Forced rest...

Hello!
Well, looks like I'm forced to rest for a day! I am faced with my first case of bike chafing... I won't get into too much details here as I'm sure you can figure out what that means! So I was "forced" to take a day off hanging out at the beach on a beautiful sunny day... sucks, doesn't it?! I am now in Opotiki, a small town at the edge of the East Cape. I am now in Maori country, which I am very excited about! Looks like I might be able to hit the road tomorrow...yeah!
I don't have anything too interesting to report today...
If you are interested in seeing what New Zealand looks like, here's a few movies that have been filmed here:

1- The most popular one: The trilogy of "The Lord of the Rings"... all filmed in NZ!
2- "The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise... beautiful movie!
3- "The Whale Rider"... a movie about the maori culture (I am actually heading toward where it has been filmed. Most of the people in the movie where from that village! I really enjoyed
that movie... seen it a few times!
4- "Once were warriors"... a movie made in the 90s... a bit harsh but realistic... again, a movie
about the Maoris and their present struggles in today's society.
5- "The Piano"... haven't seen that one but it's from the same producer as"The Whale Rider" so
it might be worth checking out!
I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I know!

Enjoy!
Genevieve

Seafood feast in a Hell's Angel's bunker!

After biking all day, I ended up in a little place called Waihi beach... there was only one hostel and some big, busy campgrounds... so I opted for the hostel! I must say I was a little freaked out when I got there... The place looked a little scary! I was so tired that I decided to go check it out anyways. Turned out to be one of the coolest place I've been to so far! There was only one more traveller in the place and all the rest were local people! I met a couple of Maori guys (aboriginals from New Zealand), Franky and Dean, who agreed to take me mussel picking the next day! So we headed off on a little trail off the beach and hiked for about 30 minutes before we got to a beautiful little cove with crystal clear water! The guys decided to jump off the cliff into the water... until we spotted some monstrously big sting rays cruising around exactly were they had been jumping! I had never seen such big sting rays before! Very impressive (and a bit freaky!). Dean picked about 150 mussels right off the rocks and Franky and I went hunting for Kina (a type of sea urchins) and Paua (photo in smugmug... quite discusting looking thing!). So we went back to the bunker and had a huge seafood feast! Couldn't be much fresher than that!! I even tried a Kina... it looked nasty but was very tasty! So that was my first maori cultural experience in New Zealand! Those guys were very interesteing to talk to as they knew a lot about the natural world! I am now heading into Maori country (East Cape of North Island) and I am really looking forward to it!

Kiwi Hospitality!

As I was waiting to put my bike on a passenger ferry the other day, I met a bunch of fellow cyclists who were just finishing a training ride.Later, while I was stopped at a pay phone trying to figure out where I would be spending the night (it was still early in the morning as I wanted to pitch my tent somewhere and go to the beach), one of the cyclist stopped and asked me if I was lost... when I told him I was looking for a place to stay, he nicely offered me to stay with him and his partner for the night! Both Warren and Sarah turned out to be very welcoming! They even invited me to come along on a sea kayaking trip exactly to where I had planned to go earlier! Perfect! So we packed up 4 kayaks and headed towards Cathedral Cove (a big tourist attraction on the Coromandel Peninsula). Warren even took us into a cool cave where we could actually land the kayaks on a little beach at the end of the cave! After the cave, we went to the real beach to stop for lunch... I managed to make a total fool of myself trying to surf a wave all the way to the beach! I took a big wave and surfed it for a while, until the tip of the kayak hit the sand and flipped me over, face first in the sand... all that in front of about 30 tourists! Awesome! Anyways, what started to be a lonely day walking to Cathedral Cove by myself turned out to be a wonderful day with great local folks! They even made me dinner back at the house... so spoiled!! And, I had the best night since the beginning of my trip... my own bed in my own room! Luxury!! Anyways, THANKS WARREN AND SARAH!! It was great meeting you!!

I got fertilized!

