12/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 30 - mountains to Sea cycle route.

 

Distance cycled: 59km from Kauika camping site to Whanganui, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 15.1km/h
Moving Time: 3h57m
Elevation Ascended: 947m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1,975km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,432km
Money spent: $10

Following alongside the Whanganui River the terrain was a consistent up down, up down, up down.  Unsurprisingly it became rather repetitive but we knew at the end of the day that we would be resting for a night, but maybe two at a warm-showers host I had organized a few days before.
Sarah and Grant with their three young children graciously hosted us for the evening and allowed us to spend another night with them.
William, the youngest of the children is as hypo active as they come with near limitless energy and burdened with loud high pitched noises that would deafen bats or Dolphins.
But none the less a good kid.
We slept on the floor of their lounge room after a tasty meal.

11/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 29 - Down she goes.

Distance cycled: 80.4km from National Park to Ranana, North island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 17.5km/h
Moving Time: 4h35m
Elevation Ascended: 861m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1,915km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6,492km
Money spent: $42.50

Long pleasant downhill stretches from the mountains towards Whanganui river were fantastic, even an icecream for breakfast to start off the day under the warmth of the sun that stuck with us for the whole day made it a day to throughly enjoy.
Having being told that 15km of the westerly road from Raetihi was recently surfaced and is now completely tar sealed was a bonus to the day and with little traffic as we descended from the mountains and with magnificent views... I'm just going to simply say that today was awesome with nothing not to enjoy about it - the pictures below illustrate how good today was.

A gigantic Kiwi

10/02/2015 - Cycle Touring New Zealand - Day 28 - Bad day for Marlieke.

Distance cycled: 54km from Turangi to National Park, north island, New Zealand.
Average speed: 12.9km/h
Moving Time: 4h10m
Elevation Ascended: 1281m
Total Distance on Current trip: 1835km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 6572km
Money spent: $34

After that day of rest yesterday I assumed we were all good to tackle the mountains to the south of lake Taupo.
Marlieke was still in pain from hiking the Tongariro crossing but it was time to move on.
It was a steep climb out of Turangi offering beautiful views of lake Taupo and mount Tongariro standing strong in the opposite direction but it was grueling for Marlieke.
Suffering from both leg and knee pain she wasn't in the best of moods and despite some strong language being shared with not only me but anything in the surrounding vicinity she pushed on.
Eventually we made it to the small town of National Park were we immediately met a young local working for the department of conservation who offered us his yard to pitch our tent.
Ed, lived alone in this tiny village just around the corner from where we met him, it is a very small town and his past time included hunting. Although he had only just met us he was keen to get his hunting gear out to see what he could find in the nearby forest with his pup. Oddly, despite showing us his hunting rifle within just 30 minutes of meeting him we did not feel intimidated by him. He was a very friendly character who often helped people out with a place to stay using couch-surfing.
He returned an hour or two later unfortunately not having shot anything but we chatted away till it was time to go to bed.. At 10:15.
It was an exhausting day in many ways.