There
are some who say that there is better feeling than waking up to the almost
palpable odor of farts and the gentle tapping of rain against tin. Those people
are insane, delusional and probably from Rotorua. Though today, with the possibility
of it being our last day on the bikes and most of it being downhill we packed
our bags rain falling down on us. Today’s journey had been in discussion over
the last few days. We had originally planned to go up towards Hobbiton so we
could sit and have a drink at the Green Dragon, but after seeing the price of
$75 and hearing some fairly average reviews, we decided to head for the beach
city of Tauranga.
There
is a superstition I skiing and snowboarding that you never call last run out of
fear that you will injure yourself on that run. Well apparently I had been
calling last run. It all started with the rain in the morning, something we had
expected, but about 7km outside Rotorua we experienced the result of my
ignorance for superstition. Brian called out the three honks and we slowed to a
stop at the side of the road. Brian had caught a small puncture in his rear
tire, only our second of the trip and is if written for television, our last
day. Luckily for us Brian’s big mountain bike tires are much easier to change
the rain did the oddest thing and stopped. Getting back on the road, we started
our short climb slow climb towards the rolling downward hills into Tauranga.
The
climb was longer than we expected but over the last few weeks our bodies have
become more and more tuned to keep up the momentum as we climbed these long
gradual hills. When the ascent finally leveled out we prepared for a,
seemingly, small gorge that we noticed when studying the elevation maps. The
funny thing about maps is how small and insignificant they make everything look
comparatively. Approaching the ‘small’ gorge I started to get nervous at our
steadily increasing downward spiral and the length at which it was going.
Deeper and deeper we plunged along the steep road swirling through fern and
rocky cliffs around us. Though it felt like miles we had probably only gone
around a kilometer or two down and we had reached the bottom. Around us were
ancient ferns that grown to the heights of pines that covered the top of the
gorge. The end of this trip was just the end of cycling and getting to our
destination but also the end of all those feelings that come with this journey.
Travelling through this steep gorge was New Zealand’s way of sending us time
travelling and it been this entire adventure. Starting in the modern mountain
town instantly to the rural farming communities of the nineteenth century and
then back 65 million years to Prehistoric earth. It’s these unique experiences
that help you push through the climb.
Exiting
the gorge we began the last leg of our journey through the rolling hills into
Tauranga. Nearing closer and closer to Auckland we began to see many more
adventurers beginning their own cycling journey towards the bottom of this
beautiful nation, and funny enough they all looked way more prepared. But at
three o’ clock we saw the Bay of Plenty and our final destination by way of
bike, so for one last time we tipped our tires down the hill and sped towards
our finish.
Thanks
to Brian’s efforts and ability to make us sound like descent people over the
phone we had found another Warmshowers for tonight. We arrived to open arms,
clean comfy beds, and offers of warms showers, which were quite needed after
the muggy weather and getting into manholes for snapchats. At this point I
would like to tell you a little more about our gracious hosts, Graham and
Suzanne, but I’m afraid after I finished my shower I quickly fell asleep and
have only now awaken to everyone being asleep. Day 23, 64kms down and the
cycling is over…
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