Day 24 (Dec 29) Oakura to Kaeo 119.1km =2308km total

The surf was pumping at Elliots Bay

Ferry from Russell to Paihia



A shitty morning turned into a great laste afternoon

Camp for the night


Day 24 (Dec 29) Oakura to Kaeo 119.1km =2308km total

After a great sleep we woke up to rain so we slept in a bit and started off quite late. Colin had just finished cycling from Wellington to Auckland a week ago and was all keen to cycle with us to Russell but the showers this morning scared him off : )

We got on the road and had consistent rain until about 4pm when it cleared up. The terrain was extreme up and downs with some beautiful coast and pumping surf especially at Elliots Bay (I wish I had my kayak with me). I started having a few problems with my gears so spent a lot of time fixing them in the rain. From Russell we crossed to Paihia on the passenger ferry.

We arrived into Kaeo just in time to get a mint feed of spare ribs and salad (the reason I keep talking about food is that after cycling for several hours each day food tastes so great). There were some funny little Maori kids who kept asking us if we were cycling to the end of the world. From Kaeo we decided to cycle on until it got dark to make tomorrow easier and ended up down this gravel road sleeping on a grass verge between some farmland 14km out of Kaeo. It must be mating season for cows and bulls they were going hard all night.