Heading to Coromandel

After a few absolutely fantastic days in Opotiki at Bob and Meg’s beautiful place, we are headed north for about a week on the Coromandel Peninsula. Bob and Meg have so much going on at their place. We literally ate off the land for 4 days. They have so many plum trees and banana palms that they are just gifting bags of fruit to anyone who can take them. Bob has drying racks everywhere and still the fresh stuff is more than abundant. They live on a bluff that looks over a gigantic harbor. We paddled one day and took paddle boards out on another afternoon. Apparently I had a huge manta following my SUP, but I was too scared to turn and look at it. My balance is still a bit tenuous on the SUP. What fun we had. 

Paula and Bob with bananas from Bob’s trees

Deb paddle boarding in the harbor

Marty’s favorite view from Bob/Meg’s house. 

One of the days Marty and I did a little hike which included a walk up a hill to the site of an Māori pa. My understanding is that these were fortified settlement sites. The views from the top were spectacular.

Tonight we are camping for the first time this trip. We had to remember how to set up our tent since this is only the second time we’ve used it. Weather is good so we will hopefully have a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow the adventure continues. It will be our first time paddling by our selves. We’ve got some good local knowledge from Aiden. He told us the good places to go and the places that just can’t be missed. We will let you know how it goes. 

 Kia Ora from Auckland

After a 14 hour flight from Vancouver BC, the wheels touched down in Auckland. Local time 5:30am. What we didn’t know was that 3 flights from North America had landed within minutes of each other. 

What this meant was customs was at maximum capacity. Two and a half hours later we were out of customs and headed for a coffee stand. We spent 2 hours in line talking to 2 wonderful young women from the Netherlands. Then waited for about a half hour for a customs officer to inspect our tent. Good thing it was squeaky clean or they may have felt the need to inspect our other gear. 

We have stayed the past 4 days with Lois and her housemate Anna. They have 2 dogs, Enzo the beagle and Chloe the Jack Russel Terrier.  They are hysterical and so lovable. We have to keep the door to our room closed because Chloe hides under the bed and Enzo sniffs out any food and will eat it, wrapper and all. We know this to be true because one of us forgot to pull the door completely shut. 

Anna with Enzo and Lois with Chloe

Today we took a long walk around the city. We were excited when we realized that we had been in one of the neighborhoods on our last trip here in 2020. We had no idea that we were so close. We have found Auckland hard to navigate in. It is on a somewhat narrow neck of land with a lot of harbors and bays both east and west. You can’t just keep the water to your left and know which direction you are traveling. Thank god for digital maps. Tell your phone where you want to go and it will get you there. 

One of Marty’s favorite buildings in the Ponsonby neighborhood 

We have rented a car for the next few months. It’s a Toyota RAV4. Oh, did I say that they drive on the left side of the road here. Let’s just say that both of us are a bit stressed when we first start driving here. Today we got it ready to carry 2 kayaks. We brought our stacker poles from home and Marty padded the bars with pool noodles and duct tape. Tomorrow we will load up the car and head toward the Bay of Plenty. There we will see Bob and Meg and we will meet up with Deb and Paula for a few days. Bob has graciously offered to loan Marty a kayak for the duration of our trip. Lois has loaned me one of hers. We feel very grateful to them both. 

Lois’s boat all up loaded on the passenger side of the car. 

We will post again in a day or so. Tomorrow will be a driving day in the city. Stay left and take the right turns wide. 😛

 Here We Go Again!The bags 

The bags are packed, travel details checked and rechecked; and we’re off. Why so much stuff? We are paddling and camping A LOT over the next few months. The only thing we will have to borrow are kayaks. Thank you Bob and Lois!! This first post is practice for me to see how we post photos and send it out using an iPad. You all are our test subjects. Let me know if there were any problems in the comments. We leave tomorrow at about 3:00pm. We land in Auckland at 5:30am local time on Friday. For those who are wondering how that translates to local time, it will be 8:30am on Thursday for all of you. (We gain a day going and lose a day on the way home.) Next post will be sometime after arrival. Wish us luck. The agricultural inspection in NZ is brutal. We anticipate it will take awhile with all the camping gear. I even scrubbed the treads of my shoes. 

For now…..

Home at Last

Play in the Bay Area 8-17-2013 to 8-21-2013

The last part of the trip we visited family in the Bay area. We visited and toured the local sites. The weather in San Francisco was cooler, and cloudy at times, but still great. We stayed in Vallejo, and took the Passenger Ferry to downtown San Francisco. Here are some of the sites

The Top of the Golden Gate Bridge

The Brothers Islands near Pt. San Pablo

One of the Oracle America Cup Boats

Seals Hanging out Near Fisherman's Wharf

Alcatraz Island

Lombard St.

Tony's Pizza Fat-Tire Delivery

 We also visited Marin County, on the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our Great Nephew had a great time hiking!

Apollo Walking Mom and Aunt Esther on his first Hike

At last, it is time to go home. We choose Amtrak for the return trip because it was the easiest way to get our bikes home. It was the cheapest also. The ride to Tacoma took about 22 hours, but we had 2 beds and all meals!

