Drizzle days
Taumarunui to Whanganui, 19th - 24th January
After the warm sunshine I enjoyed along the Timber Trail, apparently I was due for a series of rainy days on my way south to Whanganui. I still camped every night, but I took shorter days on the bike and stayed in campsites, which also exposed me to more fellow cyclists following the Tour Aotearoa (TA). In Whanganui, I stayed with an awesome Warmshowers host, ending my nine-night camping streak.
In Taumarunui, I’d had a decision to make - which way should I go south, since the main TA route down the Whanganui River was blocked? The coolest option would be to take a canoe trip down the river to Pipiriki, which a couple of cyclists I’d met were doing, but it was booked up for the next few days and probably fairly expensive too. The ‘winter alternate’ route to Pipiriki would keep me on quiet gravel roads through the mountains, but would add a lot of distance and elevation compared to the regular, blocked, route. Finally, I could take State Highway 4 south on a direct route avoiding the mountains (but with a view of high Tongariro to the west), rejoining the ‘winter alternate’ route from Raetihi on to Pipiriki. Most of the TA cyclists seemed pretty scared about this, given that there would be vehicle traffic on the highway, but I had just been in India, with traffic worse than anything New Zealand could possibly throw at me. So - gravel hills or highway? I opted for the highway.
After the rough surfaces of the Timber Trail and the TA to Taumarunui, riding on a paved road with a gentler incline felt much easier. I also got a view of the North Island’s big mountains in the Tongariro National Park, which were used for some Mount Doom filming, and more green views of hilly farmland. It’s strange - from a UK perspective there’s a lot that feels familiar, but with some uncanny differences. At ground level you have the familiar crops, weeds, and flowers, with cute little bunnies running around, but then you look up and there are new trees, unfamiliar and alien. In the built environment, the road signs feel heavily UK-inspired, but with clear American influences too. When there are words painted on the road to indicate something coming up (‘ONE LANE BRIDGE’), they’re painted from nearest to furthest, so if you read them from top to bottom you get BRIDGE LANE ONE.
As I rode south, I gently gained altitude; by the time I reached Waimarino I was at about 800m, and it was getting chilly. What in the morning had been a sunny t-shirt and shorts kind of day was now a windy jacket and snood vibe instead. To make matters worse, what I’d thought was a campsite in Waimarino was actually just a big ugly parking lot for caravans, so I had to find another place to sleep. The YMCA hostel in town was pretty tempting, but I was intent on camping in nature rather than staying in a town, since that’s what I’d come to New Zealand for. Anyway, I’d had plenty of luxury in Taumarunui at the Holiday Park with a hot shower and electricity the previous night. I ended up riding seven kilometres into a stiff headwind to the nearest DoC campsite for the night.
Tuesday began with a drizzle that far outstayed its forecasted duration, and which unfortunately set the tone for the next few days. I stayed in the campsite for the morning, hoping in vain for the rain to end and making tea to keep myself warm, but I eventually accepted that I wouldn’t escape it, and rode off through the wetness. The best thing that can be said for the ride was that it was short: forty kilometres, mostly downhill. By the time I got to Raetihi, I was wet and sad, and quite ready for the warm and dry buildings of a Holiday Park campsite for the night, my previous qualms about unearned luxury totally gone. Everything wet went into the Drying Room, and I spent the evening in sandals while praying for my shoes to be dry the next day.
Raetihi marked the end of my highway detour - I was now back on the Tour Aotearoa route, and I once again met a couple of other cyclists in the campsite. This time it was a couple from Belgium travelling with their four-year-old daughter, which was amazing to see, not to mention very cute. I was really impressed at how they made the bike trip work with a child, and how much distance they could cover despite the extra difficulty.
