We all have our ups and downs in life, and this year has certainly been testament to that for us, but if ever there was a metaphor that suits today then this is it.
The 55km ride today, hugging the coastline from the little hamlet of Opape to the not much bigger village of Te Kaha, was a rollercoaster of hills. From a steep, slow 210 metre winding climb up Maraenui Hill, to rolling down to a perfect lunch and swim stop by the sea at Omaio.
Looking back at the coastal road we rodeSwim stop at Omaio
All the while the vantage points from our bikes were unbeatable – uninterrupted panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, and beautiful blooming pohutukawa trees lining the beaches and roadside.
The difference to life is that today the “ups” were the hard parts, while the “downs” were the fun bits. Both were rewarding in their own way, and the sense of accomplishment we feel when we can look back and see where we’ve come from is really satisfying. Looking forward to the next stage of the road is both daunting and exciting in equal measures, and is what makes us feel alive, although our bodies may not agree!
Surprisingly it is not our backsides that are suffering on the saddle, as we thought they would, but rather our hands, arms and shoulders that are taking the strain. Regular stops to straighten up help ease the discomfort, and a glass of wine or a cold beer at the end of the day soothes the aches and pains away!
Another well equipped campsite to ourselves for a couple of nights – Te Kaha campsite NZ$28 per night.
A really solid day of riding today clocking up another 55kms. The majority was on State Highway 35 which as we travel further out east the traffic is certainly thinning out. We have been warned by friends, and strangers alike, to be aware of the logging trucks on this road. There are many, but at the moment we seem to be travelling against the fully loaded trucks that are en route from Hicks Bay to Tauranga. It is the empty ones who are passing us on their return trip.
Traffic on State Highway 35 New Zealand
Coincidentally we met a logging truck driver on the Hauraki Rail Trail the other day while he was on a works Christmas Day out, and already we’ve met him twice on the road, waving and blowing his air horn at us!
Motu Dunes Trail
The last 10-12kms of today’s ride was out of Opotiki on the Motu Dunes Trail. Opotiki is the last biggish town we’ll see for a while so we stocked up on supplies. We had one of the best lunches of the trip so far at the Two Fish café, and we did some forward trip planning at the iSite office. We caught up with some of our Shola B&B business using the local library’s internet.
What a fantastic ride on trails and boardwalks through the sand dunes along the coast, but with a major design fault! Our touring bikes with their panniers would not fit through the access gateways. The gateways are designed to stop motorbikes and vehicles from accessing the trails, but boy did it make it hard work for us. We had to stop about a dozen times and lift the bikes over the gateways. We did get help on one occasion by two strapping Maori men who made it look easy!
First gate that we couldn’t fit through!The dunes trailHandlebars don’t fit through!Local to the rescue!Helping hands to lift the bikes over the gatewaysKiwi helpers!
By the time we rode into the little traditional Kiwi motor camp at Opape (NZ$20) we were cream crackered. The cold beers we’d carried from Opitiki were well shaken up, but all was not lost as once we had Olive pitched only metres from the sea, the campsite owner pulled up on his quad with a couple of ice cold ones for us. Time to relax, do a little drone practice on the deserted beach, and just enough phone signal to be able to ring Dad on his 94th birthday before crashing out under another starry night sky.
At only 23kms, today’s ride is our shortest to date. All thanks to Dawn for loading us in the car and dropping us north of Whakatane so that we could avoid the busy State Highway route around Tauranga.
Only one hefty hill to get out of Whakatane then dropping down into beautiful Ohope where we pitched up at the Top 10 campsite for the night (NZ$42). Our bbq dinner was thanks to Dawn & Adrian as we cooked up delicious beef sausages from their very own hand reared cattle. Dinner was only topped by a romantic walk on the 11kms of beach and watching the massive super moon rise.
For those of you who know us well you may have heard us recount the story “What’s in the bag?” from our campervan road trip in Western Australia. (If you haven’t heard it, ask us to tell you the next time you see us, it’s a classic.) This is a different story and we’re happy to declare what’s in our bags on this, our first ever cycling tour.
Touring bikes fully loaded
Self-sufficient
The luxury of staying with friends who spoiled us with food and drink for our first few nights on the road is over now. We are heading to the East Coast where in many of the remote settlements, supplies and services are limited meaning we have to be fully self sufficient. Therein lies the problem with bicycle touring in a hot climate – we have no way to keep things cool. I’m already afraid that our luxury item of collapsible wine glasses may not get used!
Panniers
We are carrying two rear and two front panniers each plus a handlebar bag each. Dave is carrying an additional dry bag for the camping gear. Our panniers are certainly not packed to a maximum, and no doubt with experience we could pack much lighter, but for novice cycle tourists our load is heavy enough. Dave is carrying about 20kg, and I probably have around 15kg. Added to that the 10-12kg bike weight, and it is a hefty enough load to haul around in the heat of summer, which incidentally has been a scorcher so far.
Between us we’re carrying what we believe are all the essentials. Dave is carrying the tent, camping mats & chairs plus the kitchen equipment (camping stove, gas, pots/pans, plates, cups, cutlery), and I’ve got the tool bag, gadget bag, first aid kit, and electronics (iPad, bluetooth speaker, Kindle, solar panel, chargers, etc) plus the drone!
Plus we each carry the following:
A sleeping bag
A small pillow (courtesy of Qatar Airways, not that they realise it)
A towel & a sarong
Swimsuit
Flip flops
Spare pair of walking shoes (we cycle in clip-in bike shoes)
Toiletries (of which I am guilty of having too many)
A spare set of cycling clothes for cold weather (fingers crossed these will stay in the bag)
A set of clothes for the evening (layers for warm & cold)
Reading glasses
Sunglasses
Baseball cap and beanie hat (helmets which we wear when riding)
Head torch
Bike lock
Wallet
Phone
On top of this we have 2 water bottles each, plus whatever fresh food we can pick up (e.g. fruit, avocados, tomato, bread, bacon, eggs), and our dried/emergency food supplies (e.g. tuna, noodles, rice, packet soup, muesli, tinned fruit, tortillas, crackers, nuts, CHOCOLATE).
