Jan 12th

After 48 miles yesterday we slept well and left at 7am. The style of accomodation is different from the UK in that normally breakfast is not provided but each room has cooking facilities which suits the average tourist here and we find most convenient. We were actually woken at 5.40am by what sounded like a world war 2 siren which went on for at least a minute. Linda suggested that perhaps it was to rouse all those sheep shearers. Any other observations by our NZ readers would be of interest. We continued up the stinker of a hill which was the first of many today but none were quite so horrific. Harold Macmillan was asked what were the most difficult problems he faced in his premiership. To which he replied 'events dear boy events'. We were 30 minutes into our 51 mile excursion when the gears started playing up which they continued to do for some time and so after much faffing, and a 2 hour delay we got going again, only for the gears to mess us about again and again. However we eventually got them sorted out which was just as well as we spent the day on what someone described as the 'forgotten highway' namely Highway 4 which goes throught the most beautiful countryside we have encountered thus far; very remiscent of lowland Scotland. The road travels for some 45 miles through the Taumaruni National Park , with virtually no settlements. We saw Australian Harriers circling overhead and the fields were either full of maize or cattle and sheep. On one occasion we had stopped to have some water and opposite was a herd of cattle who thundered down the hillside and stared at us- all standing in a row. The weather was glorious today - clear sunny skies and a light cool breeze, at least this morning but the effect of the thin ozone layer in these parts is obvious. Having lived in Cyprus with a much hotter climate for years we are both peeling!

Jan 11th

A day of rolling countryside ie it was hilly.Left at 7.30am ,stopped at 10am for a bacon sanny where we met an organiser of mountain bike trips who did not think we were overloaded which was music to Linda's ears and supported her case that a hairdryer is not a luxury! Shortly after on the road we met Henrick, a young Dane, who was half-way into a 4 year around the world cycle trip; rather put our modest effort into perspective. He was heading for Auckland and from there off to Patagonia and the start of his 18month ride to Alaska.He also did not think we were overloaded. He had met a couple in East Timor riding a tandem who were so overloaded that their back wheel had collapsed 6 times. Cycled through Otorohanga[called Oto by the locals] which they described as the kiwi capital of New Zealand.At each entrance to the town is a very large Kiwi, large enough for Linda to stand underneath one of them! There was also a brick-framed caravan encapsulating the artists time in a caravan when prospecting for minerals in the 1960s. An Arts committee had decided in their wisdom that this was a fine piece of modern art to grace the entry to Oto - quite what the locals thought is another matter! Oto is very much a Maori town with some impressive hand-carved figures on 2 'totem-like poles'. This is cow country and we spotted a line of at least a hundred cows crossing the side of a hill to be milked - walking with military precision. The possum count was high today - not something to distress the average NZ as the possum is a pest brought in from Australia and has been destroying trees ever since. Finally arrived in Te Kuiti - the shearing capital of the world; it has a giant stone statue[ probably 10 times life size of a shearer shearing a sheep!]. Our hotel aptly called the Panorama was half-way up the most horrendous hill we had encountered so far in NZ. I left Linda in a heap outside reception while I booked us in; the very young receptionist expressed astonishment at what we were up to and said' I am so proud of you!'Accomodation as usual was excellent and even had a spa bath - height of luxury. On our End to End trip in UK we had mixed fortunes when it came to our bed and breakfasts - in one as I recall my knees were hard against the loo door; it was difficult to turn round in there as well.However the quality on NZ television is seriously bad. We read in a national paper today a report from a OZ TV critic who was complaining about the quality and as he said he should know as most of the content comes from OZ!

Jan 10th

Awoke to another glorious day of about 75F. Left by 9am and cycled through Huntly- a coal mining town, over the Waikato river and then beside the river for much of the way to Hamilton - the largest inland city in NZ. The countryside was very beautiful and the road almost traffic-free; the lush pastoral landscapes with grazing cattle and sheep gave one a glimpse of a bygone age and so not surprisingly not far from where we were was filmed the rural paradise of Hobbiton village in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Finally cycled into Hamilton - a ride of about 35 miles as opposed to nearer 50 yesterday. Saddle sore but not suffering in the way we had yesterday.

