1st – 5th May (approx. 20km cycled – the last kms of the trip!)

Alarm sounded at 6.30am for us to deflate the blow up mats for the last time, pack our sleeping bags away, roll up the pillows and put down the tent. If I hadn’t been so sleepy I would have been a little emotional. We cycled to the I-site and waited for the bus to arrive.

The shuttle was a large minibus, and the luggage space was limited but we managed to squeeze the bikes together with bungee chords, and hoped they wouldn’t get too scratched en route. A windy road down the west coast and pick ups along the way. 3.5hours later we arrived at the wharf in Auckland. We had made it!

We loaded the bags onto the bikes and set off, up the hill through the university neighbourhood to Mt Eden where Jim and Sasha lived.

Jim and Andy went to school together and lived together whilst in Sheffield, and he and Sasha have been living abroad for the last 4 or so years. Abu Dhabi, China, and now New Zealand. They are both maths teachers, and clearly very sought after! Their home is on Jim’s school’s grounds and is a detached 2 bed bungalow with a separate garage and garden with a view west of the city over many many sports fields.

We let ourselves in, marvelled at the interior, made ourselves at home and waited for Jim to come by during his free period. It was lovely to see him looking well, and when he had to get back to class, we made plans to buy cleaning equipment for the bikes.

We bought sponges, a chain brush with lube and degreaser, fairy liquid and some other bits and bobs from Warehouse. The plan was to sell the bikes and in a circular economy way, buy back packs and ship stuff back for the same money we would make on the bikes.

By the time we got back Sash and Jim were home from school so we spent the first evening relaxing, catching up with an Indian Takeaway and bottle of wine. Very tasty!

Next day was all steam ahead to clean the bikes and wash all our belongings. After I had done about 3 loads of washing and hanging out to dry on the line, Andy had just about finished the bikes! I mean – it was senseless for both of us to get dirty! He had done a fantastic job, considering the chains were absolutely caked in grime..

I took some photos of all our stuff – ready to be sold!

Next we pedalled to a few bike stores to see what they might offer. Only one was in the habit of buying bikes, and it didn’t look very hopeful; the season was closing, and we would only be offered maybe $200 each for them.. even with our rack and bags. We had discussed this prior and brand new the bikes had cost us £440, the racks, bags and mud guards were another £150, therefore the MINIMUM we wanted was £200 each. We were accepting of the fact that they had done 3300km and they did have scratches and issues with the gears (not that anyone else needed to know that!). We also knew it was the end of the season so it was going to be tricky to sell them off.

Andy got a haircut at the barbers, and the guy cutting his hair suggested we use Facebook or Trademe. As he was getting his curls chopped I put an ad up on marketplace. Both bikes for $800 – Easy!

We went back to J&S’ and waited for the messages to come through. I cooked a big pan of mushroom risotto and we had another enjoyable evening catching up on the day’s events.

By the time we went to bed we had one guy coming around the next morning to view the bikes, and several watchers on Trademe, it all seemed good!

The next day by 10am they were sold and by midday we had the money in our account…. it was surprisingly stressful!!

It all worked out though – phew! We celebrated by going shopping for backpacks from Macpac and shipping home a large box of our brooks saddles, helmets and cycle clothes, very productive day!

We went out in the evening for burgers and drinks with J&S and their friend Jonte. It was very merry, and we danced and discovered none of us are 22 anymore.

We all woke the next morning with slightly sore heads. The first hangover in a looooong time! We did manage to get up though. Sash had gone for brunch with a friend, Jim was in worse shape than us, so Andy and I headed into town for a lonely planet tour of the more quirky parts of the city.

First we started at St Kevin’s arcade and wandered past little boutiques and book shops. we followed the steps down to a park with views of the city.

Sky tower!

Next we walked downhill, spotted Moses, and saw another awesome play park.

We then went up to the street level and found a Daiso on Queens street. Perfect – we found all the bits and bobs we couldn’t find in Warehouse the day before! Sasha rang and I gave her the map I was following and told her to meet us at No 7.

We continued to a fountain that showed women in history, apparently NZ was the first country to allow women the right to vote in the world!

We climbed the stairs and were greeted by the Auckland Art Gallery. Due to our sore heads we were not in the mindset to go in, but the cafe was a good place to stop and wait for Sasha. Hunger had taken root and we bought sandwiches. Yum.

