Day 2: 9 March 2020

Strava Stats:
126.7km
1618m height gain
7 hours 43 minutes

Late start (10:10am) for Hukatere, but still too early for the tide - spent the first 90 minutes cycling in soft sand at 10km/h then the tide was low enough, got 30km/h - felt like flying with a good tailwind!  Sadly, weather was bad, with drizzle and periods of heavy rain.

Kris met me at Ahipara at 12:30pm and after washing sand off the bike we had lunch at North Drift Cafe. It was here that I discovered that the ferry across Kaipara Harbour, which I'd intended to catch at 7pm on the 11th was not sailing at all after7am on the 11th, and they hadn't updated their website!  This fucked up my planning royally, and would mean two long days to reach Punto Point, or a 100km detour around the harbour  :(  SO..... after lunch decided to try and make it to Omapere, another 95km or so.  The trouble was, the roads were hilly - 1618m of altitude gain is more than Ben Nevis or the highest Tararua peak, although I never went over 200m altitude.

Tomorrow, I have to cycle about 160km of hilly ground, so an early start is called for.  At least I'm in a comfortable backpackers, and the only guest tonight!


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