Waitiki landing to cape reinga ( and back ) 42 km
After looking at the all the bus's ,camper vans and cars heading for the cape I decide to just take bike with out the trailer or gear up to the cape around mid- after noon - by that time there should be less bus's on the road
Spending a some what lazy morning reading in my tent looking at all the bugs trying to get into my tent : ) by around 2 pm I start getting ready for my ride up the last 21?km of S.H.1 on the way north
With the road starting around sea level it head up over some long climbs over large rolling hills passing the turn off for Te paki stream road ( one of the ways to get on to 90 mile beach for any one who wants to drive or ride a long the beach ( it's the way the bus's go ) only to head back down near sea level then back into the hills for more climbing Before passing the turn off for tapotupotu bay where there is a D.O.C camp ground only a few km from the cape
Onice I get to the car park at the end of the road I change into one of the THINK t shirts ( for photos : ) before taking the bike for a walk down to the lighthouse and waiting for at less some of the many people to head back to they cars - many people just walk to the lighthouse / sign post take a photo then walk back up the hill - was fun looking at people who was trying to post photos on Facebook - no cell receping until you get around 50-70 km south of the cape : )
After taking my time having a good look around and getting photos of the lighthouse , sign and landscape I find some to get some photos with me and the bike below the sign post - after looking around some more I get on the bike and slowly ride back up the hill to the car park where I change back into cycling gear ( hi-vis gear ) and start riding south : )
Heading back over the hills towards waitiki landing I have a bit of a think why people come up to the cape - for some it's a journey for others it's just one more place to tick off a list -
for me journeys like this it's helps my decide things in my life - where and what next to do in my life - maybe this year or some time in the next few years I'm looking at doing the te Araroa trail - it's a tramping trail the runs from the top of nz to the other end - because of how long it is there is a set time of year when to start - see here for more on the trail http://www.teararoa.org.nz/
Long journeys give me time to think and spend time on my own away from others and also to get out of the some old run teen that we all get stuck in over time
Back at the landing I chat to a few people before staying up to around 2 am ( well it is New Year's Eve : ) doing some reading of a few ebooks I been meaning to read for a bit : )
