Day 6: Whanganui Inlet

We are spending three nights in Collingwood and today was our first full day. There are not many food options here but the Courthouse is delightful and we decided to have breakfast there.

Tony enjoying his scrambled egg, panini and hot chocolate lined up.

On the wall was art by a local ceramicist. I would pay a visit later in the day and acquire a seagull! These are albatross heads which are quite large and heavy and $580 each.. I took a fancy to the shags, but decided their beaks were going to be awkward to cycle tour with but would love a few!

The plan today was to head up further north, then turning to the west to Whanganui inlet.

Leaving Collingwood it was glorious morning.

We followed the main road (the only road!) north towards Farewell Spit. Traffic was intermittent and predominantly tourists in camper vans.

We pulled off the road to check this part of the beach out. There was a lady on the beach with her young daughter. She said they were from Wellington and have a bach( shack) close by. They are spending one month here. Beautiful.

This is our route today and you can see where we rode towards Whanganui Inlet. The road becomes white gravel after the first climb.

We had planned to continue further along the inlet, possibly reaching the coast.

The gravel was mostly well compacted with loose sections on the cambers and bends.

There were some lovely beaches along the inlet.

Lovely views across the inlet.

We turned around short of our destination as it was injurious to our lungs, eyes, mouth and noses. There were numerous 4wd on the road, mainly travelling fast past us, many with trailers towing buggies to hoon around the tracks and sand dunes in.

Whilst some of the drivers were considerate of us on the gravel, many were not and did not adjust their speed. They knew what they were doing and the dust bath impact.

As there was no wind, the dust just hung around and we were obviously breathing it in.

So we turned around and headed out and up towards Farewell Spit.

We stopped short of the Spit as we will leave that for tomorrow, stopping beside a creek and wading in the refreshing water.