I decided to have a rest day in Auckland. It was definitely nice to not do much although I did have to do some babysitting to earn my board. I did go shopping and made my life hard by buying far too much food. A weeks worth of dinners + snacks and others is probably a bit too much. Oh well just need to eat more I guess.
Distance day 23km total 1189km
Ascent day 300m total 14750m
I woke up and the weather was terrible. This made it very hard to get out the door but I knew I had to. After saying goodbye to everyone I eventually made my way to Devonport to get the ferry across the harbour. Ras who was the cyclist that invited me in a few days previously had invited me over so I did a short ride to meet him.
After lunch I jumped on the train to Papakura so I could avoid spending a whole day riding through the suburbs. By the time I got off the train the rain had stopped and would stay away until that evening.
From Papakura I made my way through Clevedon. A little before Clevedon I saw two cyclists, and they were heading the right way!
They were seasoned tourists from Barcelona with some very impressive trips already done. This however was the first time with their very young kid. It was nice to ride with other people, even if it was only for an hour. In Kawakawa they stopped to stay with people they knew so I headed onwards.
When I got to the campsite in Tapapakanga regional park I was greeted by a British couple who were just about to end their extended trip. Turns out the campsite was closed.
It started to rain so I went down and went to sleep. I didn't really get much sleep all night as a few large storms came through. Reassuringly the tent only deformed a tiny bit under the strongest wind and I stayed completely dry. Very noisy though.
Distance day: 84km total 1273km
Ascent day 800m total 15350m
After saying goodbye I headed off. On the way to the main road I saw a cycle tourist go by. We waved and as I got to the road I saw him look back and soft pedal till I caught up. Turns out Tim was heading pretty much the same way as I was.
This was very handy as we seemed to ride at the same pace (although he did longer days than me) and with strong head and cross winds we saved a lot of energy by taking turns pulling. Unfortunately after two hours we had to part ways. We had similar goals, I just wanted to do slightly less direct routes.
There was a rail trail I'd heard of that I wanted to do from Thames to Paeroa and through the Karangahake Gorge. I found the route to Paeroa very boring. All it is is a few dead straight gravel paths through farmland with a handful of corners joining them, 34km worth. I'd only recommend them if you really wanted to get away from traffic.
Once in Paeroa the trail became great. The farmland quickly turned into a variety before getting into the gorge proper.
I skipped the main part of the gorge by going through a kilometre long rail tunnel. I got my head torch out but very quickly I turned it off and relied on the occasional light and the postage stamp size square of light in the distance to keep me on track.
After getting through the tunnel it was just a short trip to the turnoff to Dickeys Flat, a basic campsite next to a stream. When I got there one camper mentioned there was another cyclist camping as well so I went and introduced myself. Deiter is a German and his short term goal was to reach Rotorua so we decided to travel together for a bit.
With camp setup and dinner cooked I enjoyed the last of the sunlight before having an early night.
Distance day 97km total 1370km
Ascent day 650m total 16000m
I had a terrible sleep. Don't know why, but I couldn't get comfortable at all. So when it got past 5am I got up and had a quick walk before cooking a very early breakfast.
We both packed up and got on the road just after 8am. We made great time rolling turns, although the short sometimes heavy showers forced us do a few clothing changes. We stopped in Katikati for a second breakfast which ended up being an early lunch as we stayed a little to use the libraries wifi.
While eating another cyclist stopped by. He earned us that there were lots of narrow bridges the way we were going. As we didn't have any choice we pushed on.
The going was still fairly quick and the bridges didn't cause too much trouble but I wouldn't recommend that road.
We reached Tauronga really afternoon and had our camp setup before 2.30pm.
I'm glad I was traveling with someone else as the single price for a campsite was $25 and 50c for a shower! $15 each was at the boron end for a campsite worth hot showers and other services.
Tomorrow we will be heading up to Rotorua. I hope I don't get altitude sickness 😀.
Distance day 73km total 1443km
Ascent 800m total 16800m
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