January 3, 1992
To Hicks Bay
This proved to be a terrific day, one of the best of the tour. We still had our tailwind, though it had eased off a bit; the skies, while not fully sunny, were dry all day; and we enjoyed some great sights. The first 35k took us inland through fairly gentle country, except for an inital climb from the bay across an arm of Hikurangi Mountain - at 1700 meters the highest point on the east cape. The last 20k of this leg were generally downhill along the Waiapu River valley. It is wonderful to be able to see all of the land features again after spending so much time in the clouds. We had a tea and snack break in the Ruatoria Cafe - a not so impressive restaurant with limited options but very friendly service. This was typical of the whole east cape - very small towns, predominantly Maori, having limited facilities.
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The next 10k were an easy ride to Tikitiki at the mouth of the Waiapu; then a long climb up the first of three ridges between Tikitiki and Te Araroa. Our guidebook advertised this as a very strenuous stretch, so we were prepared for the worst. The first ridge was indeed a long climb out of the Waiapu Vally - 6k or so, often fairly steep. At the top we enjoyed a well earned rest by the roadside, and 4 or 5 tasty chocolate mint cookies (unfortunately, this was the end of them - Rachael left the rest of the package here by mistake).
The remainder of the ride to Te Arora was much easier than expected - neither of the ridges lived up to their advance billing. This stretch was quite pretty - the countryside is really much more attractive in the sun!
Coasting down the last ridge before Hicks Bay we were lucky enough to encounter a massive sheep drive clogging the road. Perhaps a thousand sheep worked their way down the highway in front of us for the next quarter mile, driven along by 5 very impressive dogs and a single Maori herder walking along behind, whistling and muttering commands to his dogs. It was quite a beautiful sight, and very exciting watching the dogs rein in errant sheep. For me this was probably the greatest highlight of the entire tour. We chatted briefly with the drover at the point where he and the herd turned off the road.
Immediately after leaving the sheep we encountered another treat - a family of pigs and 9 unweaned piglets. The mother, for some strange reason, ambled over to the roadside in front of us, and her 9 dependents ran and squealed after her, nursing up as best they were able.
Te Araroa is the site of the largest known Pohutakaua tree - it is gigantic, and wonderful indeed - immense long arms sprawl to great distances on all sides. We also enjoyed briefly watching the conclusion of a fishing derby. We did not however enjoy much shopping - this was another very small town with few food selections (by the time we reached Whakatine aways down the road, we were both pretty tired of cheese, peanut butter and crackers).
From Te Araroa we biked west about 8k to the motorcamp, which fortunately offered a very badly needed washer and drier. Since there was a lineup to use the machines, we spent most ofthe afternoon there awaiting our turn. We finally finished up about 7 and then climbed over the next headland and down to the neighboring bay where we camped along the beach. We had a peaceful and scenic evening, eating our meal on the rocks by the shore, watching the waves pounding against them.
Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 1,051 miles (1,691 km)
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