So, I am sitting in my tent laughing at the birds outside. It’s like being in a surround sound IMAX auditorium, the volume of the birds singing all around me is so loud that I almost feel like I need earplugs. I haven’t figured out quite yet what kind of bird species they have here in New Zealand but they are loud enough that they must be as big as dinosaurs. I hope they aren’t upset at me for free camping under their tree out here on the river bank. As long as they are not like the birds in Alfred Hitchcock’s epic bird horror flick, I should be alright. The nice thing is they are singing in complete harmony so I have taken to calling them The Supremes, so I can sing along with them, Stop in the Name of Love before you break my heart ….Stop!!!
I think it is Mar 22, I lost a whole day to get here. I flew across some imaginary dateline somewhere over the Pacific, they take away a day when you do that. I guess it is like a day bank. Like an investment, I will get my day back later. That day will likely be more fun then because it will be like new because it has been in storage so long. I feel like my cycling strength must have been in storage as well. I am counting on getting that back as well. I have only made it about 110 km in two days on the bike. I was so keen to be back on the bike after a 3 month break that I headed straight south out the Auckland airport. I headed south on two new tires and two new tubes and my trusty patch kit. I hadn’t expected to encounter anything my patch kit couldn’t handle and have come ridiculously accustomed to cycling without a spare tube. But as Murphy ’s Law will have it, I did bust a presto tire valve, something I have never done before. I was a couple of km down a side road camping out in a farmer’s field this morning when I the valve blew off like an erupting volcano so I figured no better time then the present then to go meet my neighbors and the folks of NZ.
Alan and Carol Chase not only called around to find a place open on a Sunday but then Alan drove me there and then insisted he help me fix my bike. Afterwards we visited over tea and some crazy good muffins that Carol had made. I listened to their concerns about the present drought in NZ. NZ is known to be green and clean. It is very clean here but brown. Every shade of brown dried grasses and crops speckle the hillside. I wish the cows and the sheep all the best and hope they are getting enough to eat as I peddle by. I am presently in Ngalea, North Island and can’t wait to see the Bay of Plenty, South Pacific Ocean tomorrow afternoon. Today I am grateful for the little bit of rain NZ got last night, for Alan and Carol’s kind hearts and that the supreme bird choir have finally sang their hearts out and have gone to sleep!