Day One, Stage Two

Great send off from the kids of Sts Peter and Paul School in Lower Hutt this morning - thanks little guys!

We owe a big thank you to the teams (yep, teams) of Halberg staff around the country who have made arrangements for us. In this part of the woods Marguerite Christophers and Chris Gunn have generated interest in our project and ensured there was a good crowd supporting us.

Thanks also to the guys from SPARC and Peter Glensor, counsillor from the Greater Wellington Council.

You guys who rode with us this morning...very cool. It was fun to have company for a change, even if you turned it into a game of the hare and the tortoise (except the damn hare won this race).

For all sorts of reasons we elected to give the Rimutakas a miss and jumped into the trailer until Featherston. We're pretty sure we passed the scene where a car had driven off the road in the hills - good luck folks. For great pies check out Gusto Cafe and Bakery along the main street...mmmmmm.

The boys notched up another 68 kms but with Rob complaining the entire way about their speed. Eventually his obsession got the better of him and the tandem was checked into Lambert Cycles in Masterton where the thorn proof tubes were all replaced with lighter regular tubes(That's right Ryan, rest assured you have rights to the loudest laugh as the punctures come rolling in). The guys at Lambert were very cool and gave us a freebie - love and kisses fellas (check out their site in the links).

Sean, the film maker, cooked up a great steak meal tonight. He could do this as we're staying in a unit with full kitchen facilities at the Acorn Estate Motel. This place gets extra brownie points for being fully accessible - nice job Bruce and Joan. The multi-talented Sean also assures us that the cutest checkout girls are to be found in New Plymouth - nice one Sean, we're not going to New Plymouth.

Calculated the total distance of the ride to Rotorua at a little under 300 kms - a little underwhelming we feel. Have to pick up the pace a bit to get to Napier, hence the change of tubes.

We're all starting to miss family and friends.

Day of rest

After a 7 hour drive from Rotorua to Lower Hutt yesterday we're very happy to have a day of rest. We found a great little motel to hole up in until we kick off the 2nd leg tomorrow morning.

The Hutt Recreation Ground is our departure point with things getting under way at 9:30am. John and Rob hope to be on the road around 10:30. The decision was made not to risk the climb over the Rimutakas for safety reasons so the boys will ride the foot hills to Kaitoke before hopping into the trailer and resuming at Featherston.

Our goal for the first Day is to make it to Masterton where we're looking forward to a visit to Wairarapa College the following morning.

One down, two to go!

The confession first: there was no victory lap of the lake - too tired after the Mamakus. The hills went on and on and on. Every time we thought we'd got to the top it turned out to be a teaser. When it did come, the down hill trip was over very quickly.

Victory lap or not, we successfully completed the first leg - yippee! What a shame we sent Sean, film maker extraordinare, to buy the celebration beers - he was asked for ID and had none, and so the cupboard is bare. Never mind, we still have a hot soak to look forward to.

John refused to leap into the waters of the lake in his birthday suit despite enormous peer pressure, but there is still tomorrow to break him down.

In the words of the immortal Spock: Live long and prosper. Good night.

People are nice, aren't they. We mean it - everyone has been so damn good to us on this little road trip of ours. Even Yvonne had the best of intentions when she insisted on plucking hairs from Rob's eyebrows ears and nose (though just what those intentions were is uncertain). Her husband too had our best interests at heart when he tried to steer us away from St Hwy 1 - Terry, we are way too tough to be frightened by that little stretch of road! We flew along the shoulder as if on the wings of eagles, nothing could touch us, nothing.

And then there was the lovely ladies from Sport Waikato who came to see us off this morning from Matangi Motors - thanks Paula and Janis. Dave MacCalman has promoted us around the region and met us on a couple of occasions along the road to spur us on. Dave is a gold medal Paralympian and was an early role model for young Rob when he first broke his neck, so it's been really great to have his support.

We get a lot of encouragement from passing traffic - nice, nice, nice!

The only really sour event that has marred an otherwise uplifting journey, was the refusal of the Morrinsville Cafe to give Rob a marshmellow with his coffee. This has become a rather sensitive issue as John's favorite drink is hot chocolate meaning he is always getting the marshmellows - an unfair situation.

As for the ride itself - well, John remains as stoic as ever, and Rob has temporarily stopped crying about his swollen hands. The boys will be cycling into Rotorua tomorrow ending the first leg of the tour. If all goes well they may even do a victory lap of the lake.

Relaxing Day

A relaxing day thanks to our hosts Terry and Yvonne Booth, and Phil and Julia.

We managed to motivate ourselves enough to change a tube on the trike but best of all, Alastair drove down from Auckland with some much needed signage for the trailer. We now have our sponsors and our website displayed for all to see. Thanks Al.

After making a route alteration last night we have decided to stick with the original plan. If a safety issue arises along the way we can always load the trike into the trailer and bypass the problem area.