Let’s face it we are probably the last two people on earth likely to die of hunger!
As if it wasn’t enough that Ian & Natalie’s place near Hikutaia was perched high up on a hill overlooking a lush, green valley, our next hosts Dawn & Adrian’s historic home, just north of Katikati, is positioned higher still to take advantage of magical panoramic views across the land and sea. The good news here is that we didn’t have to cycle up their hill – more on that later.
Hauraki Rail Trail
Leaving Ian & Natalie’s after a full fry we were ready for anything, and the 60km ride ahead was an absolute pleasure. We rejoined the Hauraki Rail Trail riding through fertile plains, passing through Paeroa, the hometown of the famous Kiwi soft drink L&P. After this point we actually started meeting some, not many, other cyclists – mostly weekend warriors and day trippers, nobody as serious as us!
On we went through the Karangahake Gorge stopping at Waikino Railway Station for lunch. The entire trail as far as Waihi was absolutely stunning with fresh, rural, and river views around every twist and turn.
Views on the Hauraki Rail TrailStocking up on snacks at a typical Kiwi dairy
State Highway 2
It seemed a shame to have to join back on to the State Highway 2, but needs must. For the most part there is a hard shoulder to tuck in on, although with a headwind and the backdraft from the bigger trucks and towing vehicles, it was a case of holding on tight at times.
Hitting speeds of up to 50kms per hour may not seem like much, but on a loaded bike on a windy day with weekend traffic, it feels pretty fast on the downhills to keep under control. My optimistic theory of riding north to south which surely meant going downhill has already gone to pot. That and the dream of a tailwind the whole way! The uphills and headwinds are out to get us.
It was on one of the fast downhills that we were passed by a vehicle who tooted, not uncommon thus far, as everyone toots and waves. The car subsequently pulled in ahead of us. This could mean only one thing – it was someone who knew us! And yes it was Dawn whose home we were heading towards. We still had 7kms of uphill to go to get to her farm. It seemed the opportunistic thing to do was to unload the panniers right there and then into the back of her car. Instantly we felt so light and wobbly!
Dawn stopping for us on State Highway 2
Farming life
More good news and another welcome sight was Dawn again! This time on her farming quad bike and trailer, at the bottom of the steep gravel road leading up to her house. We didn’t need to be asked twice if we wanted a ride! We loaded up and along with Jess the dog dropped the bikes at the house before jumping on the quad again to head back down for a cooling dip in one of the farm’s own waterholes.
This is a magical place where Dawn & Adrian have chosen to painstakingly relocate and restore their historic home. It is a labour of love and a work in progress and we really hope to return someday to see it in all its restored glory.
Staying with Dawn & Adrian for two nights meant we had a full day of rest, it was a Sunday after all, just chilling out, doing laundry, and a bit of forward planning with their expert local knowledge.
Since we’re not purist cycling tourists we have no qualms about accepting Dawn’s kind offer to drive us through the next stretch of State Highway 2 sometimes known as “Suicide Highway” so we can avoid the heavy traffic around Tauranga.
Tomorrow will be a short cycling day from Matata via Whakatane to Ohope.
We realise it is only day three of our first ever cycling tour, and the fantastic summer weather is in our favour, but this potentially could rank up there as one of our best holiday decisions to date! That said we are probably wise to reserve judgement until sometime in mid-January, at which point we can decide who takes the credit, or otherwise, for making the decision to go on a cycling tour.
(Apologies in advance for lack of photos, but any Wi-fi we can access is way too slow to upload images. We will try and post more images on Instagram – follow us there @schindlersontour. We will add images once we get a good connection.)
Off the rails??
We’ve seen many cycling tourists on our travels around the world and often thought they must be mad, but now that we’re in the saddle they don’t seem so crazy after all!
On the trails
Of the 56kms we rode today from Miranda to Hikutaia, a good portion of it was on the Hauraki Rail Trail. A flat (yay), wide, off-road gravel trail following the historic railway corridor. We elected to stay on the road in the morning because the portion of the trail from Miranda was brand new. It opened only last month and had very thick gravel, not at all compacted yet – too much like hard work first thing in the morning.
We joined the trail after a pizza and shandy lunch stop at the Kopu Station Hotel having just crossed the Waihou River on the “new to us” bridge. The last time we were here it was the single lane bridge infamous for backing up the traffic to and from the Coromandel, particularly on holiday weekends. Looking at the old bridge now and the volume of traffic today, you wonder how it survived for so long.
Traffic was the least of our worries on the trail today. We crossed bridges and passed through tunnels, meeting only one recreational rider and a single walker the entire afternoon. The most we had to contend with was the dozens of farm & stock crossings we had to negotiate, and at one point waiting for a dairy herd to pass by as they strolled in for milking.
This quiet trail was ideal too for the first bit of experimenting with our new toy. We bought a little DJI Spark drone! Suffice to say we have a way to go before we’re producing any footage worth sharing.
Experimenting with our new drone!
Of course the day would not be complete without a hill! And sod’s law, that on this scorching day, it was the final 7kms that was the uphill slog – just when you’re getting tired and all you can think of is an ice cold beer. But we got our rewards when we pulled into Fantail Creek and our old friend Captain Morgan from our Queenstown days had his home brew ready! Ian & Natalie very kindly treated us to a night out in their local pub, complete with a true blue Kiwi character or two.
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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