The End of the Adventure

The last two days of riding more than made up for all the rain and mud!  The sun came out, the clouds went away (the hills didn't) and the views kept on coming.  We stayed near Cathedral Cove the second last night and since we got in early enough and the tide was low, we made a quick little road trip to check it out.  It seems the tide was actually on its way back in though, and since I'd had enough of being wet the day before, I decided not to wade in through the rising water to have a look at the second of the two openings.  But I was quite happy hanging out on the enormous, empty beach.

Our last morning of riding started out quite chilly and there was a rumour about frost on the windshield of the truck but I think it was just thick dew!  Off we went, excited to finish but a little sad, too.  We took our time riding, savouring it all, stopping at two cafes and enjoying one last lunch truck picnic.  Our first stop in Bluff was the big rusted metal sign with the ground around it covered in decorative crushed oyster shells - a good idea with the endless supply of oysters available.  Then we pedalled on to the hotel to wait for everyone to arrive so we could ride together to the very end of the road.  No police escort, but a fun finish and Lindsay even had a couple of containers of Bluff oysters to share around.  No better way to celebrate!  

The bar has been set very high for any of us thinking about hosting a ride to show off our home turf.  Our two Kiwi friends planned an exceptional trip that took us through their beautiful country on an interesting, varied and safe route.  We made new friends, met new challenges, enjoyed the local food and wine, and loved meeting friendly, helpful and hospitable New Zealanders.  Before we left, we had never talked to anyone who had visited New Zealand who didn't like it - now we know why!

Mud in Yer Eye

What an eventful last few days....when Lindsay puts "Big Tough Day" on the route instructions, he means it!  Tuesday we had 128 km with lots of climbing and a long gravel section, but we hadn't planned on all-day rain.  I found it hard to start, with a steady downpour soaking us fairly immediately.  I had even put on my booties but I don't have the neoprene kind so my feet were wet before long.  At lunch, I changed to my better rain jacket, which turned out to be a good choice, then the headwind started to blow.  One of the climbs was close to 20 %, according to Horst's Garmin, and was paved.  I think it was paved because it was so steep the gravel would just keep
falling off!  The top of that big hill had several big wind turbines on it - it was very eerie seeing them fade in and out through the fog (or was that a light mist or just low cloud?).  A couple of the riders were taking the day off but followed our route and I was pretty happy to have a delicious chocolate blast gel handed through the open window to me on one of the last hills.  We were back on pavement when we were glad to see a sign for our destination, Balclutha, in 7 km, then our route took us off on a side road called Sunflower Road - more gravel, more winding but no hills and a very pretty way into the town, because of course by then the rain had really let up.  But there were no sunflowers.  The best part about where we stayed was the Kiwi equivalent of a 7-11, and it was $2 Tuesday, for fries, wedges and all sorts of dubious looking fast food.  You can imagine what our dinner was like, since we were too tired to walk a couple of kilometres into town to eat real food.  I did buy an apple too, so it wasn't completely unhealthy.  Plus, the only possible coffee stop of the day was actually closed, but Kay persuaded them to open to make us tea, and somehow also got them to make a big plate of mousetraps.  A mousetrap is toasted bread, spread with marmite, topped with cheese and broiled until the cheese melts - mmmmm!  I guess I do like marmite.

Otago Rail Trail

We left Queenstown on Saturday morning, via a nice gravel pathway along a river - I felt like a a 10 year old out riding bikes with a pack of pals!  We did get a little confused as to where the route was while we were still in Queenstown, and had to ask a couple of real 10 year olds out scootering for directions.  They were alarmed that we intended to go all the way to Clyde (96km away) and asked in all seriousness if we had tents!  We managed to find our way to Clyde, and my only regret is Wayne and I had already ordered our dinner when we saw the chalkboard with specials - "Bluff oysters"!  We missed out, but plan to enjoy lots of them at the next opportunity, whenever that may be.  We are only 3 riding days away from Bluff and the end of the road!

