So. Kathmandu are having a mega sale

and I have purchsed a tent, a sleeping bag, a dry bag, a self inflating mat, some good thermal clothing, as well as a compression bag for my sleeping bag and the boy bought me a first aid kit, some hand sanitiser and some of those cracker little gel hand warmer things.

This can mean only one thing.  I am going bike packing!!! OMG!!!

Melanie has been talking about S240 for the past few months and my initial reaction was to say "ugh.. camping?  Meh.. no thanks!" But then I did some research and thought maybe I could pull it off.  I even got a little bit excited about it.  I'm even more excited now I have some gear.  I actually can't wait.  I would like to point out that Mel comes up with all the good ideas and somehow convinces me to tag along.  I'd do nothing if it wasn't for her influence, research skills and enthusiasm.

At the moment I have this plan to contact a Pukeatua landowner I know to aks if I or we (meaning Mel and me) can camp the night beside one of their streams.  Their place is about 30ks from home so I will roll out there one afternoon and stay the night in my new tent.  Shane is a hunter and has quite a bit of cooking and camping gear so I won't have to worry about harvesting trees and lighting fires to cook by.   That would be too hard and being a pretty serious townie would most likely be a huge failure.  In the morning, after a really awesome nights sleep, I will cook up my coffee and oats, eat and drink and pack up the bike and head out to ride the Waikato River Trails from Arapuni to Whakamaru.  A ride of about 55km.  Shane will meet me at the Dam Cafe at Whakamaru and drive me and my gear home.  It's a good plan.  I thought it all up last night after my mega shop at Kathmandu.  I wonder if I can pull it off in less than 24 hours - if I don't then 'technically' it's not S240 but I don't care - I do what I want.

There are still a couple of things I need to do.  I'm not sure whether all the trail is open so need to make some enquiries about that, buy myself a freeload rack and talk to the God's about some warmer weather and I will be rolling.  Woot!!!

This is an awesome article about S240.