Unfortunately the forecast was right, I started cycling under the rain this morning. In fact, during the first half of this trip I didn’t dare taking any photos because of the rain… I don’t know it yet but today is gonna be my unluckiest but luckiest day of my whole trip.
Auckland is already pretty far away. I made it out of the suburb, good!
Now I’m reaching the countryside again which feels better than the noisy city :-).
I found this stylish sculpture along the way. It seems to be made out of a metal sheet and then became rusty with time. Looks cool though!
As always, curious cows are coming along when I stop more than 10 seconds close by their field.
They look very healthy 🙂
One of them just passed its head through the fence to catch something to eat. Are they that hungry?
A while later
This is Kawakawa bay. Again, really quiet.
My goal for today is Orere point but before doing these 10km I need to have break and eat.
Fortunately I didn’t went the same direction as the rain because it’s a mess there…
While I was eating, a cyclist named Fred approachs on his bike. He tells me than he made different cycling tours like what I’m doing, so naturally we have something in common :-). Right now he is going to have a little training.
A little while later he comes back again just when I am finishing my meal and invites me to have a coffee at his house.
As we talk, he shows me a safe place where I can sleep for free tonight, cool :-). There is like a tiny peninsula between the two coming bays and that’s where the good spot is.
Fred tells me that him and his wife Anthonia cycle together. They have a little collection of bikes, beautiful ones :-). Something like 30min later his wife comes back home. It didn’t take long before she invited me for dinner. We discussed about travelling a lot, of course. They cycled in Europe, Australia and Tasmania island. They originally come from Netherlands like Yan (Who is Yan?). Cycling is almost a religion over there, haha.
Finally, after a good evening, I carefully listen one last time to Fred to be sure I’m going to the right spot for the night. The day did not start so well but the end was a big improvement, I’m lucky!
For the first time I’m cycling at night. I can use my brand new lamp that I bought specifically for that trip. It works very well :-). After 5 min I arrive to the spot, I leave the road and cross through some healthy grass. Unsurprisingly it becomes way more difficult to pedal so I stand up to gain more power when suddenly, clack! I hear a big noise coming from the chain! Oh ooh… I think I broke it…
In fact, yes, that’s indeed the chain. I don’t have any tool to repair it neither a spare… Ok, I will treat that problem tomorrow, I have to set my tent now before the rain comes again. Rah! How can I repair it?! It is the first time I break a chain and I’ve rode my bike for only one month and a half! How come? I was convinced I would use one chain for the whole trip and now what do I do?
A short moment later I hear something not that far away. A guy just left his caravan and is coming to my direction. The first thing he ask me is if I’m good or not. I explain my problem and right away he starts to search for my chain in the grass. The find is, it’s getting dark now so that’s not so easy to find but he does! Again, straight away he tells me that he has some tools to repair it and start to walk back to his caravan. Thanks man! It’s almost totally dark now and this guy is helping me right now. Finally we fix it but I’m not 100% sure it will work like new tomorrow. Bobby offers me to take me to a bicycle shop tomorrow which is really generous! We both agree on the idea and plan to meet tomorrow morning at the same spot. See you tomorrow Bobby :-). I’m so unlucky but still, I’m so lucky today!
Bobby goes back to his caravan and I go towards the tip of that mini peninsula to pith my tent for the night. I hope the rain will remain soft tonight. See you!