November 10th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,New Zealand
The breakfast promised to me by 10 O’Clock Cookie Bakery and Cafe yesterday was awesome. Basically a huge pile of the kind of stuff that will power you for the rest of the day…hash browns, eggs, German sausage, portabello mushrooms, ciabata bread, bacon…
The bakery is a family affair, run by the original Dutch owners, the Kloeg family. I was not allowed to leave without making sure that I picked something out for lunch…thank you!
I said my farewells to Fiona, and I was on the road again, heading for the Rimutaka Range of mountains (hills). The main State Highway 2 was described to me as a narrow winding steep mountain road, with 18 wheeler trucks speeding up and down the twisting ribbon of pavement. What was not explained to me was the wind. I was almost blown off my bike a number of times, and one blown off balance to the extent that I ended up riding right across the two lanes of highway.
There was not a huge amount of traffic however, and the 13km steep uphill was soon behind me.
The downhill was also very blustery. It was a bit of an anti-climax having to pedal downhill.
I pushed on to Kaitoke Regional Park. Derrick, the engineer from Masterton who I met yesterday, had told me about a DOC campsite there. For a $5 fee, I had the whole place to myself. Very nice.
Do you remember going over the Rimutaka on pur way to Whangarei when you about 7? That was in the green van. Dad had put a long drive shaft in and we douldn't do more than crawl up. You were probably faster on your bike.
