Month: February 2025

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When we first committed to riding the TA, I thought great! We’ll be visiting the land of the kiwis.🥝

True/not true. Yes, kiwi fruit are grown commercially in NZ but actually grow wild in China, not NZ. Is that how people from NZ got their nickname.

Nope! Apparently there’s a bird, the kiwi, endemic to New Zealand, primarily the South Island. The kiwi is nocturnal, flightless and rarely seen, but beloved by all, particularly the Māori and it is New Zealand’s national bird. Something else to know about the kiwi?

Early in the 20th century in World War I, New Zealand soldiers were commonly referred to as “kiwis” by the Allies and the nickname stuck!

More about today’s ride. 🚵🏻‍♂️

It was our longest yet, and included the most ratchet part of the TA (for us). It was uphill, little shoulder, headwind, and HEAVY two way truck traffic. Apparently there is a road closure elsewhere which caused a traffic diversion that doubled traffic out of Palmerston North. Ouch! Just to give you an idea, see the video below.

Perhaps when you were younger and you faced a decision you thought, “would would my parents want me to do?” Can’t say I did this all the time but I tried. Instead, we were thinking, “What would our kids want us to do?”

We got off our bikes and walked through the roughest patches while communicating “big trucks back”. Our rear view mirrors are indispensable.

We cranked the middle of the day with a steady pace and arrived in Masterton in time to meet up with Amelia and Sarah for some town food.

At our campsite, there are several cyclists, who like us, are on their last push to Wellington. We met Katrina (from Scotland) on the ferry from Pouto Point. Every time I meet someone from Scotland, I ask if they know the McVeys, our son-in-law’s family. 🤣

Ummm that would be like meeting someone from South Carolina and asking them if they know one particular family. 🤣

Good night from Masterton…

One more sleep until Welly and a day off!

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

Accommodations

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We got some rain last night and the tent was soaked on the outside. Actually it’s soaked most every morning we camp because it’s so dewy and damp. That makes for a heavier front end on Tom’s bike. Each night when we get to our campsite, we set it out to dry before settling in for the night.

And since we camped at higher elevation last night, it was colder and foggier than most mornings. The fog and clouds made for a magical feeling as we began our day of cycling. Ya we just climbed all the way up from that road down there.

Tom’s ribs on his right side are still pretty sore from his fall on the Mangapurua decent. Not sure how he’s lugging that wet tent up and down the hills everyday but he’s rockin’ it.

Before we knew it we had 30 miles in and it was time for a snack break.

And we picked a spot under a magnificent tree, one that’s stood guard over a lush valley for at least a hundred years.

Since it was Thursday here in NZ, and our traditional date night, we ventured into town for date night and were on the hunt for a local brewery. Mission accomplished.

As we entered the camping holiday park, we decided to opt for a cheapo cabin instead of tenting outside or staying in the upscale cabins. We hung the tent and fly out to dry on the clothes line and had our nightly route rap for tomorrow, selecting tomorrow’s stopping point.

So you know what that means… Tom gets to pack up and carry a DRY tent tomorrow.😊

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

Riding Stats

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This is biiiigggg sheep country we are riding through today. I’m not sure if I enjoy watching the joy of the sheepdoggos happily doing what they are trained to do, watching the little four legged fluff balls do what they do best (either graze or move to greener pastures) or watch the expertise of the sheep wranglers.

I have little knowledge about this line of work but someday would really like to learn more.

Today was also Tom’s first ice cream! He’s wayyyy behind schedule in that effort. Look for that to change soon.

Bumped up the mileage and elevation a bit today, too.

In just a few days we will arrive in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, take a day off and then catch a ferry to the South Island across Cook Straight. We will be over half done with the Tour Aotearoa.

From what we’ve heard from northbounders, it’s very different from the North Island. We’re going to miss counting sheep as we peddle by, but Welly, we have our eyes on ewe!👀

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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We are on the Tour Aotearoa route proper but it stitches together some of the best bicycle routes in the country. Right now we are on the Mountain to the Sea Track and have crossed the island once again and are on the west side. Click on the Route Tracker above to see our progress day by day.

Easy day of riding on tarmac with lots of rollers to keep us honest and a hint of a tail wind to keep us happy.

We stopped in Whanganui for some resupply, a new sleeping pad for Tom and his has been flat since the second day and his seat bag busted. So off to the retail stores we went.

Topped the day off with a great dinner in town and a comfty motel stay.

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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There are so many stories to share about this full day: finishing the climb to the Mangapurua Trig, the sketchy decent, making it to the jet boat at Mangapurua Landing and the just-in-time arrival of Sarah and Amelia to the Landing but the one I give the most space in my mind to is the Western Vally Settlers and their story.

