Today was a fantastic day….best day ever….well in recent memory at least! Last night I was looking at today’s route and I got really scared about the massive hills….i was seriously contemplating returning to a larger town and renting a car….and I’m so glad I didn’t do that. Yes there were massive hills, and yes they were hard, but not nearly as hard as I thought.
An early start meant that the roads were fairly quiet. A big (not massive) hill right outside of town to warm me up!!! Walked a bit of it when the grade increased. Then another hill….then a flat section. Just before the massive hill there was a grocery store in a small town. The only store or gas station on the route today. A hot quiche and some water hit the spot.
Time for the massive hill….5.8km long with 347m of elevation gain! Usually big hills are around 1km long and less than 100m of gain. That’s why I called this massive, and there were three in total today. I rode through a beautiful forest, and because I was so slow I got yo enjoy it for a long time 😀. At the top of the hill was checkpoint photo #3.
Tane Mahuta which translates as “lord of the forest”. It is one of the largest known living kauri in New Zealand at 51.3m tall and a girth of 13.77m. It is thought to be over 1800 years old. Th gum of the tree was highly prized by the Māori as a fire starter and a medicine. Soot from the burnt gum was commonly used in tattooing.
There is a fungus that has been killing off the Kauri trees, and that fungus has been detected only 60 meter away. In order to safeguard the Tane Mahuta, before getting onto the trail, shoes must be scrubbed with a brush, then washed with a disinfectant. There is an elevated trail, about 1.5m above the forest floor to ensure no spores from shoes don’t accidentally get brought close to the tree.
After all that….it was so worth seeing. It is magnificent.
When I was getting ready to leave the area I saw 4 motorbikers….so asked them some recommendations of roads to take and things to see….they were a bit puzzled when they saw my pedal bike….but when I explained that we would be renting motorbikes in April they understood, and gave me lots of ideas of what to see. I excited for that part of our holiday too.
Another big hill….and at the top was a little ice cream shop and a building that said gum shop…. I thought chewing gum…a whole shop devoted to gum….but it was actually gum from the trees.
The scenery is spectacular….rolling hills that are so lush and green with a few flowers in the ditch. Part way through today’s ride on the highway, we turned off onto a gravel road….riding about half of today’s distance on gravel.
About 7km from town, after all the hills were done, I noticed several cyclists stopped….i was planning on continuing as I had just stopped to eat a banana and cookies about 5km back. But of course went over when one cyclist waved me over. It was the infamous watermelon stop!!! So glad I didn’t miss it! Three young people handing out watermelon slices and ice cold water….it just doesn’t get any better!!!! They also had a tandem bicycle and took people on rides😀. True trail Angels!
Once in town I set up my tent and headed to have a burger. Chatted with other cyclists while I was waiting. It’s interesting….every single Kiwi that I have a conversation with all ask me how we like our new Prime Minister….fantastic I always say. They all talk about his speech at the World Economic Forum, and how impressed they are with him. It’s great getting to know other like minded people half way around the world.
A long post….and now it’s time for sleep…another big day tomorrow.
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