roadtriprambling - Tumblr blog

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Time for an update....600 days after leaving Vancouver, it's time for me to push the "pause" button on the motorcycle journey.  For how long?  Who knows.  After stretching my budget far beyond what was sensible, a return to 'reality' was on the cards.  So, after 6 weeks of job-hunting I am now settled in Auckland, living in the 'burbs and re-experiencing the 9-5 lifestyle.  My faithful moto is now under a cover...waiting for some TLC in advance of some inter-island exploration.

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In a whirlwind 3-day trip from Auckland I rode up to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, at the northern tip of the north island.  On the way back I saw remnants of large Kauri forests that used to dominate the subtropical north of New Zealand.

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Nice beaches on the Tasman sea, east of Auckland.

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The 'stone store' in Kerikeri, New Zealand.  This is one of New Zealand's oldest standing buildings.

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If my motorcycle could fly, this is what it would see along the north eastern coast between Auckland and the Bay of Islands.

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In my short time here I have already developed an unhealthy addiction to L&P, a fizzy lemony drink.  A pilgrimage to the town of Paeroa, where the drink was founded, felt necessary.

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Fuel isn't cheap in New Zealand!!!!  This works out to $1.90/L Canadian, and has me reminiscing of Ecuador where I paid $0.35/L.

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The Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand [3/3]

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The Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand [2/3]

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The Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand [1/3]

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Riding around (lawfully!) with a Canadian license plate on my motorcycle is occasionally a cause of confusion for the Kiwi police...

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Wandering around the island of Rangitoto, one of many dead volcanoes that litter the greater Auckland area, both on and off-shore.

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Aside from everything being easy, organized and in English, there were other simple reminders that I was back in a part of the commonwealth.

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Faraway views of Auckland, New Zealand

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The same morning I landed in Auckland, New Zealand I was on a mission to reclaim my motorcycle.  After 5 hours of bio-security inspections and customs paperwork I was reunited with my bike and immediately put it back together.

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I didn't spend much time seeing sights in Santiago.  With my motorcycle and riding gear all wrapped up, I was reduced to the basics I had been living with for the last year and a half.  Off to the airport and the nice surprise of being upgraded at the last minute.  The 12-hour flight felt like nothing!!

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Santiago, Chile.  Home to the world's shortest bicycle lane?