After 31 days on the road and a total of exactly 240 skiking hours in
covering 2100km, I have finally managed to realise a dream; to skike from
Cape Reinga to Bluff all on my own.
For almost 6 weeks I have lived out of the pack on my back while skiking
for an average of 7.7 hours per day in a bid to raise funds for the SPCA
and CanTeen Otago while also fulfilling my own fantasy of truly testing and
extending physical and mental limits.
Along the way, I have met people who have educated me on the world we live
in. I’ve learnt invaluable and endlessly applicable life lessons that will
continue to influence attitudes and events of, with any luck, not only
myself, but others that I encounter in the future. I’ve gotten to know the
very country that we live in on a whole new level after experiencing the
entire distance at an average of 9kph.
Beginning from Cape Reinga was a harsh and somewhat shocking experience,
being left alone to deal with the humidity, hot sun, and endless hills.
This soon wore off as a rhythm emerged, quickly adjusting to the conditions
and becoming accustomed to limited company. As progress was made, each
region and even each individual day presented a unique set of challenges
which made the journey forever engaging and exciting.
This journey has been one enormous rollercoaster ride. At one end of the
spectrum are extreme highs. For example, making it to Blenheim for rest
over Christmas two days early, or arriving in Bluff 3 days early. On the
other hand, there were also extreme lows, such as completely breaking down
when head winds continued to overpower forward progress after 6 hours of
battling. Here the true challenge lies; possessing the ability to, when
everything is against you and you have nothing left to give, to keep moving
forward, and never stop, and never give up. That is the real challenge, for
"the task ahead of you is never greater than the power behind you" (Author
Unknown).
While I have the opportunity, I would like to thank everybody who has
donated to these two very worthy charities. I’m very proud to say that at
this stage we have gathered almost $5000 to be split 50/50 between CanTeen
and SPCA Otago. Also, thank you so much for the emails and all methods of
support received while out and about, I hope you realise how grateful I am!
Thank you all very much. I’m also very happy to say that this has been an
incredible experience, and definitely recommend an event such as this to
everybody. It is WELL worth the effort!
Cheers,
Scott Kvick – SkikED NZ

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even
though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither
enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows
neither victory nor defeat” – Theodore Roosevelt.

On the ferry at 9:30am, then we headed east for as far as we could. Went
and checked out the golf course, then had lunch at the motel. After lunch
we went west for a while until we had to turn back to catch the ferry back
to Bluff. Thank you very much to Stewart Island Experience for helping us
out with tickets!! Greatly appreciated It was great finishing off the
trip on Stewart Island with a bit of a cruise with some company (Mum and
Dad) and checking out the scenery. An excellent end to an awesome trip!!

Well, today was to be the day! The long awaited day. Beginning from the
north edge of Invercargill, I set off at an extremely late 10am, making my
way straight through Invercargill to catch up with Dave Gosselink and
cameraman Shay just south of Invercargill. From then on, the tv guys,
family members and I were leap-frogging to Bluff township. Next thing I
knew, it was a short uphill round a corner, and there was the signpost! The
very end! It was amazing seeing it, especially so early as it only took 3
hours to get there from Invercargill.
The weather on the way was ok, really windy but not too wet, and even got
a little hail which made things interesting. Getting to the end was the
strangest thing though! Absolutely unbelievable! lol was given a bottle of
champagne to pop, and was very happy to be met by my family and some
friends. So it's all over! So hard to believe that adding all those 31 days
together, that you can get something like this, 2100km later. Great feeling
though!! we had lunch (fish and chips ofcourse!) at Lands End just by
the sign post which was awesome

Wahoo!!! awesome weather this morning for a straightforward 65km to
Invercargill from Gore. Was drizzling a little bit for starters, but nice
and cool and no wind at all. The rain got heavier later on and was soaked
by the time Invercargill rolled around, but hey, it was only 10am when that
happened!! yeah that's right, 4 straight hours of skiking and had made
it, the very last whole day of the journey!! Man it feels good! Just as
well I finished early to, the weather this afternoon has been crazy with
thunder, lightning, hail and heavy rain. Very lucky indeed.
So now it's just 29km to go! So hard to believe!!
Met up with the Southland Times in Invercargill and there will be an
article in there tomorrow. Also meeting up with Dave Gosselink from TV3
News tomorrow near the finish line (all going well), so keep an eye on the
news! )
Thank you very much to the Irvine's for having me in Invercargill! It's
great having a nice comfortable place to stay when the weather is packing a
sad like now. Cheers!
ONE MORE DAY!!! WOOO