Jan 9th

Took a ferry across Auckland harbour, cycled to the train station at Newmarket and then a train into the outer suburbs of Auckland at Papakura. Had great difficulty in manhandling the bike up and down the station steps but station staff happy to help and in fact our abiding memory of the first day is the friendliness of everyone - perhaps the best advertisement of NZ is the people themselves. Eventually got cycling and soon discovered that what I had thought was Highway 1 was in fact a motorway and cycles are banned! We ended up doing a massive detour of at least 20 miles. During this first day 3 men stopped their cars and waved us down - the first to show us the alternative way to go now we had left the motorway and the other 2 men just to find out who we were and where we were going. The tandem is like being accompanied by a dog or small child as people seem to feel happy to speak - it opens many doors.
Having left the sprawling suburbs of Auckland we were able to observe the countryside and the impression is of a rural landscape but with plants and trees one would associate with the tropics such as giant ferns, and palm trees.
My failure in  not allowing us  sufficient time to recover from the long-flight soon became all too apparent - firstly Linda was ready to give up, but then she says this at the beginning of every long trip. I had been asking her for months whether she was getting fit, but in the end it was my body that failed quite dramatically as I kept getting cramp in my lower thighs, on one occasion in both legs at the same time.The problem made the more difficult in that I had to get off the bike in order to stretch to stop the cramp but the pain was so bad that I could not get off the bike in order to do so! When I did manage to get off the bike and this happened on numerous occasions over the last 2 hours of our ride I had Linda giving me instructions as to how to alleviate my discomfort and on one occasion when I was not responding in the way she thought appropriate said quite quietly but loud enough for me to hear ' be a man'. This from the person who when I came home from work some years ago complaining I was suffering from the flu said ' don't bother me I only deal with very sick people'!
Thus we were both suffering from the 'bonk' - a technical term used by cyclists to signify total exhaustion - a term not to be confused with bonking, which at the time was too hard to comtemplate let along undertake. Finally we got to our first night's accomodation at Jonio's Olive Farm and had a great welcome and were given a basket of food to cook as the local restaurants were all closed as we had arrived after 8pm. The farmer couldn't remember if we had paid so had to ask if we knew! We enjoyed a beautiful room set in the olive groves and Linda cooked some spaghetti - we had a definite need for carbohydrate loading before tomorrow's ride.

Jan 9th

19 hour flight to Brisbane and although only a short transer to our Auckland flight we had to go through immigration. Only one person singled out for a 'patting down' - I heard Linda say 'but why have I been picked out?' The officer said ' because you fit the profile of an IRA bomber'; he had a sense of humour. As avid watchers of the TV programme Border Control we expected a thorough examination of our bike bags when we got to Auckland, but apart from a cursory look at our cycling shoes they took our word that we had cleaned our bike and that no foreign elements would arrive in NZ because of us.
Spendid welcome from Nigel and Kath Prickett. The relationship is tenous to say the least. Nigel is the cousin of Christina's ex-husband! I had not seen them for 24 years and Linda not at all.
As we were flying I realised that I had not allowed sufficient time for us to recover from our flight before we set off so as soon as we arrived at the Pricketts, after a cup of tea we had to put our tandem together and pack ready for the off - we had to keep to our timetable as we have booked all our accomodation throughout our trip. We joined Nigel and Kath for dinner and after quickly into a deep sleep.

Jan 8th 2013

Helen took us to Larnaca airport and no problem in getting our bike bags accepted; uneventful flight to Dubai but then took 2 hours to get through immigration in order to get to our hotel for our 10 hour stop-over so in the end only got about 3 hours sleep.

We are ready for the off but we cannot use the Just Giving site because the main charity that supports the Baraka Childrens' Home is Dutch and is not registered with the site. If you would like to sponsor us please pay the money into our Lloyds bank account number 10201168, in the names of LA and JC Stevens sort code 30-93-99. Please email us when you have made the payment so that we can acknowledge receipt. When we have finished our trip, and after a further fund raising event in March we will account to everyone for how much money has been raised and how it is to be spent.