The Angel Tandem – Adventures on the wrong side of 60

Life's little detours

Posted on 25/09/201729/09/2017 by Cliff & Ruth Mail

Is this the trains and toilet trail?

With warm and calm conditions prevailing this morning, I convinced Ruth that we should ‘throw’ (well lift slowly in my case) the bikes onto the car roof and head off for a few hours cycling along the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

We had recently completed the West Coast end of the trail so why not make the most of the good weather and bike the East Coast end from Opua to Kawakawa and return.

Ruth led the peloton out of Opua at a blistering pace and before we could break a sweat we were sitting in downtown Kawakawa enjoying a leisurely lunch.

For the first half of the the trail hugs the tidal Kawakawa river. The mangroves along this stretch of harbour seem to think that they are Kauri trees.

fullsizeoutput_5637 — The tide was in and the scene was very relaxing

fullsizeoutput_5636 — Don’t forget to remove the sunglasses BEFORE entering the tunnel – we are both speaking from experience.

fullsizeoutput_5634 — ‘Gabriel’ must have been having a day off – no sign of him anywhere

fullsizeoutput_5629 — But ‘Timmy’ was out on the tracks – he had carried out lot’s of gear to allow the men to fix up the railway line – we rode on in anticipation of seeing Thomas The Tank Engine.

fullsizeoutput_5639 — This had to be art and not an unusual public toilet.

fullsizeoutput_5632 — Gabriel and Timmy get to chug down the main street in Kawakawa which also happens to be State Highway 1 here in NZ

fullsizeoutput_5630 — The Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed public toilet in Kawakawa. Quite a bit of the architecture in Kawakawa is inspired by this ex pat Austrian (see later picture).

CLIF0994 — Even if you don’t need to use the facility it is well worth pretending just to see what has to be one of the more unique public toilets in the World.

fullsizeoutput_5631 — Even a store full of Hunderwasser merchandise

CLIF0997 — On our return we had to reduce speed as we made our way across the Kawakawa river. The bridge is being strengthened so that Gabriel and Timmy can chug all the way to Opua – just like their ancestors did in the days when Kawakawa was a coal mining town and Opua was a working port.

4 comments

simpletravelourway says:

25/09/2017 at 9:00 PM

Love that public toilet! Wish all public facilities could hire artists and craftspeople – as well as architects – to elevate even the simplest buildings to works of art.

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Cliff & Ruth Mail says:

25/09/2017 at 9:23 PM

Yes wouldn’t that be great, most seem to be an after after thought

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Désirée says:

27/09/2017 at 2:28 PM

Brilliant! Thanks for getting in touch with us Cliff, and for giving us the link to your blog. I’ll spend the rest of the day reading all of it.
Desiree, http://dizzysfoldingbike.blogspot.co.nz/

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1. Cliff & Ruth Mail says:
  
  27/09/2017 at 6:12 PM
  
  That sounds like water torture. Thanks for your feedback.
  
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  Reply

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