We are DOWN UNDER - Felt great to finally reach the Aukland Airport. A helpful bus driver approached us (!) and we went into Aukland with him on a bus full of others - some from Germany - quite a mix of travellers.
We spent last night at the Chevron Chalet - a bed & breakfast. Jane was our hostess - very friendly and charming! We had probably the best room in the house! Beautiful view - Aukland is a BIG city! We walked about the neighborhood; lots of small shops - butchers, fruit stores, wine, clothing, - got a spare bike lock key at the locksmith & chatted it up with a friendly old local bloke there! People are great (tho slow & a bit grumpy at the P.O.!)
We've just crossed on the ferry to Devonport - Jim just very succcessfully bought spare stuff in the cycle shop here.
LATER THAT DAY...
We're now at Red Beach - a campground - we appear to be the only tent, in a nice sized open area - all green, birds hoppin' around, getting dinner - havin' a beer (part of it foamed over the map of the South Island! Ooops)(beer purchased from "Luke" in the Silverdale wholesale beer/wine store - he's into shoes & drinking lots of beer) - We're pouring over maps and doing some rough planning. What a day of riding! Took a ride along the waterfront (non-downtown area - beautiful!) to the Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World - an acrylic tunnel you go thru, surrounded by fish, sharks, manta rays - COOL!
Finally we left Jane's place (she's letting us store the bike box there for the whole 3 months!) and headed into the downtown area of Aukland, to the ferry - talked with an old couple on the boat - both full of information and advice!
Plenty of hills! Made it up most of them pedalling - walked a few, but it felt good. Lots of cars tho, traffic had to go thru some pretty metropolitan areas. But eventually we came away from that - more intensely green and rolling pasture areas; sheep, cows, both checking us out as we pedalled past, a black and red machine!
This place is nice, much more secluded and peaceful than another caravan park we checked out a bit ahead in Orewa (also less expensive). Still light out at 7:30, in November!
