I had to leave Rotorua again, even if I didn`t really want to. The time felt so short!
So I rode out into south-east direction, back on the HW 5, I took a small side road to Waimangu, then continued through forest, forest and forest again to Murupara – nothing special, really. I was listening to some lectures of the E.N. Thomson Forum on world issues, one of a photographer telling about the stunning variety and the prize and importance of flora and fauna – what a contrast while I was cycling through this totally man made forest where probably all native animals had been gone since ages already.
In Murupara I refilled my reserves for the off-road and empty way to Wairoa and left the small town immediately afterwards. I cycled into the hills and stopped as heavy rain started.
And this heavy rain continued all night long and the whole next day! I decided to stay in the tent as the rain hadn’t stopped by noon and fortunately my mp3 player was fully charged so I have been entertained all the time, mostly by lectures of the E.N. Thomson Forum again, some interesting ones, but also crap by lecturers like Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.
And then the following morning the air was clear, no cloud to see on the sky … time to get up and cycle! And cycle I did: 90km and 1712 altimeters! Up two long mountains to nice passes, all through forests, through narrow gorges and wide valleys.
The rain of the previous days had caused some of the rocks to come down but there was still space left to come through for cars and the cyclist of course – I’ve been the only one these days as it seemed.
I arrived in Waikaremoana in the afternoon and was pretty exhausted. So I didn’t cycle much further, but just to a nice little lawn where I could pitch the tent (without a “no camping” sign) and overlook the Lake Waikaremoana – my hunger for stunning views was totally satisfied this day!
The next morning I made it to Wairoa pretty fast, where I went shopping in a supermarket and met a cyclist. Yes, there’s another crazy cyclist cycling the East Cape at this time of the year! 
He turned out to be Josua from Switzerland who’s cycling New Zealand and Down Under for 5 months before he’ll start studying art and design in Switzerland. At home he’s totally into mountain bike racing in the Swiss elite class and his new sponsor thomyk is probably not too happy about this extended cycle tour as he won’t race for the biggest part of the season.
As he’s traveling quite comfortably (2 to 3 person tent, stove and a lot more) I had to think hard before I decided to cycle with him … no, of course I’m only joking! From the first moment on we came along really really well together and as it turned out this should be the case for over a week!
The first day we cycled together to Nuhaka and camped a bit further near Morere Hill on a field above the road. After half a week of cereals and sandwich bread with jam or honey I was really happy about the warm food we prepared in the evening. This should get a daily ritual from now on: muesli with dates and bananas and more in the morning, often salad or salad sandwiches for lunch and warm diner (pasta, rice, …) in the evening – I won’t open my mouth against it!
The next stage brought us mostly in the flat on almost empty roads (one car every 10 to 15 minutes) to Gisborne. The air was getting cold and naked trees were standing beside the road. In Gisborne the reserves had to be refilled as we expected the coast to be pretty empty and the general stores to be small and expensive and far from each other.
As we camped close to Okitu, 8km from Gisborne, directly on the beach, Josua found out, that the fuel for the stove was almost running empty. We had to decide whether to go back to town or risk running empty … we took the risk and werelucky.
As the sun appeared over the sea the next morning our tents stood dry in the gold of the morning. We left after a short breakfast, happy about the weather and the empty roads. A small group of Maori looking fisherman stood in a circle in flat water and we wondered what they were doing … it turned out that they were standing around a sting ray which later seemed to fly away through the water – amazing!
We cycled on through Tolaga Bay where a friendly woman in a general store gave the both of us big mountains of sweet New Zealand ice cream – we both had trouble eating it as we got 4 balls when we ordered a double (for NZ $ 2.50 = 1.3 Euro) but we were happy!
In the evening we were lucky again and found a phenomenal spot to camp. Just 100m through a gate we camped with a great view on Tokomaru Bay 200m below us – together we were first sitting on a small hill and just enjoying this moment.
And as it got extremely cold in the evening we had dinner inside the tent, and then dessert – no dinner without dessert anymore, wow!
The next morning started as the evening had ended: with a stunning view and a wonderful philosophical sun that appeared in the east. Short breakfast and off we rode in a fast downhill!
But as the day got older the weather got worse. After Tikitiki we had to pull off beside the road and pitch the tent in a spot that was crap compared to what we had gotten used from the previous days. But still, it was a nice spot next to a small creek that changed into a medium sized river due to the rainfalls during coming down in the night.
