(Okato, New Zealand, 25th of January 2017)
On today’s bike ride we had planned to see the volcano Taranaki close up and to get to a town high up on The Surf Highway that we have read should be a fantastic bike path. However, the day was not as pleasant as we had imagined, and Mount Taranaki did not go to see all day because it was covered with clouds.
When we started at nine o’clock in the morning, it just drizzled but it quickly got worse. The wind was definately not our friend, it quickly started blowing straight at us with wind currents of about 20 m / s. I can tell you that to cycle in the drizzle and with headwinds is very stressful after a while, especially if you also have a bike full of packing. Occasionally, it was so bad that it was difficult to keep upright on the bike, and some hills were difficult to get up when the wind made the bikes almost go backwards. At one of the hills Johan cycled beforehand and when I got up at the top I found him standing in some kind of bunker-like box, probably a tractor yard or similar. We were really hungry and completely soaked and decided to stay and have lunch in the little shed.
(Stratford, New Zealand, 24th of January 2017)
Early in the morning, we decided to stay another night in our nice hotel in Stratford, mainly because the weather was so bad. In addition, for the same reason, we changed today´s plans that actually included a little mountain hiking at the Mount Taranaki to instead include a long walk along the river in Stratford and then take a look at their “famous” bell tower.
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(Stratford, New Zealand, 23rd of January 2017)
We left Whangamomona early in the morning and knew we had a relatively short bike ride in front of us, about 60 km. In addition, we thought we would only have 300 altimeter to climb (as stated in the guidebook) and because we had no internet, we could not plan our trip and know what it really meant. There were many hills this day !! And rain…and wind!
There were at least three Mountains, or “Saddle” as it appears on the signs here, to cross over. I have to say that I was quite tired when we reached the final goal of the day (and had climbed 657 altimeter) and we had to have many stops to eat some candy along the way.
(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. Read More
(The Ghost Town, New Zealand, 21st of January 2017)
We left the hotel really early this morning, it was just 07.15 o´clock when we sat on our bikes. The reason for this was that we heard that there would be many cars this day on our way to Whangamomona, located along The Forgotten World Highway, right after the place where we booked accommodation for the night. Whangamomona is a small town that appeals to be a self-governing republic and who celebrates its national day this date each year.
(Taumanauri, New Zealand, 20th of January 2017)
Today, cycling to Taumanauri was on schedule and today’s strains resulted in 986 altimeter and 108 km after some slight misalignments. Once in the little sleepy city we found accommodation at Kellys motel. We got the charma hotel owner for a while before we were allowed to bring the bikes in the room – it was our bicycle bags that made her approve of it.
In Taumanauri we provided food and other necessities for the cycling we planned to do along “The Forgotten World Highway” and then we had a huge plate of fish and chips each for dinner. When you see the portion sizes you get when you buy takeaway food in New Zealand you can be really surprised that people are not fatter than they actually are.
/Christel
(Waitomo, New Zealand, 19th of January 2017)
To save some time we took a bus the 150 kilometers from Rotorua to Waitomo. Waitomo is a little village which really only consists of a few restaurants and hotels and where it’s all about visiting Waitomo caves. We had booked accommodation at Waitomo holiday park where we stayed in a cabin with beds for 7 guests.
However, this does not mean a lot of space, instead very many bunk beds on a small surface. The afternoon we spent going for a very long walk (around 15 kilometers) along a marked trail that was incredibly beautiful.
(Rotorua, New Zealand, 17th of January 2017)
This morning we spent some time buying a bus ticket for the next day’s destination, Waitomo caves, and then we went for a tour of the Te Puia Park with the Geyser Pohutu. Our hotel could be viewed from the park and it really looks like a ghost hotel.
The ticket price included a guide and besides bubbling mud pools we also got to see Maori handicraft and a Kiwi bird.
(Rotorua, New Zealand, 16th of January 2017)
Matamata is not much more than the presence of Hobbiton and we felt ready for our next goal, Rotorua. A nice bike ride without any major surprises with an end result of 70,2 km and 689 altimeter. We had booked a hotel near Te Puia, a park with active geysers. At first we got a room on the lower level of the hotel which was small and dark and gloomy. Johan walked away and charmed the reception staff and returned with a key to a room on the top floor overlooking the park with an active geyser – absolutely wonderful.
(Matamata, New Zealand, 15th of January 2017)
After yesterday’s hard work today´s bike ride was a piece of cake. The reasonably flat cycle tour was 55,8 km long and with 161 meters of altitude. Today’s destination was Matamata where we had booked a room in advance at the hotel tavern Horse & Jockey Inn. Matamata is a popular tourist destination as it is the closest city to Hobbiton Movie Set. As we already knew in advance that we would arrive before lunch, we had booked a bus tour to Hobbiton at 15.00 on the same day.
Unfortunately, the weather turned out to not be the best and when it was time for us to step on the green Hobbiton bus it had started to rain.
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