I will confess… When I left NZ in Jan 2010 to move to Singapore, you could not accuse me of being patriotic. Sure, I liked the All Blacks and thought it was cool some old dude was the first to climb Everest, but you wouldn’t see me wearing an NZ T shirt or getting into a bar fight over my country (I would be massively shit in any fight to be fair with my T Rex arms).

But, the more time you spend overseas, the more you have a lingering fondness for your hometown… You start to realise that perhaps you were taking it for granted. For me, I miss the riding, the food and definitely the people.

So, with riding done for this week and the weather closing in, it was time to hit a number of my favourite welly icons and to catch up with some of the local crew. Being the last day, I had a few things on my OCD list to nail.

Stop one – A coffee from the original Mojo coffee bar in Wellington… I was half asleep so forgot to take a pic… Nice one.

Stop two – Time to load up at what I still consider the best brunch EVER, Nikau Cafe, where presentation is so good and the food so epic that I was forced to break my “don’t look like a cock and photograph your food” rule, if you are in Wellington, get here and ram your face with these eggs:

Luckily for me Nationals course is dead flat...

Luckily for me Nationals course is dead flat…

Stop three – Pravda Cafe for my third coffee in a couple of hours… By now I was starting to get the shakes and my sentences were getting fucked up as I foamed at the mouth like a rabid monkey. This is one of the hardest things about Wellington and catching up with people in a back to back fashion, you’re forced into epic coffee overload. I ended up shaking and pissing like a pro with a bad BB:

The old stomping ground... Literally I stomped around...

The old stomping ground… Literally I stomped around…

Stop four – I am still missing Niseko (I love you Ray Parker), so used this as an excuse to hit an old fav for lunch, the Catch Sushi Bar in C Place… Everyone loves a good sushi train and this mofo is a classic:

It ain't Niseko, but it does the trick...

It ain’t Niseko, but it does the trick…

Stop Five – Burkes cycles. I was totally rammed with coffee and food, so given there was no riding going down, what else was there to do? Head to the Art Gallery? Library? Te Papa National museum? FUCK all that, it was time to hit a bike shop! This one is a classic to, sure its out in the hood a bit, but worth the drive to see the great crew at Burkes. These guys love Mountain Biking and know their shit when it comes to MTB’s, so if you want great service and work done on the MTB, worth a trip:

Worth going through a tunnel for

Worth going through a tunnel for

So that’s the Dirty Nomad whirlwind tour of Wellington done and in the books, tomorrow is another travel day write off, getting back to Nomad HQ in time for the Singapore Road Race National Champs on Sunday morning… Its going to be a BIG one!

Thanks to Wellington for a cool week, great to see everyone, get some great rides in, OD on awesome food and get a fix of hometown goodness.

4 Responses

  1. Shep

    Have to agree with you on those first few sentences. At least you had some good weather, I’ll be there in Oct. Good luck for the Nationals. Looks like most of the team are doing some MTB enduro??

    Reply
    • dirtynomad

      Yeah bro, I am a solo unit this Sunday! Representing… Boon will be there, but I will be able to hopefully hide and follow the late moves

      Reply
  2. Shep

    I’d be like glue on either Lee Rodgers or Tjarco Cuppens wheels. They could be the ones to keep a real eye on.

    Reply
  3. Gary J

    Good stuff James ! Awesome beard bro, plenty of room in there to stash a few riding snacks – good luck at those Singa Nationals !

    Reply

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