Roll off stage

A journey through the heart of New Zealand farm country to Auckland and onto Eastern Europe. Starting in Istanbul Turkey, the ride will take me East to the Black Sea, North to the Baltic and end somewhere around the Adriatic Sea some 6 months there after. All on my insanely overloaded touring bike.

Perhaps it should have read something more like this


A journey through the North Island where my bike Doris will begin to fall apart and the weather will be windy and cold to the point where I will wear my socks on my hands. I will then make my way via twelve lanes of traffic out of Istanbul and weave my way with no concern for a direct route through eastern europe sleeping in peoples houses, in bus stops and camping on farms all the while not being able to speak english with anyone. Once I get to the original finish date and place I will continue for another 3 months and end up through the Baltics at the start of winter. All the while Doris will continue to fall apart and cause me problems until she completely falls apart in London. I will then jump the pond to Perth lose a day in my tent and make my way across the south coast of Australia looking for wildlife in different places and avoid being hit by road trains. When I get back to New Zealand it will snow in January and I will go fishing with no luck and ride into a typical west coast storm. On days off I will go for bike rides and I will randomly meet up with friends along the way who take me in, look after me and make me feel like I am on an awesome trip....all on my insanely overloaded touring bike.

A round about way to do europe

Pretty straight forward

The short ride home

The way things happened
23,212 Kms (14,423 miles)
28 Countries
20 Currencies
290 days on the road
34 nights paid accommodation (including campgrounds)

Favorite place to Ride - Boarder between Bosnia and Montenegro following the river Tara
Best food - Turkey/Bosnia
Hardest place to ride - Bosnia/Slovenia
Worst road - 1st Serbia, 2nd Sand road Lithuania/Latvia, 3rd Albania
Longest day- 201kms
Most helpful person- George Stan in Romania when I broke 6 spokes at once when the bunji cord holding the tent on the rack came lose and fell in the wheel. I stayed at his house in Bucharest for 3 days while I got it sorted
Hottest day - 50+ in Ceduna Australia (my gauge stopped at 50 Deg C at 11:15am)
Coldest day - -10 in Copenhagan
Water consumed across Australia - 139L (28 riding days)
Weight - Start 86 kg, Finish 77kg
Chased by - A donkey, a goose, a dog (lots of dogs), kittens, a goat
The tent licked by - A Dog, sheep, Cow
Staple Diet - Bread, pasta and soup
Most Chocolate bars - 34 (Romania)
Most cans of soft drink - 30 (Australia)


Doris
Broken Spokes- 19 (plus two rebuilds)
Broken - seat, crank, bottom Bracket, Rear rack, chain, de'railier, kick stand, bottle cage, gear cable, peddle cage, peddle, tire blow out, wheel rim
flat tires - 5
worn out tires - 8
brake pads - 5 sets (10 pads)

DORIS ON DAY ONE

DORIS ON DAY 290

How far is 23,212 kilometers ??

Across Canada 5768 kms

Empire State Building 381m

Great wall of China 8851 kms

Mount Everest 8.8 kms

Amazon River 6259 kms

Around the Earth following the Equator 40,075 kms

Distance to the moon 384,400 kms

New Zealand to Australia 2250 kms

A journey that taught me all about who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and support through Facebook messages, text messages, emails and writing comments on the blog. I have another couple of adventures in the back of the mind and I hope I can get some of them underway in good time. For now I will be based in Nelson and trying my best at keeping my feet from tapping while I am in class learning some new skills that may well take me around the world again. Thank you to every one who took me into their homes and helped me out when Doris was broken and I was hungry. Here's too a fantastic way to see a small part of the world and wet ones appetite for getting out and exploring. Time for the next adventure !!