Tuesday December 31, 2013

What a spectacular morning at The Summit.  It was a very windy night but we were snug as a bug under our duvets.  We got up had a quick cold wash and had breakfast of peanut butter, banana and pita washed down with a nice hot cup of coffee.  After some photographs we headed down the easy side.

 It was very easy, gently sloping we rode all the way down.  Ralf took some photos of the information boards. The scenery took my breath away, it is beautiful.

It is a really interesting ride, with lots of information boards.

Blocking the Tunnel and the Concrete Block Tunnel

We followed the Lower River Hutt Trail into Upper Hutt, went to the iSite and booked our ferry to the South Island.  We also decided to stay in Lower Hutt tonight and have a short ride tomorrow to the ferry.  Tomorrow night we will be in Picton and then head south towards Christchurch.  It should take us about 3-4 days to get there, as we definitely have our cycling legs back and can easily do 70 to 80 kms a day.

Monday December 30, 2013

The Rimutake Rail Trail keeps you off of SH2 going through the Rimutake Mountain Range.  Although it is 8km longer it is actually 100 metres less elevation to climb.  Ralf really wanted to do it, I didn’t.  I knew it was going to be challenging with the loaded touring bikes but … we did it.  I kept asking people if it was doable on loaded touring bikes.  Yes they said but it is easier from the other side!!

We got to Featherston in time to see the 11:00 train leaving for Wellington – the trains are running.

We had a good lunch in Featherston and then cycled to Cross Creek the start of the Rail Trail.  The road to the start was very gravelly and I thought “Here we go”!! When we got to the entrance gate we couldn’t get our loaded bikes through.  An omen!!  A couple of South Africans carried mine up and over the gate and invited us to their place this evening if we wanted to carry on to Upper Hutt.  I knew Ralf also wanted to camp overnight at the Summit.

However as we got into the trail it was absolutely beautiful.

Another reminder for me: “Never let my fears stop me from doing something”.

It was a tough trail for loaded touring bikes but we took it steadily and got to the Summit (354 metres) which has a 1 in 15 slope most of the way.  All the way up the trail there were information boards telling us what the incline was, how the ‘little trains’ got up here, how many men died building the tunnels, how many slips there were and at the Summit how many people lived up here.

We met several groups of people (all on Mountain Bikes), it is a great trail for mountain biking.

We could have easily made it down the other side and to Upper Hutt but it is a beautiful spot, so I decided that it would be nice to stay the night.  Again there are public washrooms and we are permitted to camp.

So here we are, we have eaten a wonderful one-pot meal of pasta and tuna, with pita bread – very gourmet.  Unfortunately no wine to wash it down with we had a cup of tea instead.  It is now 7:45 pm.  I am finishing this blog and then we will have an early night.

We will wake up at first light and cycle down to Upper Hutt for a second breakfast.  Kosie (the South African) has invited us to stay a couple of days at his house if we want to while we get our ferry bookings for the South Island sorted out.  We might take him up on it.  He said coming from South Africa you don’t trust anyone.  When he came to New Zealand he wanted to make a change he wanted to trust in the innate goodness of people so, he often invites people back to his house and is a host on couch-surfers.

Sunday December 29, 2013

A relatively short ride today ending at our first warm-showers host in Masterton.  Warm-showers is an organization for touring cyclists.  You sign up to host touring cyclists coming through your Town and then when you are on the road you can utilize other hosts.  We hosted 4 couples this past summer and it was a lot of fun.

The weather did not look promising, forecast for rain.  It threatened it a couple of times but we managed to stay dry until Masterton.  We were making really good time, with a nice behind wind when Ralf shouts that he had a flat tire.  It took us a while to get it fixed, it has been a while since we needed to do it.  Actually Ralf got a flat on GOBA last year and I fixed it.  We found the nail that had punctured the inner-tube and we will fix the tube for an extra spare.  We will also buy a new tube tomorrow at the bike store in Town.  Everything except the coffee shops and supermarkets are closed today.

I was really looking forward to meeting George Evans as his ‘feedback’ on warmshowers was really encouraging and I thought we would have a great evening with him.  Unfortunately George is at his “batch” (cottage) near Rotorua and is not here.  So how come we are staying at his house.  The amazing kindness of New Zealand people.  I had emailed him, he contacted his neighbour and she let us into the house.  We have had a great shower, catching up on the washing and the neighbours Rodie and Arthur have invited us over for dinner.  We had a wonderful evening with them.  People are so kind and generous here.  Even on our windy, cold, wet, hilly day a farmer asked us in for a cup of tea.  Although we would have loved to have taken him up on his offer we knew we still had about 30 ks to go and didn’t want to have to warm up cold muscles again.  We did stop for a quick chat – the farmer was an accountant turned farmer – Wingfield Farms?

