Into Auckland

Wednesday 21^st December

Kaitaia – Rawene 82kms

Good sunny ride out of Kaitaia after a nice motel start to the day. Reached Apihara easily and then the terrain steepened and heated up near Herekino. Stopped at the school for lunch and then carried on over several more grunty steep hills to Broadwood. Had a cold drink there and a flatter and quicker good hot ride through to Kohukohu. Reached the ferry by 6pm which was quicker than we envisioned so pleased to get there and a gorgeous ride across.

We had forgotten how far the camp was up the hill so that was a grunt and then we got a cabin which was great and had a shower and the kids had a great swim and then went into town for food! Well nothing was open at 7.30pm! -  so we had potato chips and beer at the pub and came back and cooked tuna mash for dinner! Happy to have anything. Met a nice family from Auckland whose father was biking a similar route to us.

Collapsed into bed.

 Thursday 22^nd December

Rawene – Trounson Park Kauri Holiday Park 82kms

A test-piece of a day – starting with leaving all the drink bottles in the fridge at the camp and having to go back for them. Lucy and I had a good look around the Rawene cemetery at the top of the hill. Headed straight into steep big hills and then arrived in Opononi. We knew there were steep hills out so relaxed having coffee and also had a burger at the takeaway bar. Really hot there!

The two steep hills out were a mission in the hot, aided by spectators at the lookout. Carried on and stopped for bananas and a drink at Waimamaku and then got into a very serious hill that went on and on. We thought it would never end and it was hot! Climbed up to over 400 metres. We were finally into the Waipoua Forest by then and descended at about 45kms to the Tane Mahuta site where we went for a welcome forest walk for 10 minutes relief. Back into the hills and up to the next saddle before the most amazing descent of around 10kms through kauri forest.

Arrived at Waipoua Forest rest-stop around 5pm and then started climbing immediately again to the Kaihu Hills. The first climb was big but not too much and then it went on over saddle after farm saddle across huge hot hills, ending in the Kaihu Hill where we were utterly spent! Took everything we had to get through it. A huge grinding and grunting effort by all four of us. Herculean proportions!

So we rolled down almost too tired to enjoy the descent and into the Trounston kauri Park Top Ten Holiday Park. Recovered quickly to have a shower and make pasta for dinner but a cold beer was truly missing.

Tented and some people made a bit of noise which was annoying but a good night and a nice camp.

 Friday 23^rd December

Trounston Kauri Park – Matakohe Holiday Park 80kms.

Got up and packed and away by 9.30am.Much flatter once we rejoined the road from the park – and a slight tail wind. Met a fellow cyclist from Denver at the Nelson’s Kauri Shop and had a good chat. Very windy day but mainly at our side.

Big stop at Dargaville for lunch where I had kumara and mussel soup and the kids had pizza. Coffee. Supermarket (a trial two days out from Christmas) and then got away about 2.30pm from there. 

Quick but windy 30kms to Ruawai. Stopped at the war memorial there where we saw Hugh’s name and then a drink and stopped at the Four Square for a drink.

Away again to Matakohe where we had sausages and potatoes that we needed and a nice cabin to get out of the wind.

Bed now and a big day ahead tomorrow with no destination as yet! Good Luck. See you in Parakai sometime Christmas Day.

 Saturday 24^th December

Matakohe Holiday Park to Helensville 116kms!!!!

The biggest day of the tour yet! We managed to rearrange the time zones to get up and away early. Left Matakohe at 8.30am and cut across back to the main road without going all the way back, which was great.

Quickly arrived over hills to Paparoa and then Maungatoroto where we stopped at a café and had coffee. Then found the Maungotoroto Cemetery and the graves of Violet and William Wallace and John and Eliza and George Curtis. Really pleased to have visited as Lucy I particular is very interested. It was up a big hill and we were doubtful of finding it at first.

Onward to Brynderwyn where we arrived in good time and turned onto Highway 1 which was carnage and chaos on Christmas Eve. 23kms on it to Wellsford. Stopped for lunch halfway as the day had been pretty hilly and hectic. Arrived in Wellsford around 2.30pm and found a great café open amongst many closed and we got some groceries, met a Belgian tourist and carried on our way.

