Hi di hi blog followers, it's been a while since we posted a blog I know but don't worry, we are still here! In fact it's been such a long while that we're going to try and post two but I can't make any promises, we are often foiled by bad connections, library's closing, Gareth spending the entire alloted internet time downloading Diablo 2 because he thinks i'll definitely like it, all you can eat chinese buffets opening down the road etc etc.
As Gareth is still trying to download Diablo 2 I will be your host for this blog. Gareth may join us later but somehow I think that's pretty doubtful as he is also half way through a game of Civ so he's a pretty busy boy.
22nd Nov
Alice:
We set off from Ahipara in fine spirits thinking that we’d cleverly chosen the flatter route between there and Rawene. When the hills started after about 10km we thought they wouldn’t last and even had a little laugh about it, little did we know that there were only bigger and longer hills to come! We just pushed on though, through Herekino where we were chased by a staffy, luckily a fat staffy that gave up the chase after a while! The hills culminated at Broadwood where we were chased by another dog, a Jack Russell this time. It nearly caught us, I had my foot out ready to kick it in the head but it didn’t make a charge at the bike.
We’d hoped to get some food in Broadwood but the shops were shut as it was a Sunday so we had to make do with muesli bars and dates. Got chatting to a friendly biker gang who didn’t look all that friendly but luckily appearances can be deceptive.
From Broadwood it was a very refreshing long downhill almost all the way to Kohukohu where we were due to get the ferry. The weather, which had been bad from the beginning, had taken a turn for the worse and we got our first taste of the New Zealand wind everyone had been warning us about. We went round a corner and the wind was so strong it blew our chain off. Gareth had to get down and fix it and in doing so, lost pair of sunglasses number 2. Good job we hadn’t spent as much on that pair as the last pair. Sorry Biglob, you can stop reading now if you like.
The weather was really miserable as we got onto the ferry so we wrapped up warm for the ride, it only cost $2 each over to Rawene which is pretty good. In Rawene we met the friendly biker gang again who were pretty impressed with our progress and I went into the local 4 square to get food while Gareth chatted to them.
Kohukohu
Arriving Rawene
We’d cooled down on the ferry and were pretty tired so we pushed the bike up the steep hill to the campsite, with a little stop on the way for a steak and cheese pie.
The campsite had amazing views over the Hokianga harbour but we couldn’t see them through the grey cloud, in fact, the whole ride would have had pretty amazing views but we couldn’t see any of them either which is a bit disappointing.
We were both pretty tired after such a long day of miserable weather but we cheered ourselves up with cake and jam and tucked ourselves up in bed.
23rd Nov
Today was a rest day, we tried to get on skype in the morning but the internet was rubbish so we did laundry instead. Almost as entertaining! After more cake and jam we tried to head into the village to buy food but were captured by an old woman in one of the cabins and ended up being invited in and her talking at us for quite a long time.
Eventually we escaped and bought a mega dinner of pie, chips and beans at the 4 square shop to cook later and went for a coffee at a lovely café on the harbour front. Gareth was a little resistant to this idea at first but as you can see he soon cheered up. Notice how he doesn't have a drink though because he was having a cash saving day. Which is the opposite day to when he see's an all you can eat buffet, more on that in the next blog.
We met a few people in the camp kitchen that evening, some more UK cyclists from Warrington who’d just done the ride we were due to do the next day and it turns out tell very good lies about hills not being too bad. And some other lovely people who we had a good chat to.
Gareth was so excited about all the company that he hurried back form his shower and left the shower gel and shampoo in the cubicle, they promptly went missing. So that’s items number three and four lost in probably just over 24hrs, good work Gareth.
After a huge and very filling dinner followed by more cake and jam we said goodnight to all our new friends and headed to bed.
24th Nov
Today was our biggest day of cycling so far and all in more miserable weather. We knew it was going to be a big one so we split the 80 km’s into four 20km chunks to make it more manageable. The first stop was Opononi, which again would have been a very beautiful place if we could have seen it! Gareth went into the shop to buy more shampoo and shower gel and we continued on our way.
There were two huge hills out of Omapere, one of which was very steep and we had to push which doesn’t happen that often now a days! Then, just after Waimamaku the real hills started! We had a 6km climb up to 387m which took us a while but we pedalled the whole way with a few stops. The road took us through the Waipoua forest and at the top of the hill is Tane Mahuta, or lord of the forest, the biggest Kauri tree in New Zealand. Lots of tour buses had been going past us on the hill to go and see the tree and when we pulled up a lot of the people on them clapped us and came over for a chat! We felt like we’d won a race!
