Cycling in New Zealand (Part 1)

As our couch surfing host, Chris, was driving us home to Manurewa last night through the city and on the M1, I looked at the rolling and undulating landscape and commented that it would be a great place for cycling. The hills would provide a good workout and a view of the surrounding green landscape. Chris told me that cycling in Auckland is not a great idea, and that motorists sometimes go out of their way to scare cyclists. In other words, not a very bike-friendly city.

I decided to look into this issue more, and

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Day 18: Crystal Cove

Today I went for a hike with my couchsurfing host, Tom, through the hills above the coastline of Orange County. Crystal Cove State Park houses a canyon with about a thousand foot rise above the sea level on its ridges. The park is just north of Laguna Beach and just south of Newport Beach. Our route through the park took us up No Dogs, down Pole, along the path through the center of the canyon, up the steep section called Elevator, then circled south and west along Moro Ridge with a view of the ocean and coastline. Our journey was somewhere between 7-8 miles and took just under four hours including a half hour stop for lunch.

The view behind us of the ocean after our ascent up No Dogs