Day 22 Ekatahuna to Masterton
- Colin Grierson
- Apr 1, 2024
- 4 min read
At breakfast we meet two others riding down the country, also taking their time. They are from Australia and have done many long rides in the past. Their bikes are old, manual and look well used. While chatting they say they like to book accommodation the day before. Sau Keng tells them of our difficulties finding places over Easter in the popular tourist towns. We leave them with Jeff studying his phone...
The weather is perfect and the countryside too. We have been so lucky. Of course we are not following SH2, our route is to the east, via Mauriceville and takes us to a gravel road. A turkey jumps from the roadside in front of me and almost manages to get itself run over. Two family history stories regarding turkeys come to mind. If I hit and killed it, family tradition would have required me to eat the thing!
We come to an intersection with an information board. The road signs seem to point to Mauriceville in multiple directions? Eventually we figure there are two separate places - Mauriceville and Mauriceville West. The board tells us they were settled by Danish and Norwegians. Nothing else seems to be left of Mauriceville West.
On to Mauriceville and detour to explore the town. There is an impressive lime works, a handful of houses and nice, reasonable size school - we guess the school serves the district, it is certainly too big for the few houses here.
Back enroute to Masterton on the Opaki Kaiparoro Rd - Sau Keng says this is her sort of road - sealed, level, smooth, two lanes, and NO traffic. Close to Masterton we pass a vineyard restaurant, an abundance of flags makes sure we notice them and know they are open. We feel like a coffee and a break so go. We are the only customers (probably we are just early) the staff are nice - we'll have a light lunch too. Their 'Summer Salad' with water melon, pork, and honey mustard is very good. Our waiter is exceptionally tall 6'7" he says.
As forecast, the wind has got up, and is against us, but it is not too bad - nothing like the extreme we had yesterday. Close to town we leave the road for a track beside the river. The road would be much faster, but this is nice and we are not in a hurry. Here's a swing bridge, we like these, so cross and follow the trail in this side of the river. It takes us under SH2 - there is another swing bridge ahead :-) so we cross again and find ourselves in a very nice park with many people enjoying the day. Ride around for a while, watch the mini train passing, chat with a group that includes another tricycle rider... Very good vibe here.
A shower starts and we maneuver the bikes onto a veranda for shelter. By the time we got the bikes under cover the shower had passed! It was very short - we are not that slow. Time to visit Denise and Roy, they are in a retirement village, Arvida Landsdowne Estate. Google maps show a marker for this so I navigate us there. There are houses up the hill from us and towards SH2. Which? We don't get a clear answer from Google, Sau Keng remembers a road name - that's up the hill - so up we go.
Not the right guess, but this is the road our Air B&B is on. A shower comes so we take cover in a convenient shelter at the golf club next to us. While sheltering we find Denise's instructions. The houses by SH2 are where we should be.
Denise & Roy's new house, and one other, have been the only completed dwellings here for the last 6 months. Fencing protecting the construction areas has only just been removed so maybe they will finally get some neighbors and more life around them.
Back home, today it is a nice old house and garden owned by an elderly chatty couple with an elderly little dog. Very homely and comfortable, we swap tips on plum bottling.
Yikes! Sau Keng checks her phone and finds the Air B&B for tomorrow canceled our books - after accepting payment and with just one day's notice. It took a lot of searching to find a place - we may not be able to find another. We start looking again and our host joins in - and finds the White Swan in Greytown showing one room available for Saturday. I ring - "2 People, check in Saturday, check out Sunday" provide contact details and credit card. All good. "Okay confirming .... check out Monday" No, we checkout Sunday. Oh, sorry, full. He apologies and also tries to find a place - without success. Eventually Sau Keng finds one, in Charterton - only 19 km further on. It's fine! The next day will still only be 65 kilometers. These last few days are really short rides... and it gives us time to explore.
We ride back to Denise and Roy's for dinner and more chatting returning at 8:30 as I am in an online Go tournament and have a game to play. Things go well for me Victory!
This is the URL for the game record. I am white and win by resignation
Statistics
Distance: 62.6 km
Climbed: 493 m
Time: 4:12
Was so great spending time together. Go well you happy cyclers.