We started the biking part of this trip on January 15th, riding from where the bus from Auckland dropped us at Kaitaia, to Ahipara. So far, we’ve cycled 851 miles, climbing a total of 56,821 feet in 26 cycling days on our way to Wellington. We took 4 rest days along the way. Our first week was slower than the rest of the month, as we acclimatized to the trip and also paced ourselves to the ferry crossing on the 23rd at Kaipara Harbor.
As if the cyclones have not been enough, we experienced a 6.1 magnitude earthquake last evening while having a beer at a pub near where we are staying. It was a pretty gentle shake where we were, as the epicenter was about 60 miles out to sea and pretty deep. The strongest earthquake in NZ occurred in 1855 and was strong enough to to lift Wellington a number of meters.
We had a productive time in Wellington and enjoyed ourselves.
The city reminds us both of Portland a bit with a funky vibe, many cyclists, lots of brew pubs and the largest concentration of outdoor camping/gear stores we’ve ever seen. Made comparison shopping easy!
Thursday was pretty nice weather, and Kelvin dropped us in town and we took a bus back to his house. We had drinks with him that evening in a local pub (to the shaking of the earthquake) and had a very tasty dinner in an Asian fusion kind of restaurant. All good!
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