After a night in Picton at the Top 10 Holiday Park (NZ$44) it was back in the saddle again. Time to get the big wheels turning! We’d had a week or so of not pedalling much further than around town, or to a beach, or to a vineyard. Although one such ride to the vineyards on the Napier trails on Christmas Eve did rack up 50km!
Marlborough Sounds
Turning the wheels again could not have been more of a pleasure on the 35km Queen Charlotte Drive to Havelock. It was stunning. View after stunning view, across the Marlborough Sounds in the beautiful morning sunshine, and unlike being in a car, we could pull in and stop as often as we liked to admire the views and soak them up. As the home of the green lipped mussel it would’ve been rude not to stop in Havelock for a bowl of said mussels, and The Hairy Mussel Company was the ideal spot for lunch.
We considered riding the 70kms on through to Nelson, but with the Highway being the busiest we have been on yet, we decided to stop the night at Pelorus Bridge (DOC campsite NZ$36). We hoped an early morning start might mean a quieter road. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. After being chased from the DOC campsite by a bombardment of sandflies we were on the road early, but, so it seemed, was every other man/woman and his/her trailer/boat/caravan/camper van.
The one lane Pelorus BridgeFighting the flies off!
Summer holiday traffic
The constant string of traffic plus the pounding rain, which started just as we started the climb up Rai Saddle, meant conditions were far from ideal. What a difference a day can make! The further long climb to Whangamoa Saddle was wet and miserable, with the ride down slick to say the least, but thankfully warmer, drier air was on the horizon as we approached Nelson.
Nelson for New Year
All was forgotten after a hot shower and a feisty welcome from Tipsy the cat at Matt & Gilly’s house (the bride and groom to be). Then an afternoon of sunshine in Mapua with the Keys clan, accompanied by tunes from “The Sauce”, Richard’s middle-aged rock covers band (his words not ours!).
Tipsy!The Sauce
Today is the last day of what has been a difficult year with the loss of my Mum, but as ever we are grateful for all the memories and all that we have experienced in 2017, and hope that 2018 will be a happy and healthy one.
Wishing one and all a very Happy New Year from Nelson.
What else would we be except windswept in Wellington, New Zealand’s windy city!
It was a quick stop in Wellington last night and a great chance to catch up with our hosts Camille (from our VSA days in South Africa) and Sandy.
We had time too to visit the Museum of New Zealand at Te Papa to see the superb and very moving exhibition, Gallipoli: The scale of our war. It tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in World War 1 through the eyes of New Zealanders.
Dave managed a pre-wedding haircut, but a quick scoot around the shops proved fruitless for me on the frock buying front.
Time now to cross the Cook Strait to the South Island.
Christmas has been and gone for another year and we were blessed with a couple of beautiful days in the Napier sunshine. On Boxing night we got a deluge of really heavy rain where we were confined to Olive (the tent) for the evening.
Armed with food for fifty and some local liquid refreshments (Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s second largest wine producing region), our camp kitchen, and a disposable barbecue we biked to the beach to make our Christmas lunch. Prawns and venison were this year’s main course, accompanied by corn on the cob, and, of course, potatoes. This was after a bacon and egg fry up at the campsite washed down with the traditional Schindler champagne cocktails!
We finished the festivities with a steak bbq back at the campsite where sadly our little pop up wine glasses popped up for the final time – they were great while they lasted!
Boxing Day was more food, this time courtesy of the Weeks family (Dave’s cousin Jo’s sister in law’s family) amidst their vines in the valley of Puketapu just outside Napier.
Kiwi kindness
We have been blown away by all the kindness shown to us two crazy people on bicycles. Never mind our friends who have bent over backwards to help us out with logistics, lodging and local knowledge, not to mention food and drink, but complete strangers who take a sincere interest in what we’re up to. From people on their porches smiling and waving, and friendly farmers giving us the right of way, to the stop and go roadworks men who are up for a chat to break the monotony of their day. Everyone we meet, whether on the road, in a café or a campsite, is curious about where we’ve been and where we’re going.
This past month we have had Kevin & Beryl, the owners at the Opape Motor Camp, who gave us a couple of very welcome ice cold beers as we rode in on a scorching hot day.
In Te Kaha as we sat alone on a secluded beach a fisherman from Rotoura shared his catch of fresh gurnard with us (we froze it at the campsite and carried it the next day to cook for dinner). And a local Maori couple who were our only neighbours on the campsite introduced us to kina (a salty sea urchin) which they had collected from the rocks at low tide.
Not forgetting the two strong Maori men who helped lift our bikes (one of them lifted mine single handedly) over the gates on the Motu Dunes Trail. And the kind campsite owners at Waihou Beach who gave us bread, butter & tomato when the local shop was closed.
We could go on and on with stories of such gestures which have really made this trip so memorable, but suffice to say every single one of them we appreciate wholeheartedly, and we hope we can payback the kindness to others someday.