Yesterday we started along the Otago Central Rail Trail - a perfect example of what a rail trail can be.  Directional signs wherever they are needed, loads of informational signs, refurbished buildings, a few tunnels, and a nice unpaved but hard surface to ride on.  Plus, little boxes every 10 km or so with a stamp to add to your rail trail passport.  Or, you can cheap out and use your daily route instructions sheet, like we did.  Despite the many bike tourists the rail trail brings in, we are definitely getting off the beaten track now, and the hotels are getting more and more interesting.  Last night we were in Ranfurly, at the Ranfurly Lion hotel, whose claim to fame is its Art Deco design.  Tonight we are in Middlemarch (fittingly, as Wayne pointed out today, as it is the middle of March).  With bathrooms down the hall, and it is not a big enough hotel for all 25 of us to be in, so some are down the road at the motor camp cabins, and some are out back behind the hotel itself, in what looks like a container, divided up into three windowless rooms.  So I am quite content to have a room with a window that opens a little bit!

A Most Perfect Day

We are so fortunate!  If you've been to Milford Sound, you know how rare a cloudless, sunny, warm day is there (13 metres of rain over 200+ days of rain) ...yesterday we made a last minute booking to go - and we got a flawless day.  Okay, almost flawless; Wayne may be in some trouble for sullying the pristine waters of Milford Sound when his hat flew off into the water on the boat ride, and in a World Heritage Site, but don't tell anyone it was his, okay?

This was an all-day trip.  The bus picked us up just after 7:00 am and we got home about 12 hours later. I was a little hesitant, considering the long bus ride, but it was a pleasure to enjoy the amazing scenery, and the driver had a great, informative spiel going as we flew along, educating us about a lot of things we didn't even know we should be wondering about!  Such as, humans have been in New Zealand for only about a thousand years, the difference between a fjord and a sound - we should all be calling it Milford Fjord - and telling us some Maori legends.  Plus, it is easier to snooze in a bus seat than on a bicycle seat!  Amazing restful rest day, now we begin a 6 day stretch to the finish in Bluff!

Dry Shoes!

Yes, my cycling shoes are finally dry, but they may not be coming back to Canada - they are um, fragrant, and not in a good way.  I think they may have to be retired after we reach Bluff.  The ride into Franz Josef was beautiful, despite the rain, so we didn't see the alleged mountains but still had a good ride.  The next morning, we rode on to Haast, starting out with momentary glimpses of the gorgeous peaks, so there really ARE mountains there!  At dinner that evening, we were, of course, talking about the rain we had ridden through, at which point Lindsay said he and Vince had been discussing it too, and they had agreed that it was not actual rain, merely low cloud, a touch heavier than light mist.  We were looking out the window at the time, and John said if we couldn't see the green shed (about 10 metres from the window) that would be called raining. But somehow, we were all soaked right through after an afternoon of riding in whatever you want to call it.  I call it rain!

Miraculously, the next morning it was dry, after we fell asleep listening to rain bucketing down, so off we went down the road, and what a ride that was!  All that mist had made the dozens of waterfalls even more spectacular and the greenery even more green, if that is even possible.  We followed the Haast River up and up and up, ending with a crazy climb at 13%, then another one of those scary downhills luge runs into lunch.  Then the sun was out and we were into Lake country, riding past Lake Wanaka over The Neck and along Lake Hawea and into Wanaka.  It is so much like Kelowna!

All that took 5 days of riding, so we were ready for our day off today, lolling around in Wanaka.  We drove up to Cardrona Hotel for lunch - what a beautiful place, but now we know what we're in for tomorrow - 24 km of uphill to the hotel, then the REAL climb begins, before we descend into Queenstown.  Wayne found a cool little cinema here, so we had date night at the movies.  All theatres should be like this one - homemade ice cream, beer and wine available, couches and big leather seats to sit on, and an intermission; so you can stretch your legs, get more popcorn or homemade cookies fresh out of the oven!

More photos on Facebook!

Squish, squish, squish

That is the sound my shoes make as I pedalled along through the rain this afternoon.  We began the day, fortified with a Kiwi version of the full Scottish breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, baked beans and a potato pattie, with high hopes that the light high cloud would lift and reveal the apparently stunning mountains around us, but despite a blue sky teaser, this was not to be.  We went through a long enough bit of rain to actually put our raincoats on in the morning, but soon took them off and rolled into lunch at Hari Hari with genuine hope for a dry afternoon.  Hari Hari was a nice stop, at the town rugby field, which also had a mosaic-tiled labyrinth beside it.  I multi-tasked and walked the labyrinth while I ate my sandwich. - I know, not really in the reflective spirit of labyrinth - walking, but we never stop long for lunch, it is just too hard to get going again if we do!