We carried on the tour through another park that was hosting a benefit gig for the legalisation of marijuana. So we walked through that pretty quickly, looking in interest at edibles being offered for $5! And clouds of smoke pluming up all over the place. Could have been in SF..

Andy was playing Hockey with Jim in the afternoon so he soon said bye and got an Uber back, leaving Sash and I to do the rest of the tour. We walked next to the water front. Wanting to see the harbour bridge I was keen to go all the way but all of a sudden I was very sleepy!

We walked past the wharf, past the ferry building and to the fish markets.

We were shattered after all that walking so next on the agenda was going back home, to have a nap. I read the rest of my book (Angels by Marian Keyes – nice and trashy, picked it up in Thames).

Jim and Andy won their game of hockey! Well done guys 🙂

We went out for noodles at Wok n Noodles. Jonte came along too, it was fun and tasty.

On Sunday we had decided to catch the 10.30 am ferry over to Rangitoto Volcano island, the newest island in Auckland at only 600 years old. We would be treated to lovely views of the city, plus a 7km hike and some lava caves! How exciting.

We first stopped in at New World metro to get the necessary snacks and lunch for our trip. We cleaned our boots to make sure we didn’t transition any bad dirt over to the protected island. We got good views of the skyline.

We docked at the island and set off to the summit, along with everyone else. The lava looked like upturned earth and I forgot for a second, thinking gosh, I know why they would want to cultivate this island, if it’s volcanic, but it’s protected! No Liz – that’s the lava.

We made our way up to the summit! Views were spectacular.

Next we headed to the lava caves. The rocks were sharp, walking over them, in trainers I could feel it a bit! We went past the exit of the cave and I saw a small hole.. ok – but Jim was confident so on we went. At the entrance to the caves there were quite a few people. The first cave we went through was quite short, we ducked down under the craggy rocks, and straddled a tree to get through, and then we were out! Phew! But that was just the warm up.. next we went into a longer cave, but the entrance was smaller..

Made it!

The decent back to the ferry was easy and we saw some small ground birds scurrying over the path.

Back at the house we cooked a big spaghetti bolognese and went to bed very happy and full 🙂

Thank you to Jim and Sash for a wonderful stay! You are welcome at ours anytime!!

30th April – (55km cycled)

We packed up from the Tippity Top 10 after a big breakfast. The pan set is getting on my nerves now, making fried eggs with no oil is tricky at the best of times, why didn’t I do poached?!

Within 5km the road went up sharply and I could feel the eggs and bread and sausage sloshing about in my stomach, there is a reason why we have our muesli and yoghurt…!! The hill was windy and long, and about a kilometre in I was way way behind Andy. A runner we had passed on the road on the way out of Coromandel overtook me at this point. I could have cried! He cheerily let me know it flattened out soon, and apparently he wasn’t in good shape, sure mate..

It did flatten out, and I had a short break. Flip! Nearly sick, I drank some water. How can we be at the end of 3 months of cycling and I be still this unfit!!

Back on I got, not to be defeated, and eventually reached the top! The runner had also overtaken Andy. Good. He was a mountain runner and had a race coming up. That would explain this madness!! Andy consoled me that he wasn’t carrying anything, and on the shallower gradients I would smash him. Yes but he over took me!!

Normal poses…

We carried on; one down, two more big’uns to go.

We went to the beach for lunch. There was a four square and a cafe, where we had a coffee afterwards. The beach was empty except for one guy fishing. I think Andy was tempted to go for a swim but we wanted to get to Whitianga.

The next hill. Straight. 16% gradient all the way up. I had no choice but to push hard and my lungs were screaming at me. That was horrific!!

We had one more hill and then we would be down hill all the way to Whitianga, except for a few little bumps.. The final hill of the day was really not that bad. I enjoyed it. I wasn’t panting the whole way up! Joyful!

We arrived in Whitianga and saw a sign for the lost spring spa. Yes please! It’s a thermal spring spa, where the natural nutrients are meant to relax and restore. Fantastic! We got some Top10 discount too!

There were multiple pools of varying temperatures (our favourite was the crater lake, nice and hot), flavoured chilled water to drink, and plush deck chairs dotted around the park. It was open air, and you could swim through some amethyst caves. We had about an hour swimming and relaxing, and then showered so we could make it to the campsite before dark.

Feeling very relaxed, we cycled to New World and picked up a half roast chicken, potato salad and salsa. Delicious! We went to the harbour holiday park, and quickly put up the tent. We sat in the dining room and enjoyed our food, though the atmosphere was odd. Only one table shoved against the wall, with 3 sofas. Nowhere for people to eat! Hmm.

