So Here it Starts!!

January 5th to 7th -Canada to Auckland
Oh what a lost few days.
Getting on the plane from Edmonton to Calgary was great, they didn't even charge us for the bikes! Some times it's good when people don't know anything about their own jobs!!
Anyway, got to Calgary and all hell broke lose. One (1) hour stop over to change planes, from a domestic flight to an international flight. That means we have to go through U.S. customs!!! With two bikes, two huge duffle bags and a steel hip!!! Jerry!!!! What the hell!! So we are literally running through the airport to make it to the baggage carousel to pick up our stuff, Yah you guessed it, NO BIKES! Jeezz, didn't see that coming. The nice lady from Air Canada got on her little walkie talkie and asked around about a few mountain bikes. Yup, one of the baggage handlers knew where they were but they were "HUGE" and he needed help? Must have been 'Give a Putz a Job Day at Air Canada'. So Merry and I split up, she went to the customs line with the bags and I ( and the nice Air Canada lady ) waited for the bikes.
Plane time 8:55
Got the bikes time 8:30.........then off to customs.......Got patted down real good........took my 1/2 bottle of coke........a cola.............then asked us to tear open the bike bags so they could swab them for explosives or stuff. They had no luck. No weapons of mass destuction here! Hey but we got through to the flight with about 2 minutes to spare. No Problem!!!
 Air New Zealand TOTALLY ROCKS!!!! Had a blanket, pillow and head set waiting on each seat, we`re talkin` economy here! Chicken or pasta for dinner........chicken please........Holy Cow...this tastes like chicken! Really good chicken, and mashed potatos and a bunch of other food that was good! Watched TV and some travels shows about New Zealand and tried to get some sleep. NICE!!
 Got to Auckland at 5:00am, put the bikes together, got on a bus and were at the Hostel by 7:00am, too easy.
 Spent the next two days walking around down town, suffering from jet lag and shell shock from the sticker price of the basic neccesities of life. What the hell, $3.50 for a small cup of coffee? We stopped for a light lunch, 2 very dry ham, cheese and avacado sandwiches and 2 cups of coffee,......$26.00! $5.50 for powerbars. We thought we`d beat the restaurants prices by buying our own groceries and making good healthy food, a little cheese, a nice loaf of bread, some greens, a few tomatos...................$30.00 for groceries. We did find out that there is a 15% GST on everything and the price on stuff includes the tax, Oh well, when in Rome.

　
We did find our first fish and chips shop so we sat by the water and taunted the sea gulls.

So we are finally off riding tomorrow, taking a ferry out of town to miss all the city traffic. It will put us about 15 km north of Auckland and make a good place to start riding, seems like a good idea so far, we`ll see.

TB Blog Jan 8,2011
Auckland to Red Beach
About 11 km by Boat
About 10 km riding
Now I remember how hot it can be around here. It was about 26ish today, but was it HOT on the bike! Lots of climbing for the first day. We both had to walk a couple hills but I am still impressed how well we both did on the hills we did climb, seeing as we have not been on the bikes for a few months ( a couple years in Merry`s case ........good on yah mate!! ).

We found a nice little camp ground called Pinewoods just off the shore, a place called Red Beach, we were both happy to find a place fairly close so we didn`t have cycle far for the first day.
Got the tent up, changed and straight to the ocean and went for a swim, OH that was good. So far, this is great.

On the boat heading for the start of the cycling bit


After a nice frolic on the beach, we walked to the local grocery, bought a few things for dinner. Our first home cooked meal, not a bad way to end the day.

Merry's addition - Holy Sweet Mother of Pearl the hills are steep!  Good thing is it downhill on the other side :)  My delicate constitution and fair skin... OK I'm not used to this kind of heat and blistering sun so was not ready for what hit us off the ferry.  Some consolation is that the New Zealanders are suffering from the heat as well.  It has been fluctuating between 26 - 28 degrees C these last 4 days and people are complaining!  It is hilarious.  Seriously, the hills are just like coming out of the ferries on any of the Gulf Islands in Canada - you start at sea level and have to go up, and up and up.  It was a fun although short day.  The campsite is very close to the beach and we watched the Ocean Lifeguard competitions - exciting to watch.  I am really looking forward to the next leg - which is yet to be determined. 

We are just sitting talking to a couple from Vancouver who are heading back after 6 weeks touring NZ and say it is more expensive than touring Europe for the prior three months.  They were so excited to get to this campsite as it had free showers.  Everything costs - they charge for plastic forks, packaged ketchup etc if you order fries for example.  Wow.