Taumarunui to Paekakariki

Dec 6 -15, 2009

Taumarunui - National Park – Ohakune – Pipiriki – Otumaiare – Wanganui – Foxton – Levin - Paekakariki
Distance: 437 km
Total distance: 926 km
Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/C9wnrvj2zGuwTsge7

Fine cuisine : For burger lovers, you will be pleased to know that you can get in NZ a burger that covers all the meals of the day. It comes with a beef patti, bacon, a steak, an egg, brown sauce (HP), salad, tomato and of course, fries plus at certain restaurant, a green salad. Talk about a burger...mmmmmm good.

At National Park, we took a day off and went for a 8 hours tramp, 21 km, (tramping is hiking in NZ) to do the Tongariro crossing. See pictures at: https://goo.gl/photos/dVVxJuze1G6ssDho7

At Ohakune, we went up the “Old Coach Road” To ride through the Hapuawhenua Tunnel build in the 1920's. It was a good ride up hill to get there, no panier, super light. The next day, we rode to Pipiriki - a fantastic road that goes through valleys, loose gravel that threw me off my bike. Luckily no damage to the computer or me. We set up camp at Bob's coffee shop for free but not before having a swim and ice cream. We kept on going on the Whanganui River Road that follows the river - narrow, single lane and gravel for some good variety. We camped at a DOC (Department of Conservation) camp site. The following day, we completed the ride to Wanganui where 3 kids on BMX bikes escorted us through town to local bike shops...all of them were closed!

Our longest ride so far was from Wanganui to Foxton (110 km). Initially, we had to cycle on highway no.1 with a super strong back wind that took us to Bulls in no time where we stopped for our first North American fast food at ...McDonalds. Now full of carbs, we made it to Foxton not without battling another strong wind that blew us off road when gusting. Change of plan, we decided to get off the highway and take back roads to Foxton which made the day a little bit longer. As if it wasn't enough, the wind danced with heavy rain that soaked us to the bones, So wet that at Foxton, we broke down and checked in to a motel....ah so good!

Now fresh and clean, we road the next day to Levin, we arrived at 11:30 am. This is the day where the equipment started to fall apart. Patti's front rack broke just before Levin. I had to improvised a support with zap-strap and electric tape until we made it to Levin. We found an engineering company that specializes in welding aluminium and had our front racks fixed. Now it is my freewheel clutch that starts acting up...darn! Levin has has a great bike shop who took my bike right away and fixed it. It is now 4:30 pm, we are still in Levin... we decided to stay for the night and rented a cabin at the “Levin Motor camp and Holiday Park” From Levin to Paekakariki, after riding the no. 1 highway for about 30 km, we got on the Kapiti Coastal Cycle Route that takes you along the Coast through residential areas with beaches and wonderful ocean views. We finally stayed at a Backpackers hostel for the night.