I was obviously still tired and woke up in my tent at 10.30! It was a lovely sunny day again. So far I very much prefer the weather of the North Island. I took my time this morning and chilled and had some porridge for breakfast and coffee and the had a wander round town in the day light. There is a strange little Dutch Windmill.
I headed off around lunchtime and biked to Whanganui for about 4.30 and stopped off by the river for something to eat. I really like the fact that New Zealanders are so friendly. In that time I had 2 different people come up to me to chat and say hello. One of them offered me a place to stay for the night but I really needed to get on further today as I would like to do the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow if possible. I thought I would bike as far north as possible today and then see if I could hitch the rest to get to the National Park tonight.
The pass was really beautiful and very hilly. The hills are very different to anywhere I have been before. Although the North Island of NZ is not as mountainous as the South Island some of the passes are harder work on a bike because they change altitude more than the South Island passes which run through the low valleys between the mountains. Although I was really enjoying the ride, at about 6 I started putting my thumb out as I was running out of time to get to the National Park. My flight out of Auckland is on the 18th and so I need to be in Auckland on the evening of the 16th so that I can spend some time in the city. Therefore, I have a reasonably tight schedule over the next few days.
It did not take long to get a ride :-) Les (a farmer from Kakatahi) stopped in his big red truck and offered me a lift up the road. At the turning off for his farm he said I could either carry on going the 70km to the National Park or stay with him and his family at their farm. Les seemed like a really nice guy and so I decided that I would just get up early tomorrow and go to the national park instead. Definitely the right choice!
We got chatting over dinner and it turns out that he has a private plane and was planning on taking his Dad for a flight around where he grew up tomorrow morning. Les invited me to go along with them!!!! Awesome. My plans to get to the National Park early tomorrow morning changed very quickly.
Les has a massive farm (medium size by NZ standards - huge by UK) and a really lovely house. The views are fantastic of Mt Ruapehu.
I headed off around lunchtime and biked to Whanganui for about 4.30 and stopped off by the river for something to eat. I really like the fact that New Zealanders are so friendly. In that time I had 2 different people come up to me to chat and say hello. One of them offered me a place to stay for the night but I really needed to get on further today as I would like to do the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow if possible. I thought I would bike as far north as possible today and then see if I could hitch the rest to get to the National Park tonight.
The pass was really beautiful and very hilly. The hills are very different to anywhere I have been before. Although the North Island of NZ is not as mountainous as the South Island some of the passes are harder work on a bike because they change altitude more than the South Island passes which run through the low valleys between the mountains. Although I was really enjoying the ride, at about 6 I started putting my thumb out as I was running out of time to get to the National Park. My flight out of Auckland is on the 18th and so I need to be in Auckland on the evening of the 16th so that I can spend some time in the city. Therefore, I have a reasonably tight schedule over the next few days.It did not take long to get a ride :-) Les (a farmer from Kakatahi) stopped in his big red truck and offered me a lift up the road. At the turning off for his farm he said I could either carry on going the 70km to the National Park or stay with him and his family at their farm. Les seemed like a really nice guy and so I decided that I would just get up early tomorrow and go to the national park instead. Definitely the right choice!
We got chatting over dinner and it turns out that he has a private plane and was planning on taking his Dad for a flight around where he grew up tomorrow morning. Les invited me to go along with them!!!! Awesome. My plans to get to the National Park early tomorrow morning changed very quickly.
Les has a massive farm (medium size by NZ standards - huge by UK) and a really lovely house. The views are fantastic of Mt Ruapehu.
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