Coromandel Town

Again I am stuck in a town with nothing to do. Ok, some people actually did warn me, but I did not think it would have been that extreme. Next time I will listen.

I went for a walk this morning. The Kauri Block Walk guided me up to a fantastic lookout over Coromandel Town.

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Von 20100409-Coromandel

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Von 20100409-Coromandel

After that I went down to the harbor road and a very short long beach.

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I spent the afternoon reading. Very nice day. ;) Tomorrow evening I will finally reach Auckland.

Cycle Tour (The End)

I sold the bike.

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If anyone goes to Whitianga have a look at On the Beach Backpackers. There is the new home of my constant companion the last two month.

Somehow I am feeling strange. I don't need to look after my bike anymore and it was a constant reminder of my chosen way of travel here in New Zealand. I am a bit at a lost now. I am happy because I don't need to find a buyer anymore. I am a bit sad that the end of the ride was so ordinary. I am happy that I did not need to cycle the road to Coromandel.

Part of the deal was getting me to Coromandel. I am in the town now and just shorten my stay from three nights to two nights. I am going to Auckland on Saturday afternoon.

Cycle Tour (Day 20) Opoutere to Whitianga (65km)

Yesterday I was going up the coast again.


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After shooting this picture:

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I needed to replace my back tube. Only three km into the day I had a flat tire. Sometimes a day can't start worse. I was tiring fairly quick while not even having done the first 20 km. Don't know maybe the sun after a cloudy weekend. Maybe the hills. At least the traffic was this time coming the way I was going. Perfect timing going further up the coast.

I took a break in Tairua and having a waffle before climbing the last big hill of the day. 240m difference in altitude. I think the Kiwis build their roads with the sole purpose of having a great lookout.

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Von 20100405-OpoutereToWhitiangi

On days like this I really like to have a better camera. When I finally reached Whitianga and my really great hostel I was greeted with sunshine and really nice waves. My first action was going into the water. The first time since I reached New Zealand.

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Von 20100405-OpoutereToWhitiangi

The single most important event that happened: The owner of the hostel is thinking about buying my bike. :) I am here two more nights. Maybe he will buy it and I won't have any problems in Auckland. Otherwise there is only one cycle trip left. Getting to Coromandel.

Cycle Tour (Day 19) Whangamata to Opoutere (17km)

Yesterday was a short cycle day. I was hopping from Whangamata to the beach.


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Only 17km to go. There are several reasons why I did not do that the day before yesterday. The most important is that there are no restaurants and supermarkets in this small village. It is the least developed place on the coromandel peninsula with a beach. I need to transport my own food for two days and I need to buy it in the first place. Better to make it an easy day.

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Pure nature. Empty Beach. No People. Peaceful and boring.

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Von 20100404-TaurangaOpoutere

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To many kids in my hostel. If you want quiet go to the beach. Today will be my last night here before I go to Whitianga. 60km. I hope it will be easy. There I will make a trip to the famous Hotwater Beach. Did I say that I like beaches?

Cycle Tour (Day 18) Tauranga to Whangamata (94.2km)

I survived April Fools Day and on friday I went for my last really long cycling day.


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The road was awful. In Katikati two canadians asked me how I fared with riding a bicycle on a high traffic highway. It is no fun I say. The road was really hilly and all the time the traffic was passing me I needed to be on my guard. After a while I was really fucked up and my brain was not working correctly anymore. I decided to leave SH2 and take a detour. Maybe seven km more and probably a harder to cycle road with more hills but at least I would have less traffic.

It was a great decision. I finally found some fun in cycling that day.

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I was cycling through a really nice country side called the golden valley. Yes definitely worth it. After getting back on the highway the traffic picked up and I was nearly losing it. To many damn stupid sunday car drivers. After reaching Whangamata I was really fed up.

It was by far the hardest cycle day. Not because of constitution but because of the traffic. I am happy that I am on the peninsula now. Whangamata itself prooved to be a small backwater town where the most of the stores close on a holiday. But they have a nice beach and golf course. And I am missing the internet. So that is why my posts come a few days late.

Visiting Mt Maunganui

On my last full day in Tauranga I got on my bike and travelled probably 10km to Mt Maunganui.

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To bad the weather was not good enough to climb the mountain. I would have had a really great view of the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga. But it was about to rain and I was not really keen on getting wet. As alternative I visited the nice beaches and the nice downtown area before returning to Tauranga and watching Clash of the Titans.

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Sometimes You win...

... on other times You watch 'Clash of the Titans'. I don't know why I don't like this movie. Maybe it is because a lot of the actual scenes are optimized for 3D and therefor loosing a lot of the atmosphere. The story about Perseus is a great one and scare of fighting Medusa was one of the points that makes a person a hero. But somehow I they did it not really good.

I had more fun watching Percy Jackson in his really predictable adventure. But I intend to read the books some day. I believe they will be better than the movie. The last two days I read the Magician again. Now you know why I did not have any time to write something for the blog.

If I need to choose the next moviefication (I know that this is not a word from the dictionary.) of a great fantasy novel I would choose the magician. But perhaps it is not as easy to put into a movie, because of the more than ten years it covers. It is still my favorite fantasy novel and even beats The Lord of the Rings.