Erik Jonsson hopes to make 80km a day on his cycling trip to Bluff. Photo / Greg Bowker
Erik Jonsson was gutted when allergies prevented him from joining the Swedish Army, so he set himself a new challenge - to bike the length of New Zealand, alone and with almost no money.
But before his trip even got under way, he was beset with problems, from a fever
that kept him in bed over Christmas to a theft from his tent at Paihia on New Year's Eve.
The theft left him without many belongings, including most of the clothes he had bought in Auckland soon after his arrival last month.
"There was food strewn around and they'd taken clothes like the raincoat I'd just got. I haven't been that angry in a long time. I had wanted everything to be perfect," he said.
Mr Jonsson says he saw a suspicious character hanging around the tents and asked the campground manager to get him to empty his pockets, but the stranger fled.
The 20-year-old Swede had spent most of his money on supplies, so tourist operators helped him back to Whangarei to replace stolen items.
Paihia police last week said there had been a spike in burglaries, and blamed locals they believed were targeting tourists.
Mr Jonsson said the theft had not made him think badly of New Zealand.
The biking trip came about after an allergy to nuts meant he could not follow his dream of joining the military.
As an alternative, he decided to head Downunder while he figured out what he wanted to do with hislife.
"I don't know if it's something physical I want to do, or theoretical. I like mathematics and physics, so maybe engineering?"
Despite not being an avid cyclist, Mr Jonsson is confident of getting to Bluff in a month - if he can keep to his target of 80km a day.
He will be relying on the Lonely Planet New Zealand guidebook to get him there.
He has also packed a fishing rod and is not too worried about potentially having to hunt for his dinner, as it "just makes it more of a challenge".