Getting so close now!! Got really stuck into it and smashed the hills
south of Balclutha all the way to Clinton in just over 2 hours. After
taking the advice of locals, I took the road via Gore and arrived in town
at bang on 12 lunch time. Great day! The weather was perfect, there was
little traffic, and after Clinton the road flattened out a little to make
it less undulating.
Was interviewed on Radio New Zealand (that interview can be found at
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/summernoelle and will
apparently be available for another week) which was fun, first time on the
radio! Cool experience. Since Gore was reached so early I fitted in a swim
before meeting up with Sue Murray who heard the radio interview and very
kindly offered a place to stay. Thanks very much Sue and Derek!
Off to INvercargill tomorrow! haha man it feels good to only have one
full-length day to go! After tomorrow its just one short day from
Invercargill to Bluff (build up the excitement and what not ). Wooo! If
anyone would like to be there at Bluff, I'm hoping to arrive round about
lunch time on Friday (potentially earlier). Cheers!

Made fairly good time over the hills and heading south of Dunedin. Was
some tough steep ones to get over on the way out over Easther and Middleton
Rd! Made it to Waihola before the southerly picked up late-morning and made
it to Milton for some subway met Stu and Midge Holding on the road
again, great to see them! Kept trucking on towards Balclutha trying to get
there before the weather worsened too much. Unfortunately I didn't quite
make it in time! The spots of rain were fine but the wind was gusty as hell
and tons of hills to cover; up and down, up and down, up and down which got
a bit repetitive! Although I'm stoked not to have stabbed myself in the
foot! the wind plays havoc with the pole tips. Was trying to figure it out:
225 pole thrusts per km, and over 80km means that there are roughly 18,000
opportunities every day for me to drive my own pole tip into my foot.
Telling you now, some were pretty close!
In any case, very hard going between Milton and Balclutha, but made it
there eventually and stayed the night with Harry Peggie. Cheers Harry!
It's strange thinking that on Friday this will all be finished, and every
single metre of North and South Island's will have been covered by my own
two feet. Looking back on it now, it's all gone by so fast! Just one big
blur. Very excited to finish though! It will be interesting to experience
how it really feels to complete such a journey. Will let you know when I
find out!

Made it from Oamaru to Dunedin today! wow it feels good! Such a massive
change from yesterday, goes to show how big a factor the weather plays. It
was nice and calm the entire day, low temperatures in the morning, and even
had a tail wind for an hour or so! made it to Palmerston for lunch, and
was carrying on past Moeraki when my other rabbit strap broke, so now both
hand-pole straps are broken. Fairly fortunate there isn't far to go!
There was a couple enormous hills to make it up before reaching Waitati,
then an equally huge one to go down just before Evansdale which was scary
as hell! So steep and not much room on the side with tons of traffic
squeezing past. Was flying down it! Lozz (a mate of mine) reckoned James
Williamson reached 95km going down it on his road bike. Stuff that!
Mt Cargill was pretty tough at the end of the day, but still a lot better
than following SH1 with all the traffic. By that stage it was really
heating up in the afternoon and was totally exhausted! But managed to make
it to the top by 5pm, and then had a wicked ride down into Dunedin at 5:30.
Felt good to conquer Mt Cargill again! (used to train on there before
starting this trip).
Staying at Lozz's flat for a rest day today (4/1) then resuming again on
the 5th with Bluff firmly set in my sights! Really hoping that you can walk
all the way to the southernmost point of Stewart Island (thinking about
covering the WHOLE NZ north to south, would be a great way to finish  
All over, a really satisfying day! Great to be somewhere familiar. Cheers!

Today was in all honesty been the most mentally tough day yet. Never
before has it been this hard...it started off with a stinking hot morning,
so hot that I was in the river at 7am only an hour after starting! 10
minutes down the road I turned a corner and the southerly just came out of
nowhere. From then on it was battling through the wind for the rest of the
day, non-stop. Was still wet when the wind hit so I put on some more layers
to stay warm and turned away from the wind while doing so. As soon as I did
I started rolling back towards Timaru, lol how ridiculous is that! Heading
north I probably could have made it back to Timaru without even lifting a
finger.
Was doing ok until 1pm when a switch just flipped, and both skikes were
launched at a deer fence. The amalgamation of charging through the head
wind for 6 hours, tons of close calls with campervans and trucks, and
seeing everybody drive past with singlets, sunnies, kayaks, bikes and not a
care in the world as they head off on holiday just set me off and I lost
it. was pretty raw at the time, but kind of funny looking back on it now. I
hope no body saw! So I walked for a bit until about 5km south of Glenavy
where it was slightly sheltered, then carried on skiking to finally make it
into Oamaru after 11 hours.
Am staying with Les and Liz Ballantyne tonight, thank you both very much!
You're great hosts It's great to be in a place like this after a day
like today. Cheers. Also a big thank to Leonie and Geoff who I caught up
with on the road today, it was awesome to see some familiar faces and have
a bit of a chat, and thanks for the burger!

