ohakune to jerusalem

ohakune to jerusalem 55 km

after packing up my tent I have a chat to a bike touring that I met yesterday for an hour  of so I say good bye and head in to town to do some food shopping (getting 3 days of food as there is no shops past raetihi until wanganui ) and have a look around the train  staining? - there is part of the train that was recovered from the whangahu river  (from the  tangiwai disaster christmas eve 1953  where 151 people lost they lives) heading out of town towards the town of raetihi  where I head to the info center to get info on the river road .after having a chat to some people about the bike I start riding a long the river road (a road that took over 30 years to construct and was opened in 1934) .A few km out of raetihi it starts to rain (and it keeps raining on and off for the rest of the day) working over rolling hills to pipiriki where I start riding beside the whanganui river after pipiriki the road becomes a gravel road jus wide enough for two cars to pass if they take care climbing up to river vile? in a few places there is bad washboard so lot’s of bumps (from logging trucks?) after a slow and rught down (take your time on this road and ride with care) I get into the town of Jerusalem where I stop to have a look at the old convent and church (built in the 1890s ) after having a look around the grounds and inside the church I head back to my bike and try to work out where I will be spending the night as I was looking at the map some one asks me if I was lost after replaying that its hard to get lost on the river road as you can only end up in two places (ratihi and the other end of the road near wanganui) I said that I was just working out where I was going to spend the night after some more chatting to the people there They said to come up and stay the night in the convent (I seem to remember that people can stay there for about $25 ) after a bit of a wint? as there was a meeting going on. after being showing around the place I was offer some food (left over from the meeting?) then I was showing to the room where I was to sleep before the people that I had been chatting to went away (there is a care taker? that lives in a house near by) so I had a shower to wash off the mud and sweat off before going to bed for the night

te kutit to ohakune by train and bike

doing the last of my packing I diside to have one last look at  the train as I did the road a few weeks ago -the train was going to coust $80 but then it went down to $50 so I desideit to go on the train to nat? park getting my mum to drop me off at the train I find out the train people have some how  forgotten to tell the people on the train about me? as my name was not on the list any way I got on the train -no charge for the bike (I love having a folding bike) after getting the suff up work out i sat down to enjoy the train trip going though a mix of bush and farm land on the way going around the raurimu spiral -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raurimu_Spiral

just past the spiral is the town of np where i got off the train -in the rain (thats stays around for the rest of the day)  after a bout an hour or two of talking to a few people about the bike and having some food I start down the road only to find my bike comper is not working -needs a new batter (done 10900 km from the last time I put a batter in it about 14 months ago )$6 later (ouch small town pirzes) its working  so I head down the road for about 20 km before going down a side road to the start of the old ohakune coach road

http://www.ohakunecoachroad.co.nz/

the track starts off as a gravel road before going though a gate and going over a stream then the track is a new narrow track about a M wide in places it goes a long tho old coach road (very bumpy with lots of mud) passing the old the taonui viaduct and a few side tracks to the hapuawhenua viaduct and to an old train tunnel be for getting into ohakune about 8:30 pm after getting some food and put the bike lights on  I head back down the road going to the doc camp for the night

the old ohakune coach road

some photos from the old ohakune coach road

some where to te kuiti 101 km

some where to te kuiti 101 km

After packing up camp I head down the road until I get to the town of mokau where I have a look at my phone to have a look at my email. riding over some rolling hills (NZ has a lot of hills to ride over) along the coast until I get to awakino where the road heads inland along the awakino? River with the road slowly heading up hill. In the awakino gorge there is a nice one lane road tunnel to ride though before the road climbs over some more rolling hills most of the way to te kuiti passing the S.H3/4 turn off and going over the  last big hill into the town te kuiti. heading north out of te kuiti for a few km I ride to my mums place to stay with her a bit

new Plymouth to some where 74km

new Plymouth to some where 74km

after packing up my tent and saying good bye to some new friends I leave the race course around 10 am and head in to town to get some food for the day before heading down to the coast bike/walk way. as I come up on the  pathway I see a few tents set up as bike fixing places - it turns out that it's an event called the big bike fix up where people can get they bikes cheeked over and basic fixing done for free as part of bike week(month?) so after chatting to some people for a bit about bikes I have the bike friday look over (ended up having a link taking out of the chain to help with the gearing)they also end up giving me some spare cables and break pads so a big thank you to the people who put the event on. leaving new Plymouth by the pathway I get back on the road at bell block and head over some rolling hills until I get to Urenui where I stock up on food for the next 2 days then after riding a near flat 15 km I start climbing up Mt messenger - just after the top there is a fun short tunnel to ride though and a very fun 5 km down hill where I get up to some fun speed going around some of the bends about 10-15 km/h faster the  road sings says to do it to do (only do this on a tour  when you know how the bike will handed with gear on ).after riding over some more rolling hills its time to find some where to set up camp for the night. I end up camping where I stay last time I was up in this part of NZ