We watched the telly for a while and early to bed for the 7am bus in the morning!

26th – 29th April (168km cycled)

We woke up early to ring up Hobbiton to see if there were any spaces on a morning tour and there were! It sometimes does pay to not do any preplanning..

We cycled up the hill (it was further than we thought) to the farm where the shire was filmed, for 9.30am. It was a bit of a rush!

The tour was great. We all piled onto a coach (tours every 10mins – it’s timed to precision..) to the Alexander Family’s Farm. Film excerpts were played as more and more of the scenery came into view. The guide was quirky and had us all laughing.

We walked by all the hobbit holes, saw the fake tree over Bilbo’s house, and the real miniature garden plots (mum & dad would love this). We heard how Peter Jackson had trees stripped of all their leaves and plum leaves and fruit be painstakingly reattached, just for 6s of film. Also we heard that the sunset was ‘in the wrong location’ so filming took place at sunrise to imitate sunset..

We finished with a beer (at 11am, oops) in the green dragon. It was wonderful!

A quick bus ride back to where our bikes were sat, and we ate lunch outside. Then the dreaded rain began again. Quickly we set off and the ride was mostly flat today all the way to Paeroa. We cycled along back roads and we went fast. At Te Aroa (mountain of love) we stopped for a Coca Cola.

We arrived at the RV park in Paeroa before sunset, just, and were offered our very own Knoll to pitch up on. There was a gas stove and some odd split bathrooms, but we were quite comfortable. Andy had managed to get a puncture on his back wheel (his first!!) as we were just coming into the town. We decided to sort it out in the morning. We ate our rice and veg and were in bed nice and early.

What a day!

Next morning we found the ants had attacked our pots and pans… hmm yes cleaning without fairy liquid will cause that.. Andy fixed his flat tyre, and used the puncture repair kit. We set off pretty late, and I for one was not really in the mood. There was a head wind too, which didn’t help!

We had a cup of coffee in Hikutaia which was on a rail trail. We stopped for quite a while and were around 24km from Thames. We decided instead of cycling along the road in relentless wind we would cycle on the rail trail. It was nice and flat but gravel/shingle paths that took us over bridges and through farm land. It was off the road, but followed it mostly all the way to Thames.

We stopped when we reached the ‘end’ though who could tell.. and had lunch.

Next was a stop at the PAC’N’SAVE and then onward to the campsite. It was overpriced in our opinion, at $40. There was nothing to do but sit in the lounge, avoid other people, and watch the original Star Wars. I think Andy is trying to get me hooked on all his films.. slowly it is working!

The next day we cycled to the finish line – The Coromandel. The highway took us along the coast which was beautiful. Craggy rocks, and in the distance over the water you could see Auckland.

We had two major hills to get over today. We had a coffee stop at Tapu in a pub (one of those Tab pubs that are everywhere), because it was the only thing on offer, to eat up before the climb.

The first one went slowly, I think after 4 days cycling on the trot I was just a bit tired. We stopped to have lunch at the top of the first climb.

There were two bins; both over flowing, and a lady had just got out of her car to put in more rubbish. This really pissed me off, what does she think is going to happen to her rubbish, sure enough, it all fell out when the wind picked up. Andy picked it all up, he’s such a good egg. I was going to go up and tell her to take it with her, she’s in a car!! But I held my tongue! Grrrrr. People.

We ate our lunch, took some photos and left no trace.

The next climb was as slow but less eventful! The views were stunning of the coromandel islands, just stunning.

We arrived at Top10 and with celebration in the air, got a cabin! Sure it slept 10 people in triple and double bunk beds, but the double bed at the bottom was very comfortable!!

We went over the road to the pub to celebrate and got fish and chips. Yum yum!

One slight dampener on our mood was that we found out the ferry schedule for taking us to Auckland had changed. Instead of 4x weekly trips, it now only ran on the weekends. It was Sunday today. Shit. This is a good example of when no preplanning does not pay off!! Oh well. Sort it tomorrow!

The next day we packed out of the cabin and bought a tent site. Cannot afford that luxury two nights in a row! We had a bounce and thought about stuff. Way too much fun! Why hadn’t we had a go on the pillow before!!

We popped into town for a coffee and thought more about how the heck we were going to get to Auckland. We were so close! We could see it! We could get a bus, but when we went to the i-site the lady informed us that she couldn’t guarantee bikes would be allowed on board. And she also would charge us to book through her, y’no what lady – we’ve got this. Thanks for the help.