Free Board But With Conditions

Sure the ride went ok today - we covered a little less than 60 kms, riding through beautiful country from Te Aroha to Matangi, where we caught up with Wayne and Trevor Brocket from Matangi Motors and Vehicle Adaption Services. This is where they convert Kia Carnival vans into the Kia Independence - vans with automatically opening side doors and fold out ramps for use by people in wheelchairs. Rob has one of these, so has first hand knowledge of the freedom offered by these vehicles. Check out the link to their website for more information.

So the ride went well and then things were really looking up when we were offered food and accommodation by Phil Booth and Julia Hill in Hamilton. However, as incredible as it seems, Rob was forced to endure the humiliation of having his eyebrows plucked by Phil's mother Yvonne. Unsettled and embarrassed, Rob retired to the solitude of his room.

Tomorrow is our first rest day thankfully. Rob's hands are a little swollen and causing him a lot of pain. John's legs could do with a rest too. Karen has been going flat out since we left Auckland and has earned a day in the sun.

Looks like we will alter our route for safety reasons to avoid St Hwy 1 from Cambridge to Tirau. Instead we'll back track to come down Hwy 27 through Matamata.

Retro Blog

We’re posting yesterdays blog today as we were out of range of internet service last night.

Firstly, our apologies for the unenthusiastic last post – it was a funny kind of night, we were exhausted and no one could think of anything to say, and yet we had a quiet sense of satisfaction to be finally underway. Anyway, we are back on form and, in fact, feeling rather pleased with ourselves. You see, we kind of landed on our feet tonight.

The day started awkwardly enough when Sean (director, cameraman, sound operator, cook and DJ) left his tripod in exactly the right spot for Karen to run over it with the trailer. Nothing a panel-beater in Ngatea couldn’t fix.

John and Rob got another 66 kms under their belts but it was hard yakker the whole way. They were coming up with the most inventive excuses for the slow pace – spongy roads, heavier than usual tires, head winds (there wasn’t one) etc etc. In the end, it was pretty simple – they were stuffed from the hills the day before.

A special highlight was coming across the kids from Netherton School lined up to cheer us on – thanks guys!

Still, a hard days ride and we’re still on the road at 5 with no place arranged to sleep. Enter Ron from Karangahake River Lodge. Ron cancelled a planned day surfing in Raglan to open up just for us, and what a place...accessible with a country lodge atmosphere, we just love this place – especially the fireplace! Our warmest thanks Ron, for your hospitality and good humour (we even put him to work changing tires).

Day One,

We had a great turn out of family and friends at Pulman Park to see us off. The weather could not have been better. Thanks to all who made the early morning start.

The ride wound through some lovely countryside but the real treat was the coastal leg of the journey, absolutely stunning!! At time of writing Rob was still moaning about his various aches and pains. Talking of payne, Martin your belt rasped Robs wrist raw. Say that last sentence fast five times!

A special thank you to all the kids.

Right on track

Rob's just back from a productive meeting in Wellington. Thanks to the teams from SPARC and Halberg for all the preparation they're putting into the tour. The Wellington send off is going to be great!

Thank you to Jocelyn Carlin for the wonderful photograph. Jocelyn gave us a free session and came up with a shot we love (see above). The camera's not always so kind (see below).

Alistair Burns is building storage into our trailer as well as giving it a cut and polish, and painting the mudguards. We also found a bottle of red wine helps him think - as a result the problematic lighting system is fixed.

Ryan, our cycle guy, gave the trike a final checkup. Fitted the new mudguards, rear vision mirror and shoved so much rubber under the tires we can expect not to have trouble with punctures.

Yep, everyones been chipping in...makes you all warm inside.

New technology and new clothes

Thanks to Kim Wise, John's hearing specialist, John and Rob can now communicate with ease while cycling. You'll see in the picture that we have devices hanging around our necks. Rob's is a wireless microphone, John's a wireless receiver, which in turn forwards the signal wirelessly into John's hearing aid. This is very good gear - it eliminates environmental noise, such as wind and traffic, so John can clearly hear Rob's voice.

This communication issue has been a problem from the very start. Rob needs to be able to let John know which way they will be turning, whether he needs a gear change and, most importantly, when the brake is needed. This is most critical on steep winding descents as it's unsafe for Rob to take a hand off the steering to brake.

You'll notice John has a big smile in the picture. This is because he can now hear Rob singing his back-catalogue of Simon & Garfunkel and Lionel Richie right inside his ear, mile after mile. Lucky eh.

Tested it today and it exceeded all expectations. Thanks Kim.

Yippee! We got our new clothing from Earth Sea Sky on Friday - beanies, fleeces, rain jackets. This gear is very very cool - stylish and functional. We also like that they are a New Zealand company, a family business and that everything is made in New Zealand. Thanks guys.

New Departure Date!

OK, forget anything you've already heard - we're kicking off on Sunday 22nd April. Departure will be from Bruce Pulman Park on Walters Rd in Papakura. Sausage sizzle from 9am and a chance for the kids to show off their bikes. At 10am we head off on the first leg of the tour. Bring your bike and ride along if you like - the route goes past Ardmore and on to Clevedon before heading down to the coast and eventually Miranda.

See you on Sunday bright and early!