Naresh Kumar outside The Bakerman Cafe, Awanui, on the second day of his tandem cycle from Cape Reinga to the Bluff. Photo / Peter Jackson
Naresh Kumar outside The Bakerman Cafe, Awanui, on the second day of his tandem cycle from Cape Reinga to the Bluff. Photo / Peter Jackson
When people see Naresh Kumar riding a tandem bike alone along Northland's roads they wonder if he's left a friend behind.
But the extra seat on his bike is for picking up strangers and it's all for a good cause.
Sitting on the front seat of his tandem bicycle namedKindness Mr Kumar left Cape Reinga on Sunday to head to the Bluff. The back seat is reserved for strangers he wants to join him on his ride to raise awareness and funds for #standwithher which is Tearfund's campaign to stop human trafficking.
"There were so many people at Cape Reinga and I wanted to start with a rider and there was this English guy there. I asked if he could take a photo of me in front of the sign and he said 'I think you left your partner'," he said.
Mr Kumar told the man, named Michael, what he was doing and asked if he would ride with him on the first leg of his journey and Michael agreed. He rode 20km with Mr Kumar while Michael's his wife followed them in a campervan and at the end Michael gave Mr Kumar a "generous donation".
It's not the first time Mr Kumar has travelled the length of the country to raise awareness about human trafficking. Shortly after he moved to New Zealand in 2014, a place he'd wanted to see since he watched Lord of the Rings in 2001, he ran the Te Araroa trail wearing jandals.
Mr Kumar was only on the second day of his 2017 Cape Reinga to Bluff journey when he spoke to the Advocate yesterday and was so far having no trouble finding people to ride with him.
When he arrived in Te Kao he stopped at the local shop to buy an ice cream and when a family saw him alone on his tandem bike they said.
"There was a couple with two boys and I told them what I was doing. The youngest rode 5km with me and the oldest rode 25km with me back to the campground. I talked to them and explained why I was doing this," Mr Kumar said.
Mr Kumar said people in Northland had been very kind. A Coopers Beach resident he met in Mangonui opened her home to him because of bad weather.
"My goal is to connect with people and share with them about sex trafficking and these children who do not have freedom," he said.
- For more information about Mr Kumar's journey visit freedomseat.org.nz
