is safe and an easy place to travel so it's a good time for some personal time. Since Coromandel I've been faced with the decision, Okay, what do I want to do? Well, first I need a good map! And maybe a guide book but I really dislike those things. I ended up going south to the Bay of Plenty. Then inland through ROTORUA, Lake TAUDO, and TONGARIRO National Park. RANGATAUA Forest, I am now just outside the southern boarder of the Tongariro National Park.

It's raining out right now as it has been since the middle of the night. I was planning on a rest day so this is perfect, I bought a couple days worth of food and picked up nine liters of drinking water with me so I'm set for awhile. I can collect water off the fly of the tent too. I was woken by the rain last night but didn't get up to move the tent pegs out. Have to do that when the fly gets wet to stretch it taut. It loosens a little when it gets wet. During the night it drooped and laid against the inner tent so now I'm drying out a puddle in the floor. Amazing that it does actually dry a bit even when its raining out. Must be the body heat! In the evening mosquitoes are attracted to the light or heat from the candle or me in the tent. I read a bit by a very carefully placed candle before I go to sleep. Hundreds of mosquitoes get trapped between the inner tent and the fly. They some how got in but can't figure out how to get out. If I open the screen door of the tent they all swarm in and I get to play squash the mosquitoes by flash light for 15 to 30 minutes. In the morning the mosquitoes must be tired from buzzing around all night. This morning I was able to carefully crawl out a 1/2 opened screen door, unfasten the front half of the fly, turn the peak of the fly inside out (that's where they gather, must be instinctive to go up) and let them all loose. Then I fastened the front of the fly back down and adjusted the stakes (pegs as they call them around here) out a little to make the fly tight. Couldn't deal with the thought of facing all those mosquitoes last night. ...So I mop up the puddle on the tent floor.

Leaving KRABI the day after Christmas we headed for TARUTOA ISLAND. We had a pretty quiet Christmas. It's simply not celebrated much here. Indeed, met one scrooge who comes here every year to get away from the Christmas scene at home. Lisa called home to North Carolina. Got through on the first try which amazed me. It was Christmas Eve. there. Christmas day here. "Well, I'm standing here sweating, what are you doing?" she asked her mom. In North Carolina they had 3 feet of snow.

Second day out since Krabi, we asked at a school to camp overnight. We got an okay from the headmaster. We "camped" on the covered walkway in front of some of the class rooms. Turned out there was a wedding going on in the gym. Probably half the town was there. Was dark when it broke up, they rode home in the rain in their dress up clothes on their mopeds. The more fortunate drove cars. Still eating cookies and crackers for lunch and snacks. Not much bread to be found, and what there is, is like wonder bread. Charles won't even buy it.

TARUTOA ISLAND National Park. It used to be a political prisoner camp during "the war" (WWII) supply ships stopped coming to the island. The prisoners and the guards got together and became pirates. They hijacked passing cargo ships and sold the goods at local ports bribing the officials to look the other way. Did this for years till the English finally came through and overtook them. Now it's a National Park. To get on the ferry we had to roll, lift and carry our bikes over two other boats that were rafted between the dock and the ferry. This was an ordeal in itself but the boat hands were happy to help for a small tip. Arrived the day before New Years Eve. What a wonderful place, quiet camping on the beach. Jungle walks to go on. Next day the crowds started to arrive. Totally changed the atmosphere, mostly college kids but some families, and couples too. Next night was party night, beach campfires, volleyball and singing with guitar. Going back we met a couple from the US, "Construction Engineers". They work on a three month project which usually turns out to be two years. They have six months off before their next project. Sounded like they'd been everywhere. When leaving there were five boats tied to the dock all rafted together because the dock only has room for one boat. Our ferry was tied three boats out. The couple easily unloaded their minuscule amount of gear and hopped on with their bikes. For us it would be a major ordeal, besides it was a tiny boat. Would us and all our gear even fit? The couple coaxed us to come on but Charles (with the long tandem) refused. He'd wait for the next boat. The couple had come over on the little ferry. It was slow but it made it fine. "No, I'm uncomfortable putting my bike on that boat" said Charles. So fifteen minutes later the dock hands moved all the other boats around so the big ferry is right next to the dock. We load up, tied the bikes to the roof, secured the luggage and were off. Halfway through our two and a half hour ride we see the slow ferry adrift in the open sea. Our captain motors over to offer assistance. Just then they get the motor going again. We beat them into the port by a half hour. Unloaded and sat at a cafe having party when the other couple came to join us. We rode together for a couple of hours but when we stopped to buy food they went on. They had to get to a town with a hospital. She was supposed to get her fifth rabies shot. Yes, she'd been bitten by a dog.