some where to new Plymouth 35 km

some where to new Plymouth 35 km

after packing up my camp in a field on the side of the road in the rain I get some photos of the old bridge that was near to where  I had set up camp for the night I head down the road flowing the bike trail sings (for people looking at doing the bike trail bring a good map as the bike trail zigzags a lot on back road as it heads towards the coast at bell block) riding down back roads until I get to bell block where I miss a turn and have to do some back tracking  to get back on the bike trail. for the last few km in new Plymouth the bike trail is on the cost bike/walk way. going to the info center to get a map to find my way to the race course I do some shopping and do some washing before heading to the race course to pick my ride pack for the fun ride and set up camp for the next 2 nights(the camp at the race course was part of the fun ride) going back in to town to get some food for the fun ride and endit going to subway for tea (at subway I saw some people from Palmerston north? in town for the fun ride small world) heading back to the race course to get some sleep (getting an easy night as the fun ride starts at 7:30 am)

tahora lookout to some where

tahora lookout to some where

after packing up and saying good bye to the people that I had meet the night before I heady down the hill and along the road stoping a few times to get some photos before getting in the  town of whangamomona where I had a look around the old pub and chat to some people (like the people from last night that just happened to be there at the same time as I was passing )for about an hour or so (when you have all day to get some where why rush : ) after leaving town I start the climb over whangamomona saddle going though a mix of farms and bush after the saddle the road is mostly flat until the pohokura saddle where I turn off S.H.43(the bike trail turns off the highway and takes a zigzag way to the coast to stay on back roads) the road is gravel with lots of bumps (bad washboard from the trucks)on the down hills going over the ? saddle there is around 2-3 inches of very soft sand and gravel mix right across the road in places making it very hard to ride in with the bike and trailer wanting to go all over the place also with the bike and trailer sinking down a few inches most of the time (so not nice riding at all) on the down hill. going along the road I miss the place that I was going to stay the night (an old school house at p? )as there is no sings I keep riding over move hills and though an old one lane tunnel riding along back roads until about an hour before dark when I knock of a framers door to a) find out where I was (I knew I was still on the bike trail I just did not know how any town were) b)to ask about some where to put my tent up for the night as it was getting dark I end up camping near an old bridge for the night

taumarunui to tahora lookout

taumarunui to tahora lookout

leaving the camp ground I head the 4 km back into town stocking up on food for the next 3 days (last shops until new Plymouth) going in to info center to find out info on the forgotten world highway only to find out they did not have much info on the bike trail (so have a good look on line before doing the bike trail) leaving town along the river road (S.H.43) there is a few small hills to warm up on before the big hills start and keep coming the land scape if a mix of farm land and bush with part of the road being gravel going though the Tangarakau gorge at one point the road passes though a nice old one lane tunnel  near the end of the day a nice framer gives me a drink as I was having a chat to them (it is a hot day with me going though nearly 4 L of water over the day (I have 4 drink bottlers and a camel back with me) I end up camping at a nice place at the top of tahora saddle ($10 a night) chatting with some people until late(i’m never any good at remembering the names of the people that I met on the road)

back on the road next week

hi there
I will be back on the road from next week going down to a fun ride in taranaki going down by the forgotten highway- a nice ride down some new roads for me (yep there is still a few roads I have not bike on yet : ) the the plan is to head up north for a bit then back down the north island to do one or two fun rides and maybe help out at hoy (hoy-horse of the year show -big horse event) other then that I don't have any plans where to go next or spend the winter ( some times I do a list of places that I would like to see and sit down with a map to work out how to get to the places)

I'm not sure when I will be up dating this blog (when even I get around to it as each post can take me an hour or more to type up) there is a few post that i have done that need to be spell check before they go up on the net

any way keep an eye out for me as I ride around nz and if you or some one you know has a place that I can put up my tent for a night or two let me know by email or txt (my info is on the bike friday club of nz page or leave me a comment ) maybe one day i might set up a face book page if I can work out how?

Im still around

I been a little busy latey as I am no longer at teilcey park in palmerston north - I'm staying with my mum in te kuiti when im not on the road -last week I went down to palmerston north with my mum to pick up some of my suff on the way back from there (going to te kuiti) my mums bus needed to get some suff fixed so we were stuck in taihape for most of the last week I have a few pages of txt and photos to put up some time in the next few days -time to works on the bikes- no sure where Im going next on tour or which bike I will take with me