Fortuitously I live in the city the ferry leaves the North Island for the South. So being ahead of schedule by a full day and a half (more on that later), choose to take a rest day and not mess with the booking.

The half day is ready to explain as we rode further than anticipated by ~30km one day and ~20km the next. But the full day? That was a small typo in the planning that nobody picked up including two riders. Somehow I put the distance between Pahiatua and Eketahuna as 138km when it was only 38km 🙄 I must have slipped when creating the plan.

I sent the day with Nikki and the boys as well has some minor alterations to the bike. I made a small rear mudguard that is intended to keep dirt, dust, and mud off of my drink bottles (they’d been getting a little dirty). I also tweaked the toolbox component making it easier to get to the things I use most (chain lube, degreaser, and rag), and leaving the tube and puncture repair kit neatly tucked away on the seatpost.

It also doesn’t some time at the shop getting the gears sorted (that I had broken), and replacing the bottom bracket that has probably had more 10,000km go through it.

First thing tomorrow is the ferry and while I’m not looking forward to being away from Nikki and the boys, I’m looking forward to the rest of this epic adventure.

Having stopped within touching distance of home and spent the evening looking at the Remutaka Hill as though I might teleport myself over if I just gazed long enough, I set off early. My mind was swimming with time calculations based on riding without gear, without kids, and without almost 1500km in my legs. If you had been able to see my thoughts it would have looked like a blackboard covered with calculations and numbers none of which made sense.

The wind launched an all out assault on me today, similar to what I imagined the allied forces for on Normandy Beach. Wave after wave beat me back as if home was their freedom and I was going to take it. It was similar to the manner a surf beach tosses small children who venture to far into the water back up on the shore. At one point it blew me and 2 other riders off of our bikes. Undeterred we continued, walking, matching up the hill, beyond halfway. At times it continued raging attacks on the trees and hillside while I was sheltered like an unseen soldier flanking the enemy about to attack unseen from an unexpected location.

Eventually I summited and began the descent. The wind continued but with less enthusiasm now that I had passed halfway and the top of the hills separating me from home. The descent was familiar and it was odd to be riding somewhere I often rode after so many new tracks, roads, and hills. Someone familiar rode past in the other direction and quickly turned to ride the next 15km with me. A riding friend had come to find me and share this part of the journey to hear some stories.

I had planned to pull into Upper Hutt for morning tea with Nikki and my father-in-law and arrived early so quickly ordered a scone and coffee. Nikki arrived and unbothered by my general appearance (2 weeks of unkept’ness) accepted my joyful hug. Then my 3 sons appeared 😬 and then, yes there was more, my Mum! A second coffee and scone disappeared with stories and words and at least an hour.

Then I rode into the ferry terminal with my eldest son, keen to complete 1% of TA in the actual track.

And now I lay in my own bed in the part of this country I call home. Even here the land is wild, untamed, and glorious, far to big for just one ride. In many ways it is a blank canvas awaiting an artist, but in so many others it is already a masterpiece there to appreciate.

I’m in familiar territory now and stopped about 80km from home. It was after 4pm and I’d ridden 110km when I stopped at an intersection. If I turned left there was one climb of maybe 45 minutes between me and a downhill then an easy ~50km home or ~70km to the ferry. It was a difficult dilemma and I paused and pondered.

I’d possibly be done before dark but would have ridden ~160km today. I considered my bed, Nikki and the boys and felt as if they were beckoning. Then I considered that I still have the entire South Island so turned away from home to setup camp for the night.

Weariness visits those morning then overstays her welcome. She makes herself at home before a large morning tea (large sausage roll, muffin, and 3 cookies plus 2 coffees) gets her out the door. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I’m less spritely than day 1 on the beach as I’ve nearly finished the entire North Island.

Hawks patrol the road ahead alerted to my presence by the growling of my animal tyres on gravel. I’m not sure if they’re scouts for me on this mission and surveying the road for danger. I don’t get word of enemy forces around the bend so continue. Perhaps they’re hoping something they might prey on might hear me coming and make a dash into the dive of the hawk.

At times it is as if the countryside is only half clothed. Trees line one side of the road while the other is open paddocks, naked. It is like I’ve walked in on a someone getting changed and with just one leg in their pants they’re hopping around trying to get the other through too. Before they can trip while trying I pass on by.

It was cool again this morning and the sun has been absent the last day and a bit. Perhaps upset at the game I’ve been winning, like a sore loser she has taken her yours and left. After lunch she does come out and I fall into her embrace. I’m like a small child greeting a parent absent for a week all wrapped up in the warmth of her arms. Later in the afternoon the sun bears be mercilessly like a drunk father a teenage son sneaking in after curfew.