The Border guards at the Malaysia border were jovial, and very proud. "70% of Malaysians speak English even the rickshaw drivers know enough to understand you." The guard exclaimed. They went on to explain Malaysia is made up of Chinese, Indian, and Malay people. We all have different beliefs but we all work together. We're not allowed to bring your religious beliefs to work. At work we are all Malaysian. Malaysia has a national goal to be recognized as a first world country by 2020." A van load of young professionals from Kuala Lumpur came through the quite off the main path border crossing. They all spoke excellent English and questioned us about our trip. They looked of Chinese heritage. They'd been up to Thailand on a scuba diving trip. After they left, the guard said, "see everybody speaks English in Malaysia."

Camping at schools doesn't work in Malaysia. We were turned down twice then asked not to ask. We camped at two police stations before we found the toll expressway. There we could camp at the lay-bys which in the USA would call rest areas. Rest areas were attended night and day. We'd get an okay from the attendant. The toll expressway is like a freeway super wide shoulder, well constructed, high speed road. There's no toll for motorcycles. We're not even a motorcycle. Back on the highway we didn't have much shoulder and were very close to constant traffic. The road sides were shops, malls, private houses and manufacturing plants. Few good places to pull off for a break. In one day rode by NEC, SHARP and Goldstar manufacturing plants. I thought it was interesting cause electronics has been my business, but no one else even noticed.

I'm just in a day long daze. We're riding through Malaysia because we need to get to Singapore to fly to Auckland for the next interesting part of the trip. General feeling is not much to see in Malaysia. Actually all the interesting things to see are on the east side of the peninsula which is in monsoon season. We stay on the west side which is dry.

I don't feel as good as I could, still troubled by a little diarrhea. The first police station we stayed at, the Sergeant (man in charge) came spoke with us while we ate dinner. A very philosophical man. Spoke good English he learned at an English speaking school. He's sending his daughter to an English speaking school because he wants her to have a chance to excel not only in Malaysia but on a world level. English is a world language! He wants to get on the Internet "Access the information, that's one of the key elements." He wants it for her. What a Dad!

The tandem is starting to break spokes now and the rear wheel is splitting. Ole and I assure Charles it will make it to Singapore then Charles can get a new 48 spoke wheel shipped to him in Auckland or just lace a 36 spoke wheel into the front hub by skipping every fourth spoke hole. Then lace the front wheel into the rear hub, and you'll be set for awhile. Long enough to figure out what you really want to do. ... But do it in Auckland.

After only two days of traffic on the main highway we try the toll expressway. The expressway is run by a company called PLUS. The PLUS tow truck drivers tell us were not to be on the expressway. It is too dangerous. "Many many accidents." But everybody else we talk to says it's okay including the police. The third time a tow truck driver asks us politely to get off the expressway and we nicely tell them we won't he calls his boss on the cell phone. "My boss wants to talk to you on the phone" he says. Ole goes over to the phone and listens to the boss explain how dangerous it is for a bicycle to be on the expressway. Ole politely asks "may I ask you some questions?" hoping to apply a little logic on the matter. "Would you say it is safer to operate a bicycle in a gutter lane or a traffic lane?" Ole asks. "OH, safer in a gutter lane", I'm told the man replies. "And does the main highway have a gutter lane?" Ole asks. "Oh, no, There is no gutter lane on the main highway." "And is there a gutter lane on the express way?" Ole asks. "Oh yes, a very generous gutter lane" replies the boss. "Then isn't is safer to ride a bicycle on the express way?" ... The man pauses and emphasizes to be careful. "Well Done, Ole!" I think to myself.

