Skies clear enough to cycle today. Went from Whitianga down to Whangamata (accent goes heavily on the last "ta," so it's pronounced whan-gah-mah-taaaah), 80km. It was a pretty pleasant ride- a couple big hills at the beginning, but the views at the top were stunning panoramas.
On the way up.
At the top. You could see clear to the coast, the picture doesn't give it justice.
And my bike makes its first (unboxed) appearance, fully loaded.
Like I said before, Kiwis (New Zealanders) are very big conservationalists. Apparently this also applies to their bridge-building efforts. They appear to hate building "unnecessary" bridges, so one lane bridges like below are by far the vast majority. There don't appear to be many accidents over them though, so it works out. Most of the drivers have been courteous and just give me the right of way.
I stopped at a small orchard with a stand close to Whangamata. Stocked up on some fruit- the guy had a pretty good selection. There were a lot of plums, some nectarines, peaches, and apples, and a reasonable selection of vegetables. I got a bag of nectarines and a bag of apples. The guy said his orchard was actually a rarity because he was selling his own produce. I keep seeing signs for local farmer's markets though so I'm not sure how true this is. The region I'll be in in the next week or so is supposed to be a heavy fruit-growing region so I should be able to investigate more. Had an interesting chat with the orchard owner about kiwifruit. Unfortunately they don't get fully ripe until the fall, which here is May or June, so I won't be around to try them. Usually though they are picked early for export, and this prevents them from fully ripening. At their ideal ripeness they are supposed to have a yellow center, not green, and should have a reasonably soft, not a hard core.
Eco-friendliness also applies to plastic bags here. Most of the supermarkets I have been to will only give out plastic bags if you specifically ask for them, and at the orchard today the owner had a sign up saying that any extra plastic bags (beyond the ones that the fruit was pre-packed in) cost $0.10/bag. Everyone seems used to it. At the supermarkets where bags are not most people just bring cardboard boxes that they load their groceries in.
Went to a Chinese carry-out restaurant for dinner. Can only eat so many pasta and zuchinni dinners in a row.
The place where I got fruit.
My treasure horde: nectarines and apples.
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