Tomorrow I ride over the hill and home though my journey is only half done.

The low yesterday appears to have been banished by a large home cooked meal, dessert, shower, sleep in a proper bed, and big breakfast. I felt good I turned east to head across to the Wairarapa. Home feels within touching distance now as the place names in the trail book are well known to me.

I was riding with some others and we were two abreast when we became aware of a truck behind us. We feel into single file like school children caught out of their seats when the teacher returned. I gave a friendly wave and thumbs up to thank the driver for not honking or just barreling past close. As they drew near me they started drifting in. I figured they were trying to send me a message so let riding. However, they got closer and closer, so close I could touch the truck. So I did! I have it a whack to try and say, enough! As I did I saw the driver, and it was my brother-in-law 😬

He drove alongside for a while then we had lunch together in Hunterville. It was a really great moment and I’m amazed at how much seeing him bouyed my spirits.

As I closed in on lunch there was a stretch of downhill that didn’t just beg you to go fast, it pushed you up to speed. The curves were kind and inviting and there was little need for brakes. I had some music playing at the time and the refrain looping during this descent was, slow down! I sang along out loud adding a loud, no chance to the refrain then rounded a bend to find a give way!

One section of the ride today had a forest that was rolling like a large swell in a green ocean. I would gently rise up slowing as about to crest, then burst over the top to roll down into the next wave. Trees seem to be standing at attention, straight and tall. The many shades of green appear like a gathering of peace keeping forces from the UN. Many different uniforms, some with autumnal gold trimmings as if they’re a general.

The day ends crossing some dry and brown farm land. I round a bend and it is as if a giant being gouged their claw through the paddock. I dive downwards to a river surrounded by a blanket of deep green. Trees and ferns soften the descent before a swooping, banking turn across a bridge. The green disappears as the rocks and the river appear for mere seconds then the road and the trees and a climb to the top. The silence is only broken by the gentle whir of my chain, soft buzz of tyres on tarmac, and birds singing. It is just surreal and made better at the top when I have to do it again!

At the moment every meal is like a birthday party! There are pizzas and burgers, pies and fries, cakes and muffins, fuzzy drink and flavoured milk. Everything I eat tastes like the best offer I’ve ever had and I always want more!

The last 3 days have been challenging as food hasn’t been readily available. Yesterday it was 24km to a supermarket, then nothing until this evening when we pulled into Whanganui. There were two cafes, well used, but I didn’t have enough food.

Despite having a couple of hours climbing, cold held me close and tight. O think the sun has had enough of our game, as she only shone in the distance or high above where I was riding. This is exactly what I imagined when I thought of this ride. Equal parts adventure and insanity, challenge and smiles.

The decent is an absolute screamer and I pass some other TA cyclists I met yesterday. There is no need for risks as the dirt is wide and flowing like Guinness in Dublin on St Patrick’s Day. The moon is watching and the sun is now baking the track to perfection.

Early for the jet boat, I take the opportunity to do some river jumping. I seriously consider just floating down the river towards my destination as the cool water takes away the weariness, dust, and grime from the climb. But the jet boat!! Drifting and sliding across the water, it is almost as though the laws of physics are suspended as we come down the river. We aim directly at hazards such as logs or rocks, then the driver flicks the steering wheel and we pass the opposite side to what I expect.

I’m amazed at how much color there is when everything is green but the sky.
Watching the reflection in the water you can’t tell where the river stops and land begins.

The afternoon is challenging the hardest it has been. Perhaps it was the 2 hours off the bike, or maybe I haven’t eaten enough over the past couple of days. It could be that I know the hill that is coming, but I’m lacking energy. My legs feel like sausages trying to hammer a nail. There is 75km to dinner and bed, but lots and lots of climbing.

At 60km the climbing is done and somehow the descent – another that immediately paints a smile on my face – revives me somewhat. I’m still tired and weary, with some aches and pains, but dinner and a real bed, a phone call from home mean sleep will be waiting on the pillow tonight.

How did this land come to be so? The landscapes can not be tamed by an artist or contained in a photo. It is simply to big for just one ride.

The moon watched over me as I setup camp, than again when I pack. Kindly she follows me through the morning as if wanting to ensure I make it safely to morning tea in Taumaranui. It is cool this morning and mist gently cloaks the ground, hiding her features. It is like the grand reveal of a new car, we see the outline and shape, but the detail remains unseen.

After catching up some calories in Taumaranui, we continue South. Through some rolling hills Ruapehu briefly pokes her nose out before retreating behind the safety of the hills immediately around me. They shepherd me away from her steepness and harsh climate and I don’t see her again. Smoke wafts past as a farmer burns something reminding me that I’m burning through calories and need to keep eating if I’m too make it.