Saturday December 28, 2013

What a difference a day makes.  The day started of with a little cloud cover but not cold.  I did put my windbreaker on just to be on the safe side, but soon took it off.  The first 30ks were flat with a couple of small bumps and we motored, it was great.

We got to the Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka and stopped to chat to a couple in a 1989 Red Corvette (right-handside drive).  I indicated that I didn’t know Corvette made right-hand side drive vehicles. No they don’t this guy had converted it.  Really nice couple who gave us their address and invited us to stay with them if we are going through Cambridge on the way back up the north Island.

We carried on to Pahiatua and stopped for an early lunch.  Lovely sandwich and a cup of tea.  After that I got a little bored with the straight, flat road – no pleasing me is there?  We arrived in Eketahuna at a little after 1:00pm.  Found the campsite which is owned by the Council and managed by a very nice couple.  $12.00 for the night and all the facilities we need, hot showers, a clean well equipped kitchen and a flat area to park the tent. Once we had got set up we took a walk into Town, along the Cliff.

I think there were some Hobbits hiding along the trail.

I needed to get connected to the internet so that I could contact our warm showers host for tomorrow night in Masterton.  He is away, but we can meet his neighbor who will give us the key to the house.  Have you heard anything like that in your life.  We have also exchanged cards with another camper Desarae who has invited us to stay when we are coming up the west coast on our way back to Auckland.

Our plan was to take the train from Masterton into Wellington and then get the ferry over to the South Island.  We need to book the ferry, but first we need to know when we will be in Wellington.  The train is not running from Masterton, due to track repairs.  They are putting on buses instead and bicycles are not allowed.  The Rimutaka Hill is a steep narrow road and is not recommended, although touring cyclists do it.  So we have a couple of choices, cycle to Featherstone and see if the train is running, cycle over the Rimutaka or cycle the Rimutaki Rail Trail, the old mountain railway and includes tunnels, bridges, cuttings and embankments.  We will know tomorrow what we are going to do.

Friday December 27, 2013

Cold,

Wet,

Windy

and hilly.

The scenic route again.

Tonight we are staying in a Motel in Dannevirke, because it was such a tough day due to the weather, we decided we need to warm up in a nice motel room.

Dannevirke is a  Town that was settled by Scandinavians in the 1800’s.

Thursday December 26, 2013

This would have been a perfect route today (if we had been going the other way).  The wind would have been at our back as it was it was a headwind, side wind but definitely not a behind wind (tail wind).  The first 30 kms was relatively flat and through a mix of agricultural lands (wineries, fruit orchards, cattle and sheep farms.  Not sure why they needed to put a giant wire sheep on top of a hill.  The next 30 kms was rolling hills and not a car to be seen.  I think we saw maybe a dozen cars on this road, it was a perfect route.

It was so perfect for cyclists that we saw over 100 cyclists, honest I am not exaggerating.  The first 2 came by us and we waved then we turned the corner and the first peloton came by with about 25 riders, then a couple of stragglers, then the next big peloton with another 30-40 riders and then the dribs and drabs following a couple here, a couple there, another smaller group of 15-20 riders and then the last few stragglers.  How I would have hated to be in that last few.

I think there must have been a couple of cycle groups joined together for a large team Boxing Day Ride.  Ralf and I looked on enviously as they had the wind behind them and were on skinny tires, and very light bikes and were moving fast.

The last few kilometres we were on State Highway 2, it is a very busy road, but it still had a good shoulder.  At one point coming into Waipukurau the road narrowed and had no shoulder but the municipality very kindly built a 2km concrete cycle path for us.  Thank you New Zealand.

Tonight we are staying in a lovely little camp site.  It has great kitchen facilities, all equipment provided and lovely hot showers.  It is also the cheapest place we have stayed at $30.00.

Wednesday December 25, 2013

Once again Merry Christmas to everyone.  Today we had a nice relaxing morning.  At about 2 o’clock we decided to ride into Napier (about 8.6 kms if you take the direct route!) and have a look at all the Art Deco buildings.

I had washed all my cycle clothes so cycled for the first time in a skirt, very interesting.  The other very strange thing is riding a bike without panniers.  We have got used to having weight on the bike, that when it is not there the front of the bike seems to have a mind of its own for a couple of blocks.

