otumaire to bulls

otumaire to bulls

after packing up camp I head a long the road beside the river before starting the first and only big hill of the day. as I slowly ride up it a few cars go past (on this road you might see about 5-10 cars a day) on of then stop -it's the care taker of the convent where I stayed the night so I had a little chat before climbing up the rest of the hill. At the summit of Aramoana there is  a look out over the river valley near by there is a sign that says some thing like give way to up hill traffic . enjoying to nice down hill ride though the trees I get to the end of the river road where I turn lift to head in to wanganui . it takes me a few mins to get use to all the cars as i ride in to town. I have a look around town  picking up a new camera from a 2 hand shop as Im not happle with the one I have (its slow and only 4 MP that said it only cost me $35) my new camera is 14 MP  and cost me $65 (it’s a panasonic lumix DMC-LS5) leaving wanganui I head along S.H .3  stoping to have a look at an old block house from the  land wars after some food it’s back on the road to the town of bulls where after a look around the town I head out  to a friends place to spend the night when I get there my friends are going out to a free conset in a park and ask me if I would like to come -after saying yes I find I fun that I got up this morning  at a camp site in the middle of no where at sun up and is now whching the sunset at a conset with lots of other people (the life of a bike tourer is spent doing new things each day at new places with new friends) after getting back from the show I set up camp for the night and go to sleep  

jerusalem to otumaire

jerusalem to otumaire 27 km

after packing and saying good bye to the care taker? i ride along  the gravel road until Ranana (London ) where the gravel end and the road is tar-seal the rest of the way. about 4 km out of ranana there is the kawam flour mill(first built in 1854) with a restored millers colonial style cottage next to it. stoping for a break I have a look around the mill(was re built in the 1980s i think) back on the road looking at the river as the mist burns off I pass by the flying fox ( A nice looking place to stay but you need to book ahead as the only way to get there is by boat or on a cable car as they are on the other side of the river) about lunch time I get to the free camping place at otumaire where after some food I decide to have an easy day and camp there for the night - as I don't need to be in fielding until the 28/02/2012 I can take as long as I like riding the river road (it’s nice not having many deadlines to deal with each day) unlike many people on bike tours I don't need to be in X by Y date : ) as I'm having a little sleep in my tent it starts to rain hard soon it turns in to a storm with lighting and thunder as the water start to leek in to the back end of my tent I get my tower out so I don't end up with a small lake in my tent(time to start looking for a new tent as the one I'm using is starting to wear out) spending the rest of the day doing some winting and chating up on some reading

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