Happy New Years everyone! lol I was in asleep by 9pm last night, pretty
wild ay. Thanks to Jenny and Peter Hunter who had us over last night!! But
what a way to spend new years day. The morning was quiet with very little
cars around. Barely made it out of Ashburton when my pole strap broke, so
ended up spending half an hour trying to fix it. That was a waste of time
because it broke again 40 minutes later! Sellotaped it to my hand in the
end, fairly technical stuff! This was the hottest day of them all so far,
apparently getting up to 34 degrees. It was a stonker! Had 4 swims (rivers,
irrigation ditches, any where there was enough water!) and went through 7
litres of fluids just while out on the road. Was insanely dry! After each
swim everything was dry after 10 minutes. Good weather for hanging out your
washing. Eventually made it to Timaru after 7 hours on the road. haha was a
bit of a shock getting to Timaru and discovering that the world wasn't
actually flat! Hadn't come across a hill in the past 2 days

Not a bad start to the day, it was nice and cool almost the whole morning
heading through Kaiapoi and around Christchurch. Took the roads which run
parallel to SH1 from south of Chch to just north of Selwyn which were
great. Smooth seal, stuff all traffic, perfect conditions! Met Mum and Dad
who have been out and about around the South Island for the last few days
and had some lunch on the side of the road, then we headed off with Mum in
tail on her bike and Dad scoping out bridges and things and meeting up with
us every so often all the way until Ashburton. Was good to have some
company again! Traffic on SH1 was mental, so busy. Was a pretty good day
really, though quite long as we didn't make it to Ashburton until 6pm.

Wow it must be getting close to new years, because traffic is getting
insane! So many cars! Ridiculous. Had a real rough start in the morning
when I woke up to a really strong southerly which lasted for the first 3
hours. That was a long 3 hours!! That finally died down a little which made
going a bit faster.
What puzzles and annoys the hell out of me is the fact that the are
hundreds of kilometres of rumble strip intended at stopping people from
driving off the side of the road, but all that divides opposing lanes off
traffic is a dashed white line. Does anybody else find that crazy?
Hmm..anyway, after making it to Greta Valley, there was a ton of downhill
which was wicked!! then it flattened out really well. Was very kindly given
baked beans on toast and some fruit and things in Waipara which really hit
the spot, thank you very much! (really sorry I forgot your name!). Caught
up with a real cool family in Amberley who had seen me on the road in
Wellington, so we chatted for a bit and got some pictures and things, they
should be in the photo album soon. It poured down from Amberley to Woodend,
but not to worry, was only for the last 20km.
Staying tonight at the Holding's in Woodend; there is food everywhere its
awesome! Cheers to the Holding's!

haha saw to a man who was staring at a hillside through binoculars and
said to him "what you spotted?". He said "nothing yet, but I'm looking for
my yak. It got out the other day". lol that cracked me up, looking for an
escaped yak! That was going over the hills to the south of Kaikoura,
they're pretty hard work.
Only had a banana and an OSM between 5:30am and 2pm. Far out I was
starving by the time food came around! Basically spent the rest of the day
eating.
Made it to Cheviot eventually, took about 6 hours to do the 70km. Found a
place to stay in "the jailhouse" at a motel/camping ground, cool place! It
had chickens, dogs and sheep wandering around which made it real casual and
novel. haha ended up feeding chips to a chicken which was pecking them out
of my hand. Met a Brazilian couple who are biking parts of NZ who left from
Blenheim at the same time as me and we've just run into each other now.
With them and another American couple, we sat and talked about the world
and everyone's travels for ages which was really interesting and
inspiring!! makes one want to drop everything and just go see the world
right now. How great would that be?!

Got a ride to yesterdays finish point, then Dad and Richy bike with me for
a bit. Was good having someone to talk to! Met a nice woman from Holland
named Julia who is biking parts of NZ, and helped her out with a flat tyre.
Made it to Kaikoura fairly uneventfully, and took about an hour to find a
place to stay. Kaikoura is crazy busy at the moment!! and so many
campervans on the roads; some pretty tight squeezes! Also had some lunch
with a holidaying family from Christchurch who were an awesome bunch. Very
generous! All in all a fairly straightforward day

