dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2512.5
Another hot day, probably around 32-33 °C, but we took our time, meandered along drinking lots of water. Later in the afternoon we rode past Hikurangi, a mountain sacred to the Maori.
Heading inland today, back into the farming area and to a town that seems to have an interesting, if mostly unknown, part in New Zealand’s recent history. During the mid-1980s, the region degenerated into a state of almost civil war, with land disputes resulting in Maori Rastafarian gangs fire-bombing buildings, violent fighting, and culminating in a public be-heading.
The afternoon tea stop was in Te Puia springs, we decided not to visit the hot springs. Along the way we saw many logging trucks, to our surprise the drivers were all unfailingly polite. A sign on the back had us laughing for hours afterwards:
How's my driving?
Call 1-800 LOG TRUCK
We stayed the night on a farm-house B&B with one of the more memorable characters of the trip. “Hewie” seems to have done everything and been everywhere, he has his fingers in more pies than he has fingers, and seems to have made and lost his fortune several times.
Dinner was at the Blue Boar Bar & Cafe on the main road back out through the town, another interesting character owned and ran the place, “freelance security consultant” seemed to be the nearest we got to learning where he made his money. The pub was full of the heads of wild boar, a sobering reminder that while New Zealand has no dangerous native animals, the introduced ones are very plentiful and very large!
Returning to the B&B, we sat outside with a glass of red wine, talking well into the night. His tales and the cicadas made it seem that we were somewhere in Africa, rather than New Zealand, a place we all had subconsciously viewed as rather tame…
Where?
Tolaga Bay (38°S, 178°E) Te Puia springs Ruatoria (37°S, 178°E)
