Day 2 Along the beach

We have about 40km along the beach to get to Ahipara, very doable and we can take our time, but after yesterday the beach has my respect. It is a beautiful morning again and no wind at all - but we have to wait for the tide. We will start at 11 again, an hour earlier than yesterday relative to the tide, as there was heaps of room to ride when we reached the beach then.

A bus arrives, very old, the driver gets out and greets us. Sau Keng asks him his plans - it's the same guy we met yesterday at the end of Te Paki stream, with a shirt on and not as red Sau Keng did not recognise him! We chat a bit and he tells me the awning on his bus has come loose. I do my good deed of the day and help him secure it.

We work and relax until 10:45 then set off. The instruction to ride on the beach from 3 hours before low tide is very conservative. We are an hour earlier and there is plenty of firm sand.

There is also no wind and riding is so much easier than yesterday, 20km/hr is easy.

Unfortunately after half an hour the wind comes back and riding is not easy any more. 20km down the beach we come to the Waipapakauri ramp, where the Ngapae holiday camp is. A sign says "Icecream, Coffee" - let's stop here for lunch. Just up the road we find the shop and treat ourselves. The shopkeeper is a chatty lady and says she provides the shaded table for crazy people like us and we can stay as long as we like. Some locals chat and I ask about the tuatuas - many poke themselves up out of the sand - I've never seen this before. The guy says it started a few years back and he does not know why either.

At lunch I walked out and waded in the sea - I feel it is disrespectful to spend so long here and not touch the water. It's warm for the west coast. Later Sau Keng wants a photo close to the sea, while we are taking it her trike settles into the wet sand and needs a push to help it out.

Ahipara is in sight, we can make out the houses now. It still takes quite a while to get there, but it helped my mood. We take the first exit, and this too is hard work. Unlike the two along the beach there is 50m of soft white sand and it is surprisingly hard to push my bike through it - almost had to stop for a rest. Sau Keng bogged down too, got off and left the trike to me. It's easier as it drives across the sand without Sau Keng's weight.

3km along the roads - so much easier than riding on sand. Finally our road - steeply uphill! At least it is not far and it is the end, so it's not hard to summon the energy required. The motel is very good and the proprietor helps me fix the mirror on Sau Keng's trike - and there is a restaurant as well so we don't have to leave and ride the hill again. Perfect.

We settle, Sau Keng gets into her work email, I go for a swim, my first this year, and catch a couple of small waves. Ahipara is protected by the curve of the coast and the surf here is much smaller than on 90 mile beach proper. Quite idyllic. I do not think to clean our bikes...

Dinner is good, we work a while longer, then Sau Keng goes to bed. I check our route -

great! The plan said 90km - but that was if we started from Ngapae holiday park. It's actually 63km. Bed time, very warm, hard to get to sleep.

Statistics

Distance: 37.1

Climbed: 86m

Time: 2:37