Today has been a bit of a shock to the system! After an awesome 4 days off
in Nelson with family playing tennis, water-skiing, white-water rafting and
overeating in general (lol you know, just the usual), I felt more sore than
after skiking! Thank you very much to Janet and Charlie, Kim and Reg, Emma
and Warren, Anita and Mike, and Flynn and Ava for a great Christmas!
Getting going from Blenheim was time consuming with needing to buy a
spanner and a roll of tape to fix things that had spontaneously failed
after sitting in the garage for 4 days, and an interview with the
Marlborough Express. Finally got away and that was when the body started to
complain "what are you doing to me?!". Had loosened up so much over the
break it was tough getting back into it. But no matter, made it through
Seddon before the wind picked up, which was an absolutely howling
southerly. It was so strong and gusty it was actually making me stall, and
even going down hills was a battle.
Had a visit from Mum, Dad, Richy and Kris just after Ward, then carried on
for a bit more. Finally made it to a bit before Wharanui, being blown about
by wind and completely soaked by the rain, only covering 55km today because
of the late start and atrocious conditions (lol sorry about the complaints,
just being honest about the days events).
Stayed the night with Mum, Dad, Richy and Kris back in Ward (cheers fam!)
before they carried on to Nelson to see more of the family

More bad seal just south of Otaki. The tip of my pole got stuck between
some rocks on the road and it yanked out the telescopic extension of the
pole. lol next thing there was only half a pole in one hand! What the
hell?! Took a couple seconds to realize what had happened. Ended up just
sticking the lower half of it back in and it stayed put, so hopefully it
will last the rest of the journey. Will probably have to tape it up.
haha later on I heard an enormous sound coming from behind me... took a
look in the mirror... and couldn't see anything. Started thinking "oh s**t
oh s**t, there's a truck breathing down my neck and I can't even see it!!!"
Far out it scared the hell out of me! lol next thing a train went past to
the left, phew! That was scary man.
Had to scoot along the footpaths from Paekakariki to Plimmerton. Just
before Plimmerton I had a slip in judgement and fell flat on my face going
from road to footpath, that wasn't much fun. Stripped the thread off an
adjustment nut and ripped the rabbit strap for one of my poles. Replaced
the nut at a mechanic's in Plimmerton.
haha Plimmerton to Porirua was a lot of fun, ended up skiking along the
wrong side of a 2-3 lane one way highway for about 5km. There was plenty of
shoulder so was all good, but the looks on peoples faces was hilarious!!
Couldn't help but flash a massive grin when trying not to laugh.
Took some back roads from Porirua to the Interislander dock, and made it
there by 1:30pm, one whole day early! Going down the Johnsonville Road hill
was crazy, had to do so much braking my back wheels honestly started
melting!!
In any case, was on the ferry from 2-5:30pm, in which time my auntie Janet
txt saying it was only 29km from Picton to Blenheim, and that her and my
cousin's husband Reg were keen to come along for the ride. We met up just
out of Picton, and Janet (on her bike) and I made our way from Picton while
Reg drove to Blenheim and ran back towards us. We all made it to Blenheim
by 7:30pm; what a day!! It was great having some company out there on the
road thanks to Jan and Reg!! Feels awesome to be in the South Island.
In the end, covered 110km today and 3.5 hours on the ferry; a very
eventful and rewarding day. This meant I made it to Blenheim very early,
and now have 4 days off in Nelson over christmas with some family. How
sweet is that?! Extremely happy have a great christmas everyone!!!

Pretty awesome day! Made quick work of Palmerston
North to Shannon in 2.5 hours. Was lucky enough to make the most of a fruit
shop just before Levin and sat down for a bit; managed to smash a
watermelon and a box of strawberries sweet! After getting on to SH1 the
traffic just went absolutely mental, which made the narrow bridges with no
pedestrian access fairly time consuming, but still managed to make it to
Otaki by just after 1pm. stoked! It's a real treat finishing that early,
only took 7 hours to do about 70km.
SH1 provided more annoyances with about 5km of newly sealed road. Honestly
the chips were 10-20mm+, was absolutely ridiculous! Could barely see
because my whole body was vibrating so much it blurred my vision; which was
bit nerve racking. Almost bailed going across the bridge just before Otaki
when my wheels got stuck in a groove; scary stuff!
Stayed the night in Otaki with John Berry, cheers John!! We went for a
drive in his Morris 8 Sports, what a mean car! Was great fun Also got
talking to Chris McBell who taught me a bit about crystal healing, and had
a look at some really cool crystals. Ended up buying a citrine geoid and an
aragonite crystal that looks like a sea mine, lol nothing like adding more
weight to the pack.
All in all a really good day!! Very happy and having a great time