Before we bought the tickets online we called up intercity and asked about their bike policy. It was a good thing we checked because no bikes were allowed on buses into Auckland! Oh jeez – well there goes that option.

Next we went to Discovery Tours, perhaps they did shuttles to the city? Nope, but they did suggest some other company, the only thing was they only took people from Whitianga which was on the other side of the peninsula. Keen now to get to Auckland, we went for it. This meant tomorrow we would have to cycle up over the mountains. It wasn’t really the big hurrah we were after but we didn’t have much choice.

With that now finally sorted, we went to get supplies from four square, and we parked ourselves in the lounge of the Top10 (v fancy for a lounge) and booked our trip in Brisbane, because that was coming up! It was raining anyway and I think both of us were feeling rather dejected.

In happier news we still had one more day of hills. Hurrah!

25th April (74km cycled)

We had run out of breakfast food, so it was time to pack up and find a small corner shop. On Anzac Day all supermarkets (four squares exempt) are closed til 1pm. Excellent. We found an open bakery and ate a slice of bacon and egg quiche.

Another reason for setting off today was that we had a long way to go on highways and thought it would be easier on a bank holiday where trucks wouldn’t be around.

We started out on the highway and as per usual it was busy. Andy found a side route! Hurrah! Of course side routes are generally hillier, but the road was narrower too so any cars coming along were slower. It was a nice ride.

We were overtaken by around 100 motorbikes along a road into Okoroire – scary.. we caught up with them all at a golf course hotel, where we thought we might have lunch. Not to be when there are 100 burly bikers in the restaurant, all ordering at the same time! Alright, the band stand down the road would do!

We cycled on to a farm 2 km down the hill from Hobbiton. The campsite farm was $10 each and another $2 for hot showers! There was nobody else there when we arrived but by the end of the evening there were lots of vans.

What a view!

We were in the tent by 6.15pm, thanks to an early sun set. We watched David Attenborough on Andy’s phone, to make sure we didn’t fall asleep by 7! It worked out well because we would get up early to get to Hobbiton for a tour!

24th April (rest day)

We booked to stay in Rotorua another night so that we can have a date day! It started off with a wander through Kuirau park next to the site. We walked through the first part to see some eggy steam… and found some pools eventually!

Next we spotted some foot baths. The water was slightly oily but it felt awesome. Very warm, a little bit steamy, very comforting!

Finally we found the pools. The wind made the steam whirl over the surfaces, and when the steam blew over us we caught the smell of sulphur. It’s really quite a strange experience. Like a smelly sauna.

We next wandered through the Maori village alongside the lake. It was interesting to see the houses existing in such a precarious situation! We found a couple of puppies, they were so cute.

next we walked through lots of preparations for Anzac Day (tomorrow). Large white tombs were adorned with poppies.

we saw lots of birds at the lake side, the cloud really made this a striking place!

We found a park bench for our lunch near the museum which was closed due to earthquake damage. It was a Tudor style building. Massive.

The afternoon was spent looking in all the touristy gift shops followed by a drink at Brew. The new avengers movie ‘End Game’ came out today and we went to the cinema to see if we could go, apparently that was everyone else’s plan too, so we walked back to Top 10 and had a dip in the mineral pools instead.

Good day of relaxation off the bikes!

22nd to 23rd April (167km cycled)

From leaving the caves it had rained all night. The tent held too. We were in two minds about leaving to be honest, pros: we would have the foam mattress another night, and we would avoid cycling in the rain all day, cons: we had no food supplies beyond breakfast so we would either have to cycle back to Waitomo village and have meals out or we could buy cuppa noodles from the hostel. Tricky.

We cajoled each other playing devils advocate each time the other changed their mind, to stay or not to stay! Gah! In the end we decided to leave. Cuppa noodles and spending more money on restaurants wasn’t appealing.

We headed back to Te Kuiti but instead of taking highway 3 we took the back road. It was more hills but quiet. By the time we reached new world the rain had begun, so we bought a strange concoction of fried chicken nuggets and fried broccoli cheesey balls, because they were on offer on the hot counter. We ate them under the shelter near the public toilets. Feeling quite sorry for ourselves.

Next we cycled highway 30 all the way to Pureora to the start of the timber trail. As it was Easter Monday, there was less heavy traffic and the cars gave us space. The rain was miserable though. We got to Benneydale a couple of hours later and stopped for a hot drink at the dairy shop which was thankfully open. Soon after we cracked on.

