Book test

Ok so what is this post about ?
in the last few years many people have said said I should do a book about some of the things i done and places i been in my life

Having done around 180+ blog posts over the last few years I'm getter better at typing so have deside to do a book - at this point in time it will most likely be an ebook as 1) I don't have the know how to do a paper ( real ) book and 2) I don't have the money to get books printed also with ebooks travers and others can bring many books on a ereader or laptop

as for how many people will want to read about what I get up to in my travels I have no idea - im not worried about things like that- part of why I'm doing the book is to show that just because some one is disable that they can still do things in they life - at school I was told that I would never do much in my life - it's seem's that many disable people are told things like this also part of why I'm doing this book is to tell some of the many story's i have from living on the road traveling by bike ( and other ways ) and working at many events ( horse event as well as other events) over the years

Yes there will be photos of my travels in the book

If you would like to help me with the book let me know : )

So here is a little story about just one of the places I been in my travels ( That may or may not end up in the book : )

Going bush

One would think that when walking in the bush in a thunder storm that the plants and trees would cut down on how wet one would get but one just gets even more wet but then tramping in the bush in a thunder storm may of not off been the best of ideas ...

So what was I doing deep in the bush in the middle of an big thunder storm. Well it starter a day of so after getting back from Auckland having been at the 2012 attitude awards as I was staying at a friends place looking at maps working out where to next on the bike and thinking about my some time list - you know the list of things that one would like to do and places that one would like to go some time - there's a few things on my some day list like getting to some of the few places in nz I have not been to yet in my travel's around nz ( yes even after all the years I been traveling around nz there still a few places I have not been to yet ) one of the things that has been on my some day list for around the last 10 years or so is one of the doc" great walk's " around lake waikaremoana deep in the te urewera national park it's a 3-4 day 45 km tramp.

My friend who's place I'm staying at said that she was heading over to Hamilton and ask me if I want to come So after some more thinking and planing I said why not before packing a overnight bag and heading over to Hamilton when I stay the night with a good friend who I knowing for many years ( they are the ones who I blame for getting me into horses at age 7? When doing riding for the disable in Hamilton )

As im doing some some home work on the net I have a look at the doc web site to see how many people are doing the great walks ( one needs to book the huts and camp sites on the great walk's before doing then ) seeing that there not many people staying at the camp sites on the l great walk I cheek the weather forecast . well theres rain coming o well what's a little rain in the bush

After Picking up my backpack and a few other pieces of outdoor gear and getting a lift back to t I spend a night at my fiends place packing my backpack. on the road early the next day as I'm hitching to the start of the track ( a friend will be looking after my bike when I'm doing my tramp ) stopping in rotorua to get food for the next 5 days and pick up a few more things like maps ) before getting back on the road heading for lake waikaremoana in the te urewera national park . My last ride of the day says I can camp on a pice of farm land that he has so I take him up on his offer as its a safe place to camp for the night

Packing up camp I get back on the road where after a few lifts and about 10 km + km of walking between lifts I get to the doc vister centre where I book the camp sites for the great walk - as there's no camping site at the first tramping hut I end up booking 2 camping sites doing the tramp over 3 day's ( most trampers stay in the huts taking 4 day's to do the tramp) after having a chat to the doc people I get back on the road heading for the nearers camp site to the start of the track where I set up camp for the night

Getting an early start as its going to be a long day (around 9 hours) I pack up camp and start walking to the start of the track around 2 km away. Passing the spillway and the intake for one of the power stations I stop to read the info signs before starting up the long climb up the first hill of the tramp. The track passes though the site of an redont? From the Maori Wars? . With the track climbing from 580 m up to 1180 m it's long and steep climb up to the first hut where I take a break to look at the look out then its back on the track keeping an eye on the weather.around 1/2 down the a thunder storm hits the lake as the rain comes down I keep walking getting very wet as I head to words the camp site staying warm by keep moving along the track what has turn in to a stream at this point

Getting to the first camping site after around 9 hours I start setting up camp as the rain keeps coming down at one point moving my tent as I find some where what's not under water as I'm moving the tent a tent pole breaks ripping a hole in the tent fly so after getting out of the rain I dry off the tent fly around the hole before paching the hole with duck tape and using a pole repare seave to fix the broken tent pole. Before putting the tent back up. As I'm laying in the tent listing to the rain come down one of the fishermen staying in the hut ( the huts are used by fishermen as well as trampers) gives me a smoked fish for tea . After tea I do some reading before going to sleep for the night

A slow start to the day as I pack up camp and head around the lake on the tramping track. The track is a mix of sand and mud. After a few hours of walking I get to a fork in the track where there is a side track to an water fall . As today's a short day I deside to head down the side track to the water fall to have a look. Part of the way up the side track there's a stream crossing with a wire rope to help crossing ( on the other river and stream crossing the are bridges ) once I get back on the main track there's only a few more hours of walking sill to go before getting into the next camp side where I set up camp and read some more books on the ebook reader before going to bed for the night

