A few months ago, after Chris and I had taken my car apart and put it back together (long story short, poor Stanley leaked heavily!), we decided to go on our first road trip and actually sleep in the car. Looking at the forecast, all of New Zealand looked rainy and wet. The least rain was to be expected for the north, so we decided to go up to Whangarei, about 3 hours away from Auckand.

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«Nah, we’re not very likely to get a puncture”- Chris said this to me as we were on the way from our secluded campground at lake Arapuni to Mangakino, where we wanted to ride a section of the Waikato River Trail. Arohena is one of DOC’s (Department of Conservation) campsites. It lies directly on the lake, there is no phone reception and to get there, we had to drive a section on gravel. And that’s where it must have happened. A mean little stone slashed Stanley’s tyre.

It had all looked so promising on the forecast. Friday morning the weekend looked all lovely and I my app told me that there were going to be 11 hours of sun on both Saturday and Sunday. So we decided on a last minute roadtrip down to Auckland’s favourite holiday resort, Mount Maunganui.

“I just discovered the most awesome challenge for you”, I said excited as I showed Chris a picture of an ad I saw a few minutes before we met up in Wynyard Quarter after a meeting. “That should get you occupied for a while”.
It was end of August and Chris had just stopped smoking. He was looking for a race or challenge he could train for so he had a good reason not to smoke.  An obstacle run in mud and dirt should probably tickle his fancy and sense for competition. So, I suggested him to run at the Tough Mudder in November.

This is one of our favourite things to do on a Sunday: A walk in the Scenic Reserve in Clevedon, followed by the best pizza in all of Auckland on the very popular farmers’ market.

The first time I’ve ever heard of Woodhill, the mountain bike park in the east of Auckland, was from Chris. He went there with a friend and immediately bought a season pass. I was so keen to find out what it was all about so I got really excited when we decided to shred the trails on the past Labour Day long weekend.

It seems to be a phenomenon that everyone seems to flee Auckland as soon as there is a long weekend on the horizon. If you decide to stay home this time, here are 3 tips for 3 active days in Auckland