Ngaruawahia and New Plymouth

We headed south from Kerikeri and stayed a night in Whangarei. The bus was booked in at a glass place to fix a cracked windscreen. Then we went to Waipu for the night before heading through Auckland and down to Ngaruawahia, where we spent the night beside the river.

Next stop, Bell Block just outside New Plymouth. The motorhome park has views of Mt Taranaki and is close to the cycle trail along the coast into New Plymouth.

First the track goes through bush and parkland at Bell Block...

Then we came to some sort of special truck show. It was huge - I took a video but obviously this platform doesn't support videos. So, just a picture of an old fire truck.

This bridge is on the coastal walkway/cycleway. Mt Taranaki in the background.

Malcolm at the other side. It's like a whale skeleton.

Along the coast. The beaches here are all black sand.

We stopped at a pop up cafe and had hot crossed buns - it's Easter Sunday. Malcolm has a Lawrence of Arabia hat under his helmet for sun protection.😀

This is the wind wand, a kinetic sculpture at New Plymouth. We had lunch in town then cycled back.

 

Roxborough Gorge cycle trail

Rain had been forcast for bot our days of cycling. Day one was warm and sunny, day two dawned wet. After coffee in our cafe we took the shuttle to Roxborough dam. It was grey but the rain had stopped and as soon as we set off the clouds disappeared. It was a cold wind though.

Malcolm sets off on the zig zags at the start of the trail.

Me in action with the dam behind.

The dot in the middle of this photo is me.

After about 10kms we boarded the jet boat for the next section.

The driver gave us a commentary. The cottage above was the home of a woman who collected gold from the miners and took it to be assayed.

The miners lived in caves or overhangs of rock that they walled in.

After the boat section we had a break, then continued on to Alexndra.

We had lunch at the old courthouse, then cycled beside the river to Clyde.

This 12km section was badly maintained and very rough to ride on. This photo is one of the smoother sections.

 

New Plymouth Costal Cycleway

 More stunning scenery along the coast to New Plymouth (Bell Block). We cycled into the city for lunch, then back to the bus.