2000 Biking New Zealand

Day 24, 31 December 2000, Sunday
Auckland – Waipu; by bus, pottered 12km, Ebb & Flow Backpackers, $36

We said our nostalgic goodbyes this morning: first to Dee who stayed home to finish packing for their trip to the east coast, then to Keith who dropped us and our bikes downtown – where we were due to get a bus north.

We had a few hours to spare, so we futzed. Walked up and down the main drag window-shopping (saw a possum cardigan – very smart; and a Maori-carved box I liked, but at NZ$140 decided was too expensive; and a T-shirt that proclaimed “ There are 60m sheep in New Zealand, of which 3m think they are people!”); had burgers at Wendy’s; bought a gift for Marise from an ex-cyclist with “100 000km in his legs”; had a drink at the harbour where the ‘new’ (1995) Rainbow Warrior lay anchored. (There is a memorial at Motauri Bay on the north coast to the original Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace boat protesting French nuclear testing in Pacific. Government-backed French saboteurs blew the boat up in Auckland harbour in 1985 in an attempt to prevent it sailing to Tahiti – killing one Greenpeace campaigner, Fernando Pereira. Two of the saboteurs were caught because of information gleaned from rural New Zealand. They went to trial, were found guilty, were sentenced, and, due to French pressure, went to jail on a Pacific Island. And returned to a hero’s welcome in France two years later and long before their sentence was due to end.) Charl was particularly impressed by the traffic lights which halted all traffic thus allowing pedestrians to cross the road diagonally!

Despite having booked to take our bikes on board, the bus driver, who also takes the tickets and packs the luggage, said we were crazy to think there would be space for them on a holiday weekend. I think he enjoyed the anxiety he managed to engender in us – and in fact finally packed our bikes in the luggage compartment without any hassle at all. Once on board the bus, we decided to take it all the way to Waipu instead of getting off at Kaiwaka as planned and cycling the rest of the way. And felt enormously relieved and thus enjoyed the trip through pretty scenery, erratic weather and busy roads. Behind us sat a young woman, the daughter of a Kiwi avo farmer, being chatted up by a skilful and extremely sexy young Turk.

We were dropped in little Waipu late-afternoon. Squeezing in under an electricity cable that had collapsed at the entrance to town and which was being seen to by the fire brigade. And went into the visitor centre-cum-museum to enquire about the whereabouts of our backpackers. Waipu was originally a Scottish settlement and every year – on New Year’s Day in fact – holds a local highland games. It also keeps a computer-list of settlers and their descendants and there was an elderly couple from Auckland updating the computer with the names of their latest grandchildren.

We found our hostel was about 3km out toward Waipu Cove and, having ascertained there was a place open for supper as well as a bakery open for breakfast and padkos, we headed out. Getting rather wet in a quick shower of rain – which subsequently produced a pretty spectacular rainbow and which helped make the light really special – and finding that a fallen tree had brought down an electricity cable on the far side of town. Which was being seen to by the fire brigade!

The Ebb & Flow turned out to be virtually on the beach – with great views of the river and dunes and headlands and sea. Run by Frank and Mary – who had gotten the details muddled and said they only had a double for us as South African sisters had booked their twin some time back. We later found we were the ‘sisters’, but by then had moved into our double.

We had drinks (brandy and coke bought in town at a bottle store which allowed one to tap one’s own bottle from large plastic vats marked whiskey or brandy or whatever) on the stoep, chatted to some of the other guests, admired the recently-hatched butterfly in the lounge, and loved and played some real (vinyl) records – Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, Kiri Tekanawa.

Then cycled back into town to the Pizza Barn ‘n Bar – crowded with rowdy holidaymakers and locals. Ordered what proved to be divine pizzas. The place was so crowded Charl had to solve the problem of nowhere to sit and eat by bringing in a small dilapidated table from outside. And we ended sharing our tiny corner with the local principal – recently divorced. He was in the throes of changing jobs and chatted pleasantly and easily – telling us a little about the difficulties of educating Maori kids, many of whom apparently arrive at school stoned. He shocked us too, saying the “genetic material” was an obstacle to progress!

And cycled home in the dark at the end of a lovely day.