Wow what a relief it was to finish this one! Since I missed a day with the
leg troubles earlier in the week, there was a day to make up. So today I
did a double day from Waiouru to Palmerston North; 143km! By far the
longest day, and by far the most exhausting!!! Was definitely worth it
though. Conditions were great until after Hunterville with roughly 60km
left to go, when the wind really picked up. haha ofcourse it was a head
wind too, so just had to battle it out. Leg was all good, no troubles at
all today apart from general tiredness, so am very happy with its
improvement.
Not long now until Christmas! Have just had a whole rest day in Palmerston
North, and got tons done like fixing up little equipment things. Got to go
and see Avatar as well, that is a mean movie! Crazy. Cheers Daniel for
accommodating me for the day! it's very good of you and I appreciate it
immensely

The Desert Road just got dominated! lol woke up this morning, and just
went for it. Completed the 63km in 6 hours of pure skiking. Felt good to
make it to Waiouru. There was quite a strong head wind once I made it up to
the summit, but nothing major as it only took another hour or two to finish
once past there on the flats. Stayed at the Waiouru Welcome Inn which was a
real nice place, thanks for having me! Also went to check out the Army
Museum (would have been a waste of an opportunity not to).
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Ian and Pat Young for
looking after Mum, Dad and I in Tauranga. We all had a great time checking
out the sights and having a bit of a rest. Thank you both very much!

Sweet! Best day ever! Watched the new Terminator movie last night, so was
up a bit late, but it was worth it Skiking was pretty easy today, nice
and flat with only a couple hills. Had a couple stops along side the lake
just to make the most of the view, and had a swim in Lake Taupo at
Waimarino River mouth. Very cooling!
With brand spankin new tyres, new orthotics, and new socks, it was a brand
new ride! Felt amazing was just so much smoother and the Roadstar tyres
handled rougher sections of seal like a dream. Huge change! Made it to
Turangi by 1pm (see what I mean, best day ever!!), and am now sitting in
the information centre checking the emails. Will be staying with Keith
Stuart tonight who also very kindly offered a place to stay. The locals
around here are pretty wicked! A big thank you in advance to Keith, greatly
appreciated and thanks for offering!
Will be tackling the Desert Road tomorrow, quite nervous for it. Not really
sure what to expect besides a tough climb and extreme conditions. Never
been up there before that I can remember, so will be an interesting
experience. Here's hoping it goes ok!

t'was a eerie morning in Atiamuri! Very foggy and quite cold, so I walked
for half an hour through the fog as to not get run over. Besides this
managed to skike most of the way to Taupo! Was extremely happy with how my
leg was behaving, it took 20km before I even felt a difference in it; the
rest must have paid off a bit. It started acting up a little when coming
into Taupo, but nothing major, and was still taking things very easy and
slowly. The forests around Taupo are so cool! Have decided that if I was to
live anywhere in NZ (besides Alex and Dunedin ofcourse :P ) that it would
be here in Taupo. It has everything; lake, mountains, forests, hot pools,
and heaps more that I can't think of at the moment.
Went to see a friend of cousin Kim's named Heidi who was a great sort! She
is a physio and told me all about what was going on with my leg. Turns out
the I/T band is throwing a fit from being overused and is real tight and
grating against my knee (I'm not physiologist, so that's just how I
understand it to be). It's great to finally know what was wrong! So that
just needs loosening up. Heidi gave me a mean massage (you have a lot of
power Heidi!) and felt much better after that.
The new wheels have arrived! wooohooo! and new orthotics and some other
goodies, cheers mum and dad!
Stayed the night with Kara Maresca and Fraser Scott who are an awesome
couple! They very kindly offered a place to stay after reading an article
in the Taupo Times. Had a real good time with them and got lots sorted out.
Thank you so much for having me Kara and Fraser! It was great to meet you
both and hope to see you again some time

Early start as usual, though trying to take it very easy as to not anger my
leg again. That only lasted 8km, at which point the pain was so intense I
had to walk for a bit. The worst part was that I didn't know why or what
was hurting! Just couldn't understand it. Luckily I made it to the top of a
big long hill, and managed to hesitantly skike down it.
The locals were awesome support, so many people were tooting and waving!
It's as if they knew I was hurting, lol maybe they could tell by the
contortion of my face and the half-ass little 'waddle' that I was reduced
to. Either way, they were all really nice.
Making it to Atiamuri and realising that it was another 45km to Taupo, I
decided after a long internal debate to stop here and take it easy for the
rest of the day to try get my leg back to 100%. Stayed at the Beez Neez
backpackers and basically just hung out for the rest of the day, rubbing in
anti-flamme and things like that. Cheers to the folks at Beez Neez! Another
mean pizza and a good half rest day