All through Africa, I remember Vince saying how it would be so nice if we could have a nice cup of tea at lunch, so as an organizer, he made this so for this trip.  So every lunch stop includes a cup of tea or an instant mocha - a very nice touch, along with biscuits (cookies in Kiwi).

We didn't get far into the afternoon before we had to put the rain jackets on again, and could have used a wetsuit by the time we finished the ride.  I really can't imagine doing this and camping, but we cycled for a while with a couple of guys doing just that today.  Obviously, we are doing the luxury version!  It would be nice to see the mountains here, along with the glacier; maybe we will get a glimpse tomorrow.

On to Haast!

Hokitika

Lovely two days of riding - lots of climbing yesterday, but long sweet downhills after lunch, through an enchanted forest of huge green trees, and giant ferns.  Last night we were in Reefton, what a quiet peaceful town.  Yesterday, I was thinking about all you people who told us New Zealand was just like Canada, but compact, it is true!  In fact, someone on our tour talked to a Kiwi who's said "yeah, I've been to Canada, it's just like New Zealand, only bigger!"

Way back in Paihaia, we went to a kind of Friday night Food Festival and one of the things I sampled was whitebait, which was mixed with a little bit of beaten egg and cooked on a grill, then served on a slice of white bread - delicious, and Hokitika is where whitebait comes from!  We arrived here at our "interesting" hotel accommodations, (owner was being carted off in an ambulance as we arrived) and went for a walk on the beach because the truck had not arrived with our bags.  There were a lot of driftwood sculptures on the beach, remnants of the Sand and Driftwood Festival back in January.  I contributed a very nice flat beach stone inukshuk to the local beach art.

Tomorrow we are riding to Franz Josef, where there's a big glacier (pronounced glassy - R,  as in, "the morning after the party, his eyes were glassier than hers"), and in the bar here at our hotel, there's a big panorama photo of the mountains above us. - I sure hope we get to see them tomorrow!

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Check them out there beacause I can't remember nor figure out how to post photos on the blog🙄

Fat Tires are My Friends

Those big tires made all the difference yesterday - I would have been a snivelling mess without them - they gave me enough confidence to forge ahead through gravel, corrugation and streams.  The ascent was fun, but on the last steep bit, I was going along so slowly (5 km/HR) and starting to wobble beacause of how slowly I was moving so I decided to walk and push my bike.  Which felt pretty good, actually!  Gorgeous views at the top of the pass, but then the REALLY scary part began - descending, down very steep terrain, with the same gravel and corrugation.  Yeesh, I think my brakes were red hot and my hands and forearms were aching from the death grip I had on my handlebars and the constant braking.  Once we were back down to river level, we somehow thought we were just about home free, but there was another 30 km! of gravel and corrugation; it got a bit tedious.  I was so happy to see the 8 km to Hanmer Springs sign, then we went around the corner and it was uphill.  I told myself it couldn't ALL be uphill, I was right, then another crazy steep descent, still on gravel, into the town.  The motel looked pretty good when we rolled into the parking lot, filthy with dust, sweaty and tired.  Today is a rest day, and there's hot pools here but first we are going to walk up Conical Hill, which must be an old volcano, and eat, of course, before we soak in the hot water and fall into bed.  What a life!

Wine land

We have made it to the South Island, what spectacular scenery on the ferry, but I must say I was a little bit intimidated by the size of the mountains as we approached!  Yes we'll have to ride over a few of those - like tomorrow's ride which is almost all gravel, so I now have big fat tires ( or tyres, since that's how it is spelled (or spelt) here) - I hope I can make those things turn and get through the day.  Then it is a rest day in Hamner Springs, where there are lots of hot pools to soak in and perhaps soothe the aching muscles after all that bouncing around on the gravel.

Today's ride was all about vineyards!  We had stayed in Blenheim after taking the ferry, right in the heart of Marlborough wine country.  The first 30+ km of the ride today was solid vineyards, and I kept wanting to look sideways down the endless rows of grapes but that isn't very safe on a bike so I had to make do with quick glimpses.  If you look at any label on wine bottled here that has a landscape-type design, that is exactly what our view looked like today.  Misty, cloudy, layers and layers of soft green hills receding into the distance.  Tonight we are at St Anaund, with a beautiful blue lake which looks a lot like Lake Louise, with similar mountains beyond it.  No glaciers though, not yet, but in a few days we will be near Franz Joseph Glacier.

