Project VELAIA

Together with Rhonda, Gaylia I had a nice time in and around Wellington.

On the first evening Rhonda took me out for dinner togehter with her friends Tamsin and Arnu who had prepared a wonderful pasta with creamy mushroom sauce. Unfortuantely I had forgotten the cake I had prepared for dessert – I realized it the moment the doors of the train had closed

The next day Rhonda took me on a ride over the hills surrounding Wellington. It was a nice but dirty and muddy single trail overlooking the city, the airport and the sea – we even had to pass some inert cows which just didn’t want to move.

And as soon as we came back and had had a shower Gaylia took us to Priseilla and her husband where a fascinating treat awaited us – at least 5 courses!

But I had to move on as I’m not on holidays. Together with Martin, a German cyclist and cycling nut, whom I had met the 3rd time in Wellington the first evening I had been there, I left town the next morning after I bade farewell from Rhonda and Gaylia and thanked them for the wonderful days I was allowed to stay with them. I really regret that I didn’t stay for the inauguration of Rhonda as a lawyer the next morning but I’m sure I would have been way underdressed for such an occasion. Thank you Rhonda and Gaylia!

With tailwinds we left Wellington at an average speed of 26km/h during the first hour. We stopped in Porirua to get replacement oil for my Speedhub 500/14 gearing system from the importer of Rohloff products to New Zealand – 20$ for a few ml of oil is quite pricy!

In a long and heavy rain ride we almost made it to Levin, but pitched our tents in a Department of Conservation campsite hut that kept us wet during the night – at least we didn’t get more wet

A terrorist screamed us out of our tents in the morning: not a funny camper but a hungry cock. First from the one side of the rectangled hut, then from the second side and then he entered from the third site. He came close to our tents and wasn’t even shy of the cameras.

The clouds were gone in the morning but heavy headwinds kept us slow. The target of 120km this day, all the way to Wanganui, was out of range. Additionally we stopped in a honey factory shop where we tested several honey mixes and bought a boysenberry honey and a kiwi honey mix. Avocados were sold for 50ct each so we bought 4 of them.

During the ride Martin explained me a lot about bicycle components as he’s usually working as a bicycle mechanic. He’s also quite a bit into communism and socialism and looks quite like Marx if I think about it now

On the Rangitikei River we pitched our tents 500m away from the Highway 1, a really nice and quiet spot and both wrote our diaries.

In the morning we made the way back to the highway on big stones along the river. We then went on the internet in the local library and as I wanted to get my USB stick I found a mouse in my Ortlieb bag!

We then decided to seperate as Martin had already seen the centre of the North Island and the East Coast and was eager to explore the west. He also had a week less left in New Zealand. I really enjoyed the company of him and his expertise in the field of cycling hardware especially.

So I continued north towards Taihape where I wanted to set over to the East Coast. I wandered over the Bruce Walking Trail and decided to stay at its entry as it was protected from the view of the passing cars 50m away and as I felt quite cold. The rain forest here has been protected due to the efforts of a naturalist and environmentalist surnamed Bruce.

Two hunters woke me up the next morning. But I guess the rims on the rear wheel had already been broken the day before – I just hadn’t realized it. Probably they broke while riding over the rocky river bed near Bulls.

So from now on I kept a speed limit of 25km/h downhill and tried to avoid all uneven speed surfaces as I was afraid of the rear wheel breaking totally.

The road went up and down a lot – like the landscape: extremely hilly. Slowly I gained in altitude and as I reached Taihape I decided not to go on the gravel road towards the East Coast but to get my bike fixed near Taupo or Rotorua – the road (HW2) should be better for the rim.

In the evening I asked at a farm house for a place to pitch my tent and was immediately invited in and to stay for the night by Rex and his wife Robyn. After a wonderful dinner with yummy ice cream as dessert I got a bed and a bag filled with warm water – thank you a lot Rex and Robyn!

And as I woke up Rex took me for a ride over his 400 hectare farm. We passed about 1300 sheep, 200 cows and 800 deer! And then we came to the jewel of the whole farm: a nice little lake hidden far behind hills from the passing traffic. The ducks had to be fed as the shooting season starts in a few weeks.

We then went to the highest point with a beautiful outlook over the countryside, with white snowcovered volcanoes in the distance. The 5 dogs had a great time hunting the deer and freeing the way for Rex and me on the quad bike.

And as I left the family Robyn gave me a lunch pakage to cover the 50km Desert Road – wonderful! A big THANK YOU to the Gregory family.

The 18km to Waioura … easy riding in nice weather. Then the desert road, 55km to Turangi, passing the 2797m high Mt. Ruhapeo, then 2291m high Mt. Ngauruhoe and 1968m high Mt. Tongariro, all sleeping or dead volcanoes. The road was leading through a military training area and some bushes I spotted next to the road turned out to be soldiers at a closer look. The tent was pitched in the Turangi Forest 1km away from the main highway for the night.

In Turangi I went to the engineering shop and asked whether they could repair my rear wheel but got a negative response – the wall is too thin! So I cycled on along Lake Taupo to Taupo and asked in the Top Gear Bikes cycle shop – they didn’t have the spokes in the right length but Marc told me about a free DoC camp site where I pitched the tent for the night and met a friendly Maori grandpa named Josef who invited me for marshmellows and gave me two apples and an apple juice on my way.

Rotorua was still a fair distance away and the road went up and down a lot mostly through forests. A lot of traffic almost forced me to put on my earphones and listen to music.

In Rotorua I went to KIWI Bikes and just wanted to drop my bike for an hour for them to repair as they had told me the afternoon before on the phone they had the spokes in the right length and would repair it on the spot – they didn’t!

So I had to find a place for the night to stay … I thought about leaving the city for the night and finding a nice spot on a hill or so but a friendly cyclist, Ryan, anticipated me and invited me to stay at his home together with Gudrun for the night – and you’ve already read a bit about what followed in a previous posting …

Rotorua has a wonderful single trail network for mountainbikers made by mountainbikers and Ryan, Gudrun and I went for a nice 2 hour ride the next morning – phenomenal! Steep drops, roots, rocks – the trails had everything I usually have on the trails in the Odenwald at home and even more. It was pure enjoyment and fun to ride!

The 1st Single Speed Championships in New Zealand took place on the following Saturday and I met great and crazy cyclists there and in on the trails in the forest. By the way: Single Speed means they have only one gear to race with – that’s pretty hard!

 

 

(cyclists taking the shortcut have to drink beer)

(more pictures on my flickr account)