January 5
bike trek complete
I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Rotorua, glad to be back amongst civilisation. I don't have much time to write so this will be a short entry, but will try and cover the main things.
We left Gisborne on the 1st Jan as planned, albeit a few hours late. I think we headed off finally around 11am, two hours after we thought we would. It was raining in true New Zealand style when we left. After about 5 or 10km, a car passed us and out the window came an apple hurtling towards Ed. We recognised the people in the car - it was my uncle and a German guy Markus who stayed with us in Gisborne. They took a few actions shots of us as we passed them further on up the road.
My first stack was at 30km. We had just cycled up a hill and were stopping for a drink and a bite to eat. Unfortunately I lost speed pretty quickly and couldn't get my feet out of the pedals fast enough, and over I went. Ed took a photo. I had to help myself up :) I stacked 2 more times that day, but only when I was going really slow, so no damage was done to me or the bike.
We stayed the first night as planned in Tokomaru Bay - a total of 107km for our first day. We arrived at the backpackers at just after 7pm, so we had a quick shower before racing down to the pub before the kitchen closed. Ed had a beer and since they didn't have any cider (wtf??) I had a glass of white wine. The steak burgers were nice but not big enough. We had more food (rice) when we got back to our accommodation.
Our second day was quite exhausting, there were lots of big hills, and my legs were still hurting from the previous day. We had beautiful weather for most of the day, however it rained for the last 10km. We stopped for pies in Ruatoria, a tiny country town. We had a three-scoop ice-cream for $1.50, a bargain! New Zealand ice-cream is the best ever. The scenery throughout our first and second day was incredible. Most of the day we were inland, and the road turned into a few bays along the way. I was amazed at how steep the mountains are, you really just have to see it (and ride up it) to believe it.
As we arrived into Hicks Bay, wet and tired, we didn't have a place to sleep. I had emailed some guy before we left Australia about staying at his backpackers that night, but he hadn't replied to my email, so I thought we would just rock up and see what was going on. Due to a BIG festival (Rhythm and Vines) in Gisborne over New Years, the surrounding towns were pretty packed with guests wanting to stay everywhere. There was no accommodation left in Hicks Bay, but they guy let us stay in an extra room there. The place was beautiful, you could walk down to the ocean from his back yard. Can't wait to show pics.
Have to go, my internet is about to run out! Will give more detail later on. Miss you all heaps!
We left Gisborne on the 1st Jan as planned, albeit a few hours late. I think we headed off finally around 11am, two hours after we thought we would. It was raining in true New Zealand style when we left. After about 5 or 10km, a car passed us and out the window came an apple hurtling towards Ed. We recognised the people in the car - it was my uncle and a German guy Markus who stayed with us in Gisborne. They took a few actions shots of us as we passed them further on up the road.
My first stack was at 30km. We had just cycled up a hill and were stopping for a drink and a bite to eat. Unfortunately I lost speed pretty quickly and couldn't get my feet out of the pedals fast enough, and over I went. Ed took a photo. I had to help myself up :) I stacked 2 more times that day, but only when I was going really slow, so no damage was done to me or the bike.
We stayed the first night as planned in Tokomaru Bay - a total of 107km for our first day. We arrived at the backpackers at just after 7pm, so we had a quick shower before racing down to the pub before the kitchen closed. Ed had a beer and since they didn't have any cider (wtf??) I had a glass of white wine. The steak burgers were nice but not big enough. We had more food (rice) when we got back to our accommodation.
Our second day was quite exhausting, there were lots of big hills, and my legs were still hurting from the previous day. We had beautiful weather for most of the day, however it rained for the last 10km. We stopped for pies in Ruatoria, a tiny country town. We had a three-scoop ice-cream for $1.50, a bargain! New Zealand ice-cream is the best ever. The scenery throughout our first and second day was incredible. Most of the day we were inland, and the road turned into a few bays along the way. I was amazed at how steep the mountains are, you really just have to see it (and ride up it) to believe it.
As we arrived into Hicks Bay, wet and tired, we didn't have a place to sleep. I had emailed some guy before we left Australia about staying at his backpackers that night, but he hadn't replied to my email, so I thought we would just rock up and see what was going on. Due to a BIG festival (Rhythm and Vines) in Gisborne over New Years, the surrounding towns were pretty packed with guests wanting to stay everywhere. There was no accommodation left in Hicks Bay, but they guy let us stay in an extra room there. The place was beautiful, you could walk down to the ocean from his back yard. Can't wait to show pics.
Have to go, my internet is about to run out! Will give more detail later on. Miss you all heaps!
comments
post a comment
P.S - We miss you here too!!! ooooohhhhh
Hi babe! Miss you heaps!