It is a chilly evening here, but Wayne and I are going to bundle up and go look for kiwis - maybe we will be lucky and see one.  They are aren't big on survival skills, having evolved back in the days of no land mammals and thus no predators.  All that has changed with the arrival of Maori, dogs, rats, and the rest of us.

Wellington, we're here!

Just about done the North Island - we arrived in Wellington yesterday and after today's rest day we have a short ride to the ferry and then we tackle the South Island!  We had two choices yesterday - I opted for the Rimutaka Incline - old rail bed, a few tunnels, and a lovely ride along a cycle path beside the Hutt River all the way into town. At least, that was how it was described.  What wasn't mentioned was the gale force winds, the diversion to the other side of the Hutt for a more adventurous path, which eventually disappeared resulting in a bonus River crossing back to the better side! It was all a fun adventure and my shoes should be dry by tomorrow..  Not being a mountain biker, hurtling along the twisty single track through thick vegetation was thrilling - I felt like I was in a video game! Wayne took the coastal path option, with way more technical mountain biking skills required - very windy, sandy and rocky for them too, so I'm glad I had a choice.

There's so many highlights from the North Island - seeing beehives being moved by helicopter (honey is big business here); the parade kicking off the hot air balloon festival a couple of nights ago which was police cars and pickups with the burners for the balloons in the back - blasting flames at regular intervals; our daily stop for a meat pie and they put anything and everything in the pies - the last one I had was some kind of breakfast combo which included baked beans!  And along the way, beautiful, beautiful riding, great companions and lots of laughs.

Other than laundry, bike maintenance and helping with tonight's bbq prep, I will try to add some photos, I promise!

Rain and Sunshine!

We tried something different yesterday and did our hydrating from the outside in, as the low clouds we started off in got thicker and thicker as we climbed up higher.  Then it got misty, then it started to rain lightly, then - well, you can probably guess what came next.  However, despite having a ski town as our destination, it did NOT snow.  And the rain was warm but after being in it for hours, we got cold, so finally needed some of those extra layers that we've been hauling around.  When we arrived at our ski chalet home for the night, everything was saturated - wringing out the cycling gloves, pouring out the shoes, and very happy to get into a hot shower and put on dry clothes.  That's when the sun peeked out, of course!  Right before we all called it a night, around 8:30, we finally got a glimpse of the beautiful mountains.

Today was one of my best-ever cycling days!  We had a nice long downhill from the mountains along a route called Mountains to Sea which follows the Whanganui River - this is an eleven out of ten ride!  Along the way, we passed through Jerusalem, London and Athens - we covered a lot of ground don't you think?  The lunch stop was at a little place where there were sheep penned up and working dogs organizing them - each dog has a particular job to do, some run the sheep away from the pen, others run them towards the pen, others were in the pen with the sheep - we looked for Momo but couldn't see him!  He would have fit right in.   There was a kunikuni pig there too - kind of like the potbellied pigs, people keep them for pets and they are quite friendly.  This pig was in one enclosure and our lunch guy fed him the squishy avocados...so she wanted more and burrowed under a fence to be in the little pasture beside us.  That wasn't good enough, so she burrowed under that fence and joined us for lunch!  Lots of good photos from that.

I WILL figure out photos and add some on....that's my next challenge!

Lake Taupo

Today was extra-exquisite, with a tailwind and flat - yes, flat! riding.  That was after starting off through the world's largest planted forest, a bit on a bike path to keep us off the highway and some meandering around on quiet back roads.  After lunch, we pedalled on to Taupo, and some of the group decided a beer stop,was in order at a waterfront bar, but that didn't seem like a good idea with 50 km to go so I had a lemonade and Wayne had a flat white..  I need all my wits riding in the traffic! Some other bar patrons pointed out "Mt Doom" across the lake - we are in Lord of the Rings country. No doom on today's ride - the last 30 km or so was like driving in the Shuswap, with the beautiful blue lake and green mountains all around.  Green is here in every possible shade, and now I'm off to the green grass outside the motel room for some outside yoga....aaaah!

