At the outset let me make a public announcement that I will never doubt Narelle Gray again, given her comments about the Parapara’s and David McCormick who last year rode this road, but in the other direction in his 5 day ride from Christchurch to Auckland (“love ride”) I salute you!!

I was on the road at 7.15am as I had been told (many times!) that it was going to be a hard day. It was very cool and I was underdressed with only arm warmers as additional clothing, but perceived instead of stopping to put on more clothes. The day was initially slightly overcast, but you could see that the sun was going to come out, but it could not come quick enough for me…

For once there was no wind and the road surface was great, so it was relatively easy to be cruising at 30+ks and it had been a few days since I had last been able to do that.. After about 10ks there was a bit of a climb and then it was undulating going through some nice farming country.

Even though it was early and traffic was light, “Mr Plod” was out in force with no less that 3 patrol cars passing me and one just sitting parked in a dip ready to catch anyone coming from either direction with no time to react.. Safety measure, or revenue collecting…?

It was a pleasure to ride on a nice road surface and for there to be no wind, yeah! I was looking forward to breakfast at Tongariro, in fact a second breakfast as the motel had supplied flakes and toast, but it was going to be a big day as I had been told so needed to stock up..

Getting toward Tongariro the mountain which had previously been in cloud became clear and it was a fantastic view with there seeing to be a significant amount of snow present, I don’t know if that is normal for this time of year or not.

To get up to the plateau at the turn off for the rail way spiral, there was a really steep ramp that went on for a bit, then when you thought that must be it, there were a few more before the drag up to Tongariro, but the views of the mountain which by now was clear of cloud were stunning.

A local of Taumarumui at the RSA last night, had told me to go to the Railway Cafe which was about a k off the main road and I am pleased that he told me, as there was buggar all signage.

The cafe was great and because I do listen and knew that there was a big day coming, instead of the normal poached eggs on toast, it was the full monty with hash browns, tomatoes, sausages and tomato sauce! While I was there Graeme phoned and put his phone on speaker as the BP group were at The Store at Tai Tapu, so it was good to catch up.

When I arrived at the Cafe, I had put Mr Scott front wheel first into one of those bike stands. I hate these things and don’t normally use them, but there were no other bikes there and no one else in the Cafe. When I came out, 2 rental mountain bikes had been put in the stand and Mr Scott was lying on its side. I knew it would not be good and the result was that the front wheel has a shimmy in it which really p….d me off! No sign of the offenders of course!

When I was at the Cafe I was talking to an Aussie guy who was riding his mountain bike towing a trailer with something like 20kg including tent and sleeping bag. He was finding it tough going on some of the climbs and the “test” that he had riding around suburbs at his home in Canberra did not prepare him for New Zealand roads.. Good on him though for what he is doing.. He was looking enviously at my back pack, which I think is too heavy, but have needed everything!

After leaving Tongariro and getting over the shimmy in the front wheel, it was really good riding as the road surface was great and if anything the gradient was slightly decending so it was mostly in high 30’s and early 40’s ks which was great.. I had also put on more arm warmers and skull cap so this and food on board may it more enjoyable riding. Again I was keen to tick off the ks as had been told what was coming…

There were great sections of road, including a big swish back to an opposite valley where there was a large railway viaduct that was being worked on.

Good time made to Raetihi where again the “town” is off the main road and stopped at a Cafe where there must have been 50 odd motorcyclists who were on a tour of Taranaki and came from all over the North Island. While it was a 2nd coffee stop for the day, I was aware that there was then effectively no other services between here and Wanganui so needed to stock up!

Again it was good riding out of Raetihi and the dreaded Parapapa’s started with a brillant decent, followed by an accent and then it was up and down for a fair number of ks, but riding through some nice country. I knew from the Maps application that it was effectively decending all the way to Wanganui, but there were still a fair few accents.. You could see if you were riding the other way, it would be a very tough day in the saddle.

The landscape changed and where there had been excavations for the road, the sides seemed to be a white clay that also seemed to slip a lot. There were views of a river in the valley quite some metres down, but a great view. Past a fence where there must have been a couple of hundred metres of shoes tied (personally would have preferred other clothing items) and as there was no sign to do so, people obviously just follow suit with what had been started!

I was starting to run low on water and by this time it had become a lovely day and was getting quite warm. There were a number of waterfalls on the side of the road but they looked difficult to access. The one that was possible I was past it before I realised and in hindsight should have gone back, but thought that there would be other opportunities.. wrong! The waterfalls were no longer and any river that was crossed was way below and too difficult to access.. I was getting very dry and was seriously starting to look at sheep dips as the climbs still kept on coming..

Finally got out of the hills and close to the Wanganui river and only about 11ks out, there was a sign for a cafe, great, but then not so great as it was closed.. The good news was that there was a hotel there as well, so a couple of cokes helped the thirst and for the final push to Wanganui.

The last time I was in Wanganui was as a kid and I can not remember it. Having watched a documentary on the town recently which was not that complimentary but could have also applied to a lot of other New Zealand towns, I was pleasantly surprised as to how clean and tidy the approaches were and how good the CBD area looks.

Booked into the Riverview Motels which are within walking distance of the CBD and the motelier has put me in a 1 bedroom apartment with big lazy boy chairs, just what a tired cyclist needed!

Total ks for the day 168, with a climbing elevation of 2,083 m.

I have arranged to watch the AB’s play the USA tomorrow with Narelle’s mum Gaelyn and her gran Nan and it has been stated that there could be pikelets and cream at half time, so I will be able to take note from the “Master Chef” as to how to do it..

While I had made good time to Raetihi, the last 60ks took longer than what I had thought, hence the acknowledgement at the commencement of this post!

I have had a few texts following my comment in yesterday’s post about comments not being able to be posted so rest easy, it is not you, but will try and get it sorted when I find someone more technically savvy than me!

Just a reminder for those in the BP Group, David McCormick is riding in the Tour of Southland that starts on Sunday so am sure he would appreciate a text.

Day 2 of 5 Passes and Chef I am still waiting a progress report!