travel

Traveled: Three Weeks in New Zealand

June 16, 2015 • By

 Moto-Boy received an amazing opportunity.

He was invited to race in New Zealand.

Wait, what?

True story.

So this is how I came to spend three weeks in New Zealand.

And it was incredible!

Three Weeks in New Zeland | Design Asylum Blog

Yep, a team owner in New Zealand invited Moto-Boy, and two other riders from the U.S., to race under the team banner of MX Antix.

This MX team is owned by a woman, btw.

Quite an amazing woman, I might add.  Her goal is to provide motocross opportunities and build international relationships for amateur riders.

We were honored and privileged to participate.  I mean, seriously, you don’t turn this sort of thing down.  Sell your soul if you have to, you just don’t miss this.

Team owner Robynne and her family opened their home to all of us, treated us like family and gave these young people an experience of a lifetime.

So Moto-boy raced.

He finished at a respectable 16th overall out of a full gate, which is 40 bikes.

Very respectable.

Without much practice on a different terrain, different bike and different time zone, he was pretty pleased.  We all were!

Did you notice the helmet?

Design Asylum Blog | 3 weeks in New Zealand

Had to take a little graffiti with us!

We had M-B’s helmet custom painted by our favorite local graffiti artist, Jody Harris.  Jody included Moto-Boy’s American racing number, the American flag and his name.  I love the way it turned out!

  Robynne lives right outside of Auckland and the race was in Taupo (over 3 hours away), so we were able to mix some sight-seeing in with our travels to practice tracks and the race.  The BHE and R-G came just in time for the race.  After the race, we headed back to Auckland, rested a day then began our

journey across New Zealand!

Considering a large part of the expense was going to be getting to New Zealand, we decided to take advantage of this and make a vacation out of the trip.

Some of the wonderful cities we visited were:

Rotorua//Paihia//Lake Tekepo//Christ Church//Queenstown

I’ll be sharing more about these beautiful cities over the next few weeks.

NEW ZEALAND FUN FACTS:

The population of New Zealand is estimated at 4.5 million.

The estimated population of sheep?

Over 30 million.

The entire country of New Zealand is about the size of Colorado.

There are no snakes in New Zealand.

New Zealanders are called ‘Kiwis’ but it’s not because of the fruit.  The National bird is a hairy looking, nocturnal, small bird – about the size of a chicken – and is named the Kiwi.

No part of the country is more than 79 miles away from the sea.

New Zealand is home to the smallest species of dolphins.

In 1893, New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote.

And, of course, all of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in New Zealand…

or Middle Earth.

New Zealand Slang:

ute:  small pick-up truck

sweet as:  means OK, yes or awesome

swimmers:  bathing suits

wop-wop: middle of nowhere, boonies

dairy: corner market or small store

take-aways:  to go food

long drop: outdoor toilet

good on ya:  congratulations, job well done

Trust me, this trip was sweet as…

If traveling to New Zealand, be sure to grab a good travel guide.

This is my favorite:

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide New Zealand

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide for New Zealand *

(*This is an affiliate link, if you purchase I make a small commission.  It does not, however cost you one red cent more.  That’s a win/win in my book! )

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