2000 Biking New Zealand

Day 27, 3 January 2001, Wednesday
Kaeo – Pukenui; 100.5km @ 15kph, Pukenui Farm Backpackers, $34

We took our first break of the day in pretty Mangonui – and wished we’d made it there last night as both the Old Oak Inn and the town are charming. Mangonui Harbour is part of Doubtless Bay – named when Cook noted in his logbook in passing that this body of water was “doubtless a bay”. We cycled 34km to get there; averaging 15kph over easier terrain than yesterday’s. Longer, but less steep inclines, some nice downhill runs, not too much traffic. On the other end of Mangonui we came across their police station – a small square wooden building, closed for the day, with Xmas decorations in the window. And a set of stocks on the lawn beside bearing the inscription: Mangonui Holding Cell.

Three cyclists passed us at one point not far outside Kaeo. I saw them approaching in my rearview mirror, but it took me a while to realise what was approaching as they looked too bulky for a bicycle, too small for a vehicle. Turned out to be a couple on a tandem and a single cyclist. As the couple passed and greeted me I wondered at how uncomfortable she looked, elbows on rests, her ear against his lower back, her face turned to the one side. Wondered about how much she could/n’t see. Later when they stopped, I overtook them (Germans from their accent) to find him leading her into the bushes for a pee – she was blind!

This morning over breakfast at the Old Saddlery (included in our overnight price), David told me he had been married before. It was clear from our discussion that he had had real money in the past (he used to own an expensive house, apparently, along the coast west of Mangonui) and obvious that he is making money again. An entrepreneurial type. He bought the Old Saddlery as an investment some years ago, but his tenants ran it down so he and Maryann took it over themselves 14 months ago and their turnover is up 30-60 % over the same months last year. He has also just bought the property alongside which has business rights and for which he has several ideas. He says that any big plans for the area – and he seems to have many – require the approval and involvement of the Maori community. He also told us that although working with the Maori community slowed things down considerably, they were likely to get funding for projects of which they approved, and thus it was worthwhile including them in the planning phase. Not racist – just realistic / cynical.

From Mangonui we passed through Coopers Beach, Cable Bay and Taipa, all on the coast, before SH10 took us across the base of the Karikari Peninsula and inland to Awanui where we linked up with SH1 and turned north toward Cape Reinga now just 102km away. On the coast we saw adverts for “protective covenant” plots with a list promising electricity, sewerage, cable etc. And moveable houses and companies that specialise in putting the home of your choice on the plot of your choice.

We took another break in Awanui at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom shop there. Where we drooled over outrageously-priced bowls made from 50 000-year-old Kauri wood; and settled instead for something from the canteen. The Kauri forests are being regrown now having been er…hunted to virtual extinction for their wood and gum during the ‘colonial’ period. The trees used for the bowls and furniture – and the remarkable staircase carved into a hollowed-out tree – collapsed into the swamp 45-50 000 years ago where they were preserved. Nowadays, digging up these long-dead giants is remarkably good business, it seems. Charl chatted here to a family whom we had seen on the Picton-Wellington ferry – who asked for our email address as they had always wanted to do “a long cycle trip”. They had just completed the bus trip to Cape Reinga. Aside from woodcraft, the Ancient Kauri Kingdom offered a bus-washing depot for those who had been on 90 Mile Beach and on the dirt road to the Cape.

Back on the road, tired but happy, we completed the last 30-odd km to Pukenui in good time. A pleasant road undulating quietly through pleasant scenery. Somewhere before Pukenui we found a butcher-cum-supermarket still open and shopped for steak and baked beans and onions. Which we cooked later and ate with gusto at Pukenui Farm Backpackers – where we have a nice, but impractical room (pale carpet). The tandem-couple were there too – camping out back. She is studying to be a social worker and recently ran her first marathon. Only blind people are apparently allowed to participate in cycle races on tandems in Germany – odd ruling.

Tomorrow we complete our incompleteable journey.