Tuakau

Dec. 14th, 2009

Tuakau (72km) – The first day of the trip was a long one. We had to wait until 4pm to start riding, due to it taking forever to get my bike set up and rented. Once we got started, it took me all of 30 seconds to make a wrong turn and have one of my bags fall off. Then we rode forever down Great South Road until finally, long after I figured we missed our turn, we found the street we were looking for. Too bad it took only a few km's for me to make another wrong turn, put us on the motorway, quickly find out way off the motorway, and end up again on Great South Road, the road we didn't want to be on anymore. It was too late to backtrack, so we just forged onwards.

This mess all happened after I didn't sleep and had very little to eat. I didn't find Shad when I got in. It was 1am and there was no sign of him where he was supposed to be, so I spend the night hidden behind some trees in a park. Then I got torrentially rained on as I walked to go get my bike. The day did not start off well at all.

The good news in all of this is that I did eventually find Shad.

Our First Fish & Chips of the Trip

Also, as we were enjoying fish & chips in Tuakau, a town we were never supposed to go through, an older woman by the name of Diane chanced by and struck up a conversation. After hearing our plans to camp in the countryside, she quickly invited us to stay in her home. We accepted. When we arrived she set us up each with our own spare bedroom, gave us clean towels for showers, made us tea, shared oranges from a tree in her yard and fed us homemade muffins. Then the next morning she made us breakfast! There was a reason we got lost after all.

Tuakau, New Zealand