On the expressway we see lots of agriculture, a diminishing number of smelly rubber tree plantations, and a growing number of palm trees plantations. I think I know where all the palm oil in the world comes from now. See some evidence of mining and a shopping center and a subdivision development. We went over a significant pass, the summit was a tunnel through the top of the mountain. We'd camped a couple miles from the summit at a lay-by. In the morning continued to climb. I was amazed at how steep the road cuts were in the side of the hill. They had used a bunch of huge spikes driven into the almost vertical cuts to hold the soil back from separating a sliding into the road. If the sides were rock I could understand the steepness of the cuts but this was just dirt. Each spike, about 6 inches in diameter had a 3 foot square plate butted up against the soil like big nails and square washers. Wish now I'd taken a picture. We saw in the newspaper in Cameron Highlands a section just 1/2 mile from where we camped gave loose and covered the road probably only six hours after we had passed. It had rained quite hard the two weeks before we arrived so the soil was soft and mushy. We noticed that when we set up our tents. Our tent stakes slipped easily into the wet soil. The paper said several passing cars had been covered in the land slide.

We got off the expressway to go up to the Cameron Highlands. The town of TANAN RATH is now a resort town. It was a "Hill Station", a summer get-away for the ruling British to escape the summer heat below. It's a beautiful wooded climb, and it's cooler. Can stand still and not sweat.

Malaysia is known for its strict no nonsense laws Death penalty for drug traffickers. Saw several "No Trespassing" signs that had a silhouette image of a guy with a rifle shooting an intruder. This is serious! Spent three nights at "The Fathers" guest house in Cameron Highlands. It used to be run by a priest, thus the name. It's a bunch of old British Army barracks that have been partitioned to make rooms inside. The four of us got a half a barrack. Nice and roomy. We could bring our bikes inside. That's always a considerations when we are looking for a place to stay. I spent the time resting and recuperating. Started another course of anti bacterial diarrhea medicine, and started to feel a little more human. In the shower tried to wash the moldy spots of my tent. Washed everything else too. Then relaxed or walked about town. Charles who's a real talker has been in withdrawals having nobody to talk to but his wife and Ole and I. He was really excited to be able to stay where there are other people to talk to. He stayed up one night half the night talking to a German girl who was feeling a lot of grief for what the German people had done during WWII. Charles found her conversation fascinating. Then he was up again after a couple of hours of sleep to take Lisa to go see the winery. Wow, he's got more energy than I.

Down the hill to visit the Nation Library in KUALA LUMPUR. One of Ole's favorite activities is visiting libraries. KUALA LUMPUR is a big city. Charles and Lisa lead us in. They had the map. First time for Charles to lead into a big city. The tandem is not as maneuverable as a single bike. It's especially hard for him riding through a big city. Ole and I let him work through finding his way and leading us. We got what we thought were lousy directions but turned out to be very accurate. We stayed in a place called the Colonial Hotel. Was probably a very nice place in its time, but it's time had passed. It was now a cheap dirty hotel. Cheap was the reason we stayed. Ole and I shared a large room with two double beds, a table, two windows, a sink, a ceiling fan and a door. One wall went only 4/5 the way to the 10 foot ceiling, a screen the rest of the way separated the next room. Two young guys were long term boarders. They'd come in at 10 o'clock at night, turn the radio on until midnight. Leave the light on all night and be out at 7:00 AM the next morning. We stayed there three nights. Past guests had taken the liberty to write and draw lewd drawings on the wall. Next to my bed someone had written "Grunge is Dead" someone else had crossed out 'Dead' and written 'Good'. What a place!

While Ole visited the library, Charles and Lisa toured the town and visited a friend, they'd met in Cameron Heights. I walked around town a bit, did some errands. Then finally got around to putting some paint on the fork brazons for my front rack. In DC I'd had the brazons installed. The guy put epoxy primer over the affected areas and it was all starting to rust. I sanded off the epoxy primer and rust then put new coat of primer and a finish coat of black high gloss paint. Felt good to get that little task done. It had been bothering me seeing rust for a long time. Also, did a little better job of wiring my broken lowrider front rack together. It had been broken a couple weeks earlier. My hasty repair job made it difficult to get the front wheel on and off I discovered when I had a flat. The new repair is a little more cleaver and doesn't interfere with quick release and removing the front wheel.