Relaxing in Rotorua

What a great day's ride we had yesterday!  Yes, it was hilly, but I don't think there's anything flat about this country, but no big hills.  And somehow, we managed to sneak in those climbs that you don't really notice while you're doing them ( well, not much) but put together , it turns into a thrilling, twisty, turny downhill joyride.  Most people in our group have now learned to pass me on the downhills since I am that cyclist who actually brakes on the downhill instead of going flat out.

I am starting to realize how riding here is challenging but not in the way riding through Africa was.  Drivers are mainly courteous, Internet works(!) there are washing machines at every motel we stay at, toilets flush and showers have hot water - sometimes scalding like here in Rotorua with all the geothermal action beneath us.  So our big concerns are covering up from the sun and getting the riding done.  Simple and satisfying!  However, it is a little more difficult to make this blog as interesting....every post could be "long ride, stunning scenery, great stops along the way for delicious food and coffee, interesting town to stay in".  But I resolve to find something interesting for every blog post to keep you readers entertained!

Yesterday we arrived in Rotorua and heard there was to be a free concert in the park across the street from the motel - with the Auckland Philharmonic, various Kiwi singers and entertainers and what a fine night of music it was.  We sat on the grass and poked fun at the people we saw wearing down jackets, but at the intermission we had to go back to the motel for extra layers!  The grand finale was a pretty fine fireworks extravaganza, which we enjoyed lying on the grass gazing up at the Southern Cross and the almost-full moon.  Today, our rest day activity was a drive with Vince and Lindsay ( our Kiwi friends organizing this great tour) and a few others to a geothermal river, where we had a swim and soak and my silver bracelet turned quite dark.  That can be fixed though, and we followed that up with a coffee and meat pie stop - Wayne had a mussel pie and I went with the more traditional beef.  Meat pies are ubiquitous here!

Coming up, we have a six day stretch before our stop in Wellington, so that means quite a few kilometres to cover.  It certainly helps having a shower, a bed and good food to make the way easier.  Now it's time to enjoy a glass of Wayne's sister's friend Megan's wine - local goodness!

How to finish ahead of most of the pack

i got into lunch a couple of days ago and right away Kay asked me if I had the phone (the NZ phone our friend Nix gave us) or if Wayne did.  Apparently, Wayne had blasted down a hill and right past the lunch truck, so since I had the phone with me, Kay's call saying "you've passed lunch" was gong to be unheeded by Wayne.  In fairness, the trailer with all the lunch stuff and our bags in it IS mostly green - easily missed in this lush green land.  However, I really can't explain how Wayne managed to be stripped down and lathering up with hand soap form the dispenser (he didn't have his own) in the LADIES shower at our cabin accomodation!  Maybe an eye test is in order.  The cabins we stayed in were quite basic but the dinner we had lined up at the cafe down the road was outstanding.  Chicken, a whole leg of ham, stuffing, veggies, salads and fresh warm bread....just the thing after a loooong day on the bike.  I'll just go on a bit more about food - we've had a coupe of barbeques, which I understood last night to be burgers but also included lamb chops, sausages and chicken.  Animal protein is front and centre at meals here.  So I eased off at the winery lunch today and had a nice mushroom risotto and some green veggies.  

We are back on the bikes tomorrow, with Auckland behind us!

We got a little bit lost.....

...but only for about 5 km or so.  It didn't seem right to follow the sign saying Something Road, No Exit but it wasn't pointed in exactly the right direction so we keep going.  Soon the truck and trailer with all our gear on it came along and Kay and Michael told us to stop, because they thought they were on the wrong road too.  We all got sorted out and carried on - I was pretty glad it was a 90 km day and not tomorrow's 134 km day!

Lovely riding today with gentler hills, lots of green all around us to shelter us from the sun (there's a great big hole in the ozone layer over NZ so sunscreen is crucial), some cooling showers, which was not like riding in a rain shower at home when the temperature automatically drops about 10 degrees at least, and a ferry ride.  I rode into the town where the ferry docks and found a bunch of our group at the cafe, having coffee and snacks before the ferry departure.  Great! I thought to myself, finally, a coffee stop - first cup of the day (it was just after 12:30).  So I ordered my usual long black, paid and was given a number to place on my table.  There was about 20 minutes before ferry time.  This was not a Tim Horton's, a good long black takes time and there were other more complex orders in front of mine.  So then I ordered it to go, thinking I could either ride holding onto it the short distance to the ferry or stick in my water bottle cage on my bike.  Eventually, it arrived and although I really wanted to enjoy it right then and there, it was time to go, so it went in my bottle cage.  Three km to the ferry with about 12 minutes before it sailed - that seemed doable.  Then I passed the sign that said FOUR km to the ferry.  Yikes!  Pedal faster!  But all was for naught - it must have been filled up with cars so it left early!  Like Wayne said, "what kind of country is this - the ferry leaves early?"  So we lounged in the grass, did some yoga and stretching and snacking and got on the next one.  I didn't even notice what time that one left - it didn't matter any more, we were on it!

