Day 15: Wellington to Palmerston North

                When I had started planning the journey back in the middle of July I had decided that I would leave the planning of the north island until we were on the road as it would take less time to travel and we would have more time for touristy activities. Over the last few days Brian has been planning the route and has begun to dawn on me just how close we are to the finish line. Starting tomorrow we have eight days left of cycling and we will have covered 1600kms. As I stated yesterday we would be catching a bus from Wellington to Palmerston North, Kevin’s hometown, to avoid getting killed traveling along the national highway. Keen on still doing this living thing we rode the bus.

                The ride was a fairly nice one, it travelled along the coast out of Wellington before heading inland towards Palmerston North. From theinland north we stopped at the small towns dropping off and picking up passengers. This was our first time on the trip that we would have two days off the bikes and loking out the window I was happy for it. The wind was blowing really strong and despite not hang much in the way of hills, the wind would have been enough to break us.

                A short nap later and we arrived in Palmerston North where we headed straight for the Wendys, a fast food chain for those who haven’t had the pleasure, where we finally enjoyed a spicy chicken sandwich after a year apart. We continued to sit at the Wendys for what must have been two hours, using their free wifi and debating going out in the gusting wind. Once both of us had ran out of free wifi and I had grown impatient of waiting around, I convinced Brain that we should go and explore what Palmerston North has to offer.

                Palmerston North is a town like no other we have seen so far in New Zealand. It has all the necessities of normal town and a really cool downtown core with a historic centre but unlike every other town we have visited there was no on walking around and if they were they were not the type you would want to go talking to. After wondering aimlessly for some time I noticed Brian becoming increasingly tired, so we headed for the local library and some more free wifi. Well Brian slept I tried to catch up on typing up some journal entries so I could them for you all to read. Before long it was time for us to head to our overnight stay with Phil, who we met through Warmshowers. Hungry once again so we picked up a $5 Domino’s pizza and were at Phils in no time.

                I am not sure if we are getting lucky or if New Zealanders are all just so kind and amazing but once again our host has gone out of his way to accommodate two stinky Canadian boys for a night. Phil had so many cool stories about his time cycle touring around NZ on both tandem and normal bikes. We flipped through is photo album looking at stunning pictures and discussing the routes he had taken. On the topic of routes he asked us which route we would be taking after leaving here and we now have actually ended up deciding on a new route through the centre of the north island that should help us avoid some of the volatile west coast weather while also seeing a more scenic backcountry. Looking forward to getting back on the bikes we are now off to bed, so it is time I bid you farewell. Day 15, 153km…….. by bus.