Four sixty mile days to Singapore which we broke up 70, 81, 50, 45. The 80 mile day allowed us to visit a maritime museum in Meleka. Something I wanted to do. Ole and I visited the museum while Charles and Lisa visited a couple of churches. The museum building was a replica of a British sailing vessel, the kind used for exploration in Columbus Day. Even for a boat enthusiast like myself the museum wasn't very informative. There were a bunch of model ships on display each one with a description of the vessel, it's time period, construction and typical use. The description didn't always match the ship. It was as if someone came through to dust, took the models out, dusted them carefully then put them all back in different places. The modern history part had navigational equipment on display. All the devices were made in England or USA. A distance finder had a Hewlett Packard name plate on it.

The tandem had a rear blow out that afternoon. The Avocet cross 26x1.9 sidewall blew out, cut at the bead just like Ole's and my wheels were doing to our tires. Went with a loud boom! Charles said, "Well lasted much longer than any other rear tire on this bike." I'm happy to be getting rid of weight but it's too bad it's like this". He cheerfully put a new tube on and installed his spare Avocet cross 26x1.9 tire. That evening when we pulled into our planned lay-by there was no bathroom, no attendant, and no water. I bummed 2 gallons of water off a truck driver who had stopped there. He poured it out of two four liter 30WT oil jugs. We were a little hesitant at first but iodined it and filtered it and it was fine. We have still been iodining and filtering all our water and plan to all the way to Singapore. Even the Sergeant back at the police station says his wife boils all their drinking water though some people say it is safe to drink. At another lay-by I met a fellow taking a break from his job. He'd walked over to the lay-by for the park like setting from the nearby plant. It was a Motorola manufacturing plant. They made I.C.'s there. Do you know I.C.'s he asked me? Being an electrical engineer I did know I.C.'s. In fact, I can remember building prototypes of my designs using integrated circuits (I.C.'s) that said made in Malaysia on them. I rattle off a few Motorola part numbers asking which I.C.'s were made here. The poor fellow couldn't tell me. Apparently, he was surprised a guy on a bicycle would know what he was talking about.

Met Regena and then Helen at the Singapore Airport. We had a two hour layover in Bali. Went into the transient passenger area of the Bali airport. Was air conditioned inside but the walkway out of the airplane was more humid than any thing we'd had in Thailand or Malaysia. Had just enough time to use the bathroom and gaze at the maze of duty free shops then back on the plane. The Auckland airport gave me the immediate impression we're back in the land of tourism. So many rental car booths. So many lit up hotel posters. So many racks of fliers of places to go, things to do. I could see the choices would be overwhelming. Regena had spent the last two weeks buying guide books and studying up on New Zealand. She had a lengthy list of attractions she wanted to see. She was buzzing. Ole had been here before and already knew much of what there was to see and had a list in his own mind of things he'd not seen last time. Charles and Lisa were anxious to get their wheel fixed and go off on their own. We camped in a campground 11 miles from down town Auckland for four nights. I spent one day going into town to get money and mail, and looked around in the shops. One day resting in camp, hiding from the raindrops (I'd gotten soaked the day before), and a third day poking around another maritime museum, a good one this time. I was fascinated by the displays. They depicted three distinct periods of history. The arrival of the Polynesians in sailing canoes, the arrival of the Europeans, and what has happened since the European arrived. Easy to see parallels between New Zealand and America in the since European arrival time. Besides the history display were shops with observations areas where you could watch a sailmaker at work, wooden boat builder, and a model boat builder, or you could go into a broker and buy a boat. You could go out on a dock, get a ride in a sail boat. KZ-1 was on display out front. It's the boat Michael Fay challenged the Sand Diego Yacht Club in 1989 (I think) and lost against Conners catamaran. Always wondered what you do with an old America's cup boat. You simply donate it to a museum. The America's Cup Trophy now in KZ was on display too!