We arrived at the DOC site looking very bedraggled. It had been a long day. The rain had stopped and we were able to put up the tent in a corner, next to a motor home. The couple inside were watching us and soon we were invited in for a hot tea.

We discovered our hosts were from South Africa; Jeanie and Johan. They lived in Hamilton and worked in the church. We ate rusks (south African delicacy, almost like a biscotti without the tooth breaking almonds) and told them all about our trip. They then invited us for dinner! Oh yay – yes please!

I was starving, naturally, so I did feel somewhat awkward at first. I knew we had so much food on the bikes, but with the rain this offer was truly amazing. I couldn’t come empty handed, after all I am my mother’s daughter, so I brought the broccoli which Jeanie accepted (thankfully..)!

We ate mash from a packet with fried pork, pumpkin, carrot and broccoli with all sorts of herbs and spices. To top it off were some sausages, traditionally Afrikaans made, meaning delicious meat and spice. So tasty. Made me miss the bries at Vanessa and Erik’s!

Wonderful evening and wonderful people.

The next day the sun came out, steaming the rain off the grass.

It was a beautiful morning! Felt good!

Discovered a mouse had got into our bag of breakfast.. stupid us for not packing food away in the panniers. The little bugger had gone into the berry muesli! Luckily didn’t seem interested in the toasted muesli (we switch it up occasionally) so we had a new packet untouched. We had to throw the other packet with at least 2 portions in it, because as Andy said, you couldn’t really tell the difference between poop and raisins:(

We set off again and along the state highway 30. It was busier today, back to normal traffic. The log trucks were out in full force. This really is when you have to grit your teeth and just keep peddling. Andy said I cycle best (i.e fastest) when I’m scared of trucks. Sigh. I suppose that’s good!

We had a long descent where I went a little bit too fast. I have to keep in the second front ring otherwise I get too cocky. Went over a bump and a bag fell off. Jesus, use your breaks Liz!

Next excitement, I got a flat tyre on my back wheel again (3rd in total) just before we got into Whakamaru (wh = fff. Excellent name for a town). Andy changed the inner to our last new inner tube – we found a piece of glass in the tyre – pesky glass!

We got to the little town and got a cup of coffee. Discovered the yoghurt had exploded over everything in the bag of breakfast. Wonderful. Gosh this was shaping up to be a cracker day!

60km to go so onwards. We were about an hour along when I got my 4th flat of the trip!! Ugh. What a nightmare!! Nothing to be done but change it out but now we were running out of good tubes so had to use the repaired one. Fingers and toes crossed this holds to the end!

We got to Rotorua without any further drama. Smells funny here. We set up at the fancy Top10 ($40 not bad) and chilled in the TV lounge with last night’s mountain of food.

Glad that’s over.

21st April – Rest day (ish)

This morning we packed up the tent and slowly cycled into Waitomo. We said bye to the farm animals and Lydia, who was going to hitch to the free caves. It doesn’t take long to pick up a ride, and she must have been successful as by the time we had dragged our stuff to the road, she was gone.

We keep saying maybe we’ll try hitch hiking but we have bikes.. this would be the time to do it though, as we discovered the free caves were 40km away and in the wrong direction. It would add a couple of days onto the journey. Instead we decided to see what the Legendary Black Water company had to offer. They were close by, and we wanted a bit of ‘extreme’ activity, because cycling 3000km wasn’t adventurous enough.. putting on a wet suit and swimming in the caves too see the glowworms seemed just the ticket.

We popped into the centre and asked if there was any availability for that day, to our surprise yes we could get on the 5pm tour! Perfect. We even got 10% off with Top10.

Next stop was Huhu cafe in Waitomo village (another 5km cycle) for a BOGOF coffee (that Top10 discount really paying off). We sat in full sunshine out on the ‘dick’ (kiwi for deck) and felt like we were on holiday. Looking up campsites on the app told us that Top10 next door was going to be $50, or we could go back to the Black Water place and stay in the garden of a hostel opposite for $30. We went for the cheaper option and also the caving would go on til 8pm so didn’t fancy cycling after in the dark.

With that decided we didn’t really have anything to do, and it was nearly midday, why not – let’s have a beer. We deserve it on our day off! Sorry mate, we don’t serve alcohol without purchase of a full meal. What? Fine – we shall go down the road and have our tuna wraps instead. We had a look around the ‘General Store’ which didn’t have a lot to offer. Also because it was a holiday everything sold would cost an extra 10%! Crazy. Waitomo – not the most friendly we decided.

