Thursday January 30, 2014

We knew today was going to be a long day both cycling and time taken.  We wanted to see the giant catamaran and have a wander around Foxton as it has some nice older buildings and history.

The catamaran was built in Palmerston North and they transported it to Foxton Beach to be launched for two reasons.  The first reason was that it is the closest point to Palmerston North and the second was that Foxton will have a “King Tide” on Saturday so this monster will actually be able to get out to sea.  Today there was going to be a high tide at 11:00 am and that is when they would put it in the water.  We were not going to stay to watch that, but it was interesting to see the cranes get ready to lift it.  I had visions of a Titanic type launch, but no – they were using cranes to plop it in the water.

This event was obviously of interest to a lot of people in the Town and surrounding area.  At 8:00 there were already over 25 people sitting around.

After a little wander around Foxton we started the long ride at 9:30 am.  Right from the get go we had a steady side-wind, we decided to do the 10 minute switch from the start.  It really helps, to have that 10 minute break behind Ralf before I am fighting against the wind again.  Actually because it wasn’t a head wind it wasn’t too bad to cycle against.

We stopped at the Town of Bulls for lunch.  Think of a pun with Bull in it and it was used in this Town. Consta-bull for the police station, Live-a-bull for a Real Estate office, Bank-a-bull for the bank.  It was very funny.

The scenery today was rural with a few hills thrown in at the end.  All the hills were very manageable, although the wind did pick up towards the end of the day which made them a little challenging, but nothing two fit mid-fifty year olds couldn’t manage.  We have definitely got fitter and leaner since being in New Zealand and cycling over 2,500 kms helps as well.

We both felt good after cycling 97 kms. I was going to suggest adding a few more ks around the block, just so that we could say we have done a metric century, but I was hungry and looking forward to a big bowl of pasta and a glass of wine.

Tomorrow we have decided on a shorter day approximately 61ks. The approximation is due to the fact that you are never exactly sure where the camp site is going to be located.  Sometimes it is in the Town and other times it can be 3-4kms outside of the Town like the one we are staying in tonight.  There was one closer to the Town behind a pub, but the lady at the iSite didn’t recommend it.  So here we are at a “Top Ten” 5 kms out of Town, right on the River Whanganui, the longest navigable waterway in New Zealand.