Charles got lucky, found a tandem dealer who operates out of his garage who had a pair of 48 hole wheels someone had ordered and never picked up. Charles and Lisa were over at the guys house till midnight lacing a new wheel into their rear hub. Used the same spokes cause the guy didn't have new spokes. Will probably continue to break spokes cause these have been weakened but it's better than some other alternatives. Maybe the new wheel is stronger than the old wheel so there will be less instantaneous tension on each spoke as the wheel rotates. Time will tell.

A bright cheery sunny day, Ole Regena and myself headed out for the Coramandel Peninsula. After only a day out, I felt very confused as to what our plans were. Seemed Ole had his plans, Regena had her plans and my plan was to follow along see what they wanted to see and if I saw something interesting I'd voice up and rally that we see that. Leaving Auckland felt like being in Disneyland compared to where we'd been. Everything seemed neat, orderly, clean and in place. Soooo civilized! I'd put on a new chain. The third since leaving DC with this rear cassette. Each previous chain had stretched 1/4". This new chain seemed to be running smooth so I decided I'd hold off putting on my spare cassette (the hyperglide rear gears). Ole's chain was slipping and jumping. He'd put his third chain on in Southern Thailand. All three had been really cheap chains not hyperglide compatible. Each had stretched an 1 inch before he changed them. He bought a new chain, a good sachs chain and put on his spare free wheel (the pre-hyperglide rear gears) and problems went away. Regena bought a new chain and plans to put it on in Wellington before we ferry to the south island.

In Thames we met a German couple while grocery shopping. They'd saved for three years to do a 5 month tour of New Zealand by bicycle. Three weeks into it she was hit, and run off the road by a truck. Luckily she suffered only a broken wrist. They are finishing their tour by car. "It's good," says the guy, "We're going to see places that would be too far for us to see by bicycle. That sums up bicycle touring, I thought. You can see a few things up close by bicycle or you can see a lot more, but not so close by car. Just outside of Themes we visited a gold mine and operating stamping battery. Mining is what brought people (Europeans) to this area. Now mining is all but gone. The tour guide is the owner and is part of a co-op of small time miners that have pooled together to run this stamper battery, they also show it as a tourist attraction. He explained how the gold is contained in veins of quartz rock. The rock has to be crushed by the stamper battery then flows out as mud on a shaker table. The heavy part containing the gold settlers first that's put in a big vat with mercury. Stirred around. The mercury attaches to the gold and is separated. There's more to the process to get pure gold but his process stopped here. Men that operated the stampers usually went deaf. Men that worked in the mine usually died from dust inhalation which irritated the lungs and died at an early age coughing up blood. Not very good choices to have to choose from I thought.

Next attraction is between the towns of Coramandel and Whitanga which are on opposite sides of the peninsula. Connecting them is a gravel road (they call a steel road) where an untouched Kauri grove stands. Kauri Lumber was apparently a prized wood for its workability. Most of the Kauri has been cut. After seeing the tree I can see why it would be easy to work. Has a broad tall straight trunk all the branches and foliage at the top. The trunk making up two thirds of the tree would be knot free. All clear lumber! A video at a visitor center quoted a ship builder. "Eye, she saws clean, takes a bend, holds a screw or nail even on the end grain without splitten, and she holds strong." Sounds like a good workable material to me. Learned how the forests of this fine material are mostly gone and just like in the U.S. much other devastation has occurred too. Now people are getting more ecological minded.

Whitanga lies on Mercury Bay. Home of the Mercury Bay Boating Club. This was the club Michael Fay represented in his Americas cup challenge in '89. I'd heard it was a paper club, i.e. they had no club house. That they had an old car parked up on a bluff the race committee sat in to get out of the weather when raising and lowering flags for races. "Guess if we have a club house, that's it," was quoted. I wanted to seek out if this were true. While I chased that, Regena ran errands. Ole sat at a picnic table outside the information office reading and studying "word for the day." Each day Ole chose a new word from his list of obscure words that only scholars would know and set out to memorize it's meaning. He tried to turn it into a game. Charles by far had the best recall of past words of the day. I'd got three names of Mercury Bay boating club members at the information office, two members who had business in town. The first, a Realtor, was out for the weekend, it was a regional three day holiday weekend. The second had told his secretary not to let anyone interrupt him, not even his wife, but the secretary gave me the name of another fellow who was out working on their new club house. She asked if there was a place I was staying. "Maybe the boss could get a hold of you later. He's commodore of the club." I couldn't say where I'd be because I didn't know where we'd be camping. Rode out to the address she'd given me. Here was a modest building being framed in. Found the fellow she gave me the name of. We talked for a bit. Another guy started ease dropping then joined the conversation. Turns out he was commodore of the club at the time of Michael Fays original challenge. Michael, a friend of his, needed to be associated with a yacht club to make the challenge and asked his friend Murray Strachen (I think) if he could represent the Mercury Bay Boating club. "Oh why sure." . . . and the rest turned into history.