After a few jam sandwiches, a hot chocolate from the van and a look at the tree we set off again on the 7km descent to the Waipoua forest HQ. It felt like we were going downhill forever which was nice as it wasn’t too steep but unfortunately what goes down must go up again and we started the next 5k climb up to around 350m.
Much needed hot chocolate and Jam sandwich
Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest)
By this time we were both pretty tired and if this second hill had just gone up and then down again it might have been ok but it didn’t, it went up and up and up then down and up and down and up and down and up and up and down and… (you get the picture?). At one point the fog got so dense we couldn’t see around us and we were wet and cold and I had to have a little cry but Gareth gave me a big hug and some words of encouragement and half a muesli bar and we carried on.
After what seemed like a very long time we came down the other side and turned off on the road to the campsite at Kaihu, which was to our horror, pretty hilly! It was, however, a beautiful site and the sun began to shine as soon as we pulled up so our spirits were lifted. After a shower and a big dinner we settled in for a night of TV in the lounge, I made a cat friend and all was good in the world again.
25th Nov
We awoke to more sunshine and after a big bowl of porridge and a big cup of tea, set off on the road to Dargaville. It was pretty flat so even though our legs were tired after the day before we managed a pretty good average speed of 22km/h. We only had to go 44km and stopped after 20km for a little snack and a drink.
Shortly after setting off again though we heard that all too familiar hissing noise which means trouble! We had another puncture, the front tire this time. Luckily we always seem to break down in good weather because if it had happened the day before I think I would have packed the whole thing in there and then!
At first we thought the inner had burst because we’d hit a pot hole and set about changing the tube and re fitting the tyre to the bike. After attempting to blow it up though we realised that the tyre itself had worn through and there was a hole through which the inner was popping out like a hernia. This meant that we couldn’t continue cycling and would have to push the bike the remaining 12km to Dargaville. Unfortunately the bike didn’t come fitted with very good tyres and while we’d had a pretty solid one fitted in Whangarei on the back wheel we hadn’t changed the one on the front. We can’t carry spare tyres around with us though and even if we had noticed it was wearing thin there wouldn’t have been anywhere we could have bought a new one (bike shops few and far between in Northland) so there was nothing we could have done to prevent this second breakdown.
But, this is New Zealand, the land of the friendly truck driver so naturally we were only walking for about 5 minutes before Bruce pulled over in his yute and asked us if we needed a lift into town. We gratefully accepted his offer, loaded the bike on board and piled into the front. He dropped us off right outside a garage that also sold bike parts and the men there sold us a new tyre which they also fitted free of charge and we said our thank yous and goodbyes to everyone who’d helped and pedalled off to the campsite.
After pitching and showering we went to the supermarket and having got a bit excited in the bakery section because everything was on discount, left with 3 strudels, 6 fruit scones and an apricot pie. Plus dinner of course!
Ate well, bed.
26th Nov
Today was a library day as there was free internet so not much to report other than we organised our transport from Matakohe (about 50km down the road) to Hamilton. We tried the larger coach companies (intercity and nakedbus) but they were pretty unhelpful (especially intercity). Basically you can buy a ‘fully re fundable’ ticket but if too many people turn up to travel with too much luggage and your bike wont fit on then you can’t travel and you don’t get a refund because you haven’t cancelled 2 hours prior to the journey. They could also only pick us up from Whangarei or Brynderwyn, which were pretty hard to get to from where we were.
So after a scone or two in the park and a bit of a re-think we tried the local bus company, Mainline coaches (we’d initially been put off by their awful website!). And a good job we did too because they guaranteed a place for the bike and trailer on their bus and also organised to pick us up from Matakohe which is where we’d wanted to go to anyway. They also recommended a coach company called Dalroys express which would take us on from Auckland to Hamilton who were equally as accommodating. The bloke at intercity had basically said there was no chance we’d get our bike on the Auckland – Hamilton service.
So that made us pretty happy and even though Mainline was a bit more expensive it was worth paying to take the stress of not knowing out of the journey.
Downloaded the latest Dr Who, had a coffee with free cake and back to the campsite for the evening where we met a German couple who were also cycling and had the same tent as us!