We saw there was a short hike to a view point, and we love an uphill walk, so off we went. It was pretty uninspiring. Rolling hills a plenty, but scared with felled pine trees. The walk took us through ‘bush’ but not really.

Time was getting on so back we went to Black Water and Juno Hostel. The man at reception had a very odd sense of humour – upon hearing we were cycling and from Leeds he joked the price went up $10! The next second he said we actually got a discount because we were cycling and we could use an existing tent which had a foam mattress. Joy. It would also save us packing down a wet tent (rain definitely forecast overnight). We looked the tent over carefully after hearing Mattieus’ story about being offered a tent that then leaked on him all night. Meant well, but always better off in your own!

It seemed ok, aside from a square hole rip near the front door, which we could stretch out, re-peg, and use our blue top rack bags as buffers. With 4 more tent pegs we were satisfied it would hold the night.

The foam mattress was good, similar to having an actual bed! Not bad for $30.

We cooked and ate a garlic bread in the hostel kitchen, and then set off over the road for our caving experience! It was very fun. First we got into the wet suits, always a wet disgusting experience; socks on first, followed by long trousered body suit, followed by jacket, helmet and boots that squelched. I was impressed that the lad who was handing out stuff seemed to know my size bang on. I also had a fleece for additional warmth underneath. I know these caves. Chilly! We put all our bits into lockers.

This was the group. We were team yellow.

The next thing to do was get wet. We all got on the little bus and headed to the trail head of the Glowworm track. The entrance to the caves were near by. We got a rubber ring each and followed the tour guides Oli and Jessie to a suspicious looking platform over a shallow stream. Hmm.

One of them demonstrated the correct way to jump; hold the rubber ring behind you and jump backwards into the water to land sat down. We would be doing 2 jumps in the caves over waterfalls so we needed to practice first. But we wouldn’t be doing it off the platform, don’t worry! Phew! Instead we were jumping off a ladder. Fine.

One step above the water line meant ‘I’m here for the worms’, second step up meant ‘I like being adventurous’ and the third step was ‘I’m extreme!’. When it came to my turn I got to a step and Jessie asked, you’re extreme are you, yep, apparently! So off I jumped. It was cold, and thanks to Oli we had the photographic proof.

My face! Next, into the caves. We followed Jessie into the mouth which was a squeeze, and we followed the stream downhill. Right under the ground. Glowworms were everywhere! It was truly magical!

Oli told us a bit about it, I think because it was the end of the day they were very jokey, it made the experience very fun. He told us that the worms were actually maggots of a deadly mosquito and that the bioluminescence was created as part of the digestion of flies. The maggots inject the flies, caught in their webs, and slowly this liquifies the innards of the fly, creating a ‘juicy smoothie’ for the maggots to eat. It apparently takes a few days for the fly to die, thus making it one of the worst ways to die in nature! What we were seeing was glowing poop, quite literally!

The mosquitoes had no mouth therefore no way to be dangerous to humans, and they only lived 3 days. They just about had time to have lots of sex with each other. The females, outliving the males, would then lay millions of eggs before they too died. What an effort! Beautiful though.

It was a lot of fun and the jumps were thrilling. We also floated through the pitch black (‘the game is called, get out of the cave without your head torch’) occasionally bumping into rocks and then we had made it through.

The tour guides had informed us before we set off that the hot water back at the centre wasn’t working. Uh oh! But as compensation the photos ($35 extra normally) would be free. Hurrah!

Well actually when we got back to the centre someone had fixed the water whilst we were out and there would be heat, pressure was a different question though! Mine was great 🙂

We ended the experience with hot tomato soup and buttery toasted bagels (butter! it’s been too long) and free photos too! Great time. Back to the hostel and to see if this tent would stay up for the night..

20th April (78km cycled)

Another big crowd gathered for the timber trail, but we were happy to have a lie in, cocooned in our sleeping bags.

We wished the couple we had met the previous evening luck for the day’s trail ride. They had gravel bikes… they’d be fine.

We cycled for about an hour and a half and got to Mapiu. We pulled up and parked our bikes in the shade of a building which had graffitied sliding glass door. We were just checking if either of us had signal when a man and his daughter approached us. It turned out this was his building and livelihood. He was a carpenter of furniture. His daughter, Vienna (?), who had special needs, but was super cute, gave out lots of hugs, and seemed taken with my bright yellow jacket. Who wouldn’t be. Height of fashion.