It was the perfect time to wander around downtown Napier, as most other people are at home having Christmas Dinner.  Ralf got some really good photos.  We spent about 2 hours wandering around the area and then cycled back to the hotel.  Napier had a massive earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt all of its downtown buildings in Art Deco Style.  It has retained the style to this day, but I do wish they had a better Sign By-law, some of the signs on the awnings really should be in-keeping with the Art Deco Style.  Jim, I think it needs a Community Improvement Plan and grant.

Today is Christmas Day.  It will be a relaxing day.  We had a cooked breakfast, and have done some washing and tidied our bags.  I will give my bicycle a little clean later – I am having a problem with my lower gears.  A good clean should do it.

We will have Christmas dinner in our hotel room – with a nice bottle of New Zealand wine to go with it.

This evening we will hopefully be able to contact family and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, even though ours will almost be over.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Tuesday December 24, 2013

Today we woke up early as we knew we had a couple of big hills to climb.  It was cold and very windy when we got up.  We even struggled to get the tent down, without it blowing away!

We started at 7:15.  Our first major climb was at 10 kms and yes I had to walk part of it.  The second major climb was at 22 kms and I was really struggling when our first “road angel” showed up.  I was walking once again, Ralf was ahead and still cycling.  A farmer called Joe stopped in front of me and asked if I needed a ride to the top.  I didn’t hesitate.  He put my bike in his trailer and off we went as we came up behind Ralf he joked and said “He seems to be doing o.k. shall we wave”  As we passed I stuck my head out the window and asked if he needed a lift.  It threw of his whole momentum so we stopped and put his bike on the trailer as well and off we went to the top of this hill.  I can drop you of at Taraweka Road if you like, that is where I am turning of to pick up some piglets.  I know we should have let him let us off at the top of the hill, but we didn’t, we carried on to Taraweka Road cutting out another couple of hills and about 17 kms.  Then it literally was downhill all the way to Napier.

We stopped at a small café with a South African theme for lunch.  We were given advice on the best route to take into Napier.  A 10.5 km cycle path along the beach all the way into Napier.

When we go to Napier we had to find our hotel.  We had booked into the Best Western for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it wasn’t in Napier it was in a suburb of Napier called Taradale 10 ks outside of Napier.  It is a nice hotel and it will be nice to have a couple of days to regroup.  We will call home for Christmas and then we will start again on Boxing Day.

We are now heading to Wellington, should be there in about 5 or 6 days.  We met a really nice couple (Emily and James) yesterday who live in Wellington (originally from Canada) and have offered us a place to stay when we get to Wellington.  How nice is that.

Monday December 23, 2013

This morning it was cool.  We had to put our windbreakers on.  About 15 kms into the ride I had to stop and put my socks on, my feet were so cold.  Today\’s ride consisted of 5 kms of a 200 metre climb, followed by about 15 kms of relatively flat, then 40 kms of undulating hills.  As the route became hillier, it became more scenic.  Although seeing some of the clear cutting of the hills, it does make you wonder what is happening to this land.

We knew we weren’t going to make it all the way to Napier in one day (142Kms and hills) so we had to find a campsite half-way between the 2 Cities.

The route was along State Highway 5 (a two-lane road with a posted speed limit of 100kph) again the cars and trucks travel at high speed and today have not given us much room.  This waterfall was up a 400 metre paved road from a scenic look-out.  You couldn’t see it from the road.

When we got to Tarawera we were told about some hot springs.  An older couple said it would be good for the muscles and a younger couple told us how to find them.  They were going to them.  Once we had set up camp and had lunch we decided to follow their advice and walk to the hot springs.  The first gate we went through said that the hot springs were closed and not to be used.  We carried on following the route that the younger couple had taken.  About 5 mins from the hot springs we met up with the couple they were just coming back.  “Be careful on the path, it’s a bit narrow and you could plunge to your death, but you look as though you are sensible enough.  The pool is about 3 more minutes”.  We carried on and there it was a concrete tub with a rubber hose bringing hot water into it.  It was hot, it took me a few minutes to become accustomed to it but it was lovely a real natural hot spring.

Ralf and I laughed about how we follow perfect strangers instructions and go off into wilderness to find a natural hot spring without a care in the world.  What a difference already.

This is our first taste of freedom camping.  We said we weren’t going to do any but there was nothing between Taupo and Napier apart from this ‘site’.  There wasn’t any organized camp-sites so we are staying by the side of a café with public toilets.  It’s free!!  New Zealand generally does not approve of wild camping.  However, they do allow self-contained campers to park up and stay overnight.  However tents are only allowed if there is a public toilet available.

I think there is a difference between freedom camping which is semi-organized and wild camping which means you find a spot in a wood or field and set up your tent.