With a clear night last night it soon got cold and I ended up sleeping in my Icebreaker top, down vest and fleece hat all inside my sleeping bag. I was toastie warm and it put paid to the adage "you'll be warmest sleeping naked." Like the Tui beer billboards "Yeah. Right."
When I woke this morning there was frost all around and ice on the underside of the tent fly. It took until 8:20 to depart as I tried in vain to dry the tent fly completely.
The ride from Pureora is much easier and the downhill and fine weather made it great. I stopped again in Benneydale for hot chips and then took Waimiha Rd as suggested by Kent at Multisport Bikes in Takapuna. Thanks Kent, it's an excellent ride despite the incredibly steep climb about 4km in. There's very little traffic on this road and it paces through real rural New Zealand.
When I woke this morning there was frost all around and ice on the underside of the tent fly. It took until 8:20 to depart as I tried in vain to dry the tent fly completely.
The ride from Pureora is much easier and the downhill and fine weather made it great. I stopped again in Benneydale for hot chips and then took Waimiha Rd as suggested by Kent at Multisport Bikes in Takapuna. Thanks Kent, it's an excellent ride despite the incredibly steep climb about 4km in. There's very little traffic on this road and it paces through real rural New Zealand.
I stopped for lunch alongside a rail bridge hoping to get a photo of the Overlander train. In the end I gave up, took a photo of the empty bridge and crossed the road to pee . On the way back I could hear the train coming so I grabbed the camera and managed to fire off a photo. I've been on the train a couple of times and it's a beautiful journey (and much quicker and easier than this cycling lark!)
After lunch it was more downhill to Ongarue and then onto SH4 with much more traffic but a reasonably wide shoulder. For some reason there were quite a few older V8s going past.
I got into Taumaranui about 2:30pm and considered starting down the Forgotten World Highway but decided to stick to the plan – I’m glad I did.
I stocked up on food at the Four Square and then had more chip butties at JDz carriage – they are not in the top three.
From town it’s about 4km to the campsite which is really nice. It was good to have a hot shower after three days and to do some washing. A huge group of about 17 of families from Porirua and Christchurch dominated the kitchen. They’d come up to kayak the Whanganui river and one of the women was a former actuary who’s now a maths teacher – small world!
The myPod was blasting out the ‘Ice Ice Baby’ version of Queen and Bowie’s “Radio Gaga”, “Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil, Johnny Cashs’ “One Piece At A Time” and a cover version of ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” with the revised lyrics ‘rainclouds are forming up ahead” though it never turned to rain.
I got into Taumaranui about 2:30pm and considered starting down the Forgotten World Highway but decided to stick to the plan – I’m glad I did.
I stocked up on food at the Four Square and then had more chip butties at JDz carriage – they are not in the top three.
From town it’s about 4km to the campsite which is really nice. It was good to have a hot shower after three days and to do some washing. A huge group of about 17 of families from Porirua and Christchurch dominated the kitchen. They’d come up to kayak the Whanganui river and one of the women was a former actuary who’s now a maths teacher – small world!
The myPod was blasting out the ‘Ice Ice Baby’ version of Queen and Bowie’s “Radio Gaga”, “Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil, Johnny Cashs’ “One Piece At A Time” and a cover version of ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” with the revised lyrics ‘rainclouds are forming up ahead” though it never turned to rain.
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