Not gonna lie… the view from the Mangapurua Trig was spectacular (and if you don’t know what a “trig” is look it up, ‘cause I had to.🤣 The teacher in me wants you to remember.)😊

Looks like the descent would be an enjoyable ride downhill. Nope! It was a bit of a sloppy mud mess in places and we were in a hurry to get to the landing. Both of us went down once.

We managed to get to the landing to meet the jet boat with an hour to spare.

However, we’d been in contact with our friends Sarah and Amelia and knew they were trying to make the same boat we were but they started way back in Whakahoro (near the Blue Duck where we ate lunch yesterday) and had the entire climb to make before 3:30pm. There were six very narrow bridges they had to take their panniers off their bikes in order to pass, the mud, the dismount areas. Plus who doesn’t want to stop to take pics? But with 20 minutes to spare, these two rolled in to cheers at the Landing.

The jet boat ride itself was, well… unforgettable. Captain Ken basically maneuvered his boat up to the landing, which was nothing more than a big ole rock, and loaded our bikes on the back. He asked if anyone had ever ridden on a jet boat (Tom and I were a “no”) and then he began to advise us of the safety protocols on board and let us know “don’t worry; I’ve got this. Well he sure did!

He gunned the throttle so hard the bow of the boat went straight up in the air and I was sure the bikes on the back of the boat were at the bottom of the Whanganui River.

The views were spectacular, the ride, thrilling and the river history Ken shared was fascinating. The Whanganui River has been a water roadway for centuries and he pointed out evidence of this when pausing the trip downstream.

Lest we forget, however, the people who used this river to eke out a life with their families and friends in the Western Mangapurua Valley.

Post WWI, the New Zealand government granted returning servicemen large tracts of land to be settled. Many chose to do so on the promise a bridge would be built to improve access to roads and the Whanganui River as this area was remote and largely inaccessible.

The government did indeed build a bridge – and a rather sturdy one that would accommodate needed supplies to the early settlers.

The bridge, now named Bridge to Nowhere, never served its purpose, since settlers eventually abandoned their dreams and left the valley due to forces of nature.

As I rode through the valley seeing only chimneys that remained, old signposts of plots and evidence of clearing in the midst of thick forests, I was thinking of those who lived here, died here, were born here. What might their live have been like putting all they had into making their homestead work. And at what point did they decide they couldn’t anymore after all they had invested? Many still suffered shell shock (now called PTSD) from WWI and when the left, they left everything behind and pretty much penniless.

Lots to think about as we peddled up the hills and through the valleys of abandoned dreams.

Ok long post – but the video is pretty cool today. Click on the image below to view.

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I would say the best thing that happened today (besides making it to Mosley’s) 😊 was getting to the Blue Duck Cafe just before it closed. We were HUNGRY and it’s a bit of a food desert out here where we are cycling.

But before we left Taumarunui, (last available cell service for a couple days) we had a decision to make. We needed to get up and over the Mangapurua Trig in order to catch a jet boat at Mangapurua Landing and guesstimate how long it would take so we could make a reservation.

We decided to get a bit of the climb out of the way today, head to Mosley Campground for the night and then catch the jet boat at the Landing at 3:30pm tomorrow. Sooo we were on a time schedule, with elevation, on single track, loaded up with food for a couple days. Off we went!

The countryside seems more beautiful everyday and changes! And today is the first time we’ve seen deer.

The morning’s ride also brought wide open, massive rock walls.

After lunch at the Blue Duck in Whakahoro we began climbing on a very rough 4×4 road. It was tough going for a while but soon we turned onto single track with lots of bridges, twists and turns all the while climbing. Tom would cycle ahead and wait. When the trail got to too technical for me with a loaded bike I just got off it and ran uphill with it. I can run/push sometimes faster than I can ride on single track with obstacles.

It turned out to be great planning on Tom’s part. We got to Mosley’s, laid the tent out to dry (it was still wet from the night before) and made dinner.

Post dinner we set up the tent, crawled inside and dreamed about tackling the rest of the Manapurua climb.

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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This morning was the coldest morning yet so Tom hopped out of the tent and quickly built a fire in the fireplace. Camp Epic’s open air kitchen had a delux cooking set up and a make-your-own breakfast set-up so Tom whipped up some grilled egg sammiches for breaky. My gosh, were they tasty!

We were swingers today as we cycled over deep gorges and streams on several swinging bridges. Today’s Maramataha Bridge is the longest swing bridge on the Timber Trail spanning 282 feet. In fact it’s the longest swing bridge on any cycle trail in New Zealand.