A climb begins and this one twists and turns it’s way upwards. It is like a water slide at an amusement park ahead and I am tempted to turn and ride it down. Instead from the top the I descend then start again but on gravel. Just a single vehicle interrupts me with a friendly wave out of their window.

The game of hide and seek with the sun starts again as the coolness of the morning is banished by the heat of the day. In the morning I can’t decide if I prefer the warmth of the sun as I burst out of the shade, it the coolness of the shade. Mostly it depends on the direction I’m traveling, going up hill I want shade, coming down I want sun!

Without clouds to provide cover in losing the game of home and seek. But I discover a super power, riding far enough to generate my own breeze. This works well on the descents but any climb proves a flaw in this approach.

Descents flow fast like a river, occasional bumps like the white water. Then like the smooth swift current the gradient speeds me along. Much of the afternoon is like a poorly engineered roller coaster. The speed generated going down isn’t enough to get me to the top of the next rise.

At times the beauty might my take breath away if the gradient and climb hadn’t already done so.

Today was always going to be a long one. Not so much for the distance, 136km, or for the vertical climbing, 2313m, but for the supplies. Starting in Mangakino I needed the supermarket because the next shop wasn’t until Taumaranui (which is still 29km from where I’m sleeping)!

Sleep snatches me quickly but I wake a couple of times each night. As a result of don’t need to set an alarm. The decision to pack the cooker is welcome I’m the cold before dawn, coffee seems to leech warmth throughout my body and there is great comfort cradling my mug as I watch the horizon gently illuminate.

As we ride I notice we appear to be trying to avoid one mountain on the left and another on the right. Each twist in the road offers a way to another the climb. The mountains seem to move as if to be manoeuvering themselves to out flank my attempt to cut between then unnoticed. Truth be told I’m already gradually climbing.

Getting to the Timber Trail involves some seriously remote tracks. The sun gently seduces me with warmth. Later she plays hide and seek as I wind through the wilderness of forest that covers the grounds nakedness like a heavy winter coat. The cloud provides a cloak off coolness yet by mid afternoon the sun is declared champion. Fortunately the Pureroa Forest lent me spots of shade, later this would prove unfortunate as the evening coolness launches a viscous attack on my entire body.

The track is so remote that I wonder if I’ve made a wrong turn, or missed a turn I’m supposed to have taken. I don’t want to turn back because I’ve come so far and I’m really wanting to push for Taumaranui, hot showers and a proper bed.

Occasionally I see tyre marks so trust I’m tracking right. It makes me feel like a hunter from centuries ago chasing dinner and in many ways I am. The going is wild and exactly what I was after in this adventure.

Eventually we arrive at the Timber Trail. Even with a fully loaded bike and having ridden hundreds of kilometres to be here it is enjoyable riding down at speed. Speed however is something we didn’t have enough of today and the final hour and a half requires lights.

Camp is setup roadside in Ongarue. Good is hurriedly heated and devoured before laying down and letting sleep clutch me quick and deep.

This country is far to glorious for just one bike ride. There is a monotonous sameness in the way everybody’s face is the same, 2 eyes, 2 ears, mouth, nose, etc. At the same time there is a dramatic difference when you look sand discover distinct characteristics and features.

These enormous rocks stood tall back from the road as if guarding something. They were almost at attention like the rest of nature, trees standing tall, awaiting the retreat of whomever or whatever put them there. The cicadas and crickets sing to welcome me, or perhaps it is to farewell me. Either way the wind makes the trees seem to whisper as I approach, then again behind my back.

The wind was in my face again today. While this slowed progress it kept me cool as the clear sky threatened all day to cook me in her cauldron. I can’t decide if if rather be cooked and have my ride wind assisted, or be cool and slowed by the breeze.

I rode past rivers and watched mountains slowly appear in front of me to climb. I descended them fast enough to be in the middle of the lane not obstructing traffic. As the sun began to set the descents had moments of artic chill, as you ride into the spots the sun hadn’t warned. The only thing that slowed me was a bridge and gully that looked as if an enormous axe had once been thrust down into the land.

Deep rock sides fell deep into the ravine where a river flowed loudly, the sun just losing its grasp on the land. But the sun left me alone in the final kilometres. 19km was in stunning single track through a forest. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it despite having already ridden 100km and climbed over 1000m for the day.

In parts the lake had swallowed the raised platform supposed to keep us dry. But we pressed on hoping that a shop would be open. We arrived as the cafe was about to close but they had just pulled bacon and egg pie from the oven. So it sat, cradled carefully on my handlebars as I descended from the shop to the lakefront and was gone before my helmet was removed.