It was great to turn inland and leave the madding Wellsford traffic. We were soon on the earnest climb to Cleaseby Hill – very steep at first and then winding and steep. Met a British couple at the top and had a big rest. Amazing view over all the hills and beyond.

Big descent and then several undulations towards Glorit and beyond. Stopped at Manugamuka fishing pier and toilets. On and on to several steep hills before finally reaching the massive final hill before Kaupapapapa. We thought we might camp at Omeru Reserve, but when we found it was just 300m up the big one, we were keen to carry on. 8pm by this stage and the sun setting over the Kaipara Harbour was stunning.

Also stunning were the Gibbs Farm sculptures that appeared on the hill after Glorit. Simply stunning and inspiring in the soft light before sunset.

So we laboured up the hill and decided  at the top to make the dash for Helensville – just the descent to Kaukapakapa and 11 more kms after that.  The thought of a rest day at Parakai was too large in our minds.

Gorgeous at the top – sun set as we came across the top of the hill and we had an immense feeling of satisfaction at having come so far. Descended to Kakapakapa and the pub wasn’t quite suitable for staying at on Christmas Eve so we kept biking. The hills were steep and we were tired but gradually flattened and darkened and eventually – finally we saw the lights of Helensville. 9.30pm.

Ravenously hungry and nothing at all open so biked on out of town and finally saw a piiza place which was so welcome. Had just ordered pizza when a man approached us and after talking with him, we graciously accepted his offer to stay at theirs rather than camp at Parakai late at night.

Lucy and I were soon zooming up the road with the bikes on the back to the farmand then we met Tom’s wife, Rhonda, and Tom headed back to get the others! Watched some Coronation St, At e the pizza, chatted and went to bed – absolutely spent after 116kms – the longest day we had ever done and hills as well.

 Sunday 25^th December

Christmas Day Helensville - Zero kilometres!!

Rhonda made us coffee and bacon and eggs. We relaxed and Tom insisted we use the car (John Key’s old campaign car so felt a bit special in that). We went to Parakai Springs and spet 2-3 hours there. Huge Pasifika families having Christmas picnics and a very festive atmosphere there. Great. Had a picnic lunch of croissants from the Four Square ourselves and enjoyed the hot and cold pools.

Went out to Shelley’s Beach which was nice and then headed home again in the car about 4.30pm. Tom and Rhonda had gone off to a family Christmas so we had a great bbq, watched tv and had a lovely Christmas together.

Bed later after a chat to Tom and Rhonda when they got home. Nice people.

 Monday 26^th December 

Boxing Day

Helensville to Auckland 50kms.

We were lost three times. We left Rhonda and Tom’s about 9am after a nice breakfast with Rhonda. Tom had left at 5am for a fishing trip. We were so grateful to them for taking us in and we had such a nice Christmas because of them.

We made good progress to Kumeu where we stopped briefly at the supermarket and then started to look out for the Northwestern Cycleway. The road petered out for bikes, forcing all bikes down Fred Taylor Drive – but we soon found ourselves in Whenuapai, which felt definitely wrong and so we had to do a big loop back to Hobsonville Road and ended up at Westgate Mall!

Rested at Starbucks to collect our thoughts and get some map wi-fi. Soon worked out what to do next and carried on down Don Buck Rd and Triangle Rd, linking to the cycleway at Lincoln Rd. The cycleway was great for about 10kms and we had lunch in a park along the way.

We came to roadworks at about the Unitec  area and tried to ask local cyclists for directions but found some unfriendliness in the Auckland road cyclists – but a girl directed us down Meola Rd and that was nice enough and seemed to be getting u to the city. We went through Westmere, Herne bay and Ponsonby – all the time edging closer to the Sky Tower.

Finally we were in Auckland Central and we cycled up Hobson St, trying to stay high to cross over into Queen St and Symonds St. Entirely because of me and trying to stay high we ended up completely lost somewhere around Grafton Bridge and we all lost our cool – me mainly – and stopped and realised we were actually at the wrong part of Symonds St. Turned and found the hotel very quickly in Whitaker St off Symonds St.

