The next morning, as Dennis Glover might have described it, the harbour was an ironing board. This was just as well as there’s no jetty at Pouto Point for boats to lazily pull up to. Instead a couple of people had to stand in waist deep water and hold the boat, while the others passed the bikes overhead and up onto the deck.
Waiting for the boat at Pouto Point
The trip across the Kaipara to Parakai was uneventful. In the distance we could see the massive sculptures on Gibbs Farm. Even at a great distance they are impressive; although I can’t say I’m a fan of the free market business activities that amassed such wealth which built the farm.
At Parakai Trudy, Marion, Steve and I decided to continue riding together. I have moods of wanting company or wanting to ride by myself and today I was really glad for such good company. It was a short ride to deepest darkest Helensville where we stopped at a cafe that had kombucha on tap. It had a very expensive, consciously relaxed vibe that felt a long way from Northland’s relaxed vibe. My stomach was feeling a bit upset as it still hadn’t worked out what the hell was going on with all the riding and junk food it’d been dealing with. I thought some kombucha might be just what I needed so had a glass. It was very nice but my stomach reserved its judgement.
The ride to Auckland was really nice except for the traffic and lack of a verge in places.
After a short stop for pies/deep fried foods to cancel out the kombucha we got on to the cycle path into Auckland proper. On the way my stomach delivered its verdict on the kombucha. It wasn’t good. Sudden cramps with sharp pain. They did dissipate and there was no code brown emergency for which I’m still grateful. It’d be one thing to run into the bushes in the countryside, but quite another to be caught short in the middle of New Zealand’s biggest city!
Next stop was Mt Eden cycles. Trudy had a nail in her tyre which needed extracting and repairing, Marion was riding with rubbing brakes so got that sorted, and I got some new brake pads, electrolytes and a water bottle. I decided to send my water bladder home as I didn’t need all that capacity and it took up too much room and was inconvenient. I also posted home a tele lens that was too heavy.
Of course once we left the bike shop my cycle computer started to malfunction. I didn’t really need it as I had a GPS, so just turned it off.
Mt Eden
In South Auckland we stopped at the Pac n Save by the airport where we ran into Quin and Brendhan. Outside a curious man stopped to talk to us. He asked me what was wrong with my legs. When I said nothing he prodded one just to make sure. Apparently my quads look weird. Oh well, at least other parts of me aren’t yet weird enough to attract the attention of random strangers. Once the physical exam was over and we'd resupplied we headed off into the dusk and rain to find our motel that Trudy had booked. It was on Great South Road which must be the longest road in the country. Annoyingly the street number sequence on Great South Road was designed either by aliens or a council committee and so using common sense and following street numbers brought us to the wrong end of it. By the time we'd doubled back and made our way in the correct direction (pointedly ignoring all street numbers on the way) it was 7:30 and we were pleased to stop.
