587 km down - just 2413 to go!
11 March 2020
March 10 & 11: A huge day yesterday! We set out on charter boat from Pouto Point at 7 am and sailed along the big Kaipara Harbor to Hellensville. Easiest kms we've done so far. Great scenery and company with fellow TAers.
Arriving in Hellensville at 10am we cycled off to Mount Eden via some great separated cycle ways and only managed to get lost a little bit.
After a photo checkpoint at the top of the Mount we headed south via the coast. The route was pretty safe from traffic apart from Mark's close encounter with a bus. I've never seen such polite road rage as Mark speaking to the driver!
Pushing on we met another fellow TAer in Clevedon who suggested we share a cabin in holiday park at Orere Top10. So, peddling hard and in the dark, we got there at 8.30. A long but satisfying day.
Today, leaving Orere, we travelled round the beautiful Firth of Thames looking over at the Coromandel peninsula. Funny thing was when we stopped at Kaiaua's 'Pink Dairy' for refuelling and the shop keeper asked, "Are you Keith and Mark?" They'd been watching us on map progress and were expecting us.
We're also met 77-year-old Aussie Paul doing the tour. What a legend! He told us how he cycled the Indian Pacific event and the Race to the Rock too.
We then jumped onto the Hauraki rail trail for lots of kms to Te Aroha. Nice and flat. We met a farmer and his young daughter along the trail who bred prize cows and bulls. Which was nice. And suitably rural.
More adventures tomorrow.