Sleep was interrupted at 5am as Chris, the random TA rider we had been with since Dargaville, wanted an early start. Of course I went back to sleep and the entire night was the best sleep of TA so far. We got away in reasonable time and did a few small climbs before bursting onto the Firth of Thames coastline.

The coastline was pretty much flat and we rolled along at a decent speed eventually catching Paul, a 77 year old Australian riding TA. He had the coolest riding shirt I’ve every seen, pink with the monsters from the Where the Wild Things Are book. We had morning tea with him then pressed on through flat lands on the incredible Hauraki Rail Trail. This is just amazing as it keeps you well away from traffic and amidst the country.

Given the flatness we had the fastest average speed of the tour so far at just under 19km. We also had a photo control point with a cow (yes, a cow! specifically one in the Waikato) and we were fortunate enough to have to wait for some Belgian Blue show cows to pass by. I didn’t know there were cow shows (wonder what they do for their talent?) and learned they even win prize money!!

Eating is important otherwise your energy levels crash and burn catastrophically. You can literally be crossing at twenty something km then suddenly struggle to hold 12km! I’ve had it happen to me but not on TA so far. I imagine I’m an old steam train which is apt given the great I’m generating. My stomach is the fire and my appetite the engineers screaming for more fuel. I graze on the bike then eat voraciously when off. It is becoming normal to have 4 meals each day, all larger than is normally eat despite the snacking going on.

Dinner is exciting when you’re in a supermarket until you remember you only have a tiny gas cooker. However, campgrounds have kitchens so I decided to have my first pizza of the trip. It as l almost didn’t happen as the oven at the campground was more of a 1960’s Barbie stove.

I’m surprised at how the body is handling everything so far. I’d expected to have a low day energy wise by now but haven’t. Maybe it will come tomorrow as we plan to ride ~130km to Mangakino. Again there isn’t a lot of climbing, but more than today with one good one towards the end. At least there are a couple of bailout options if needed.

Everything today was big. It started early (on the boat at 7am) and finished late (pulled into the camp at 8:30). Big day. It was the longest day off TA so far, and the longest ride I’ve ever done in a day at just under 134km. Big miles! There was also the most climbing metres today with 1481m. Big climbs. We also passed through Auckland. Big smoke 🤣

I was awoken early, 5:30am by a heavy footed fellow TA cyclist heading through the hall we slept in. Their footsteps seemed to boom like drums in a fast paced tempo towards the toilet. I’ve taken to drinking chocolate milk at the end of the day, then saving some to be in my morning coffee. I was driving my second when the alarm went at 6am.

The ferry ride was spent sharing stories with about 18 other TA riders. Of those who started a day before me many needed 2 full days to get off the beach. One got caught by the tide and slept in the sand dunes! What amazed me most is the range of people. Most around my age, a few younger, and a handful (yes that many) late 60’s and 70’s. One lady riding by herself must be late 70’s yet she just keeps on going! I guess we determine for ourselves what is possible and what we will do and mostly what stops us is only in our mind.

Auckland was a nightmare to get through. It wasn’t just traffic although that was challenging because we’ve seen so little over the last 4 days. Navigating it was super hard and a couple of times we ended up relying on my local knowledge (35 years old). We refused to use the GPS and eventually made it out with very little errors.

An early dinner before five near the airport caused the subtlest raised eyebrow I’ve ever caught. Not sure if I smell or it was the hair! To be fair I’m showering everyday so I’m going to go with the hair … Or perhaps it was the lycra shorts 🙄 Either way heading on from the airport we were passing cars as it was peak traffic and we had a tail wind.

There wasn’t really a plan on destination today, just to get out of Auckland then figure it out. As we came out of Auckland we decided to aim for Kawakawa Bay. When we hit Clevedon we were going to call to book something. On the side of the road was another TA cyclist we had been seeing regularly since Dargaville. We exchanged plans and learned from him there was no camping in Kawakawa Bay he was going to ride onto Orere Point ~9km further and ~25km suggested we split a cabin. We agreed quickly and set off riding.

Coming out of Kawakawa Bay was a hill. It wasn’t particularly long or steep but did feel to be both of those things. It wound up and the each bend promised to level off but didn’t deliver. Eventually I turned my lights on to see more as the light had faded like my legs. On a left hand bend the road leveled off and I thought it was a false top so clicked the garden and kept pedaling. Turns out it was the top and the most amazing descent if the TA unfolded. No need to brake on most bends and no need to pedal as there winding road propelled me down towards Orere Point. The last 5km were incredible rolling hills that required almost no effort (which was fortunate because the climb had taken all I had)!

A hot shower cold chocolate milk, and laying in a proper bed left me feeling alive and ready for sleep. I’m through Auckland and feeling pretty good. Tomorrow the plan is ~100km to Te Aroha and some hot pools 👍🏼