Settling into the journey

Since our last update we have made it to Waiotapu, a stones throw from Taupo and 1,453km into our 7,500km journey around Aotearoa. We are hanging out for our next scheduled rest day which is 1 ride and 80km away. Our unsettling (of the stomach variety) delay in Whangarei has messed up our breaks and we will have been pedaling for 11 days when we finally limp into Awakeri Springs near Whakatāne.

It has been an enjoyable 10 days riding despite our first bit of rain as we left Whangarei. Virtually all on quiet roads or trails with a few short exceptions which do have the tendency to spoil an otherwise good day. We had to bike 10km along SH29 on Thursday which seems to be a main drag between Port of Tauranga and Hamiton. Lots of big rigs blasting past us. The RA came into her own. She was the tandems virtual ‘crows nest’ yelling out the equivalent of “land ahoy” with “truck coming”. We would stop and brace to avoid getting sucked off the bike.

After leaving Whangarei we headed out through lovely Maungatapere. Despite the rain we enjoyed a part of Northland that we rarely travel through. Being unfamiliar territory with lots of road changes the GOTF started to feel like he was riding around in circles and at one stage even pulled out a compass. The Rear Admiral was ready to deliver a dishonorable discharge to the Goat on the Front. In the end we decided to put our trust in technology and followed the thin blue line on the Komoot Map. That worked.

However, on two occasions we discovered the limitations of our trusty navigation app. Road closures. The first was heading along the back roads between Mangawhai and Pakiri. Our carefully planned route suddenly turned to custard when the RA said turn right at the next road. The problem was that there was a sign ‘No Through Route”. So the GOTF started to frantically study the map for an ‘RA friendly’ alternative (it has to be no longer than the planned one). Things were looking rather dark when a ute went past in a cloud of dust. It skidded to a halt and reversed up the road. The lady driver jumped out and came over. She had seen us having a coffee in Mangawhai, so stopped to see if we were having a problem. Thank goodness she did, she told us that the road had slipped away in cyclone Gabriel but there was room for a bike. We had a similar experience on the back roads between Orewa and Auckland but just rerouted as the alternative didn’t add too many extra kilometers to the journey.

The tandem has been a real draw card during the ride. On that first day out of Whangarei we got covered in mud on the wet gravel roads but we met Michael who was looking for his rescued Greyhound that had bolted from their farm. We had not seen the greyhound but got talking to him about our adventure. He rustled around in his pocket and found $5 and gave it to us. Then he said, “hang on” and rushed over to his vehicle and came back with a tin of change to add to his donation. Alas we did not see the dog as we rode on. At Clevedon the RA got talking to another traveler and found that he had ancestors that also were part of the early 19th century Russell community. They had set up and operated the whaling station at Whangamumu.

The RA in action at The Pink Shop in Kaiaua

We had experienced a very smoky journey down the Seabird Coast. It was a very pleasant ride and we had planned to have lunch at the Pink Shop in Kaiaua. It was a busy spot and we did not think we were going to get away. Our planned 30 minute stop turned into nearly 2 hours but we met a host of different and interesting people. It was a lot of fun and these stops give us a real buzz.

Our airbnb hosts Tony and Bev at Red Door, Kopu, really went out of their way for us. We had experienced a rather unpleasant 22km section of the Hauraki Rail Trail. They were rebuilding the stop banks where the original trail ran and had put a “temporary” narrow replacement in. The person responsible for the job had obviously never ridden a bike on trails or had received the deal of the century from the local quarry. The track had very coarse, uncompacted metal on it which made for a very challenging ride. Then their signage was out of date and we discovered that another section was closed, but only after we had biked to the area they were working on. The RA was ready to unleash some surface to surface missiles at the diggers. Anyway, I digress, the airbnb was very comfy and stocked with quite a few goodies. They cleaned the thick dust off our gear and we put the tandem securely to bed in their garage. Great stuff.

Our journey on through the Thames Valley was pleasant and more importantly for the RA, FLAT. At Matamata we rolled into a cafe, selected because it had a good bike bar. As we were unpacking we started talking to Alan who was sitting at a nearby table. He asked us what we were up to and when we told him, he insisted that he buy lunch for us. That gave us a buzz.

Our overnight at lake Karapiro turned out to be a bonus for both the RA and Bob. The hosts two children, Juno (5) and Kedis (8) were very enthusiastic and keen to tell us about their success at the school calf club day. For the RA, this immediately brought back memories of her own calf club days in Reparoa, not far from where we are today. We joined the kids while they fed their calves, ‘snowflake’ and ‘Thunder’. They also had a very enthusiastic Black Shepherd pup called ‘Neptune’ which was keen to get into our room and test his teeth on anything that was available. The big bonus for Bob was that Robyn and Ben operated a honey company and Robyn generously donated a jar of their Kanuka Honey. It got the thumbs up from all three of us. Check out their range at blackshepherdapiaries.co.nz

After a night at Whakamaru we have turned east as we cut across to the east coast at Whakatāne for our ride out to East Cape. Today’s ride through to Waiotapu delivered our highest climbs of the entire journey with the highest hill topping out at around 600m. The weather forecast had been bleak but the threatened heavy rain held off. We got one good drenching but we soon dry as we air dried on one of the many descents.

Our donations were going great but our last few rides we have barely seen a person. Today, we rode for around 50km with hardly seeing a car. Great for riding but not so good for spreading the word. If you would like to donate to The Bald Angels please visit the give-a-little page