Days 4,5 &6 - Manukau to Dargaville

 

Our first days in the saddle with a loaded bike - going well so far we think (apart from the fact my panniers weigh a tonne and Gabe’s weigh double!).

Our first day went smoothly riding out of Auckland thanks to google maps which actually knows about all of Aucklands cycle paths.  Not quite so convenient after my phone battery went flat though! 

There were a few things I was thinking up some of the hills – like do I really need my touchpad?  Do I really need my ultra lightweight backpack? Why do I have so many cans of tuna in my panniers???  Maybe we can adjust the packing slightly and make a second trip to the post office.  There’s a few ways of thinking about it – I like to think that the more I carry, the stronger I’ll get.  At the moment our paces are quite well matched – but I have done more cycling recently than Gabe so I expect it won’t take long and he’ll be zooming ahead of me up all the hills!  Instead of shedding the 500gs of touchpad I’m typing this on I would rather shed 500g off from under my cycling jersey anyway!!!  Touchpad is staying for now!!

We cycled to Parakai Springs and pitched our tents – our friend Lynda came and visited us for a dinner of curried veggies and couscous.  She also made us some awesome scones and some awesome focaccia!  It was a great night!

We jumped on a fishing charter – it was actually a family fishing day that the guy that was running the fishing charter but Rod and Cheryl welcomed us on board, and they lent us a rod and while the journey across to Pouto Point was an enjoyable 5 hours.   First time for me fishing with a fishing rod and I while a lot of bait got eaten by the fishies without actually catching them, I did manage to hook a 76cm kingfish.  The guys on the boat were pretty jealous as it’s rare to catch a kingfish let alone one that’s legal.  Legal size for a kingfish is 75cm so mine was ok to eat for dinner!  Gabe did an awesome job cooking it up and there’s something kind of cool about eating a fish you caught yourself straight out of the harbour! 

 

The boat dropped us off at Pouto Point and we decided to pitch out tent right there – there’s a cute as little camp spot just above where the boat dropped us off, with facilities kind of like a cute little backpackers.  Beautiful spot. 

The Kennett Brothers give two options of riding from Pouto Point to Dargaville – along the beach or on the road.  The beach is only possible 2.5 hours either side of low tide because otherwise the sand is too soft further up the beach.  We both were keen to take the beach road but unfortunately the headwind and sand meant that we were only able to ride at about 12km/hr and after riding 7km to the lighthouse we decided that we hadn’t allowed ourselves enough time to make it to Glinks Gully before losing the beach.  So we stop to explore the lighthouse, and decide to ride back again and take the road.

The road to Dargaville from Pouto Point is only about 50% paved and it’s days like this I am very glad I’m riding with fat knobbly tyres!  We both had our first falls off our bikes and I’m thankful that my touchpad still works!  I will continue wrapping my thermarest around it for extra padding!!! 

Tomorrow we will begin the next leg to Rawena – we expect to get there in 2 days. 

Days 2 & 3 - Planning and preparation in Manukau

People keep asking us “so where are you going” and it wasn’t until yesterday evening that we decided on some kind of rough plan!!!  It involves riding north to Cape Reinga.  Turning around and riding south again to Thames to meet up with Erin and Ted the Tread Routes team – we’ll ride with them from Thames to Wanganui, and then continue on to Wellington, head off to the South Island and hopefully make it to Bluff one day…

There’s a few last minute to sort out – some idiot bumped my bike over after I had it set up and leaning against a wall at the airport. Unfortunately my helmet was hooked onto my handlebars and the fully loaded bike fell right on top of it and cracked it so it was time for a new helmet!!!  Thankfully helmets at the bike shop were on sale and my replacement cost me $50 instead of $110!  The plus side on all of this is that this guy is the most comfy helmet I have ever owned - it’s a Limar Superlight 525 -  funky colour too – white and black with green scribble.

 

Day 1 - Auckland Airport to Manukau

Today is the day the big journey has begun.  Only right now I’m still not 100% sure where we’re going, and what we’re going to achieve.  Tomorrow’s job will involve figuring out all of that kind of stuff. 

Flew into Auckland safe and sound, and met up with my good friend Gabe who I hadn’t seen in 2.5 years.  Ultra enthusiastic as always we decide that since there is a bike assembly area specifically for cycle tourists right at Auckland international airport we may as well make good use of it and put our bikes together right there and then. Gabe was concerned as his box had come undone somehow on it’s way from Florida.  No dramas there – the beautiful black Bart the Troll and Clive the LHT arrive undamaged.  It takes a good few hours for us to get our bikes organised.  Both of us left in a bit of a hurry so there was a bit to be done as far as pannier adjustments etc etc.  Neither of us have done any significant amount of cycle touring – I have never carried my camping gear on my bike or cycled longer than 5 days. 

Pedals on, saddle up, handlebars reattached, racks on, panniers packed relatively evenly and on.  I try and lift Clive with his bags on.  FAR OUT he is heavy!!! Before I left I had all my stuff spread out on the floor.  Looked at it, halved it, halved it again.  I swear I need absolutely everything inside these panniers!!! 

Still without a plan for where we are going we decide to ride to the nearest caravan park we can find and pitch our tents there.  It’s been too long since I’ve been in my tent! 

We spread out our stuff – show each other what we brought and try and justify to eachother and ourselves what we’re taking with us and what we’re going to send back home.  I cull my spare chain, 1 cycling jersey, my spoke tool, my swimmers.  I’ll probably reassess this again while I’m crawling up some of the NZ hills!!!