I mentioned yesterday that our Air BNB driveway was steep. Photos seem to show angles accurately, but I assure you this has a 28 percent pinch…the second photo is me walking my bike down to the road with Tony looking back up.
I probably should have entitled this ride something to do with the letter S.
As you can see from the map, we weaved around. From Whangerei to Tutukaka there is a direct route, but to see more, and add more km to our day, we decided to head out via the Town Basin towards Whangarei Heads following the shoreline of Whangarei Harbour.
The ride undulated all day but was quite pleasant despite the wind.
At the top of one of our earlier climbs we met Peter, from Linz in Austria. He is doing his very first cycle tour. I love this aspect of touring, meeting people with similar mind sets and passions, comparing notes on where they have been, where they are heading, their gear set up and so on.
There were some early delightful views looking towards the coast.
There were numerous signs reminding people to keep dogs on leads to protect the kiwi, and other simple reminders such as this one.
Parua Bay village was small, but seemed to have a number of cafes, but we pushed on heading away from Whangarei Heads in a north easterly direction towards Pataua South.
Pataua South is a small village on the shores of an estuary, with a sandy surf beach behind.
The road came to an end but there was a foot bridge connecting to Pataua North. Here I am walking my bike across the bridge.
No cafes, so we pulled up on the banks of the river to have a snack and enjoy the view.
The road weaved around heading back towards the outskirts of Whangarei. We finally found a cafe! The Black Stump at Glenbervie.
A nice cold fruit smoothie went down a treat!
Another climb and a lookout.
Before heading to our accomodation (for the next 3 nights) we rode down into Tutukaka to see what was where!
Climbed back up the hill, and turned into more hills before finding a steeper driveway than this mornings! I seem to have an incredible knack for selecting accomodation involving steep hills.
The Bach is a cubby house on the shores of Kowharewa Bay. This first picture is the view from our little deck.
Kids playing in the bay.
One final view.
I’ve got to stop writing. The mosquitos are liking me too much, and I should go inside!!
Thanks for reading, catch you tomorrow.
I liked this view with the distant knobby hills.
Back onto bitumen these photos were taken from the top of a climb. The lower one shows an electric fence that Tony needed to get over, as the reflective flag had blown off the rear of his bike in the gusty winds. 
For me, the day’s highlight was beautiful Lang’s Beach, a stunning white sandy beach framed by craggy headlands, gnarled trees and wonderful views to offshore islands.
The lone rock on the right hand side is known as Sail Rock, a common mark used for yacht racing.
The dirt road had very few cars on it, so that was a plus. We were shocked when we arrived at the Waipu Caves how many cars were there. The place was packed.
The cave is unmanned and you can just wander in. There is a 175 metre chamber. The limestone cave has stalactites, stalagmites and glow worms near the entrance. The cave system is considered regionally important for geomorphology because it is the largest cave passage in Northland.
The busy Basin.
Looking up the hill towards our accomodation 
The clock museum with a giant sundial. 
A telephone box with a working telephone. 
So day 2…done and dusted. Despite my anxiety on gravel, I lived to tell the tale. I really do suck at gravel!
I am so fortunate to have a number of wonderful friends in New Zealand. I truly value and appreciate the friends I have made through cycling. Coffee and Christmas tarts with Gervase and Debra and we were on our way leaving Forrest Hill around 11 am.
Kaukapakapa was next after bidding Dave ‘ooroo’. This was the town where my stolen backpack was located in March last year by an eagle eyed cyclist.
The bikes all geared up.
I am not sure what this is…fish? Maybe you can stand on it and walk along it for balance? Maybe you just look at it and photograph it.
The hills started to get a bit more serious with some 13% pinches. The temperature had picked up to high 20’s. There was a really stiff breeze. Predominantly a headwind with occasional side gusts from our left, pushing us further from the verge.
A very tidal river does not prevent a boat club from existing. Mangakura Boat Club has a lovely position alongside this river. We could see from tops of hills, that this river feeds out to a larger harbour and the west coast of North Island.
Incredibly lush green farm land. In Tasmania many farms are already very dry and brown, so there must be solid rainfall here.
Looking to the west.
What goes up, must go down….so it was a nice descent and a few more rolling hills to arrive in Wellsford, a busy service town, and our overnight stop.
Returning to our accomodation two final sights.
So thanks for reading. Tomorrow is another day…new adventure….new memories.
In between climbs (you tend not to stop and take photos whilst climbing), there were lovely views. At the end of the first longer climb, there was a cafe calling our name to stop! It had quirky ‘art work’ predominantly made from recycled horse shoes.
In the next village, a sign indicated that our route was closed. Looking behind us we could see these workers clearing the railway line from landslide deposits.
On the outskirts of Cortina d’Ampezzo is the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics ski jump arena. Now in a reasonably bad state of repair. I read that the only issue faced was a lack of snow!
For a short distance we rode alongside this canal. The temperature soared…..from 5 degrees up to 9! I needed to take one of my 4 layers of tops off! Which layer shall I shed?
We rode about 10 km of what I now call footpath scootering, hopping off and on the bikes, pushing, criss crossing roads whilst we competed with peak hour Bologna traffic. A few more shots on the way out.
The rivers we crossed were flooded, muddy waters with floating debris.
We stopped for lunch in Ferrara, and were highly impressed with the historical town and buildings we saw. We past one of the historical gates.
For about 15 km we followed the river riding on a cycle path on the flood levee. We turned off the levee to head through this village.
The place was one gigantic artwork.
A few other local photos before we retired for the night.
yakkablog 