Very kindly, the man invited us in for a cuppa, and gave us some apples (they’re in stock along roadsides NZ over) but we didn’t realise boiling the water, chitchat and dragging chairs out to the front to drink the cuppa would take 45mins! Yikes. Time to hit the road!

Half an hour later we stopped. So hungry. We ate wraps on the side of the road, avoiding flies.

We had a couple of hills to get to Te Kuiti where there was a new world. They were steep and straight – I hate that, you can see how much you have still to climb. Andy races up the first, I took my time as always, and then on the second he ‘wanted to keep me company’. Oh aye..

We bought supplies and then set off with the full intention of getting to Waitomo that evening. Trouble was, we were shattered!

We cycled along highway 3 to Waitomo. What a shitshow. We had only been on it for 5 mins when a woman beeped us, exclaiming and jesticulating for us to get in the hard shoulder (but lady, there is no shoulder..) with a phone in her hand. Ok. Whatever bitch.

The busy road was only short lived, we turned off onto the road to Waitomo and passed a campsite. It was cheap, looked fun and quirky. Why not. Let’s call it a day!

We met a Vietnamese family with a cute son, who wanted to play with everything in sight. They made some amazing food, smelled good anyway!

Lydia from Raetihi walked in! She had been dropped here by a car, as you do. Fun evening exchanging the last week or so’s stories.

18th and 19th April (82km cycled)

Day 1

The stags were making awesome roaring sounds last night. It echoed up the valley, and was really spooky. The temperature was a little milder here, so we were cold but not freezing!

Woke up at 7am to the fog, had to get ready for 8.30am for the bus. Loads of people started to arrive to get on the shuttle.

The bus took about an hour (a trip that was going to take 2 days in our future). The driver, Paul, told us all about the ride and the area. Apparently Ongarue was once upon a time quite a booming little town with a cinema, shops, and golf course. When the logging mill closed everyone moved away. They moved their houses too!

We arrived in Pureora and started the ride uphill through the virgin native forest, beautiful.

There was a hike on the trail that took us all the way to the summit, which of course we did. It was about an hour and a half return, stunning views. We could see all the major landmarks of the North Island!

It was beautiful and worth the hike uphill! The way down was tough, I had only just gotten over the Tongariro crossing downhill adventure, oooh the knees!

The next cycling trail section was uphill again, again through forest. Paul said that some was being cleared, and we saw the devastation too. So tragic.

Andy smiling there because we didn’t have our pannier bags, we had left them on the bus and they would meet us at the Piropiro campground, half way along. Such luxury! To be honest I didn’t think there was much difference, the bike still bounced about going downhill, it just made it slightly easier on the gravel sections not to have a heavy back end.

Lots of swing bridges on this trail which were fun to cross by bike. Would have been more scary to get off and walk I am sure!

What’s that post doing? In the way… bloody posts.

We stopped in Piropiro, the sun was nearly down.. we had to attempt to dry our tent in the diminishing sunshine, which didn’t really work, then we hastily put it up where we thought the sun would be rising next day.

A lady (I don’t remember her name. Let’s call her L) came over to us as we were contemplating washing up at the one tap in the site (at these free campgrounds we often just wipe pots and pans and plates down with a cloth, and it’s ok, not mega clean, but not died of food poisoning yet!!) and offered us a hot drink and a sit by the fire. We said that we would be over soon.

We did the washing up, and then wandered over to warm up by the fire. There were 5 in the family and they were so hospitable, welcoming us to take a seat, and they got the kettle on. L and her husband were Dutch but living in NZ for 20+ years, and they had 3 children who were Kiwi. Dylan, Helen and someone else… Ben? such a bad memory. They were very chatty though, all under the age of 13 too. We had a merry time with cups of tea and snuggling by the fire. They offered us some garlic bread cooked over the fire, and roasted marshmallows. We also tried the Feijoa fruit, very tasty, small fruit with a hard green skin (like a lime size) and a white flesh, but like a peach texture and seeds in a jelly like a passion fruit. Almost. It was tasty!

I cheekily asked whether they might have a spare blanket, as the weather forecasted a chilly 1 deg c overnight! The lady came back with a blanket, a picnic blanket and a hat! Amazing! Thank you L, much appreciated.