The Amtrak Coast Starlight at Portland Station

 Home at last. We've been gone for about seven weeks. All is well here. We are tired and will return to work to rest up (Smile). For all you numbers people, here is the bicycle trip details:
Total Distance: 1348 miles, Total Climbing: 75,815 ft. , Saddle time: 142 hours, Days cycling: 31, 6 days off. Total peanut butter and jelly sandwiches consumed: Too many to count. Number of flats: 4. Rainy days: -0-.

Sunset over Puget Sound near Titlow Beach

Thanks for reading about our adventures. I hope you liked it and are ready to go with us on the next trip.
Have fun!
Marty & Esther

Fun in the car!

8-15-2013  Midpines
Today was a busy day of running around. We got up late and took a long bus ride to Merced. We found a real taco stand and enjoyed a nice lunch. We also picked up our rental car, shopped for lots of food and drove back to Midpines. I don't know if it's a good idea to rent new cars. Now Esther wants a new car with a touch screen and lots of buttons.It even connected to her phone.

Esther in a New Car

It was nice to buy more than you can carry on a bike though. It was hot in the valley; high 90’s would be my guess. It made the ice tea taste real good. Tomorrow we are off to Kings Canyon and the Sequoia National Park.
 
8-16-2013  Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park

We packed the car with all our stuff (Lots of it!) and headed south to see two more National Parks. We are going to drive an arc-shaped route thru both parks, entering from the north on CA Rt. 180. We first headed to the Kings Canyon Visitor Center and asked for some suggestions. We then drove north to the Old Kings Canyon Lodge, then back south into Sequoia along the Generals highway. I must say we were so happy to do the climb into the park along Rt. 180 in a car! It was a really steep and long climb up and over to the lodge. We stopped at a vista called the Junction View and enjoyed the view.

Front Porch of the Kings Canyon Lodge

Old Gas Pumps at the Lodge (One was Unleaded!)

Kings River Canyon from the Junction Viewpoint

Next we stopped to see the General Grant Tree, the third largest tree in the world. These Sequoia trees are so large they don’t photograph well. We tried.

General Grant Grove

General Grant Tree

Large Sequoia Log

Inside a Large Sequoia Log

Next we headed into Sequoia National Park to see the largest tree (or for that matter, the largest living thing!) on earth. The General Sherman tree is 2200 years old and 274 feet high.

General Sherman Tree

General Sherman Tree Base ..

And Looking Up

All of these really large and old trees grow near here, and they are really something to see in these groves.

The Road Splits to go Through a Grove of Sequoias

The final eye popping feature today was the descent out of Sequoia along CA Rt. 189. The road drops several thousand feet down a twisty road for miles and miles. Again we were glad to be in a car. We finally got down to Visalia by dark and got a room.

Looking West from the Eleven Ridges Viewpoint

CA Rt. 189 Twists and Drops going West.

Yosemite and done!

8-14-2013 Yosemite Village, CA to Mid Pines, CA

We slept in today and took the YARTS bus down to Midpines late this afternoon. The camp we were in last night is a staging area for climbs and wakes up early. The groups started leaving about 3AM, and when we got up most of them were gone. We spent the day visiting the sites here in the valley. The Yosemite Valley is surrounded by sheer rock cliffs which go up thousands of feet. We took a lot of photos.

The View from our Campground

Upper Yosemite Falls, No water...

The South Face of El Capitan

Half Dome

More Vertical Rock

We learned that the road to Midpines was fast, congested, and in a narrow canyon for miles. We smiled on the bus when we saw that first hand. Rt. 120 was also detoured about 15 miles south of the park  due to a huge landslide. So we are done! At least with the cycling part… Tomorrow we will take a bus to Merced  and pick up a car. That will speed things up!

Esther in a Midpines KOA Cabin

Yosemite

8-13-2013 Lee Vining, CA to Yosemite Village, CA

The 40 minute bus ride up to the park went without a hitch. Since we took the bus, we did not have to pay the five dollar a person park entry fee either. What a deal.

The road to Tioga Pass from the Bus

The ride across the park was very scenic. The traffic was busy in spots, and was risky in a few, but we lived through it.

Lembert Dome near Tuolumne Meadows

Tenaya Lake

Climbers above Tenaya Lake

 The view of Yosemite Valley from Olmsted Point

The last part of the ride, from the Crane Flats junction into Yosemite Village, was a thrill. It was a fast descent down a busy road through tunnels and sharp turns. We could go as fast as the cars, so we blocked the lane and enjoyed the ride down. There is a small turn-out after a tunnel which was very congested that we stopped at for the view. This was a good time not to be a car.

The view of the descent into Yosemite Valley from the Tunnel Vista. 

We finally rolled into the Village, with El Capitan bright with late afternoon sun.

El Capitan

It was an adventure finding our campsite, as hiker-biker sites are not advertised. With a lot of friendly help, we found our camp and just collapsed. It was a long day and we are tired. It was nice to be with people who understand Bear etiquette. 20 plus tent sites and not a speck of garbage around. It was a quiet night.

Climbers Camp at North Pines Campground