Up at 5:30am in Tauranga and took a while to get away, but eventually made
it to my starting point about 15km north of Waharoa. Had to make up for the
15km lost on saturday because of the break down and all the walking that
had to be done, but in any case got stuck right into it! Nice and flat
through Matamata all the way to Tirau, at which point Mum and Dad had to
leave to make their flight from Auckland back to Dunedin. Thanks very much
for the visit! It was a great surprise and muchly appreciated.
Things turned a bit more hilly after Tirau, at which point I started
getting a real sore leg just on the outside of my knee. It kept on getting
worse during the last 20km of the day becoming more and more unbearable,
and combined with having to stop about 5 times to fix punctures and bad
tyres, it was a hell of a ride! Got so frustrated at one point I threw
another wobbly, lol kind of funny looking back on it now. Eventually made
it to Tokoroa at 6:45pm (barely), it was honestly the biggest struggle I
have ever been through...but its been beaten now.
Stayed at Mayfair Lodge, thanks very much for helping me out a bit with the
cost! Very generous

An absolute rollercoaster ride today. Jeanette made me some sandwhiches and
supplied some slices, extremely happy with that thank you! It was raining
first thing, and kept going for about an hour, just enough time to get me
completely soaked right through. The first 15km was quite winding and not
much room on the road, so was fairly hard going in the rain.
After 15km however, the thing stopping my heel from slipping into the back
wheel gave up and wouldn't stay in place, so I couldn't skike any more
until it gets fixed! Absolutely gutting because as soon as this happened,
the rain stopped, and the roads were a nice seal and perfectly flat and
straight. Could have nailed today! But had to walk the remaining ~45km to
almost .
I was trudging along at about 3pm and was quietly singing away out loud
trying to make time pass faster, when I saw some people hiding on the side
of the road. I quickly stopped singing, thinking "oh no these people are
going to think I'm crazy!", and turned around to see Mum and Dad! What the
hell?! haha turns out they flew up this morning to surprise me and help
with some running repairs on the skikes. Their timing couldn't have been
better; the tyres are absolutely stuffed! So Mum and I walked for about
another hour, then we stopped for a little bit to get some food, then Dad
and I walked for another hour. After that we drove to Tauranga for a day's
rest (13/12). Was a great surprise!

Slept in a cool room up the top of a big barn at the Leslie's place just
outside of Drury last night, was a fairly novel place! Woke up early in the
morning to find that I was locked in the barn though, lol kind of hard to
make progress when you can't leave! Finally managed to slip out of a huge
sliding door to find that I was also locked out of the house when trying to
get some breakfast and water; damn! haha bit of a messy start to the day,
but got on the road nevertheless
Skiked the rest of Great South Road south, then a bit of the Waikato
Express until it turned off on to SH2 and followed that for the rest of the
day to Mangatarata. Was a really good day! Finished by 3pm, so only took
about 8-9 hours. Broke the top 5cm's off one of my poles when it got a bit
too close to my skike and I accidently ran over it. Woops! Extremely lucky
that it was only 5cm off the tip; if it broke any higher up the poles
wouldn't be any use and would have to find some others somehow. Also lucky
that I have spare pole tips that would fit on, so managed to fix it ok.
Stayed tonight at Quarry Cottage B&B in Mangatarata and was very well
looked after; thank you Jeanette and Owen, and happy 44th wedding
anniversary! I hope you enjoyed your night out

haha sweet what a lucky break! Had to be at the TV3 studio's in Mt Eden at
8am, so getting up at 6:20 was a wicked sleep in from 5:30! Great start to
the day got a ride with my cousin Anita to the studio, did the Sunrise
thing, then got a ride back to where I finished yesterday on Great South
Road. Thank you so much Anita and Mike for looking after me!
Had to stop 3 times to fix the strap on my skike because it kept on
breaking; real annoying! Other than that, I was just heading south all the
way down Great South Road to Drury. Met a cool Swiss monk called Nikolai
(hopefully spelled that right) who was selling books, and talked to him for
about 20 minutes! Some very interesting concepts regarding life and what
not, so I bought a book off of him. It's all about finding your inner self
and stuff like that, real interested in reading it if I get time (it's a
small soft-covered book, so can carry it round no worries). The lucky break
I mentioned earlier was the fact that I arrived in Drury at 3pm! How
incredible is that?! Was so stoked! Staying with the family of Anna Leslie;
had a swim in their pool. Felt great after one of the hottest days yet.
Thank you very much to the Leslie family

Making my way through Auckland is kind of nerve racking! So many cars!
Heaps of footpaths to skike on though. lol the second turn i had to make
this morning I went the wrong way. The second turn! it took an hour to
figure out what had happened, why, where I had to get back to, and to get
back to where the mistake was made. haha mean start to the day! never mind
that, was somewhat straightforward from then on without too many other
mistakes. Am now at my cousin Anita and her husband's place in One Tree
Hill. lol only took 11 hours! This place is huge, a real maze! At about 4pm
the strap on one of my skike's broke, so had to walk the last 10km's. was
so gutted!! Will get that fixed soon though, hopefully tomorrow morning.
All in all, a pretty good day! Spirits are high and having a great time
covering the country. Its an awesome adventure! Learning heaps, meeting
tons of cool people, and generally having a good time. Body seems to be
coping pretty good as well! Most likely getting used to the big days.
Cheers!