Day 2

The additional blankets were brilliant and we slept soundly. We returned our warm things back to the Dutch family and L and Dylan (maybe) said they were going to do the cycle to the big bridge. So we said we would meet them there!

The first few kilometres followed a path through the forest again. The path is tricky as there are lots of pot holes and roots and rocks, which if you are going fast, are easy to miss, especially with my eyesight. The glasses I have are transition and don’t change quickly enough for the dappled light and strong contrast. I spent a good portion of the day off the saddle. Though that also gets tiring after a while and my wrists and arms were bearing the brunt. The path should even out soon, surely..

Not to be.

We made it to the biggest swing bridge on the trail. It was 141m long and all hand built, parts and wood were helicoptered in and an English man built it.

We had lunch with a nice view of the land. We had climbed up a fair way.

The rest of the trail was as difficult. Downhill does not equal easy. We were going pretty slowly to make sure we didn’t get bounced off!

There was a tunnel that spiralled downhill, that was fun. Apparently it was the way the logging carts went on the railway, to drop down in height. Fair enough!

We got back to Ongarue at around 2.30 ish, and retrieved our bags from the shuttle. We were accosted by a group of lads, who we had seen on the trail. One of them had shouted something about ‘you’ve got to go faster if you want to be back before dark’ which slightly irked us because of the lack of suspension, we were going as fast as we could!! We were happy to see that we had actually beaten them to the finish line, so ha!

They offered us a beer (which turned out not to be a beer but a cola and bourbon alcopop thing – very sweet and strong – works I suppose) and they joined us on the grass. They were smashed. Hilarious kiwi banter ensued and it was quite nice to sit back and listen to their chatter.

You want some chicken bro? There’s a box of chicken under that car bro. I’m going to get the chicken. No bro, I’m going to do it. Oh look bro, it’s just chips. Does anyone want a chip. Nah bro, they are disgusting. But free food bro!

Lol.

We felt every bit 30 (ok just me) when they told us their age – so so young at 17, 21 and 24. They all worked in a bike/car repair shop and the oldest was ‘the boss’.

They were going to drink and drive! Good lord. The youngest had already had his license taken away.. and that folks, is what driving in NZ is like on a holiday. Glad we were missing out.

A Dutch architect and her Kiwi partner doing the trail the next day joined us in the cabin and we chatted about all sorts; drink driving in NZ, deforestation and farming (cannot get the constant reminder of it out of my system apparently), the wonders of the country and the fun of travelling and meeting new people.

It was a really lovely afternoon, after my arse had regained feeling 😉

17th April (68km cycled)

Today was going to be mostly downhill, 900m of decent and only a snappy 300m back up again! We set off just after 10am after allowing the tent to defrost. We had borrowed a blanket from the lodge last night and were as snug as two bugs can be. Huge improvement!

By midday we were already in Taumarunui, a quick 40km ticked off the clock, only stopping for a muesli bar at a lookout to see the rolling farmland.

We ate our lunch at a picnic area, where a sign told us that the Maori king who lived there, King Tawhiao, had gone to England to visit the Queen and try to reclaim back the Maori land. Bloody English. It didn’t say if he had succeeded, but there are lots of Maori towns so maybe he did!

We felt pretty chilled out about the next section of our journey that would only take an hour or so, so we went to a cafe and had a coffee. Lots of odd characters in Taumarunui. A truck driver came to sit next to us, and we chatted briefly about trails and mountain biking. He didn’t recommend us cycling on the highways, and said, yeah when I learnt to drive we learnt to keep left and go fast! We didn’t bother arguing with this philosophy but it made us realise that all kiwi truckers are nut jobs.

He did recommend the timber trail to us and he was the 3rd or 4th person to do so. We were tempted! And the weather would be nice and sunny and dry so we decided to work it in. Our dilemma was that if we did it south to north we would be in the middle of Waitomo and Rotorua, both of which we wanted to go to, tricky.

This meant another trip to New World. (Third time of the day…) We now needed to buy a full 3 days worth of food because where we were going would not have any shops or restaurants. It was completely off road.

We cycled the hilly, quiet way to Ongarue. This was the end of the timber trail. We had decided to get a shuttle to the start (in Pureora) tomorrow morning. It was a free campsite with a wooden hut for cooking in, and a not too smelly drop toilet. It was situated in a valley, where there were lots of deer and stags in the woodland and fields surrounding.

It was pretty chilly so we went to bed nice and early after cooking in the dark, ready for the bus.