Day 23: Pipiriki to Wanganui
March 20th 2014
Distance cycled: 77 km
Total distance to date: 1240 km
What a beautiful ride today along the Whanganui River. An interesting ride, too. I shared the road with pigs and llamas, I had my picture taken by a local newspaper crew, I talked to a young mother and a hitchhiker from Taiwan, I stayed with a Dutch lady who is hosting another cyclist from Hungary. It's been another adventure, all in one day!
The Dutch lady, Lyneke, has cycled around the world! She and her then-boyfriend cycled for 4 years, passing through Africa, the Americas, Australia and Bali. What a trip! And the Hungarian man has been going for 9 months through Europe and Asia. Listening to their stories and looking at their pictures makes me feel like my cross country trip through New Zealand is just a walk in the park.
Anyway, today was beautiful. Take a look at these photos if you don't believe me!
They were celebrating the sealing of the last bit of road between Pipiriki and Jerusalem. I stopped here for a while to observe the festivities. When it became clear that they would not be feeding me, I moved on.
The livestock with which I shared the road today:
And here's the view of the river valley atop Gentle Annie Hill:
The climb up Gentle Annie was not so gentle. As I stopped for a break and some water, a car pulled over. A retired man was in the driver's seat and had just come from the celebration in Jerusalem. He told me that during his career, he had been the person responsible for the maintainance of the road I was riding. We chatted a bit about Wanganui and the ride there - "don't worry, after the hill, it's all downhill" he quipped - and then before he took off, he looked at me.
"I shouldn't have to say this, but: be careful."
"I know," I said. "I mean, I am. I'm trying."
He just looked at me.
"It's - I know. Being a single woman traveling and all that. It's just... a fact of life," I said. I didn't really mean it that way, but I found no other way to say it.
"It shouldn't be."
Feminist ex-government employee for the win!! This guy was awesome. Totally made my day.
posted by Kyla @ 13:32
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