Masterton - Palmerston North

A couple of times on this trip I refer to rides as 'an Anne of Green Gables ride'. I love these books and the descriptions in them and a ride where everything connects - beautiful scenery, hardly any traffic, overcast calm weather, lemon cake in the pannier waiting for me to eat, earl grey tea in the flask, and a pretty flat to rolling ride - I call it 'an Anne of Green Gables ride'. 

It's 47km on Route 52 to Alfredton, then another 20km to Pahiatua, then on The Pahiatua Track to Palmerston North. This is a much safer road to take rather that through the Manawatu Gorge. 

One of my favourite days and great to arrive to see my friends Ang and Ross who I met on safari in East Africa in 2009!

Martinborough

Palliser Bay - at the southern end of the North Island, about 20 minutes south of Martinborough. There's often NZ fur seals there, but none today - just windswept crazy wild waves! There's a great pub at the end of the road here, and do yummy fish 'n chips. 

Loved hanging out with these two for a couple of days.

 "You must throw the ball to me." (future Black Caps/Sticks player in the making)

Me to Ada: "Would you like some water?" "Yes, sparkling please," are some fond memories I take from this visit!

Rimutaka Adventures...

Cycling out of Wellington is easy peasy. There's a trail that runs alongside the Highway the entire way out, right to Petone. It's an hours cycle to Petone - then the Rimutaka Cycle Trail starts. This trail winds through the Rimutaka Ranges and was to take me out to the Wairarapa Valley. 

It was actually pretty tough on my touring bike. The trail itself was quite gravely and it was slow going. There were also some short steep parts that my tyres just couldn't grip onto, so I ended up getting off and pushing in parts and pushing a loaded touring bike is hard work!

It took me about 2 hours to travel 10km on this road and by 7:20pm I was a bit worried about the darkness. I ended up coming out on Stage Highway 2 a third of the way through the Rimutaka Ranges (I needed to get on the tarseal and didn't want to get stuck in the ranges for a night!), climbed for 13km uphill and reached the top in near darkness. Put all the lights on my bike, doned the hi-viz and headed off downhill for 8km...luckily at that time of night there wasn't too much traffic! Whizzed downhill and ended up door knocking at a house I found at the bottom of the hill. It was just too dark to go further. Lesson learned - don't keep cycling when you're not really sure of the trail! 

All ended well though (a guy named Paul took me in and gave me his couch for the night), I left the next morning at 7:30 and cycled an easy 20km on to Martinborough to the school to meet my friend Marta, where she was dropping off her kids Ada and Kade to school and kindy. So great to see the Wairarapa plains and to visit Martinborough for the first time. Another 2 day rest coming up!

Good morning Wairarapa!

Beautiful Blenheim! (2 day rest!)

 Great to arrive in Blenheim to stay with Karla and her parents - and wee Freya and Jasper. Always great to catch up with good friends you haven't seen in a long time, sleep in a real bed (!) and not wear your hair in a helmet styled bun on the side of your head.

 Brancott Estate - what a massive vineyard!

 Nice spot for a bit of wine tasting!

 The ride from Blenheim to Picton is an easy 28km. $68 for you and your bike to get the ferry to Welllington. Great to relax in the sun for a couple of hours, eat my egg sandwiches, and people watch!

 Looking out to the Sounds from the Picton waterfront.

Top Tip: Arrive into Wellington on your bike on a Sunday evening. There's no traffic and you can cruise around the waterfront and streets with ease! Off to find cousin's place in Hataitai - yes, up another hill!

Meandering from Nelson to Blenheim...

Cable Bay is a beautiful place. It is called Cable Bay because this is where the first cable was brought across in 1876 to connect us with Australia and the UK. It took 11 days to drag it across.

I spent the afternoon jumping off rocks into the Pelorus River, it had quite a good current which would take you down a wee way where you could get out, and then do it all over again!

 Entering Havelock...NZ's green mussel capital apparently!

Good morning Blenheim!

On the road again...

Friends from London moved back to NZ (more specifically Motueka) last year - lucky me! I spent 3 nights with these guys - 2 before I hiked the Abel Tasman, they dropped me off at the start and I had somewhere to store my bike. Then at the end I got to see smiley wee Beau again! 

The Great Taste Trail is right outside their house and after a week off the bike it felt really good to get back on and look ahead to the next adventure. I took this fantastic off road trail all the way to Nelson. Totally recommend this!

My tent set up!

It's taken me 2.5 weeks to get this organised when I unpack for the night. It now only takes me about 10 minutes to put my tent up, put my panniers inside and organise everything how I want it. The first two weeks there was pretty much a pannier explosion most nights while I remembered where stuff was and then reorganised the next day to an even better system. Note the ever important kindle...I am on my 12th book!