Some where to Feilding 75 km

Some where to Feilding 75 km

A late start to the day as my body decides it needs more rest (ie a sleep in : )  after I pack up my gear and a bit of a chat to the people at the farm I get back on the road around 11 am - it's 16 km to the town of hunterville (including a slow climb up a long hill out of the valley : ) as I ride along the valley I keep a eye on land marks (including counting the number of one Lane bridges) so I can work out when to turn off the road I'm on to the road that will take me to hunterville and S. H. 1 onice I get into hunterville I stop for a bit of food before checking my phone for any missed calls /messages /Facebook /email  then I decide if to stay the night in Hunterville (there is a free camp ground as part of the park in town - wish more small towns did this)  in the end I decide to keep on riding on SH1 until I get to where ever I end up for the night - after a bit of a break in the town of bull's (yes there is a small town in nz called bull's - with a lot of fun bull themed names for places in town) as I'm riding towards Palmerston North I noticed a few passing horse trucks so decide to play a fun game called let's follow the horse trucks and try to work out what event they are to - I help out at different horse events all over the north Island of nz for the last 12 years or so (at around 10? + events each year) - Looks like they are turning off to Feilding so I decided to keep following then then as I get closer I look up on line to see what events are on this weekend - yep a A&P show in fielding this weekend so I keep riding until I get there before I find the person in charge of the show jumping and asked then if they would like any help over the weekend (they say yes) so I find a place for my tent before setting up camp and chatting to some of the horse people before heading to bed for the night

Ohakune to some where 85 km

Ohakune to some where 85 km

Leaving my friends place where I had spent the night I heading into town to get some food for the next few days (as I'm taking back roads there's no shops or towns for the next 100 km or so to I get to hunterville) then with a quick stop next to ohakune big carrot I head out of town in to a strong head/side wind on a some what busy road for about 10 km to I get to the turn off that will take me down back roads to hunterville - at first the road is tarseal for around 15 km (with road works - and a sign saying honk and wait for single no stop/go people so at the sign I stop as I ponder what to use instead of a horn?  - after a few minutes the person driving a digger waves me pass - Looks like the road works are to do with making the road started and replacing water pipes (taking small steams under the road ) at one place I see 3 turkeys cross the road (latter on today I will also see a turkey with baby's walking down the road and even a hedgehog walking down the road much latter in the day) around 25 km from ohakune the way I'm going heads down a gravel road (what looks little more then a farm drive way at times) that starts climbing - the last time I was on this road there was fresh deep gravel across the road making it just a bout unridebill in places - this time the road is OK for riding.  Stopping at a boundary sign for a few fun photos  then its back on the road after getting to the top of the hill it's down hill to bell junction (was lose stock on the road as I came down the hill)  from bells junction the road flatters out at the next junction I get out the cycle trails book to make sure I'm going the right way - turning in to turakina Valley Rd I stay on this road for the rest of the day - in places there are signs for the difference cycle trails - the road is a fun mix of tar seal and gravel with the road at times sitting high avoud the river other times dropping down next to the river-some times there is rocks on the road to ride around that have fallen from the road side cliffs on to the road in other places there's is slips on the road in places the road is down to one Lane - there is a lot of lose stock on the road  some cows and sheep - at one point a cow that been moving ahead of me for about a km comes across a drive way with a cattle stop - where the cow stops when they see it before it jumps it and landing on the other side of the cattle stop (first time I seen that happened - flying cows? ) at times the sheep run ahead of me at times getting up to 25+ km/h before stopping as I ride pass on a down hill (I'm averaging around 10-15 km/h) in a few different places I stop for some photos of the landscape and a few water falls.  As its about to get dark in the next hour or so I stop and ask at a farm house if they know of some where that I might be able to put up my tent for the night - the nice lady there tells me about a old school (now closed) a few more km (and hills : ) away so I keep riding to it get to the old school where after asking at a nearby farm house I head up staying in a bunk room on a (farm) station that helps train young farmers - after getting some dinner and a bit of a chat about what I'm up to and about the station it's time for bed (on a side note the people there had no problems or issues with me being transgender and nicely asked me how and what they should call me (and what bathroom I would like to use : ) I did spend a bit of the time when I was  chatting talking about Tg issues as well as other things)