Don't throw away that old microwave!

Well that was an epic day!  A 120 km introduction to New Zealand's hills - they go up, they go down, so we did too, into a steady headwind that never really left us.  Except for a 5 km stretch to get us onto 90 Mile Beach - gorgeous! for a sweet 15 km ride over the hard-packed (thank goodness) sand.  Beautiful finish to a challenging day.  And all that riding happened after a 3 hour bus ride to the north end of New Zealand, to Cape Reinga, unloading the bikes, fussing about with our new jerseys and taking the  "before" photo.  Tomorrow I think we'll try for starting a tad earlier!

So about those microwaves...you can use your old one as a mailbox!  We saw a couple of those today along with little house-shaped ones with corrugated steel roofs just like the big houses, and of course the kind that must come from whatever the New Zealand equivalent of Canadian Tire is.

....but now it is past time for bed....tomorrow is another ride!

Another day in paradise....

It really is ridiculously beautiful here, and "here" for today is Paihia, in the Bay of Islands.  We rolled in about noon on our air-conditioned bus, after leaving Auckland this morning.  Our pickup point was  in a park across the street from our Auckland hotel; this made it easy to cross the street with the boxed bikes and the duffle bags, as the rush hour traffic was pretty much at a standstill.  I should clarify - it was easy for Wayne to do all that.  But I did wash up the breakfast dishes in our tiny hotel room kitchen so I wasn't just sitting around sipping coffee.  Oh, coffee!  We have learned to speak Kiwi when ordering coffee - I have a long black and Wayne has a flat white.  No snickering now! They do make excellent coffee here, along with delicious wine and Wayne hasn't complained about the beer at all - and of course the fish and seafood! And the lamb!  It seems they have good food and drink figured out.

But back to the Bay of Islands.  After last night's reunion dinner, we have widened the circle of friends to include the other cyclists in the group, some other TDA 2011 participants, friends of the organizers, and friends of friends! All in all making an interesting group, and we got to know some a bit better over lunch in a cafe overlooking the lovely blue water.  It was a busy afternoon, going to the beach and in for swim.  That's it - but we have busy days ahead so I guess this is the tapering part.
I should go and see how Wayne is doing with getting our bikes put together, but it sure is nice just sitting on this deck with a cool breeze blowing!  Tomorrow we get to be tourists, then we start early Sunday morning with a 2 hour drive up to Cape Reinga and then we begin the ride with a long stretch down 90 Mile Beach.

Beautiful Place!

We are here!  It didn't take long for us to figure out why everyone who visits here loves it - this is a wonderful land!  We went to Waiheke Island today; its other name is Island of Wine -perhaps not an exact translation from Maori,but it definitely fits, there are vineyards everywhere!  Our bikes have to stay boxed up for transport to the north end of the island so we rented bikes and away we went to try out the New Zealand hills and practice riding on the left.  Our rental bikes came with handy "stay left" stickers on the handlebars
  It was a good day with gorgeous views, a vineyard lunch and a stop on a beautiful nearly deserted beach, we plan to return to when we have our rest day here next week!  Walking back to our hotel we passed a yacht named "Selina Louise"!  Too bad it was misspelled!

Here we go again!

Time has passed, the wheels of our bicycles have continued to turn but we have stayed closer to home since returning from Africa...until now!  In a few days we are travelling to New Zealand to ride with some fine Kiwi friends who have organized a cycling tour of their enticing country, beginning at the north end of the North Island and finishing at the south end of the South Island.  We have already noted many differences - we don't need vaccinations or visas, we don't have to bring along spare bike parts since they are readily available along the way and we don't have to bring camping gear or stuff every spare nook and cranny of our bags with rolls of toilet paper!