Yeah, you read well! I was walking up another one of the hills and I stopped to check out a plane that was flying really low over the green hills around me, when I realized he was fertilizing the fields below. Suddently, the plane flew right over me with his nasty fertilizer! Rather gross to be covered in white powder! Anyways, while I was checking out the plane, I noticed a police car parked in the bushes across from me... wondering what he was doing there, I waited a little longer and kept an eye on the car. Next thing I know, a police officer comes out of the bushes with his hands full of marijuana plants! Ahhh... the things you end up seeing when you're biking around!! The police officer came down and talked with me for a little while, and he reassured me that the fertilizer they were using was very mild

(I asked as I was worried about the poor sheeps down below!)... So for you information, I won't be growing an extra ear or arm or anything else anywhere on my body!

The word "hill" have a brand new meaning!

It is presently noon and I managed to find an internet place to get away from the sun for a little while! It is very hot today and I just finished climbing up the steepest and highest hill of the north island... and when I say hill, I mean 4-5 km long steep hill! When I take a break and look behind me at the ocean, I just can't believe I've hiked up that far from sea level! It is a really good feeling to get to the top and start going downhill! I often go faster than cars on the downhills as I have more space to take the corners. Cars go around 20-30 km and hour up and down those hills! I made it up to 69.5 km and hour on my bike this morning! (That was on a straight stretch!)

The last two days I spent resting at a really amazing hostel in Coromandel City called "The Lion's Den". The lady that owned the place was so nice! She even woke up at 6 AM yesterday to bake us a banana cake for our hike! Me, 3 girls and a guy (all from different countries!) left at 8am yesterday, drove for 2 hours to the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula and hiked for 4 hours to a lookout point! That must have been one of my most amazing hikes ever! For the first hour, we walked through cow and sheep pastures. It was all open, green, rolling hills with a few obstacles along the way (had to be careful as I was walking in my sandals!). The ocean was always on our side with its rugged coast line. And then I managed to get attacked by a bunch of hungry ducks! They were walking all over me! Had a good laugh anyways!

I am having a hard time finding internet places that allow me to download my photos... and when I do, it is very slow! So I apologize for the lack of photos! It will come!

Impressions on my first 2 days...

I left on Sunday morning for my 3 months bicycling journey... I ended up taking the train out of Auckland (very smart move as the traffic was crazy and the suburbs not so fun to ride through). The first day I did approximately

55 km (my bike computer was dead so I don't know for sure!). It must have been 35 degrees with no wind and 100% humidity... not that great for a yukonner like me used to dry air! I had to stop often and go hang out in the shade to avoid heat strokes! Other than that the landscape was beautiful! I said Hello to my first sheep (many more to come!!) and saw my first hedgehog! It really feels like the Amazon here... everything is so green and lush and there are crickets and weird birds singing constantly as I ride along! I also tackled my first hill... which to my standard was hell (it took me one hour to go up, both riding and walking!)... but later found out, looking through my cycling book, that this was an "easy" one compared to what is to come! Now I wished I'd got in shape before leaving, instead of getting in shape as I go! Yeaterday, my second day, I did about 65 km (bought a bike computer last night!)... the ride was much easier, following the coast next to the water almost all day! Well, I better go... another big day ahead of me!!

Meeting up with a Yukon friend!

I know, I'm a little late... but it's not that easy to find computers around here!
So last Saturday, I arranged to meet up with a friend of mine that was also travelling in New Zealand... Ramesh and I used to work together at the group home in Whitehorse. I thought I'd write a post about him because next year he will be hand-cycling across Canada (from Coast to Coast) to raise fund to erradicate polio. Ramesh had polio as a child and figured he was in a good position to help out a little! Here's his website if you are interested: www.cycletowalk.com
Congratulation Ramesh and have a good trip back to Whitehorse!!

Finally here!!