From Raetihi, I rejoined the TA’s ‘winter alternate’ route to Pipiriki, where I’d start following the Whanganui River down to Whanganui. I’d arranged to stay with a Warmshowers host in Whanganui from Friday, so I had three days to cover 105km - a leisurely pace. They followed a pretty similar pattern: it rained, I cycled a bit, it rained more, I stopped for the day and had an afternoon in. Pipiriki on Wednesday, a basic DoC campsite on Thursday, and my Warmshowers host on Friday.
The campsite at Pipiriki had a big crowd of other travellers, and for a change they weren’t all in campervans, owing to the remote location. Most people were riding a bike, with a couple of canoe-trippers and one hiker. I had a nice chat with a British couple who were cycling through New Zealand as an extended honeymoon, but apart from them I didn’t bond much with the cyclists. One pair were particularly loudly bragging about their daily distances, and I didn’t feel like taking part in the self-aggrandisation. I’m probably judging them a little too harshly - I'm sure I’d have been happy to join in a few months ago, but by now I feel a bit exhausted of that particular kind of chat.
Instead, I ate at the other, quieter table with the hiker. She was walking the length of New Zealand along the Te Araroa route (not to be confused with the cycling Tour Aotearoa route), and her aunt had come to join her hiking for a week. Between them, they convinced me of the great magic of instant mashed potato over dinner, and I resolved to pick some up soon.
After all the TA travellers, I was keen to have a night somewhere quieter, and set my sights on a super basic DoC campsite halfway to Whanganui, which most people coming from Pipiriki would ride straight past. Miraculously, it was sunny and dry for my afternoon at the campsite - an incredible stroke of luck given that there was no built shelter there. Even better, I didn’t have any company except some waddling pūkekos. Just what I wanted.
From there it was an easy and only slightly wet ride to Whanganui, where I’d stay with a Warmshowers host for two nights. I was hoping that would help me avoid some rain on Saturday and give me a little break from moving all the time. I'd also get to sleep inside, on a sofa, ending my camping streak which had been going since I started out from Te Kūiti. At nine nights, it's a new personal record for me, and I could’ve happily done more, but I wasn’t about to turn down the chance to sleep indoors just for a longer streak. I was looking forward to not having to deal with rain for a day.
I had a really nice time in Whanganui - my host Hamish was a really interesting character and fun to hang out with. He's a stay-at-home dad looking after the toddler, while his wife works as a doctor in the local hospital. He's had all sorts of adventures, including skateboarding from San Francisco to Miami and more recently cycling through Sri Lanka before the baby was born. It was his wife's first bike trip, and she did it while six months pregnant, which I thought was amazing. I took the opportunity to charge up my powerbank, do my laundry, have a real shower, and hang out with the toddler. I also got to meet a few of my hosts' friends who came over on Saturday night, and got to hear about all the fun DIY and gardening projects they do. There was definitely a certain personality type present, and I was a fan - the type of person who grows their own lavender and makes tea with it.
I also enjoyed how the toddler at home had almost no plastic toys. Mostly, she played with household items like spatulas, cardboard boxes, or pot lids. She also had some dedicated toys, like the little kid-sized skateboard for practicing balance, and a wooden slide in her playroom. It was super cute and a good reminder that kids will play with just about anything. When I arrived, I had brought two gifts: a box of cookies and a pinecone. As it turns out, the family already had a collection of three pinecones (of different species) which mine joined after being vetted by dad as toddler-safe. The cookies were well off-limits, though.
In town, I visited the local art gallery (punching above its weight for a small town), bought some groceries (including instant mashed potato!), and picked up a new powerbank since mine was dramatically losing capacity. It's pretty important for camping that I'm able to go without electricity for a couple of days, so I was keen to get a new one as soon as possible rather than waiting to get to Wellington. I was speedrunning the North Island - it wouldn't be long until I reached Wellington and from there, the ferry to Picton on the South Island. That's a purposeful decision, since the South Island is supposed to have better camping and nature, which is why I'm here. Still, I enjoy my little city interludes and Whanganui was a lovely one.
