19th July 2024 at 14:51 - Damian

Bit of a bad start to San Francisco. SIM card issues, Clipper travel card issues, emerged from the subway to the aftermath of a carjacking and a lot of druggies on the street.

But managed to get to our hotel and took a walk around our neighbourhood, had a beer in a lovely casual bar and then nice dinner at a place called The Grove nearby.

Now back at the hotel watching the absolute mind numbing shitshow that is American politics with Trump speaking at the Republican National Convention.

18th July 2024 at 19:00 - Damian

It was peak hour when we needed to go to the airport and we're away for a month so rather than fight traffic and pay for parking we decided to take public transport. Bus, bus, train, bus.

$7.70 each and 1h40m all up.

Perhaps twice as long as driving but time's not an issue for us right now.

17th July 2024 at 09:37 - Damian

Tomorrow we're off to the States for a month. Back on 20 August.

Inspired by the excellent https://seat61.com blog we're taking the train across the country on the California Zephyr and Empire Builder routes with an initial diversion to Yosemite.

We're traveling el-cheapo in coach class breaking the journeys up into manageable chunks: San Francisco > Denver > Chicago > St Paul-Minneapolis > Portland > San Francisco.

We'll be doing a bit of hiking and cycling and a lot of eating.

4th July 2024 at 12:36 - Damian

11.5km morning walk today from Northcote to Takapuna via Tuff Crater and Patuone Reserve and back via the Akoranga bus station motorway overpass and Northcote Te Awataha Greenway.

You can mostly avoid roads these days and even the sound of morning traffic from the motorway makes it more pleasant because you know you're not in it.

29th June 2024 at 17:19 - Damian

29th June 2024 at 15:04 - Damian

We left Matakana early this morning stopping at the Ringawera Bakery for a sourdough baguette and a couple of sweets. From there we headed toward the west coast and Atiu Creek Regional Park.

There's a place for self-contained campervans at the entrance near the highest point with million dollar views so we'll stay here the night and see if we can catch a nice sunset.

We ambled the 2.5hr 7.8km Oruawharo River Trail on arrival and have blobbed out watching storms and sunshine blow through.

29th June 2024 at 06:31 - Damian

The roads around Matakana are treacherous for cycling or walking but the local community has built a path between Matakana and Omaha that uses a combination of quiet backroads and dedicated paths.

Only 15 minutes cycle from our digs to the pub and a safe meander back in the dark

29th June 2024 at 06:14 - Damian

Our main reason for coming up this way was to catch up with friends at 8 Wired Barrelworks in Matakana for their Matariki dark beer festival.

We found a park over property nearby with tiered level pitches. Only $10 for the night with an honesty box at the top of the driveway. They had eggs in the honesty box at $8 at a dozen so we grabbed a carton as well.

29th June 2024 at 05:58 - Damian

Leigh Eats fish and chips for lunch. Consumed just down the road at Matheson Bay on the beach. Beautiful little bay but a steep pebbly beach with waves that were causing grief to a couple of sit-on kayakers attempting to launch. Much laughter from their family picnicking on the grass.

The snapper was pricey at $10.50 per 100g but they gave us extra so all is forgiven. Delicious.

29th June 2024 at 05:35 - Damian

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Yesterday we drove the long way to Leigh for lunch.

We stopped off at Pakiri Beach¹ because we plan to do a day walk later in the year starting at Te Arai (where we stayed a couple of weekends ago) down the coast finishing at Pakiri which will involve crossing the river there at the end. It looks shallow enough to wade across and will be a refreshing end to a 12km beach walk.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81kiri

15th June 2024 at 14:21 - Damian

Instead of spending the night at the bach we've made our way to Te Arai Regional Park¹ near Mangawhai just north of Auckland. It's raining but it's remote and right on the surf beach and only costs $21 for the night.

Stopped at the markets in Mangawhai just as they were closing and had the most amazing pie from the coffee truck there; called 'Porky Pickle' with pulled pork, ham, pickles and salty mustard.

1. https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/parks-recreation/stay-at-park/Pages/accommodation-details.aspx?itemID=81

15th June 2024 at 14:16 - Damian

This weekend was supposed to be a regular scything/mowing weekend at the bach but started badly with getting stuck in the sopping ground. It resulted in a stressful hour or two of getting it unstuck, turned around and back up the slippery driveway abandoning the whole idea.

12th June 2024 at 08:05 - Damian

Here we document our travels from 2024 onwards