Whangamomona-a paradise in the middle of nowhere!

(Whangamomona, New Zealand, 22nd of January 2017)

When we woke up at Bushville camping this morning it rained and we realized that the power had gone during the night. Luckily we had our little portable stove and at least we managed to cook some coffee for breakfast. As we planned to ride on this morning, we switched to cycling clothes but soon realized that we probably would not get away because it blew and rained too much. We spent some time talking to the motorcyclists from Holland, much else was not available in a streamless camping cottage in the midst of the wilderness. We waited for many hours for the rain to slow down and at 13 it finally broke up and we set off on our bikes.

We planned to at least bicycle to the town Wangamomona because we knew there would be a hotel with heat and food and after a 24 km quite wet but very nice bike ride with 300 altimeter we were told they had a room at the local pub and we decided to stay the night there.

In the pub we drank our first beer since we arrived in New Zealand and had some wedges with cheese and bacon as a late lunch. Heavenly! I bought a souvenir shirt from Whangamomona and then we enjoyed the heat in the room. However, we still had no internet since there was no coverage here either(seems to be hard to find in the wilderness).

That night we ate a real dinner in the hotel’s dining room. Unfortunately, the fish and potato dish I ordered more like a plate of fish and chips than I expected – the sauce consisted of a small plastic jar of heinz tartar sauce!

/Christel