Wanganui to Feilding

For once I woke to a dry tent. (Does that make me sound like a bed wetter?) The warm northerly blowing had kept the dew off but as it picked up after breakfast I knew there'd be odd bits of headwind and more sidewinds. However, the weather forecast was for the wind to drop off in the afternoon.

Leaving Wanganui was easy but I though my new mirror was faulty. Coming up behind me were two cars flashing orange lights and a HOUSE! I had to stop to check that out. It only just made it between the parked cars either side of the road and once it passed I slipped in behind for a free run for a kilometre or so until we parted ways.

The road from Wanganui to Turakina has a few good long climbs and descents. None too steep but on one downhill I got up to 53.5km/h. I'm surprised how stable the bike feels at this sort of speed.

At Turakina I left SH3 and headed to Marton. The last part into town felt like it was all very slightly uphill and being a long straight IO began to wonder if I'd ever get there. As I rolled into Marton I met a guy out on a training ride. He's off to France to ride the stage of the Tour that they let amateurs ride too. Apparently they get about 5000 people entering to crawl along and finish some four hours after the top pros. Kind of like me at Ironman, I suppose.

Away to the left I could faintly see Mt Ruapehu and to the south I could see the Tararua mountain range. both stunning. In between was just farmland. Grazing cattle and sheep...


- a glimpse of Ruapehu -

Marton provided a good feed of chip butties and then I was off to Feilding. It's a rolling road with quite a few stock trucks between the main highway (SH1) and Feilding - tomorrow being saleyards day - but as always none got too close ad a couple even slowed right down. Maybe the mirror acts as a lucky charm or the drivers see it and realise that I'm a bit truck-shy.

At one point I burst out laughing when I passed a pile of baleage (plastic wrapped hay for stock feed during winter) and the plastic was making a farting noise in the wind. I laughed.

Another chuckle came when I cycled by a crew working on the railway tracks. Well one working and eight standing watching. I cried "Give your mate a hand" to which they replied "He's the boss. He can get fucked!" I laughed and cycled on.

It was bit weird coming into Feilding. My ex-wife, Cath, had grown up here and so I've visited a few times. In fact the campsite's only a few hundred metres from her parents' old house. Naturally I cycled by to check it out.

After arriving and setting up camp I headed into town to try and get the blog more up to date. I managed to get a fair bit done at the library and I'm now only two days behind! I couldn't upload photos though so I'll have to try tomorrow.

On the way back I got passed by a girl out riding. "You're making me look bad," I called as she pulled away. And Feilding's dead flat! I caught her up at the next intersection where she'd stopped. Asking if she was OK I was told that she didn't like the traffic here. In Feilding. A twon of 10,000. I suppose it's all relative.

Back at camp a veggie picking crew of about twenty Malaysians and Indonesians rolled in from work as I was cooking dinner. Mayhem ensued as each man made his own dinner. Some smelt good and some didn't. Some were elaborate but many were just poached eggs with two minute noodles. One bloke wandered in with a freshly skinned animal about he size of a cat. I hope it was a rabbit......

I had a chat top one guy, Morgan from Malaysia. He's been doing this for three years, moving around New Zealand as part of a team picking produce. He's been all over; grapes in Cromwell, cherries near Clyde, squash in Hastings and squash here too. He likes it but it must be hard work and he admitted to often forgetting which town he was in.

And the myPod? "When Will I See You Again?" by The Three Degrees - not for Cath's parents (who I didn't ride into) but for the William Webb Ellis trophy for the Rugby World Cup; I'm off to the Rugby Museum tomorrow.