I smoked the first 38 km today (flat) - I went 28 km in the first hour and did 46 km in about 1:30. I stopped at "the" Kauri museum that everybody and their brother has been recommending to me and it was good. I learned all about falling Kauri, Kauri gum, bleeding trees, tripping dams and saw some FANTASTIC wooden boats, utensils and cutting boards. If I cold take anything back with me it would be some of this stuff.

My adventure today was in trying to find a place to sleep. I got to the town where I was going to stay and guess what - no tent sites & no budget accommodations. So I went on, although I had been very psyched to quit. 35 km further down the road at Wellsford there was once again, nothing. On the map the towns looked plenty big but this is not a part of the island where people would camp in. Luckily I had just met a German who told me that he had stayed on farms just by asking. So for 7 [more] km I got myself psyched up to ask someone to let me pitch my tent on their yard. When I finally did I lucked out. A fantastic couple took me in, fed me dinner and let me shower and pitch my tent. They have been to Fiji [where I was headed]. We watched TV while we ate. They always do it.

Training Diary Comments: Warm, muggy. 7:20. I went 28 km in the first hour. Not bad. I zapped a boil on my crotch and felt much better in the saddle. [ouch - reality hits home... cycling is so gross isn't it?]