27th Nov
Today was another lovely sunny day in Northland and also a lovely flat road to Matakohe. We are now developing some questionable tan lines that may take a bit of getting rid of. After pitching in Matakohe we went for a coffee and a huge pasty in the Gum diggers café and a walk around to look at the sites, it’s a very pretty place and was so hot I even put shorts on!
Date stop on route to Matakohe
Lunch stop at Ruawai
Shorts weather! But check out those tan lines! No they're not thigh high boots!
Coffee at Gumdiggers
There was no shop however so we had to eat emergency noodles and jam on toast. We met a couple from the UK who we enjoyed chatting to and watched the final of master chef Australia which I got a bit hooked on after catching bits of it in previous campsites. You’ll all be pleased to hear that Julie won although I do feel that Poh has a bright future ahead of her.
We then spent the rest of the night talking to the other UK couple about travelling, death, and happy clock faces. I also made my second cat friend.
28th Nov
Today is a big day for birthdays, there’s two whole one’s for us to celebrate. Happy birthday Eimear and happy birthday Kim, hope you guys had great birthdays and got lots of lovely prezzies, we were thinking of you.
Today was also our big day of travelling and our last day in Northland. I got Gareth up bright and early at 6am and as a result of my friendly encouragement we were all packed up 45 minutes before the coach was due. Gareth was pretty unhappy about this but he soon found a big gun to play with which kept him amused for a bit.
Peter of Mainline coaches arrived bang on time at 9.15 and the three of us strapped the bike on the rack and away we went on our pretty bumpy ride to Auckalnd, which Gareth didn’t see any of because he was playing Civ.
In Auckland we had jam sandwiches (we do eat things that aren’t jam sandwiches too by the way we just seem to be eating them a lot in this blog) and a McD’s ice cream and covered the bike chain and pedals up ready for the next bus ride as Dalroy’s didn’t have a bike rack and we’d have to put the bike in with peoples luggage. Mr Dalroy arrived 30 mins early and let us put our stuff on the coach then go and get our usual coffee and cake in Esquires before we set off.
The mac had run out of battery so `Gareth had to talk to me on this journey which he didn’t seem too disappointed about.
Arrived in Hamilton in the pouring rain and put the bike back together. We’d had to take wheels, mud guards and bag racks off for the bus rides. Found the campsite about 2km out of the town centre and pitched and showered.
We fancied treating ourselves (and had two birthdays to celebrate as mentioned above) so headed off to an Indian restaurant that the campsite owner recommended. We got drenched on the way but when we arrived had the best Indian food I’ve ever had (apart from maybe Est and Adie’s local in Rodley!) accompanied by 2 bottles of wine form the off license next door (it was BYO). So Eimear and Kim, here’s us celebrating your birthdays in Hamilton.
Is that curry a bit too hot for you Gareth? Eating that makes you a real man!
Lovely dessert of testicles in wee (it was nice actually, just didn't look it!)
All in all we’d had a really nice evening and stumbled back to the campsite pretty merry and happy with ourselves.
Blog off
A and G xxx
4 comments:
Another pair? That's it, I'm off.
If the German couple have the same tent as you isn't it a bit crowded in there with 4 of you and how have they been surviving till they caught up with you finally?
Marilyn says pretend to break down on the hills in the rain and get lifts instead of on sunny days! Always the Mum trying to make it easier for you!!
Bit off as well Alice letting him become a real man eating curry and then having his balls for dessert!!!
Glad you are both well and can't wait for blog2.
Travelling, death and happy clock faces are, of course, significant issues but there are some ground clearance issues concerning the apostrophe and its proper place in orthography that I feel the daughter of English teachers should be considering first! Well, alright, after happy clock faces perhaps.
Great to hear from you two. Here in marvellous East Yorkshire it mostly rains at present - they say that's why the British have emigrated to NZ in some numbers - to get more of the same. I'm back on the 9 miles each way to work in the dark and drizzle and LOVING it. Seriously. It's travelling, death and happy clockfaces all in one. Why did I ever stop.
I have actually taken some photos of Bish Burt now - but have to raise the I.T morale to get back onto Facebook. I'll try (sulky 50 year old when faced with the responsibilities of new tech).
Keep on the tan-lines; mind the tram-lines; let's have a tag-line. How about, "Two tyred in New Zealand"?
Lots of love, Da Miff (Soon to be Popsicle, apparently.)
Garth, Remember when you had that problem with dosbox f**king up the screen resolution? How did you fix it?
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