Day 7: Pooh Corner to Wellsford
March 3rd 2014
Distance cycled: 50 km
Total distance to date: 405 km
I have had to do a bit more planning since I can't take the recommended route until after Auckland. I feel somewhat guilty for just following the route instead of finding one for myself, but hey, why reinvent the wheel? And the recommended route thus far has been splendid (with the exception of Ninety Mile Beach).
Breakfast this morning was spent chatting with my Pooh Corner hosts David and Danielle over coffee, which was so great. They have set the bar very, very high for Warm Showers hosts as they are extremely open and hospitable, and left me wanting for nothing. Danielle is Canadian, from Montreal, and has been living in New Zealand for twenty years. David is a cattle farmer. I asked Danielle if she helps with the farm and she said no. I was surprised but then she asked me if I married someone, would I automatically assume his profession? She had a point! I'd never thought of it that way before. Their kids were all off at school, so we had time aplenty to chat before I hit the road.
My first break was a coffee stop at a lovely cafe and bakery in Maungaturoto called Lily. My order was taken by a cute friendly guy with more tattoos than I would expect for such a rural area. The town had a few other cafés and an organic food shop. If I lived up here, I would probably come to this town a lot. I proceeded on to SH1 via a long downhill (fun!) followed by a long uphill (...). Oh well, they say what goes up must come down. Except for cycling it's the opposite of that saying.
20km from Pooh Corner came the sign for the dreaded SH1.
All that Brynderwyn had that I could see was a cow-themed cafe by the highway. They only allowed toilet use for customers so I bought an ice cream bar and sat and pondered what I was getting myself into with this whole riding SH1 thing. I watched the traffic go by from the cafe for a while. A guy and two ladies came into the cafe, passing my bike on the way. As he came in the door, the guy exclaimed loudly to his lady friends in an American accent: "You think you're tired? There's someone crazy enough to bike across New Zealand!" Yup, that's me.
Finally, there was no putting it off any longer. I hopped on my bike and darted down SH1.
Riding SH1 isn't exactly fun, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. There's much more of a shoulder on SH1 than on highway 12. Granted, there's also many more big trucks. I wouldn't recommend that any cyclist ride SH1, and I plan on avoiding it entirely after Wellsford, but it simply couldn't be circumvented on this 28km stretch.
Kaiwaka was a little blip of a town but enough for me to sit, rest and refuel after 10km of highway riding. It also allowed me to sit out a short and sudden burst of rain.
Another burst of rain came just 7km outside of Wellsford, as I was having a rest and a snack outside at a rest area. These things tend to pass quickly so instead of digging out my rain gear, I simply dove under the concrete picnic table. To my surprise there was a chicken under the table, too. It's not uncommon to see chickens at rest stops here, but I wasn't expecting to have to share my rain shelter with it.
The last few kilometers in town were grueling, and I was so glad to see the sign welcoming me to Wellsford. I did have to bike around a while until I found my host's house, but at least I was off SH1!
When I got to the front door, I was greeted by a blonde 2-year-old boy. We played peek-a-boo as I knocked and waited for his mother to answer the door. After 5 minutes I texted her, since no one was coming. She was just around the corner in the kitchen, but hadn't heard me knocking. I'll bet she's used to blocking out noises, since she also has two more boys, Rylan age 4 and Tristan age 6. Yikes! What a handful. They were sweet boys though. I enjoyed eating a homemade dinner of Thai curry with naan bread with them, and talking about dinosaurs and why T. Rex eats his prey without chewing.
Sylvia showed me where I could pitch my tent in the back yard. I had a beautiful view of rolling farmland and the sheep grazing in the next paddock over. There was also a laundry line where I could air out my cycling clothing, and Curtis the toddler helped me by handing me the clothespins which were in a pile on the ground. He was much closer to them than I was. Then we played a little bit of hide and seek until I started chasing him up the driveway and he got scared and started to cry. I'm sure I made a great impression on the family by doing that. But Curtis got over his fright and was my little buddy for the rest of the evening.
After the boys went to bed, I had a bit of a chat with Sylvia and her husband Paul, during which I was surprised to find that neither of them had ever been any further afield than Australia. It reminded me that I am so lucky to have the chance to travel! We watched a few bad American sitcoms until I could take no more, and I retired to my tent for the night.
posted by Kyla @ 22:29
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