dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2996.9
We woke to a clear blue sky, all the rain having worn itself out in the evening and overnight, leaving us a cruisy day of riding as we headed towards the end of the trip.
Our internal clocks seem set perfectly, again we were out on the road at almost exactly 9 o’clock for the first experience of traffic in almost two weeks. The first 5km was parallel to the beach along the coast through an avenue of Pohutukawa trees, before turning inland through the dairy country. One milk tanker shot past a bit too close for comfort, but every other driver on the road was as friendly as usual, leaving us plenty of room and giving the occasional wave.
Morning tea was eaten sitting in the forecourt of a closed-up shop in a tiny village somewhere, chatting to two German cyclists who were heading the other way around the cape. Self-supported, they seemed to have mountains of luggage, both carrying front and rear panniers, a large bag across the top of the rear panniers, and bulging handle-bar bags.
The only hill of the day was just after morning tea before our descent into the valley along the Whakatane river. We were now back within sight of the Urewera national park — just over the river — the forests and pine plantations made for some great riding, but were almost cold in the patches of shade.
The spot pictured was our site for a break, a cup of tea, and a chance to skip rocks across the river, before the final 15km along the valley to Whakatane. This involved a fantastic cruise along the gorge — slightly disconcerting was the 3m vertical drop from road to river, with no guard rail — followed by a tail wind for the final stretch through the farms. We sped along the dead flat road at 28km/hr, grinning from ear to ear, enjoying every minute of the ride into town.
We had dinner tonight in Babinka, a very modern-looking café-restaurant almost on the waterfront. Good food, good service, and a pleasant change from the 1950’s-esque fried egg’n’chips type of meals that we’d been seeing so many of.
Where?
Opotiki(-38.0833333,177.2833333) Whakatane(-37.9833333,177)
