TA Day 3: Don't miss the Kaipara Harbour ferry!

TA day 03 - Don't miss the Kaipara Harbour ferry from Robert and Marianne on Vimeo.


I was up with the dawn chorus of birdsong this morning because I had a ferry to catch! In between times there was just a mere matter of riding 110km to reach the ferry "terminal".

A mostly downhill journey into Dargaville was the fruit of my climbing labour at the end of yesterday. Then a very civilised Saturday morning brunch of eggs and bacon set me up for the afternoon ride to Pouto Point. 

Heavy rain forecast for the early afternoon never materialised, but instead it was jacket on, jacket off, jacket on... as showers came and went. On the way I passed what must be the world's smallest church!

 

At Pouto Point, waiting for the ferry, I had a very pleasant surprise as I rediscovered the chocolate brownie that I'd bought takeaway at brunch (and then forgot about).

Then a 3 hour ferry crossing of the Kaipara Harbour brought me near to Helensville, and time to rest my weary head. The boat load of bikes is impressive (but the BO of a boatload of sweaty bodies is not)!

I'll be crossing the metropolis of Auckland tomorrow... I'm glad it'll be a Sunday. And I'm super looking forward to brunch with Trish and Stephen!

TA Day 2: Hokianga Harbour and the Waipoua Forest

TA day 02 - Off to see Tane Mahuta from Robert and Marianne on Vimeo.

Today was a very undulating journey south from Ninety Mile Beach, across the Hokianga Harbour on a ferry and then through the Waipoua Forest.

A long day; at 143 km it's by far the furthest I've ever ridden in a day! I arrived at camp after dark. I did have a late start though, waiting for my day 1 video to upload before I could start. Sigh - technology!

A highlight of the day was Tane Mahuta, a gigantic kauri tree thought to be over 1200 years old. 

   

And then descending a big hill through the Waipoua Forest with kauri towering overhead in gorgeous end-of-day light, and with no other cars on the road was amazing. I even got to see the sun sinking into the Taman sea as I rode along a high ridge.

The other highlight of the day was meeting other travellers and locals. Opinini was full of friendly folk visiting the best takeaway in town as I devoured a burger and icecream. The town of Waimamaku was gearing up for their annual Wild West Festival tomorrow. They even have a shoot up in the street! (Glad I passed through today rather than tomorrow!). Another small community I passed at 8pm was packing up for the day a stall of wholesome vegetarian food they are setting up daily to cater for the TA riders. And when I arrived at camp some other campers brought over a couple of sausages in buns. So kind! And of course they all want to know what on earth I'm doing (which I asked myself a few times today).

For those interested (you know who you are), the pie count is at 1, and no flats yet.

I am having some technology issues at the moment due to my power bank dying. I'll be looking for a replacement in Dargaville tomorrow. I NEED power for navigation, photos, planning ahead and doing these blogs! It's nearly as important as my bike and body working!

The adventure begins... Day 1 of Tour Aotearoa

And we're off!
Here is a video blog from the first day of riding on the tour.

Training in Tasmania...

It's the final countdown!

Having spent an awesome 4 weeks in Tassie, catching up with family and friends, and doing some great training rides, we're now back home pedalling some of our favourite routes. Only this time we're loaded up with all our bike packing gear. The packing of the bike gear seems to take us as long as the training ride itself! Tent, sleeping mat, stove, clothes, some food, electrolytes, snacks, first aid kit for ourselves as well as for our bike - the list goes on... and yet we're trying to stay under 12kilo!! 🙄

In Tassie we had some great rides, combined with a little cross training of tramps/bush-walks in the Pelion Plains to climb Mt Ossa (Tasmania's highest mountain), and the Walls of Jerusalem.
We rode to the family shack in Orford on the East Coast, around South Arm, south of Hobart from beaches to foothills, on lots of tracks in the Derby mountain bike mecca of the North East, and up kunanyi/Mt Wellington. Check out some of the holiday snaps below...

Wow! Riding 3000km in 30 days sounds like mission impossible. We've never ridden more than 100km in a day before yet will have to back it up day after day for up to 30 days!

But we're not foolhardy (or are we?). We've been training hard through 2019. Our training goal has been simple - ride more kilometres each month than the one before.

We are truly blessed in Wellington to have some great options for long rides that mostly avoid nasty encounters with traffic. Some of our favourites are:

• Riding "around the bays" of Wellington's south coast
• A lap around Mt Kaukau into the very remote feeling Ohariu Valley and Makara
• Up and down the Hutt River valley, which has bike paths on both sides of the river for much of it's length
• Around the harbour to the lighthouses at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, and then back home via Wainuiomata
• Following cycle trails north from Tawa to Peka Peka
• The Remutaka Trail loop (a multi-day adventure)

Here is a map of some of the delightful (and not so delightful) riding routes we've discovered this year.