After a loooonng day of travelling (28 hours total, including layover), I finally made it to Auckland. Like Samm said on her blog, the flight with Air New Zealand was great! Barely felt like it was a 13 hour flight! I was actually happy to get on another plane after spending 5 long and boring hours in Los Angeles airport. I was really looking forward to pick up my stuff in Auckland and see what kind of shape my bike was in (specially after seeing how they handled my bike box in LA!). So I got here at 7am and got a ride to my hostel (The Brown Kiwi)... great little spot a little outside of downtown. Although I was completely exausted, Samm and I decided to got for a walk to the harbour to do some catching up. It had been a long time since we had done that!
When I arrived in the city, I noticed a big poster announcing that the Cirque du Soleil was in town... since they are practically from my home town and I had never seen them perform, I thought that would be way too cool to see them here in NEw Zealand (can't believe I flew across the world to see them!). Luckily, Samm was on the same page as me and we were totally excited about getting tickets. We both agreed on a max price we were willing to pay and managed to come across a ticket booth... the woman at the booth had a big grin on her face when we asked about the show on Friday... she said we were very lucky... two people had just cancelled their VIP tickets (240$) and they were now selling them for the regular price tickets (110$). So we got to be VIP for one night! The show was incredible! It blew my mind what bodies are capable of doing! My anxiety level went up a few notch during some of the performances!! We felt like we were in a completely different world, with the colorful outfits, the music and the crazy stuff they were doing! To anyone wondering if they should spend the money to go to a Cirque du Soleil performance, DO IT! Totally worth it! I think I will plan a little weekend trip to Vegas in the next year to go see their other show "O"... I think I got hooked!
Other than that, Auckland is a nice city... bigger than I thought! It reminds me a bit of Vancouver, with the ocean close by and all the green everywhere! People here seems to be very proud of their town. The only thing annoying about here is all the hills! I actually decided to take a train out of the city on my first bike day (Sunday). I just can't picture myself (out of shape), riding all those crazy hills with my fully loaded bike amongst the insane traffic (people in Auckland drive like maniacs and I'm still getting used to the right-hand drive thing!). Anyways, I have been here for 4 days now and I am looking forward to get out to the countryside and do some riding (by the way, my bike was in good shape when I got here!). My next post will most likely be about how my butt is killing me and how much I'm having fun!!:)
Hope the -38 in Whitehorse isn't treating you too badly!
Ciao!
Genevieve

Skijoring 101

Today was the last day that I had to spend some time with Marko and Tika before flying to New Zealand on monday morning. Luckily today was a beautiful day. Although a bit windy, the sun was shining on the mountains around Fish Lake and there were plenty of snow to be able to enjoy one of my favorite winter sports (sorry to everyone in Quebec who have no snow!). So we decided to take Tika skijoring... I'm sure my friends here in Whitehorse are all familiar with this sport but for those of you who are wondering what the hell is that, here is a Skijoring 101 course! Basically, skijoring is cross-country skiing with a little help from a doggy friend. We simply use a climbing harness to hook up a rope equipped with a bungee cord to the dog's specifically designed harness. Some people use up to 3 dogs to pull them which to me is complete madness! There are also races here in the Yukon but we are far from entering any of those... Tika would need to stop eating bacon, lay in front of the woodstove and start remembering what her roots are (trapline dog)! Luckily, our friend Pierre lent us one of his trained sled dog to help motivate Tika. Pierre is also from Quebec and has been living in the Yukon for many years. He runs a company that organizes dod sledding expeditions... check out his website, there are some videos of what it is like to be standing behind a dog team! http://shinevalley.free.fr

Next time you will hear from me, I will be in Sunny New Zealand!
Ciao!
Genevieve
p.s.. there are more skijoring photos if you click on the ''Gen's photos'' link on the right!

One week to go!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my brand new blog!! This is my first attempt at blogging so bear with me while I try to understand that whole concept! I figured this would be the perfect way to keep everybody informed of where I am without having to send those very impersonal mass emails...
In a week from now I will be on my way to sunny New Zealand for a 3 months bicycle journey around both islands! I will try as much as I can to update this blog as I go but considering how much I (don't) like writing, there might be more photos than text!!
So I hope you enjoy this, and feel free to send comments! I will be very happy to hear from all of you from across the world!!
And while I'm here, I want to wish you all a wonderful year 2007 filled with adventures, travels, love, happiness and all the good stuff (chocolate) that could make your life better!!
Genevieve