Originally built in 1925 to haul timber out of the forest, it closed in 1958 as logging trucks found an alternate route. Subsequently it was rebuilt for cyclists!

Yay! We finished the Timber Trail today with a very nice ride along what used to be the tramway out of the forest. This made for some nice downhill sections and a tunnel that engineers created to “flatten out” the ride.

As we road through the walls of rock cut to make way for the tram we thought about all the mental and physical effort to build the tram and how grateful we were for its repurposing.

Now these walls of rock are carpeted with ferns and all kinds of plant life.

Tomorrow we cycle to a remote area to find the Bridge to Nowhere. And we’ll no longer be swingers since the bridge is made of concrete. The only way out of this track is by jet boat down the Whanganui River so I guess that makes us jet setters?

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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Timber, lush, green vegetation and old growth forest embraced us as we cycled through the first segment of the Timber Trail, one of New Zealand’s Remote Wilderness Rides.

It was mostly flowy single track the entire day with just a few technical spots.

The day started with a sweet surprise as we celebrated a family reunion riding past the campsite of our TA trail buds, Pippin, Amelia, Sarah and Zach. They were camped less than a quarter mile from us. So good to see the fam again.🥰

Tomorrow we finish the Timber Trail and but not before crossing the longest suspension bridge on the trail.

The Timber Trail has a fascinating history. As it is (was) flush with timber, it naturally became a target for intensive logging. The old growth Pureoran forest was quickly diminishing as loggers fell 100-150 trees a day, and hauled them out to be milled for lumber.

In the late 1970’s environmental activists helped save the ancient forest as they lived in platforms in the trees to prevent continued logging. The subsequent effect? Good for the forest, but not so good for the local economies.

John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand serving 2008-2016, began efforts to revitalize post logging economies with adventure tourism. Key was instrumental in conceiving the idea of linking the entire country with bike trails. The 53 mile Timber Trail became a part of that plan opening up to cyclists in 2013. Oorah Prime Minister Key!

More swing bridges today (and yes they DO swing when we cycle across them) and a stop at the Timber Trail Lodge for a pizza before heading to Camp Epic where we camped.

We luckily beat the rain and chowed on a Hawaiian pizza until Pippin showed up treating us to a cup of French press coffee.

At Camp Epic we quickly pitched our tent, reveled in a hot shower before a huge downpour and then cooked up the rest of our food in their outdoor kitchen.

Tom built a fire in fireplace and we ended the day with Abbott strumming his ukulele. I call this perfection.

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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Having cycled 500 miles we are one quarter of the way finished with the TA. And today we saw the exact center of the North Island.

But first… we had coffee at the Maraetai Lodge where we splurged for another night between cotton sheets and fluffy pillows at a bike hostel.

Then the obligatory filling of water bottles. We’ve been using these same liter bottles since we started nearly two weeks ago.♻️

Shortly after a flowy single track on the Waikato River Trail we crossed our first swing bridge.

And as if to bookend a beautiful hilly off-road ride today, at the end of the day we stopped to see the abandoned tractor many have written about.

Several of these were imported from… wait for it… Illinois to help with the massive effort to clear timber back in the 1940’s. This one was used for hauling posts and other agricultural equipment.

Unfortunately it threw a piston through its engine block so it just sits where it quit. There is even a cover over it now to help preserve it since it’s become somewhat of an icon.

Tomorrow we move on bicycles from the center of the North Island to the very top of the Tour Aotearoa Trail.

Hope your days are extra special. Thanks for the follow!

Click on the image below to view today’s video.

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We woke up in our tents, peeked out and walked to the lake to view the beginning of a beautiful day. Thanks God!

After our four P’s, (pack-up, push-ups, planks and prayers) we were underway, but first we had a HUGE grind to get up the steep dirt road to get OUT of the campground.

Our plan was to ride 50 miles to Pureora before tackling the much talked about Timber Trail.

As it was, we had only enough gas in the tank to get to Mangakino as today there was a 12 mile single track technical section and some of us (me especially) ended up hiking with the bike rather than riding it.

The trail was gorgeous, but it wore both of us out with its steep, short climbs, tight turns riding loaded bikes, being uber careful to avoid sudden drop offs. It’s as tough to push bikes up these grades as it is to ride them sometimes.

Good news is there is always something pretty to look at and since New Zealand doesn’t have anything in the woods that will kill you, (like grizzlies) that takes the stress out of the whole ordeal.

We met up down by the lake and then climbed back up and headed to Mangakino where we made the decision to break the 50 miles into two shorter days as do a lot of TA riders along this stretch.

Tomorrow we reach the centerpoint of the island where I hope to be riding not hiking with my bike. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Click on the image below to view today’s video.