DAY FIFTEEN: FRIENDS, AND FRIENDS OF FRIENDS

Day 12 (Auckland to Ellerslie) Daily Distance: 23.12 kms

Day 13 (Ellerslie to Miranda) Daily Distance: 93.49 kms

Day 14 (Miranda to Athenree) Daily Distance: 91.31 kms
Day 15 (Athenree to Mount Maunganui) Daily Distance: 58.40 kms
Total Distance: 776.94 kms

Day Twelve was essentially another rest day given I only travelled 23 kilometres to Ellerslie, a suburb of Auckland, where my former colleagues Adam Jackson and Sara Rabone live in their newly purchased house (how grown up).

It took me ages to even leave the centre of the city for two reasons. Firstly, I saw a Contiki coach and so stalked it until I could see the Road Crew, and realised that the driver was a friend of mine from Europe, Adam Wicks. Thankfully he was about to start a break so we had a catch up over lunch.

Secondly, I was absolutely enthralled by the cricket games going on at the local Victoria Park. The plural nature of the word ‘games’ is crucial, since the enthralling factor was that five games were being played on an oval that at home would host two games at most. So how was such a feat possible, I hear you wonder? Well there is only one answer: all of the playing grounds overlapped. Amazingly, the main game being played on a proper turf pitch with uniformed players and seemingly professional umpires (Auckland first grade?) overlapped with not one but two other grounds. This country is crazy.

This was not a minor overlap: the guy in black was standing at deep fine leg in one game, but by default was fielding at mid-wicket in another, although in that position he unwisely had his back to the batsman!



Eventually, however, I drew myself away from this cricketing version of a shooting star and headed to Ellerslie. It was great to catch up on the latest news and they were kind enough to host me for the night, during which we had a barbecue with his Mum Isabel and her husband Iain.


With Jackson, aka "HL23A11 Dream Team"!

Exiting Auckland was simple enough: I followed the old highway, Great South Road, until I reached Bombay, ironically the location of the wedding I originally came to NZ for, when I turned east and headed for the Coromandel Peninsula. I got as far as Miranda Hot Springs and decided I’d had enough, especially since I was camping tonight (for the first time) and wanted daylight while I for the first time erected my newly purchased tent, plus the campsite had natural hot springs to relax my traumatised – but ever-growing – leg muscles in.

My setup. Not a lot of gear for two months, eh?!

Day Fourteen provided the highlight of the tour so far in terms of pure cycling. The NZ Government decided a few years back to create ‘Nga Haerenga’, or the ‘New Zealand Cycle Trail’, which is a series of 20 or so cycle trips ranging from one day to four or five. Great idea I think, although not ideal for me since the paths are unsealed and often run in loops rather than from A to B. Anyway, the Hauraki Rail Trail runs south of the Coromandel Peninsula, from Thames to Waihi via Paeroa and the Karangahake Gorge.

When I initially saw the trail I was very sceptical about the surface on a bike carrying lots of weight, so stuck to the roads until Paeroa. This is a cute little town that is most famous for kiwi soft drink L&P, meaning ‘Lemon & Paeroa’, which I find slightly confusing since lemon is a flavour and Paeroa is a place, but it tastes awesome all the same. Plus, it has a genius slogan: “world famous in New Zealand”!

Leaving Paeroa I followed the Hauraki Rail Trail through back country and farmland before riding through the wonderfully scenic Karangahake Gorge, which included several sections on or next to the old train tracks, several bridges (including one suspension bridge) and even a 1.5km tunnel which was an amazing experience I’ve not had on a bike before. Javier looked like he’d been rolling in the mud for half a day, coz he had been.

Adam had teed up his friends Karen and Wayne to host me in Athenree this night, and those two were SO welcoming, having prepared me a feast of a meal, PLUS accompanying beers, PLUS some well needed clothes washing. They had done a trip around Europe a year ago, so we looked through their photo albums (it’s good to know that some people still print out photos!) and Karen was even glad to have me help her fill in the gaps in her folder for buildings or sights that she couldn’t remember the names of!

Day Fifteen saw me trundle along the coast and into Mount Maunganui where I settled in the centre of the town before hiking up The Mount itself (I’m a sucker for pain) where I had a proper bird’s eye view of the coastline and surrounding area, including Tauranga. That evening I treated myself to the movies to see Les Miserables which I’d been long waiting to see. Russell Crowe sucked, although he may have shone during the bit that I slept through in the middle… if you’re reading this then you probably already know that that’s how I roll.

Relaxing at the top of The Mount



Looking back towards Mount Maunganui

Speaking of rolling, it’s depressing to look on a map and see that despite nearly 800 km's of 'rolling' so far, I’m still on the NORTHERN coast of the entire country. Thankfully, tomorrow I will leave the coast and head due south to try to raise the spirits!