Unpacked and stored the bikes, nice shower and cup of tea and all was good again. Wandered into town for a couple of hours and looked at the Lego Christmas display in Aotea Square, the buskers in Queen St, the Viaduct Basin including the Spirit of Adventure boat and the Sky Tower. Had a coffee and the kids had a gelato on the waterfront. Town was packed and hoardes of people were queueing at the expensive shops!

Sat and watched a fire performer eating Spanish spinach pizza folded in half from a corner stall which was absolutely delicious. Lovely evening and home for a frankfurter and glass of wine. Nice apartment where we are staying. 

Tuesday 27^th December

Empire Apartments Auckland – Tapapakanga Campground, Seabird Coast.

Sitting at the Mission Bay Café after seven kms of town and flat. Long black. Flat white. Wi-fi. John realised he booked tonight’s campground for the 27^th Jan – whoops!! Just rang to sort that so all good. 

Cape Reinga

Sunday 18^th December

Kahoe Farm Hostel – Pukenui  87kms

Massive day of hills. One big one up out of Kahoe and the first twenty kms seemed to take a long time. We couln’t resist stopping at the Waterfront  café at Mangonui for some very good eggs and a good read of the Sunday Times.  I was reading about the Danish tradition of Hygge which is interesting in terms of challenge and what we are going through now.

So we had to move on from the delicious coffee and the hygge of the café and onto the steep up and down of Coopers Beach, Cable Bay and onwards to Awanui. We stopped at Waipapkauri Hotel and lay under a tree before carrying on to Waiharaha where we had a drink at the dairy and then struggled on to Pukenui,  where we struggled up the steep driveway to the camp. Had a good night there – gorgeous evening and met a lot of local and foreign corn and avocado pickers.

 Monday 19^th December

Pukenui Holiday Park- Cape Reinga – Waitiki Landing 92kms

Left the next morning at 9.30am for the Cape and after a few miles we decided that it might be a good idea that we camp at Waitiki landing, meaning that we would cut down the 104kms day following.  Made good progress from Pukenui up to Te Kao where we had a pie. The terrain steepened after that and we found ourselves on a 10km hill which was a bit of  shock! Made good progress down the other side and got to Waitiki Landing about 3pm. Coffee and chips at the café and pitched the tent and then headed off to the Cape – pretty commiting – at 3.30pm- minus the panniers! A 40km return trip to the cape.

Made some big hills – about three in total – but the last one was massive – about 6kms in total. Very beautiful at the end though looking over the sand dunes and headlands.

Stopped and walked down to the Cape Lighthouse. All quite momentous and significant. Enhanced by a beautiful ride back to Waitiki landing as the sun set. We ate at a rest area near the Twilight Beach turn-off and again at the camp when we got back at 8.30pm. John’s chain broke 3kms out  and he walked up the hill and then free-wheeled down.

We fell into bed before 10pm, utterly exhausted but on our way.

 Tuesday 20^th December

Waitiki Landing -Kaitaia 92kms

Late start due to the chain repairs and really weary now. Set off at 9.30am and made good progress – despite the massive hills - back to our friends at Te Kao and another pie there. Onward to Pukenui  where we lay on the foreshore and watched the fishing boats and then had a coffee at the pub/ café. It became very hot from then on but we cycled on all the way to Kaitai, with a brief stop at the Waipapakauri Hotel air memorial.

Very tired and hungry in Kaitaia and no real plan except to bike on to Apihara. So we went to The Warehouse and Pak’n’Save and were entirely going to have Subway and bike on – only we came across the Mainstreet Backpackers where we had stayed before and  they gave us a studio unit for not much more than camping so we were so grateful.

Got out of the sun, settled in, had a shower, dinner, wine, bed. All good here. We are all very exhausted after huge efforts on the hills and sunburnt and bitten by insects as well. A million thousand mosquitoes besieged the tent last night. Really crazy. Heaps of locals talking with us about them!

Lovely evening and an actual bed to sleep in! Feels good to be getting south of Kaitaia tomorrow but certainly more tired and exhausted than we expected.

Massive three days.  Big big time going to the Cape and back.