Raglan to Taumarunui

Dec 1-5, 2009

Raglan - Kawhia - Te Anga (Hotel) – Waitomo – Te Kuiti - Taumarunui

Distance: 298 km
Total distance: 478 km
Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/C9TBeTffZGu9XR286

About New Zealand

In New Zealand, we quickly found out that there are two kinds of hills, steep and F@#$% steep! For reasons that only Kiwi understand, instead of building roads around the hills, they build them straight up...and straight down. No kidding, these roads are absolutely great for cycling, the climb is challenging and demanding with fantastic views and the descent is so exciting, sharp curves, narrow roads at top speed up to 70 km/h...men what a rush!!!!!

Also, food is expensive in NZ....more expensive than Queen Charlotte Islands... and pop is also more expensive than wine. A 750 ml bottle of Pepsi or Coke sells at $2,40 but you can buy a bottle of wine starting at $5.99...go figure!

Camp sites are also expensive, $15 to $20 per person but the “Top 10” rated campgrounds offer great facilities such as full kitchen, hot tubs, pool, laundry room, etc. Very clean and well maintained, you can't go wrong with them. In smaller communities, campgrounds offer sites for $10 per person. It also possible to rent a small cabin for $45 to $80. In Te Anga, the owner of the Hotel let us sleep...in the hotel (bar). Since there was no campground to be found and it was pouring rain, late afternoon, she offered us to sleep in the hotel. After a few beers with Patti, she walked back home leaving us alone in the bar, we only had to lock the doors and sleep on the carpet for the night.

Police are not armed, it was very strange to talk to a police officer that looked “bear”. No gun, no teaser, not handcuffs, basically, no belt with all the bells and whistle.

In NZ, you can drink in your car if you are not the driver and you can also drink in public.

As we cycle the country side, it is amusing to see the herd of cattle and sheep running away from us...they are use to cars, not cyclists. Patti also found out that the fences are electric...no need for more explanation. As for myself, the kiwi accent is hard to understand, Patti has to explain the meaning of certain words...I just don't get it!

The people we met so far are very friendly. We had the opportunity to sleep in a real bed in Buckland and Te Quiti and on the Tavern floor in Te Anga.

Since Dec 1st, we ha a lot of rain...did I say a lot of rain?...pouring rain but we manage to keep the gear dry. The tarp does a wonderful job over the tent and staying in houses also helped.

We are now use to the “left driving (riding) thing” since I almost died on the 2nd day of the trip. Crossing the street, I looked in the wrong direction, the small pickup truck slammed the breaks, locked all four wheels and stopped at less than 1m from my bike...a very close call but no one got hurt...thank God! The driver told me “you are a very lucky guy”, I told him “You are dam good driver!”