Ohakune - rest day

Ohakune - rest day

The day started with the sound of rain on the tent - looking out side after unzipping the tent - yep it's raining with no view of the Mt.  After spending some time reading I hear some one calling out so I unzipped the tent - turns out that it's a friend of a friend who lives in town so came up to say hi and to see how I'm getting on with the wet/windy weather - after a bit of chatting I end up taking down my tent and heading back to they place for the rest of the day/night (even though I did pay for 2 nights at the doc site but only stay one ) they help me out with the bike then I heading into town for a walk around - even saw a friend from my te araoa walk - the people who I set up my trip  down the river with so chatting about a few different things including some ideas on how to full in the 2 day padded /week part of walking of the te araoa trail that I had missed out on because of weather issues at the time) before heading back to my friends place for the night

Old coach road to ohakune 17 km

Old coach road to ohakune   17 km

Packing up camp I keep heading down the cycle trail with the trail tending down hill until it gets to a fork in the trail - one way leads to a large old rail bridge with the other was leading to the road end and ohakune (when the rail line was partly rebuild in the 1980s  parts of the line was moved to take out sharp bends so some new big rail bridges was built on this part of the line as well as some big cuttings including one that cut though a place where a tunnel was used (with the tunnel being cut in 1/2 - the remaining part of the tunnel is now part of the old coach road cycle trail  - 2 mins off the main trail on a side trail with one end of the tunnel block off (the end with the new rails)  at the fork I  take the track to the bridge walking the bike across then after a short break for some photos I turn around and head back to the fork this time taking the trail that's leads to the ohakune road end of the cycle trail at one point passing under the (new) rail line before climbing up hill a bit then down hill (passing the turn off for the old rail tunnel) then is a longer down hill ride with Bush on one side and farm land on the other down the old coach road - very bumpey in places (as much of the trail is) as its is the old coach road with the (now rounded) rocks from 100+ years ago when the road was in use (the road was used for 2? Years Until the to ends of the Auckland - Wellington rail line joined up) getting to the start/end of the off road part of the trail I have a few km of gravel road to ride then some more km of tarseal roads to ride to take me in to ohakune when after I get a bit of food and some thing to drink (as I rain out of water some time last night) before heading to the library for a bit (also posted a box of suff to my mums place - as I had to much gear in my panner bags /trailer)  then its time to head up the road to the doc camp ground (where I tend to stay when I'm in town) for the night

Some thoughts on what people post on line /comment on

Hi all - after looking at my Facebook feed today  and spending some time thinking I'm making the decision to unfriend or unfollow any one on Facebook that posts suff on a few different subjects and delete any comments that on my different Facebook pages / blogs  that fall under the same subjects - here is a list on what the difference subjects are and a bit on why they are on the list

Any one that talks about hitting or killing other road users because they think they should not be on the road (even if they are making a joke about it) - like people who ride bikes, horses, people who just walking down the road -also any  people who seem to think it's ok to break the law and/or drive unsafe - why is this on the list  - well first up is because everyone on the road is some one (mother, dad, child or other members of some ones family) 2. The idea that some people think it's a great idea to harm some one else (that they don't know most of the time) just because they think they are being inconvenience in some way or form by some other road users is crazy to me so not something I will ever under stand  3. Read the road rules and lean how to drive safely - from talking to many people over the years and many years travel all over nz by walking, thumb, and bike it appears that drives in nz tend to have a very poor under standing of road rules and how to drive safely - even day on the roads I see people break the law or driving unsafe (speeding, using cellphone when driving, driving to close to others, not using indicators...  The list goes on) 4. I have been hit on the bike 4 times (that I know of) in my life so far - first one was when I was 13? By a car doing around 110-120 km in a 80 km zone that cause me to have 2 broking legs that still cause me issuse many years later as they never heal right , bad head injury (including losing my sense of smell) and other injury 2th one (in 2008) was a truck hitting me up north land (nz)  the driver stopped rolled me over (causing even more injury to my back and neck) the driver stoure some of my suff that I had in a bag on me then took the rest of my gear to the police station (leaving no info where it came from or any thing like that) leaving me for dead on the side of the road (some one else some time later called for help) I was knock out at the time -the impact cause a bad head injury - I seem to of lost around 1/2 to 3/4 of my memory (of my life before the truck hit me) and have day to day issues remembering things even years later +other head injury suff  and many other injuries 3th time was hit by a car in fielding (driver not paying attention) and creak/Brock left leg (causing more long term issues with that leg) 4 time was by a car with the driver going out of they way to hit me (well my bike trailer) though they rubbish at me, yell something at me then speed off - I have no idea who they was or why they thought it was OK to try to kill me with they car?  So you can see why I have such a dislike for bad driving or people who talk about hiting other road users