In the morning after a few more hills we reached Te Araroa and later Hicks Bay where Captain Cook passed by 200 – 300 years ago. The view on Te Araroa and the beaches was stunning when we set over to Hicks Bay. From there on the road went a bit further away from the coast unfortunately and only in Whangaparaoa we came back to the coastline.
The area is settled almost entirely by a Maori population and you pass a lot of schools an community centers with wooden carvings in the front – somehow I don’t really like them, they don’t seem authentic to me but more like a marriage of modern civilization with a bit of Maori culture – a Western lifestyle with Maori culture as a mere hobby. Most of them are driving big cars, 4WDs, wearing normal clothes, living in standard houses and so on. But of course it’s essential to conserve the language, the habbits and culture of these people.
Josua would have photographed every single wooden carving had he been cycling alone, I guess. But I think by cycling together we found a healthy mix
The way down to Opotiki was pretty hilly at times, always 50m up, then the same down again. But cycling was much easier together as we always found something that seemed to contract the time and make the hills float away like warm butter.
In the Waihau Bay general store a woman said she wants to make business and wouldn’t refill us our water bottles with tap water but we should buy 1.5 litre buttles from her shop – well, I considered it to be a human right that has never been denied to me so far, not even by some of the poorest people on the planet in areas like Tibet or China! Josua agreed and we decided not to buy anything from her shop at all.
45 minutes later we got all our bottles and water sacks filled for free and got even invited for a coffee in a small Maori school.
The coast was at the beginning really beautiful, sometimes only a few meters from the beach, with wonderful and large trees, but got a bit less attractive the further we came to Opotiki. In this town of 6000 we bought enough vegetables and fruits for a big and tasty Mexican wrap dinner that we had planed to have between our tents as usual. But it came different:
We asked at a house whether we could camp on the lawn beside – it’s been part of a development area with new houses only 50m from the beach. The owner said of course we could camp but pointed to the dog that was just doing his job on the lawn: John then suggested that we should sleep on the top floor of his house that he’s just building and completing soon.
So we had a really nice, wind protected place with a nice view on the coast. The dog and cat were sleeping on the ground floor and couldn’t come up as the ladder was too big an obstacle for them. We had our wraps and a good night, even though Josua was a bit cold in the sleeping bag during the night.
John and his wife Susan even offered us a warm shower the next morning – first we thought in their caravan, but it turned out that there are special cabins in the area for people who are building their house but haven’t finished the bath yet – he gave us the keys but we only went to toilet as it was pretty late already.
A big THANKS to John and Susan for their hospitality and for letting us stay as the first guests in their house.
As Josua hadn’t been in Rotorua yet I told him a lot about the trails, the volcanic activity and the friendly people and so we decided to cycle there. I phoned Ryan and Gudrun again and they agreed to let us stay again, wow!
We passed Whakatane and a Swiss fruit orchard with a nice really authentic looking Swiss house where we bought some pears and kiwis for the evening – a chocolate fondue with fruit pieces dipped into it – yum!
But first we had to climb a 400m hill to Lake Rotoma. At the coast we immediately found a nice spot to camp. But I had gotten cold in the uphill, really cold, and I couldn’t change my wet shirts as I didn’t have any dry options. It was now that I regretted not to have bought a merino shirt and to have forgotten my fleece pullover with Rex and Ryan about 2 weeks ago.
But Josua helped me out! He was warm, hot, it even seemed at times. In his short cycling shirt he decided to take a warm shower and then prepared the dinner while I was warming up in my sleeping bag. We had the dinner and the chocolate fondue together later on while I used the sleeping bag as a blanket to keep me warm. I owe you one, Josua! Thanks my friend!
And as that hadn’t been enough yet a mouse plundered my food plastic bag during the night … all the ginger nut cookies had been gone, the kiwi got tested and the mouse even entered the rolled oats bag – damn!
But we still managed to get a breakfast the next morning and set out for a short ride to a warm pool were we took a nice bath in the escaping sulfur bubbles in 40-60 degrees water – it was really wonderful as the temperature was quite cold and a few raindrops were falling at the beginning – I realized that I’m not skinny at all any more and I guess this can at least in parts be credited to the delicious food (and the abundance of the food) I had gotten through the last week(s) 
( Josua’s special salted peanuts sandwich, Josua passing a cow herd)
Then we approached Rotorua and the really really bad smell of the town. We met Ryan, Gudrun and Sven by coincidence in front of the Kathmandu store and went online for 5 hours to recover from the “unconnectedness” along the East Cape.
Only many car drivers as in every other country – hope that will change!
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