The Latest Bicycle Touring News from DownTheRoad.org

Cindie taking cover in a bus stop while a rain shower passes by.

December 20 Rotorua to Awakeri 76 km - We woke to a rainy drizzly morning but were determined to get back on the road. The road was rolling and we rode by two lakes that are what remains of two calderas. The volcanic activity in this area is everywhere we stopped a few times to get out of the rain but overall it was great to get back on the road. We stopped at Awakeri motor camp and hot spring and decided a soak in the hot spring would be refreshing.

Just after sunset, I was collecting the last of my clothes from the clothes line when suddenly the ground began to shake - EARTHQUAKE - whoa I was looking at Tim and the clothes line pole bent from side to side right in front of me. I ran over to Tim and the ground shock again, the sensation was like no other, the ground felt like jellie and moved like a wave. My insides move around as if in a bowl of water. The kids sitting at a table not too far from our campsite erupted into chatter and fright. Somehow I think this will not be the only earthquake I will feel in New Zealand, this country sits on two major faults and moves often.

December 21 Awakeri to near Opotiki 55 km. - We rode into Whakatane and collected our last supplies. Both our bikes are heavily loaded full to the brim with food. It should have been an easy ride today but we had a headwind all the way to Opotiki and when we arrived in the motor camp we were both exhausted. I had enough energy to make dinner and then go to bed, getting back in shape can be tough.

December 22 Near Opotiki to Haupoto 48 km.- After Opotiki the traffic calmed down. We climbed many hills today but it seemed easier than fighting a headwind, the scenery is amazing, rugged coastline.

Update on Tim’s Parasites: Tim has been taking mebendazole a drug used to eliminate threadworms and the third doctor Tim saw prescribed it at 200 mg per day for three days. Since Tim took the drug as prescribed but it did not seem to help much so we waited two weeks and started 200 mg per day and this time for a longer period of time, on the 3th day of taking the drug Tim started passing pieces of some type of worm. He continued to pass them for four more days. OK this is high on the yuck scale but he discovered a piece of worm about the diameter of my pinky finger and an inch and a half long and said he had at least 20 pieces this size. Yuckkkk. I can not believe that is inside of Tim and I am sure more is going to come out. Tim will continue to take the medicine until all the worms are gone.

I can not believe that Tim can ride with this parasite infestation, I know the medicine makes him feel bad but everyday he continues to get on the bike and ride. We are taking it slow. I can’t express how awful I feel that Tim is going through this, I get mad when I think about the poor treatment he has gotten from 3 different doctors and at the same time I am impressed that he does not complain at all. If it were me, I would not be on a bike and complaining all the time. If I saw that ugly thing come out of me I would have fainted.

December 23 Haupoto to Whanarua Bay 50 km - An easy ride with a tailwind and lots of things to stop and see like a Maori Marae, a gathering place for celebrations like first birthdays ect. We also noticed many had monument with the names of soldiers who died in WWII. The Maori signed up in huge numbers and were sent to some of the worst places and not all of them came back.

Found a nice place to camp and went to bed early and slept for 11 hours ah a good nights sleep in one of the great benefits of riding.

December 24 Whanarua Bay to Hicks Bay 76 km - The scenery so far has been stunning, isolated bays rugged coastline and no traffic on the road. A few stores have been open and the locals have been friendly. We stopped a Waihau Bay and had lunch at the Post Office that was located across the street from the wharf and we met a few locals guys who ran the machine shop. Friendly folks but oh their accent was hard to understand.

The Maori have a tradition of full face tattoos, I can’t help but wonder want it means and it had to be painful to get. We have seen a few full face tattoos out here on the east cape and we have also seen a few women with just there chin tattooed. Fascinating.

On our way into Hicks Bay we passed quite a few bee hives and rode through a couple of bee sworms, a frightening experience, and Tim being in the lead took a bee to the chest and was sting pretty bad, he swelled up so bad I gave him a antihistamine. Takes Tim for shielding me from the bees.

We arrived in Hicks Bay and I asked the guy at the store where we could camp, he was a former rugby player (you can tell by looking at his ears, they were pretty much flatten), anyway a super nice guy. He directed us down the first road on the right and said anywhere under the big trees. We rode down the road a half a kilometer and came to three lovely camp sites with a great view of Hicks Bay. Beauty

December 25 Hicks Bay - Merry Christmas everyone, It is Christmas Day and a Rest Day for us. It was a little rainy this morning and we decided our legs needed a rest day. Basically kicked back and enjoyed the scenery.

December 26 Hick Bay to Ruatoria 58 km - I was glad we had a rest day because today was the hardest ride on the east cape, the hills we steep and at least three in a row. So when we arrived in Ruatoria we were pretty spent. The problem was it was Boxing day, most everything was closed and there was no place to camp. We went with our standard plan of picking up water and riding until we found a place to camp. I went inside the only store open and bought two cones of New Zealand’s delicious ice cream. When I came back Tim was talking to the owner of the shop next door. Howie was happy to give us water and when he found out we needed a place to camp he said we could camp in his back yard. Awesome. To top it off he let us take a shower at the shop and it was rain water. Taking a shower in rain water is heaven the water is soft and cleans everything well even a couple days build up of sun screen.

Howie is an interesting guy, he has traveled all over the world and is a jack of all trades, his first trade is electrician but he has been a coroner and shop owner as well. We had a few beers with Arthur and Howie and talked about the history of the area.

December 27 Ruatoria to Free camp in a farm field near Tolga Bay 60 km - It took a while to pack up because the tent was wet but we were off early, for us, and the hills were gentler today.

I don’t know what it is about Tim but he had a bird yes a bird bounce off of his chest today. The little thing was knocked silly be recovered quickly and flew off. The scenery is beautiful with the sea to our left and the mountains to our right. We picked up water in Tokomaru Bay and rode until we found a camp site. Tim hauled the 10 liter bag of water out of Tokomaru up a steep hill and he was still leaving me behind, hmm I think Tim is recovering from this parasite thing or I am getting slower in my old age. Found a great place to camp.

December 28 Farm Field to Gisborne 78 km - We set sail in the morning with a nice tailwind all the was to Gisborne. Traffic is increasing as we approach Gisborne and we came across the freedom camp sites north of town and they were packed. It turns out that Gisborne is having a music festival on New Year’s eve and the place is packed. Craig, from New Plymouth, warned us everyone would be at the East Cape for New Year but we did not realize that 18,000 people would descend on a town of 30,000 and we could not find a camp site for the night. We stopped at the Flying Nun backpackers and the place was one huge party and full, we stopped at the YHA and it was full too. After 2 hours of searching for a place to camp we ended up back at the YHA and managed to get two nights stay there.

December 29 Gisborne - Rest Day - Our rest day gets off to a shaky start with another earthquake at about 6:40 am. Turns out the earthquake was located 20 km south of Taupo about 150 km as the crow flies from here. This is the second one in two weeks for us. I wonder is a big one is coming or if this is normal for New Zealand only time will tell and I half expect a volcanic eruption at any time now.

Read all of Cindie’s North Island New Zealand Journal Here

See index of all (several years) Cindie’s Journals here