Any one who talks crap about /makes jokes about having disabilitys /disabled people /people on benefits - this includes head injurys and depression - I don't find such things funny at all as I have more then a few disabilitys my self and have battle bad depression much of my life (including coming very close to killing my self a few times (the last time was the night of my birthday this year) I'm now doing a lot better with the depression since I started making the big changes in my life but I will always have to keep a eye on things so I don't end back up in that very dark place - with my other disabilitys I can never drive and will always have issues with even every day things (I may not look very disable but that is mosty my coping skills hiding things - so things can and do fall apart fast around me at times)  I will most likely never have a full time or even part time job with enough money to live on just because of how my disabilitys are so I'm on a benefit - that is just the way my life is no matter what I do or how much I try

Any jokes /nasty things said about me being transgender or just about transgender things in general - yes I'm transgender and yes I'm open about it - some of it is education - teaching people what it's like to be some one who is transgender and doing questions and answers about transgender issues (like - no I'm not a drag Queen - I live full time as female - this is not a act I put on - it's just me being who they need to be in life ) when one talks about transgender issues 2 numbers stand out - around 50% of transgender people try to kill they selfs at some point in they lives and transgender people are around 15 times more likely to be killed then non transgender people - also in much of the world lgtq people are attack/killed every day (meaning for me there will be many places in the world I will never be able to visit as the risk of attack/being killed (just for being my self)  is just to high - even in nz (what is a more open and friendly place to be lgtq I aways need to keep a eye out for people who may wish me harm (like some one did in taupo a few months back) there is still so much hate out there for people who are different (don't even think about telling me what some God would say about me being transgender (each person has they own ideas on god/no God so don't try to tell me what my ideas on it should be as I will be blunt and to the point) - things are slowly getting better - even 5-10 years ago it would of been a lot more risky for me to be out as a transgender person then it is now  - on a side note please don't use the term traner around me - to me it's a hate word (like the word nigger) so by using that word around me in a way you are saying it's OK to bully me/others or attack me/others who are transgender - words have power - also please use my new name /gender when you talk to/about me (and other transgender people) as its disrespectful to keep using the old name/gender (also can be a safety issues with some who don't want to be outer by someone using they old name /gender)  so please call me damiana (not damian) and her & she (not him & he) when you talk to/about me : ) as that is who I am now - yes I know and understand some will need more time to change over the name/gender suff (though some people keep using my old name/gender just to be nasty to me) - if you have any questions with me and the changes in my life (including the transgender suff) if you ask nicely I will do my best to answer then : )  as for jokes on Tg issues perhaps do more research on Tg issues before posting then /making then as you may end up causing harm to some one because some one else did not see it as a joke so thought it is OK to harm a Tg person (yes this happens a lot more then one may think)

There is a few other things that may cause me to unfriend /unfollow some one or else delete they comments on my Facebook pages / blog (or any other places I post on line) - some I may explain others I will just unfriend /unfollow /deleting the comments - my pages /blogs my rules for posting /comments as I'm over the hate/bad jokes that I see on Facebook /comments on the blog - it's that or  I leave Facebook /my blog and there are to many nice people out they for me that I would miss to want to do that : )