Day 9

I’m not normally one for a cooked breakfast, but wolfed down the eggs, bacon, hash browns and beans prepared for us this morning. It was a quick, flowy mostly gravel ride to Taumarunui, the biggest town we’d seen for some time, though it’s definitely seen better days.

I picked up the parcel I’d posted myself from Wellington – toiletry refills and a few good things – and then we had a stock up at New World. Always hard to judge what to buy when you are hungry and catering for two days! Took a while to stuff it all into my various already full bags.

Both Josh and I bought and drank 750ml bottles of chocolate milk on the spot – something I would have previously said was impossible! I felt really good for quite a while after that.

The afternoon seemed to go really quickly as we wound our way up and down gravel hills, deeper into the country. Highlights included another bit of repair work on Josh’s tubeless tyre (after a puncture sustained and successfully plugged last week). Always good to lend a mechanic a tool! A few vehicles passed, but always at opportune times rather than when we were screaming down a hill. We had a few showers but nothing torrential.

Today we were aiming to get as far as we could down the river – ideally the first shelter on the Kaiwhakauka track proper. Ian had emailed me his times for each section, which was super useful for planning. I’d phoned ahead to the Blue Duck cafe to make sure we could get some dinner there, with the idea that we’d be there at 5, and then push on for another couple of hours.

It was great to arrive at the cafe – around 4.30 – eat our lasagne and have a break before tacking the next, difficult section. It started with a 4wd track that was insanely muddy. The kind of mud that coats your tyres, gums up your derailleur and fills your pedals with glue-like clay. Some walking occurred, and some cleaning of bikes with sticks. We had to remind ourselves not to keep trying to clean them as there was plenty more to come. But you felt bad when your drivetrain sounds like a concrete mixer.

Then it morphed into a single track with more rideable sections. Still plenty of mud but better than I expected. Towards the end, Josh bumped his rear cluster on a bridge and it seemed like the gear cable had snapped. Not good as neither of us was carrying a spare.

We walked the last km and were pleased to see an awesome shelter that removed the need to pitch tents. And Josh’s cable was just pulled out of the pinch bolt, not snapped. Which was very happy news.

An hour or so later Ash joined us and after a bit of bike washing and chat, we all agreed on a 515 start tomorrow to try and get the 11am boat.