Leaving Dargaville

Day 2 on the bike, after a good night of sleep in Dargaville the weatherforecast for today is not that great. Not that great means some rains are forecast and there will be a northerly wind. In short I suffered from a lot of headwind (= tegenwind in english). The headwind was even worse then on the 22nd, in fact on a steep hilly climb my average speed dropped to 6 km/h which is my absolute worst ever. I spend about 3 hours to on a 30 kilometer leg to visit Kaihu.


At the local Tavern i hoped to have a nice hot meal but unfortunatelly the cook was sick today. Luckily one of the guests recommended the minced meat and cheese pie, and these were great. From Kaihu towards the Waipoua Forest Camp grounds it is a 23 kilometer ride with some very steep hills. So we discussed all options on how to best cycle uphill.

Eventually 3 alternatives are available, one which the owner of the Backpackers in Dargaville recommended and another one only known by locals. But by the time i finished my 2nd pie Jack offered to drive me up the peak. Eventually he even drove me as far as the Waipou Forest camp grounds which proves once again the new zealand hospitality. This was due to the bad weather, it had started to rain continuously and the headwinds were fierce on top of the ridge.

At the camp site a number of cabins are available and luckily there were plenty available since it is not peak season.


The nice girl at the reception explained the difference between a 1 and 2 person cabin which resulten in 2 person cabin for 2 nights. It was a 300 meter walk from the reception to the cabin, and long enough to become really wet. Anyway the cabin is nice and dry, And since there is no TV nor internet i have plenty of time to write this story.


The actual ride is spectacular the countryside between Dargaville and Kaihu is simply stunning however due to the headwind I focussed mainly on my new friend the white line. In order to avoid problems with other drivers I stay closely to the white line on the lefthand side of the road. Due to the serious headwinds controlling the bike turned out to be quite a challenge.


Anyway i made it and that is what counts.