Today we move on, but not in the saddle, we’re going to sit on the Intercity bus for a 5 hour journey from Napier to Wellington! (NZ$76)
Mahia – Napier The art deco capital of New Zealand
As if by magic we have arrived in Napier (the art deco capital of New Zealand) this evening, and are a seafood extravaganza plus a Hawke’s Bay bottle of rose down, and its barely 10pm!
Considering we were in Mahia only a few hours ago, it would be nothing short of a miracle to think we could have ridden the 160km road between here and there in such a short space of time.
Trailer trash
Suffice to say it is still nothing short of a miracle that we are actually here because at times during this afternoon we thought we might never see Christmas. You see we got a last minute lift from Lynn from the Mahia campground who single handedly (she never put two hands on the steering wheel during the entire two hour journey) dropped us and our bikes off in Napier at six o’clock. Driving her car and trailer at 110kph in the slow vehicle bays on this treacherous, steep, windy and narrow road, she wondered why the Holden behind her never overtook her. The guy didn’t stand a chance!
Anyway we and the bikes did arrive safely, us slightly shaken, and the bikes a little bit scathed from rolling around in the trailer, but nothing a bit of electrical tape won’t fix.
We’re pitched up at the Kennedy Park campsite (NZ$53 per night) in Napier ready to recover from today’s traumatic journey. Looking forward to exploring the art deco capital of New Zealand over the Christmas period.
Pitched up in the art deco capital of New Zealand!
Not perfect weather this morning, but safe enough to get back in the saddle for the planned 40km flat ride to Wairoa, where as it turned out we never reached!
Morere – Mahia
We had a change of plan after about 8kms when we stopped at Nuhako for a drink.
Nuhako Dairy
Chatting to the locals in the shop, and going on what we’d heard from previous people, it sounded like the side trip to the Mahia Penninsula was a must-do, so who were we to argue! And we were not disappointed – a quiet scenic road passing isolated beaches with a few moderate hills and great viewpoints.
Mahia Beach is like a little holiday resort with a pub and a dairy, and lots of holiday homes (mostly still empty, but that will change in a few days time). Plus the campsite (with its new owners who took over just 4 weeks ago) has a nice café on site, and for the moment we have the place to ourselves! It is NZ$40 per night.
Mahia Beach, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Running out of time
Camped at Mahia Campsite
Now how long we stay here at Mahia remains to be seen. Time is moving so fast and we are moving so slowly, and that’s what we’re really loving about this trip. That said we have a wedding to get to in Nelson, and our ferry out of Wellington is on the 28th December. At this rate we know we will never make it there by pedal power alone so we have called in the services of Intercity bus and have booked a bus from Napier to Wellington on the 27th December.
The “red sky at night is a shepherds delight” saying didn’t really ring true this morning as we woke up to a very gusty, grey Gisborne. Maybe that’s what shepherds like, but it’s not what two cycling tourists who are already somewhat nervous by the road ahead want first thing in the morning.
Gisborne – Morere
The gusty start set the tone for the day, and after a bit of hanging around waiting for the rain to clear we said our goodbyes to Gisborne.
Today’s challenge lay on the 60km stretch of State Highway 2 from Gisborne to Morere. It is a road busy with traffic and logging trucks, and although the first 30kms were flat we were faced with a series of long steep ascents and descents.
Roadworks on State Highway 2
Just as the morning nerves were settling down, we were chased by two fearless Rottweiler farm dogs who miraculously avoided being hit by the oncoming traffic in both directions.
The increased volume of traffic is now something we have to contend with, and for the most part drivers are respectful and do their best to give us space, but of course there is the occasional one (usually a SUV driver!) that deserves our wrath and associated hand signals.
Hills and headwinds
Today we had our biggest hills to date. The first was a 4.5km fairly steep one up Kopua Hill (120metres elevation), and a 3km downhill, before another 8km steep climb up to the top of Wharerata Hill at an elevation of 510metres. At times we resembled the hare and the tortoise, with Dave always taking the lead, but then me overtaking him on his rest breaks.
We were certainly ready for our picnic lunch at the top, but we didn’t hang around for too long as the wind would’ve skinned you! Great views overlooking Poverty Bay and Gisborne.
The viewpoint at Bartletts Hill overlooking Gisborne & Poverty Bay
If we thought the headwinds made it tough going uphill, they were much harder to contend with on the downhill. It was scary at times, impossible to hear the following traffic, and certainly a white knuckle ride as the gusts buffered the bikes on every bend.
Hot pools
It was a relief to arrive safe and sound at Morere, and even more of a pleasure to spend this evening soaking in the hot pools, especially since we paid only $2 extra each to have the entire place to ourselves! It felt indulgent and oh so relaxing despite branches being blown down left, right and centre. (The campsite was NZ$36 for the night.)
Tomorrow we’ll move on to Wairoa and hope the winds die down.
Hi, we're Sharon & Dave an active and adventurous Irish & English couple who've been travelling together for more than 20 years. These posts are our travel stories and personal journeys. Follow our adventures to see where we've been and where we're going next!
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