Crikey, toughest day yet! took 12 hours to get from Kaiwaka to Silverdale.
Kaiwaka to Wellsford was all good, did that in a couple hours, then had to
walk 3 hours through 'the basin' from just after Wellsford until just
before Warkworth, which is apparently one of New Zealand's "most fatal
sections of road". lol got offered a ride through by a nice police lady,
but said no thanks. It would have saved a long trek, but that's not what
this is about! Warkworth to Silverdale had some pretty dangerous sections,
but lots of SH1 was all good for skiking. Arriving in Silverdale was
incredible! Great feeling! Thank you very much to John Rauner who gave me a
bed for the night and a nice meal, I'm very grateful!

Well well well, back to it after 2 days off in Whangarei, it was a little
hard getting back into it! That only lasted an hour or so though. The roads
were pretty rubbish south of Whangarei, but quickly got better. Had an
awesome swim in the Waipu river; was ideal for cooling off! Going through
Lang's beach was awesome, that place is so cool! The water is pale blue,
nice beach, ideal neil. Took 11 hours to get through today from Whangarei
to Kaiwaka going around the Brynderwyns through Mangawhai. Pretty tough day
battling against a gusty head wind the whole way! But all good, happy to
have a sweet bed at the hotel in Kaiwaka

wow what a difference from yesterday!
Had to walk south out of Kawakawa through the fog and dangerous roads;
turns out milk and logging trucks like the early morning too!
I finally made it to Hikurangi skiking most of the way at about 1:30pm. It
started raining at 11:30am and kept going until about 4:00pm. It was great
skiking in such cooling weather! Felt amazing! However for a couple of
hours the rain was SO heavy (I mean it was freakin heavy!) that I had to
walk to avoid getting hit by cars that wouldn't have a chance at seeing me.
It was a nice change from the hot muggy weather that's been running riot
lately.
lol spent ages explaining to someone at Towai petrol station that my poles
AREN'T tent poles.
All in all, arrived in Whangarei at 4:30pm and am very happy to now have a
saturday and sunday to rest before taking on the rest of the country!
Now have only 2 days to kick a head cold before having to leave again.
Let's hope I can ditch it before then! haha this challenge really isn't
short of complications is it?! What's next? Just staying healthy can at
times be difficult.
In any case, wish me luck for this interview! Real nervous for it :S
Thank you all very much for your support thus far! It's awesome being able
to read your emails when out on the road; very encouraging thank you
Scott

Well well well, 11 hours on the road and I've finally arrived at where I'm
staying in Kawakawa (with Katie Rotgans and Michel Bloom)!! 6:30am till
5:30pm today, and totally exhausted. After only 200 km's or something like
that, my front left tyre has already shredded; most of the roads are rough
as and wear through them in no time! The sun was out in full force today,
and no matter how much sunblock I put on it was still burning!
After finally making it to Moerewa (left from Kahoe this morning) with only
8km's to go for the day, traffic was so congested that I could only make it
10 metres or so before having to pull over to make room for cars to pass.
Just wasn't any space and so many cars! After shouting a whole lot of
expletives and throwing my toys right out of the cot, I ended up having
enough of that. So everything got strapped to my pack, t-shirt went over my
head for shade, and I walked the rest of the way to Kawakawa absolutely
soaked in sweat.
Visited the Mahoe Cheese Factory at midday; wicked place! The cheeses (and
air conditioning!!) were outstanding. Was very happy to be taking some to
Kawakawa with me! Thank you very much to Jo and Anna at the Mahoe Cheese
Factory (very highly recommended for all cheese lovers).
Also a big thank you to Katie and Michel for giving me a bed for the night,
extremely grateful after such a long roller coaster ride that was today.
Such a great start, with such a bad ending. In any case, tomorrow is a new
day! gonna smash it then two days in Whangarei! wooooo!!! amping for
some rest, should be great, and can sort something out to deal with this
sunburn.

Oh also, be sure to watch Sunrise on TV3 on the morning of Thursday the
10th (one week from now). I'm going to be on then with a live interview in
the studio! Talk about nerve racking!

