After yesterday it was a deliberately slow start this morning with a leisurely breakfast in house and I did not hit the road until just on check out time at 10am.

Despite the forecast for rain, it was overcast and relatively warm and as expected it was not that great to be back on the bike and the back pack felt particularly heavy, despite it only having extra a couple of apples, a mandarain and 2 bananas! Still it was intended to be a relatively quiet day with something like 75ks to Rawene.

After about 12ks the road moved away from the coast, not that it had been right on it and there were numerous climbs up various valleys, with a great road surface and the luxury of not a lot of traffic. The road continued to be undulating going through some lovely country and at times was at a reasonable height providing great views of the surrounding country. There were no photos as I was too tired, or lazy, to stop and get the tablet out.

There were places today particularly with no cell coverage and minimal traffic, that I felt very isolated.

Reached the point for the ferry to Rawene and timed it pretty well as the ferry was only about 10 minutes away and there was already quite a queue of cars. Not suprisingly given that it was a long weekend, there were no vehicles going north and at least I knew I was guaranteed passage but some did not make it on this trip and would have to wait for the next. They used every available bit of space on the deck to cram in every vehicle they could.

Grand cost for me and Mr Scott for the crossing, $2.

Today I was being a bit adventious and “winging” it from an accommodation point of view and the only accommodation in Rawene the Postmasters had a no vacancy sign, buggar. It was over 100ks to Dargaville and did not feel like that..

Still no cell phone or internet coverage at Rawene so unable to check the Map application.

On recharging at the local Cafe, in fact the only one, the owner said that there would be accommodation in Opononi and also the next town, which was only 20 minutes in a car (where have I heard that before) and that there were only 2 small hills (where have I also heard that!) before Opononi.

It was a climb out of Rawene and there might have been 4 climbs before reaching Opononi which is famous in 1956 for Opo the dolphin and is basically at the head of the Hokianga harbour.

It was great to find accommodation as I was starting to look for hay barns and the motelier said that they had been fully booked due to Labour weekend, but so far I was on the only occupant for tonight. So after doing the domestics with the washing, it was a shower and down to the local hotel for a few beers and dinner.. As I am writing this blog from the hotel, my table looks out over the harbour and the statue of Opo.

The tide is flowing swiftly and from the road outside the motel you can see the heads and bar to the harbour which itself is huge. On the other side of the harbour are very high sand dunes. The motelier has said that some orica have been seen in the harbour, but have not seen them. I was talking to a local fisherman who had not caught anything and was blaming it on the orica for scaring the fish away..

I have been out of cell phone coverage for basically all day, but was given a wifi at the motel, but this only seems to work if you are on Vodafone!

Total for the day was 98ks and I will now need to revise plan for where to from here, as originally had targeted Dargaville but should ne able to get further south all going well.

WHile I had been hoping to get to Dargaville today, that was perhaps a bit ambitious after yesterdays efforts.