Yup, we are still alive even after the monster climb from Hick's Bay to Te Araroa. We were blessed to have been welcomed by the Cook family to pitch our tent in their yard. Mrs. Cook and her sister Curly have treated us like long lost family, giving us a place to shower (at long last) and some lovely food for breakfast; and Mrs. Cook insisted that we update everyone to let you know we are safe and still biking. We had our first flat tire two days ago. The connection for one of my panniers fell off yesterday. But overall we have had a great time on the East Cape; it is beautiful and, compared to further west, is sparsely populated, which makes for more enjoyable riding. We have run into 3 other groups of cycle tourists in the last 4 day: one lone lady headed the opposite direction, a young Brit and his Chinese girlfriend with whom we camped last night, and a pair of Britons in their fifties to sixties biking the entire country tip-to-tip for charity. It has been fun to speak with them and to get to know some of the local citizens of this part of the country. Look out Tokomura Bay, here we come! It will be a nice long 77 kms today, our longest day yet.
Hope you are all well! Sorry no pictures this time; we'll try to upload some once we get to Taupo in a few days.
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I have to pull out the map and start marking your progres.
ReplyDeleteMaking friends along the way, sounds wonderful,that will make the experience extra rich. Thank you so much for the update.
Michael's been trying his hand at making his own sourdough. He's made bread and biskets so far with the starter he's growing.
The weather there looks warm. It is really getting wintery here.
I'm part of a party next Saturday where I'll be selling Hugs. I've got about 30 cut out so far and I'll get sewing in the morning. There will be about 6 other vendors. Wish me luck..
Keep on truckin....
Almost forgot to let you know your package arrived. The postman didn't drop it off though, so I'll go pick it up tomorrow at the Tacoma main branch.
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs and hugs some more,
Mom Gibbs