24th of september started at the campsite of the waipoua forrest. Initially i wanted to stay there another night. But the cabins are pretty basic, and i had some wet clothes which did not dry during the night. Besides that the weather was also nice in the morning so i decided to continue my travels up north.
When leaving the campsite it started of with a nice 7 km climb up to 386 meters. Kind of like cycling up the 'vaalserberg' but this time with 40kg of luggage, it took me about one hour.
Up on the mountain there are two main sites to visit the huge Kauri trees. Both have a spectacular view on some of the biggest Kauri trees in New Zealand. I managed to see the Tane Mahuta (largest living kauri) and the Te Matau Ngahere (second largest) and the Four Sisters.
From the forest onwards there was a nice downhill drive into Waimamaku then the cruising to Omapere and Opononi was fairly easy, except for one steep hill just before Omapere. This one is similar to the 'Cauberg' and with all the luggage I was not able to cycle all the way up.
By the time I reach Whakatane I really will reduce the number of kilo's of luggage. So I am already thinking about which things to leave there.
That last hill really cost me quite some energy. However the view from the top was a real compensation. Looking ahead the closest backpackers past Opononi would be in Kohu Kohu, which is another 30KM of cycling.
Luckily I decided to to stay in Opononi and guess what when i got my room it started to pour and it continued to rain for a couple of hours so it was a good choice to stay here for the night.
Tomorrow morning I will add some pictures to my latest posts.
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Great that you are able to keep this post going on !! Hope that the weather becomes better so that you can travel more and also more importantly see more and observe more clearly. Already looks like you have become comfortable with the Maori language.
ReplyDeleteWaiting to see your pictures.
Hi Stefan,
ReplyDeleteLooks like sunny and warm weather for you on Sunday so you can dry out. Reading your blog brings home what a great experience it is to cycle around New Zealand.
Mark