Manakau to Miranda New Zealand cycling tour

A mostly easy start on day two of our New Zealand cycling tour. Riding past farmland and horse country we even managed to reach double figure kilometres (15kms) before our first stop at Clevedon for a coffee and OJ. Our early lunch stop was sandwiches under the shade of a tree on a deserted shell beach at Kawakawa Bay – we could get used to this very quickly, but it was onwards and upwards as we had to tackle our first real climb.

Te Motu Hill was fairly steep and winding, and with no gears to spare, a bit of huffing and puffing, and one quick water stop, we made the 170metre climb. We can do this now!

Leading and following

Contrary to what we’d thought would happen in terms of leading and following on our first New Zealand cycling tour, we realise now that it’s better if I keep Dave in my sights – this should keep us to a slower, more relaxed pace. We’ve got great little rear view mirrors that we wear on our wrists, ideal for keeping an eye on traffic and each other. After all we’re on holiday and don’t want to be going anywhere too fast!

The remaining ride was for the most part down at sea level, passing stunning views and stopping to take photos left, right and centre. By the time we reached the campsite at Miranda we were ready for an ice cold cider before we pitched Olive, our little tent and our home for the majority of the next few weeks. Soaking away the 70km ride in the hot pools after a fish & chip supper was the perfect end to a beautiful day.

(The Miranda Holiday Park campsite was NZ$53 for the night, plus NZ$20 for fish and chips.)