A late start as I get to sleep in as its only around 6 hours of tramping until the end of the track leaving the camp site I keep walking around the lake passing some more of the tramping huts and climbing over a few larger hills as I head to words the end of the track with the track heading next to a river for the last 45 mins or so before crossing the river on a long swinbridge to the car park at the end of the track . As there is no cars on the road to the track end I keep walking up the hill to the main road where I start walking toward rotoura with my soles of my tramping boots falling apart( they had starter to come apart the day before) . After walking along the road for about 8 km? I get a lift to a doc camp site where as I'm setting up camp and cooking tea some hunters stop by and deside to fire off a few rounds of there guns after a hour or so they drive off leaving me to enjoy the bird sounds as the sun sets for the day

Getting on the road after packing up and having a look on the map to make sure I'm heading the right way I head north? Walking down the road for a few km before getting the first ride of the day to the nearer shop where after chatting to some people I walk out of the town along the road getting a few more rides that take most of the day as theres not many cars on this road : )until I get my last ride in to rotorua where I stay the night at a backpacks that I stay at when ever i end up in rotoura abefore getting a $10 bus to tauranga the next day when my friend picks me up from town to stay at her place for the night .

hunterville to Palmerston north 80 km

hunterville to Palmerston north 80 km

packing up the tent I take the fly off only for it to rip - uv damage from being in the sun to many times . yep the tent is dieing a few weeks ago the zips stopped working so its time to go looking for a new house (a new tent : ) just one more pice of gear that has wore out and needs replacing ( i wonder if there is any out door shop sales still on ?  will have a look when I get to Palmerston north ) once I get the bike pack I get on the road heading for hunterville 

riding up a few more up hills before I get into the town of  hunterville. after getting some photos I head to the cafe where I stopped at a few years ago when I last took this road. to find out if the food is still as good as It was last time - getting a seafood basket I work my way though my meal as I look on the ipad to see if I missed much over the last few days riding on back roads and working out where im going to spend the night as well as working out which road to take to get to palmerston north - having come this way more then a few time going from/to Palmerston north to taupo I keep an eye out for other roads to try : ) 

back on the road I decide to head down S.H.1 ( yes there are better roads then S.H.1 for riding this way but I like to mix things up : ) riding along  S.H.1 seeing whats changed over the years ( thinking that it may not of been the best idea to have that fish basket meal as my tammer not to happy o well live and lean : ) the road tends down hill with just the odd hill to climb over until I get to the town of bull’s where there’s a long bridge ( cycles use the footpath on this bridge ) as I leave bull’s  the road start’s to climb a bit and the wind  ( that was a nice tail wind ) is now a head wind so its a slow ride over the last 20 km or so into Palmerston north. once I get in to town I head over to the 2 hand store to see if there is any tents ( no luck there) before heading over to the info center to find out whats on - there’s a  fun walk on today starting in a few hours - at 7 km it's a nice easy walk in the afternoon sun ( when I stayed in palmerston north for a few months I used to do this fun walk ) 

well I only done around 70 km so far today so I diside to do the fun walk ( one of the nice things about bike touring is getting so fit that a 7 km fun walk is just a nice walk in the sun ) as I have a few hours to kill I head off to the libley for 2 hours or so before heading down to the start of the fun walk ( getting some odd looks from some  of the walkers and runners at the event as I take my walking gear out of the bike trailer (shoes, bag’ 2 small drank bottles and change of chose). after paying my $3 enter I head out side to wait for the start with the other walkers/runners ( over a 1000 people here for tonights fun run ) then its start time with the runners starting 5 mins before the walkers . as I get under way I just pace myself (just like I do on long fun rides) passing people (i’m a some what fast walker when I want to be : ) with the walk passing though the domain? then along the river back before heading back on footpaths and the odd road I say hi to a few people as I pass. there is a few water stops along the way ( as I have the 2 water bottles I just keep walking at around the same pace ) at around the 5 km mark my back locks up (from the jarring it got riding the gravel roads the day before ) I keep walking though the pain ( well how else am I going to get back to my bike  

: ) 

some times I put a hand on my back to help deal with the pain as I walk - i all ready look some what odd as I walk with one arm moving in time with my legs and the other hand not moving much ( getting my arms and legs moving at the same time is not some thing I can do well ) as I come up to the finish line I have a look at my time - well the clock for walker says 45 mins - my time in the past was around the 50 min mark so I must be getter a bit fitter. after the event I head over to a friends place doing a side trip to get some tea at subway before getting to my friends place where Im spending the night .