It all sounded like a conversation you'd have over a few beers. Murray said he'd quite enjoyed the experience. He'd been over to the states three times because of it. One time he traveled all about on an Amtrak pass he'd bought in New Zealand. It's cheaper to buy it here than in the states he informed me. Feeling like I needed to get back to "The group" I eased my way out of the conversation, and got a picture of me in front of the partially constructed building. He'd confirmed my story. The car was an old zephyr. That night in camp I continued to feel confused about what our plans were. I was tired and wanted to rest. I had some more repairs and maintenance I needed to do, and I felt as if Ole and Regena weren't telling me what was on their mind. I felt I needed to be in a constant state of readiness, but I didn't know why. I'd found myself enjoying riding behind them, just out of sight. I'd been hearing a little voice inside me say, "John, go off on your own. These people don't want to do what you want to do. Go off on your own. It's easy here, you need a break, go off on your own." So I voiced what I was feeling about being confused and not knowing how to prepare for the upcoming days cause nobody as far as I heard was discussing any plans with me. I voiced that maybe it was time for me to have a little personal time. ...and that's what we did. In the morning I stayed to gather myself and my new freedom and Ole and Regena scurried off to see Hot Water beach and who knows after that.

Ah! I don't have to go anywhere or be ready for anything. I bathed in that thought then tears came to my eyes as I was sad to see my travel companions go. This will be good for me. The trip will be more memorable when I figure out and do the things that interest me, I told myself fighting the sadness.

First thing is catch up on rest. Still adjusting to the five hour time difference. Second, get rid of this cold that's been following me since Auckland. That will mean easy days and more rest. Third, Celebrate! Hey, the hard part of the trip is over, the rest is 1st world and all English speaking. I had a celebration pizza for dinner! Fourth, make list of things that need to be done that have been bugging me. After looking at the list I see some is serious. Some is trivial. So far I've sewed patches on my holy stuff sacks. Repaired my broken tent pole. Tried to get a new head set but decided the old one isn't that bad yet. Replaced the zipper pulls on the worst zipper of my panniers. Put my toe clips back on. Read up on New Zealand and got maps. Added up mileage for a reasonable route through the north and south island. Have to average 30 miles a day over all. That's about what we did in Europe. Yet to do is lube the pedals (need to get a 10mm socket for that.) Write letters ...(doing that now). Deal with leaky tires. etc., etc.

So I rested for a couple more days at Mercury Bay. Did some more major washing and a general sorting of equipment. Decided to send home the shoes I'd gotten in India for a possible Nepal trek. They were too heavy for biking. Wouldn't need my candle lantern since we wouldn't be having group dinners in the dark. It's light till 8:30 and days are getting longer. What else can I get rid of or send home? Not much. Well feels better just to have looked.

Back on the road, I'm amazed with the views here. It's wonderful. Sometimes it's just sheep grazing other times it's green hills. Then again views of distant islands in a blue sea. Decided to head south to the Tongario National Park. Besides seeking the mountains I can visit the Ski Resorts. I like doing that!

Visited the Martha Mine in WAHITA a working open pit gold mine they plan to fill it in as a lake when they're done mining. From the observation platform you can see openings in the rock walls the tunnels of the former underground mine. When separating the ore they have an electromagnet all the ore passes by to remove any metal that may have been dug up from the old mines. An old rust pick or chisel can severly damage the rock crusher. Then rode along the old DARANGAHARE Gorge Railway Line. The part through the gorge has been abandon and graveled over as a walkway and bike path. At the end is a 1 km long tunnel . It's lit but still too dark to ride without my headlight. At a spot halfway through the tunnel, someone had placed an empty soda can under some dripping water, it sounded eerie as you approach. Sounds like the ghost of an old miner still at work with chisel and hammer. Thud, ...thud, ...thud, ...thud.