Day 3, 2/12/2009: wow...that's all I've got to say. wow. What a day!
Starting off on a wet morning from Kaitia at 6:30, I hitched to Awanui
where I would start the day. The road was still wet so I walked for 3 hours
until it dried out a bit, then alternated between walking and skiking until
I made it to Cable Bay. Cool place! The blisters on my feet are absolute
monsters now and make it so hard to get some productive skiking done. One
on my little toe actually covers the entire toe! The poor thing. Had an ice
cream and a swim in the sea at Cable Bay, which picked me up so much, was
awesome! Was getting real real down because of all the walking that had to
be done. Kept on going through Coopers Beach, Oruaiti, and heading for Kaeo
totally exhausted! Got disrupted however by Stefano at the Kahoe Farms
Hostel, who very kindly offered a free nights to stay with pizza for tea!
Was far to great an offer to pass up!! This place is amazing,
overflowing with personal character and everything you'd ever need! Stefano
and Lyndsey are an extremely kind bunch, make sure you call in next time
you come past Kahoe! Thank you Stefano and Lyndsey!
A big thank you also to the guy from Taupo Bay Surfing who made a donation
while I was trudging through the roadworks, that really picked the spirits
up! Cheers man.
Man I'm ridiculously sunburnt! Apparently you can still get burnt when its
overcast; lesson learnt! 3pm is also probably a little late for sunblock.
Another lesson learnt! In any case, after a hard 10 hours spent on the road
today, it's time for dinner. Stefano makes a mean pizza! Thanks again!
(sorry for breaking the glass too)

Day 2, 1/12/2009: Totally drained! The humidity this morning was crazy,
after 5 minutes I was sweating like mad! Stopped in Houhora at the Four
Square, a real good bunch there. Very helpful and even made a donation!
very happy. It's only day 2 and already getting sick of pasta! tomato based
sauces get real old real fast, but there wasn't anything else to choose
from. Stopped again after sweating cats and dogs from Houhora to Waiharara,
then it started pouring down!! Far out it was heavy. Waited it out for a
bit, then set off walking. Quite quickly got sick of walking to started
skiking; big mistake! too much water in one of the bearings, now one of
them is stuffed and makes a loud 'click' with every rotation. Real
annoying! and slows me down heaps too. Blisters are becoming a real hassle.
These futsel shoes are killing! Far too small and definitely not made for
wearing all day long. Have had soaking wet feet for 2 days now. Really
really struggling to make ground today, with only 16km from Awanui. Can't
skike with the wet roads and massive blisters, couldn't walk for the same
reason, this afternoon has been hell. Awanui being so close but so far, and
its only the second day! Unbelievable. FINALLY made it to Awanui, hitched
to Kaitia, then got some new shoes and socks. Freakin awesome! wow that
felt incredible.
Stayed the night with 'a friend of a friend of a friend' - Kayla Travers (I
hope that's spelt right) and Neil and Koula. Had a shower; wow it felt
wicked! Real cool family, had a great stay, thank you all very much!

Day 1, 30/11/2009: Woke up at 5am and headed up to Cape Reinga from Vern's
hunting bach (cheers Vern!) with Nichole driving (cheers Nichole!). When we
got there the fog was so thick! Gave it a real eerie and ominous feel like
something out of Pirates of the Caribbean, and real wet. lol by the time we
walked down to the lighthouse from the carpark we were soaked. Got some
picture from there (after thinking that I forgot my phone in the car,
running back up, not finding it, then running back and realising where in
my pack it was! wicked start), then set off on the big mission! Had to walk
the first part because of the mist, then skiked, then trekked for 2 hours
through all the road works. Got talking to a tour bus at Waitiki Landing
and they made some donations which was cool! Got stopped another few times
to chat to people along the way; fairly sociable day! Asked around for a
place to stay in Te Kao, and Errol offered a spot at the local Seventh Day
Adventist church at which he is a minister. Thanks Errol! That made for an
interesting first night, all alone, had to boil water for drinking, had a
solar shower outside the church, slept on a mattress on the floor, pretty
cool first night! Anyhow, That's about all to report. Cheers!

There's also nothing like making this mission just a little bit harder. With each skike originally weighing 2kg, they are now 2.5kg each after solid filling and balancing, not even 1 week before starting! That makes 10kg on my back, and 5kg on my feet, lol this aint gonna be easy.
Getting very nervous for starting tomorrow. Amping to get going though! Went through the Brynderwyn's on the way from Auckland to Whangarei; they're pretty intimidating! Talk about a shock, nothing like the south island. Such a high traffic volume over narrow hills, freaky.
Also having a lot of trouble with sending emails off my phone, so updates may be few and far between.
In any case, wish me luck for tomorrow! Just going to be a short one from
Cape Reinga to Te Kao or roundabouts.
Cheerio!
Scott