582 Km / 362 Miles
Well there was a storm! The rain came, the lightning came, the thunder came, and oh the RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! However, I woke up dry! My tent survived, thankfully after pegging it down properly, the pegs had managed to stay in and me and all my stuff was bone dry! Wow. So glad to have invested some money in a good tent.
I was the only person at the campsite with just my tent. There were either campers, caravans or people sleeping in their cars. I would be sleeping in a car over a tent if I wasn’t just on my bike. The weather was gross. I did however have the choice of sleeping in someones truck (not as weird as it first sounds?!) – An older couple were in their caravan and the lovely lady who must have been doing a toilet run during the storm last night must have heard me on the phone in my tent and she shouted over “hey, in the tent, we are just next to you in the caravan with the white pick up, if the weather gets too bad and you want to sleep in the truck we will leave it unlocked you for” Well there’s some hospitality for ya!!
I actually managed to sleep pretty well throughout the storm, only waking briefly a couple of times because of the roaring thunder. I was awake at 8am, and all packed up by 9 to hit the road. The weather was cold and miserable, and the roads were still soaked. As much as I wanted to get a long ride in today it just wasn’t going to be possible. I was either going to have to do a 8-9 hour day ride or a 4 hours and a 5 hour one missing out on the intended Te Kaha, and instead stopping at Opotiki and then Waihau Bay. As much as it was nice not being on a real schedule, It was hard to decide where to stop and how to schedule my days. I wasn’t really pushing myself on these rides like I have done previously on rides.
So onto Opotiki, I left the campground at 9am, and hit the coast for my ride to Whakatane. I was finally back in a bigger town. I stopped just by the water for breakfast – having skipped it at the campground as I just wanted to be up and out away from the wet grounds. And I have to say Whakatane – for the short while I was there was full of the friendliest people. Everyone stopping to chat and to ask how I was – maybe they were feeling sorry or me after the night before seeing that I had just my tent and a couple of bags on me! Who knows.
Whakatane – “To Play the Man”
It’s also one of the sunniest cities in New Zealand (this might explain the friendliness) Also Whakatane is the main town in the Bay of Plenty.
On to the information centre that was not very far into the city, so I kept on the cycle path around the coast to get to it. I decided it was worth stopping and getting some information on what campgrounds were coming up, as I was hitting the East side of the Bay of Plenty I knew campsites were gonna be fewer and further between as there was nothing up in the area – very small communities and the odd grocery stores. I needed to time my next few days so I made it to the campgrounds.
Here’s a funny story. When I was in the information centre I was first approached by a new staff member – possibly training that day. It was dead quiet in the centre so all the staff members were wanting a chat! Anyway, this new girl – who’s english wasn’t the greatest was struggling to either understand me or just had no clue when I asked for information on campsites. She didn’t seem to understand that I was on my bike and only had a tent. This lead to me explaining to them all what I was doing, why, when and how. This new girl was shocked at the thought of me travelling so far on my bike and spending so long on it she says “on my bike, it would hurt. Your cat” and then gestures to her crotch area. LOL. Cat – pussy – yep you get the picture. I couldn’t help but laugh! Anyway, I got the Information I needed and some extra laughs!
I hung around the centre for a while as half of the centre was dedicated to the White Island Volcano – and the tour that WAS! It was interesting to see the history, but also sad to see that there was no recognition for the disaster that happened late last year (December 2019). What was once one of the biggest tours on the Bay of Plenty had ended in disaster with the volcano erupting and killing 21 people (of the 47 that were on the Island). Crazy to think if this had not of happened last December it was highly likely i would have got myself on a tour and headed over to the Island!
Here’s a link to a news story on the disaster: https://www.outsideonline.com/2411711/whakaari-white-island-new-zealand-volcano-eruption-2019
For most of the ride today I was biking along the coast, and had the smoking White Island in the background over the ocean (the island is 45km from the coast)
The ride from Whakatane to Opotiki was uneventful, it was a pretty flat nice ride. Unfortunately no kiwi’s were spotted 🙁 I got to Opotiki and signed in at the caravan park there – very excited to see they had a pool! I was there mid afternoon so had plenty of time to swim, fix my punctured tyre tube from yesterday and chill out and plan the rest of my cycle up and around the Bay of Plenty!
“Light up the sky with lightning
We ain’t afraid of thunder
Light up the sky with lightning
We were born to wonder…”