It was outside of Te Puke, Kiwi capital of the world where you can take a ride a train where each car is shaped like a kiwi fruit. I'd camped next to a dirt road wild. The dirt road ran between two rows of tall trees to the North a railroad track and the main highway. To the south lay a vineyard. This is a pretty safe place I thought. I could pitch my tent on the road. It's used little enough. I thought better of that and pitched in some tall grass beside the road. That night about 10:45 a truck went roaring by. Heard the scream of a gunned engine coming towards me. Then a flash of headlights. Then heard the truck back up and saw my tent glow from it's headlights. Hum, I've been discovered. I looked out of the tent. Saw a young man with a very confused look on his face. He looked at me and the blue thing, (my bike wrapped under a tarp), then at the tent, and then back at me. I pointed to the blue thing. "It's my bicycle," I said. "Oh, Okay," then he turned around got in his truck. "It's okay?" I said. "Yes, Okay." Then he sped off. Fifteen minutes later he zoomed by the other way with two friendly toots of his horn.

Seems like a lot more people are curious about me since I've been on my own. I've always known you're much more approachable when not in a group. I enjoy watching peoples eyes get bigger and bigger as I tell the story of my journey.

I've visited two Ski Resorts in the Tongariro National Park. Coming down from the most recent one, Turau Ski Field, stopped at a turn out to let the brakes cool. It happened also to be a trail head for a round the mountain tramp. Just as I stopped two hikers (trampers, In Nepal you trek, in New Zealand you tramp, in America you hike) came up the trail seriously huffing and puffing. It's steep terrain at this spot! I started talking to one of the two. They were both in their early twenties. German I guessed from their looks and the sound of their English. The fellow showed me the route they had walked from Auckland on his map. They are one month into their 6 month trip. "That's wonderful!" I exclaimed. The other guy seemed disinterested in talking but listened as he sat down to rest his shoulders from his pack. When asked about where I was traveling I just spoke of the New Zealand section. Then when questioned further I told the whole story of starting in San Diego, California. Riding across America to Washington DC Flying to London. Riding to Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Trieste, Italy. Ferrying to Greece, riding there and in Turkey. Flying to India. I looked over at the guy sitting down. He was wide eyed now with a big grin on his face. Looked like he approved of this agenda. I finished off … then Rode Delhi India to Kathmandu Nepal. Flew to Bangkok Thailand rode to Singapore then flew to Auckland. We talked a bit more then wished each other a pleasant and safe journey. Stopped at the information center at the bottom of the hill. A bus load of retired folks were stopped there presumably a travel break. The bus driver volunteered to watch my bike for me while I used the bathroom. When I came out he asked if I'd spent the night up the hill. "No just went up to look around a bit," I said. "Well good one on ya," he replied. "Wouldn't catch no Kiwi bicycling up that hill." When asked, I told him I was bicycling around New Zealand for two months. "Ah, ya gotta go see the South Island. It's beautiful." Well I thought this was very pretty in many places. "Ah, but the South Island is much better!"

Two ladies got me talking about my trip and before I know it one person had told another who had told another till the whole crowd was looking and pointing at me. "He's ridden half way around the world. He's going all the way around you know, 17,000 km so far in 11 months." Then they start listing off the countries I listed as they described my path. Then one said .. "My doesn't he look fit."

It's been raining on and off all day sometimes pretty hard. Occasionally I've heard the roar of the wind in the treetops as the fronts pass through. The floor of my tent is only damp now not wet as is the corner of my sleeping bag. It will be easy to survive another night here. When I get out during the lulls I see that the rain has caused the little dirt road in front of my tent to become a river. It's 6 inches deep and flowing fast in some of the four wheeler rutts. The walking track a former logging road no longer wide enough for a truck to pass through has been graveled but it's a four foot wide three inch deep river now. If it rains all night my feet will get pretty wet getting out of here!

Till next time,

Happy traveling

John

P.S. Rained all night. Was very wet getting out!