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March 2 – Hopewell Lodge – situated in the heart of Marlborough Sound is Hopewell Lodge, a peaceful laid back friendly family owned resort consisting of many cabins connected by nature paths. Lynley and Mike are wonderful hosts and will go out of their way to make you feel at home. We biked on mountain bikes on the road by the bay in the morning and went sailing with Phil, Mike’s brother, in the afternoon. Winds had picked up by then and it was quite a gusty thrill !
At night Mike and Phil cooked up green mussels for dinner for all the guests. It was quite the treat.

March 1 Sunday- we take the early ferry from Wellington to Picton, and even though the seas were calm I took my Dramamine and I certainly needed it as the seas were rolling!!
It was a beautiful cruise as we sailed up through the inner bays with hills on both sides. We then took a very curvy road to Te Mahia -don’t blink or u will miss it which is what we did. And our final destination was a boat ride to lovely Hopewell Lodge.

We left Taupo early for our 5 1/2 hour drive to Wellington. We hit a little much needed rain along the way. The road was pretty much along the coast and was one lane with lots of curves.
once in Wellington we explored the city a little and went up the Cable Car to The planetarium, Space Place. We saw an amazing show and talk on the stars of the Southern Hemisphere and how to locate the South Pole as there is no “South Pole” Star like in the north.

Friday, Feb 28- last night we and 55 of our BFF stayed in the Timber Lodge. Some bikers there were on the Tour Aotearoa which goes from Northern New Zealand to Southern New Zealand for 3000 km in 30 days, although you are on your own time schedule and most do it in about 6 weeks. We met some ambitious people doing 160 km a day. Pretty tough considering the terrain and carrying all your gear. We are doing the Timber Trail which is 85km in 2 days and that is enough if you want to enjoy the beauty of the trail.
Anyway, we biked the second half of the trail today with uphills and down hills, riding on dirt, rocks, sand and gravel. The paths went from in the woods of darkness to bright sunshine with fields of tall grass.
Of course we went over the swinging bridges- I think 4 today. I never looked down and just kept looking at other end. We went over the longest bridge today and Biking on a bridge that is moving is intense!!
But we kept on “hiking/biking as I called it.
We finished up at the end of the trail and Vern our transport driver gave us a ride back to Taupo.

Thursday, Feb 27-Timber Trail- OMG ! what can I say about this trail! It’s like going back in time riding through a prehistoric jungle. We biked past unusual looking Palm trees, large ferns, and lots of different mosses on trees. We had mountain bikes with very large tires which made for a comfortable (?) ride on the bumpy to say the least paths. We twisted our way through trees over stumps and rocky trails! And did I mention the Swing Bridge ? Did I mention my fear of heights?? Who says “Big girls don’t cry?” Well, I did survive the 4 bridges. And we made it to Timber Trail Lodge where they gave us a delicious pizza and beer and later dinner.
All is good!

Wednesday, Feb 26- today was a travel day from Hot water Beach to Taupo. It wasn’t a long distance but their are no “super “ highways . We traveled on very curvy hairpin turns with barely a sign announcing them. It was like doing a skiing slalom race in a car! Back and forth for miles!! And bridges are one lane so you need to look for a sign on the pavement or maybe a posted sign saying give way! Really?? You better stop if it is your turn because locals know if it’s their turn to go through.. we stoped along the way for delicious yogurt fresh fruit ice cream
We reached Taupo where we went to Four B and B’s bicycle shopping where we were fitted for bikes we are renting to do the Timber Trail on Thursday and Friday. It is a package deal where 4 B-and Bs makes all the arrangements.
Later that night we caught the last rays of sunlight over Lake Taupo.

Tuesday, Feb 26 – up early for a sunrise kayak trip from Ha Hei Beach to Cathedral Rock. Beautiful morning paddling along volcanic meteor cliffs to the iconic arch of Cathedral rock. With our fearless guides helping us we managed to portage on the beach as either Louie or Andy our guides grabbed our kayaks in the surf and brought us in safely. Quite the rush. They rewarded us with freshly made coffee, cappuccino or hot chocolate and cookies. Delicious!
Later that day we grabbed our shovels and dug holes at Hot Water beach in search of one of the 2 underground hot water springs to create a hot tub! We ended up joining a lovely couple from England who took pity on us. We then asked some “Strays” ( straytravel.com ) to join us as well. Rub a dub dub! Lots of people in our tub!

Monday Feb 24- today was a driving day from Auckland to Hot Water beach in the Northeast coast of NZ. Beautiful beaches and stars were Amazing at night as there was no moon. We saw over 20 satellites pass by as the 3 planets of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars all aligned in the sky. My Sky app also showed the International space station as well as the Hubble telescope. I can take a photo of sky and app with screen shot. It’s pretty cool.

Feb 20,2020

It is 11pm Thursday night in San Francisco airport and we have boarded our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We should be there by 9am Saturday. Not sure what happened to Friday!

Time is irrelevant!

We left Tampa at 6:30pm and arrived SF at 9:30pm – even though the difference is 3 hours we actually flew for 6 hours.

We leave SanFrancisco At 11:00pm Thursday  and fly to Auckland arriving Saturday at 9 am. This is a difference of 34 hours even though we only fly for 13 hours! 

So we are very very tired!
And does anyone know what time it is ? ⏰

we made it!!

Good morning Nashua! We got an early start for our last 52 miles to Boston. We biked through beautiful rural country into Massachusetts. We picked up the Nashua trail which originated in the back of a large parking lot with no signs anywhere. Later we connected to the Minuteman trail which winded and curved our way into Harvard Square. I was surprised by my son Ben and his 2 children Lydia and Mary along the path!!! So fun to see them!Mark led us using Ride with GPS and we took many back roads thru the streets of Boston eventually coming to JFKs birth house. We then made our way to Commonwealth Ave which is a very busy street however due to construction the lane was blocked off but we could bike in it, so our entire group had the whole lane!! Unbelievable! We biked around Fenway Park, to Boston Common, past Cheers, through Fanuel Hall, by the Boston Massacre and to Charlestown where we dipped our tires in the Atlantic! We did it!!!