The day started early packing for the big adventure! The local cat came came check out proceedings. He had been a regular visitor during my stay, but I don’t believe he belomged to the owner of the Air BNB I had rented. On New Years Day I awoke to the cat licking my hands and literally sitting on my upper body purring loudly.

Gervase arrived early to collect my luggage for the courier collection armed with coffee and a sausage roll. Then Mike rolled in in his bike to accompany me to the ferry to ensure North Shore saw me off!  Being able to follow Mike was a huge bonus as it was quicker and I did not risk getting lost. Bye bye Mike.

Once on the ferry a few people asked me what I was up to. Here they are.

Jeremy asked me if I would like to follow him to the hotel Sue was at. Yes, that made it quicker as I was at a bit concerned about that leg. Found Sue who was waiting for me outside and off we headed through the streets of Auckland managing to get lost a couple of times.

We hit countryside around the 25 km mark with rolling hills. We were both suffering in the heat which was over 30 degrees a lot for us Taswegians.

We climbed up more as we headed to Clevedon and grabbed water and an icy pole.

Nice ferns in the valleys, views and one hit and sweaty Sharron.

 

The route was quite hilly with temperatures over 33!!

As I peeled off the road I to gravel to wait for Sue I fell off… this was a better effort

Kawawaka Bay was pretty, with cockle shell collecting.

Sue needed some air in her rear tyre. We stopped at a service station but unfortunately damaged her tube valve necessitating a new tube.

Now the little old lady in the shop took an interest in us as we were there for a while. As we were leaving I asked about the hill climb per the trip notes. She informed us that it is not steep, very short and flat all the way to Miranda.

Well she obviously has an automatic little buzz box and needs to go to Specsavers. It was nasty with all our extra gear in such heat! I cursed her all the way up hoping she was right about the flat section but alas no!

However once we hit the coast it was beautiful. The roads were much quieter and flat and there was a lovely welcoming breeze. We passed through a number of small towns including Whatakatiwai and Kailua before arriving at our accomodation in Miranda.

We were thirsty and hungry! The lady in reception proudly told us the pool was heated to 35 degrees! Ha ha ha… we passed!