Auckland Adventures - Tour Aotearoa

Day 4

I woke around 7am, and promptly found my missing electronics bag -- it had fallen beneath my sleeping mattress and had stubbornly stayed hidden even though I'm sure I looked there at least three times the previous evening. What a relief

We headed out at about 8:30am -- we didn't want to get to Auckland at rush-hour so we deliberately left a bit later. It was hot already, and the steep climb out of Helensville was sweaty work. My backside was tender, but I was wearing two pairs of cycling shorts, which helped a lot.

Greg's bike was having problems with skipping gears, and it crunched all the way up the steep climb. Not good -- at least there's a bike shop not too far away.

After the first big climb, we had rolling hills all the way to Auckland. Following the route was easy as I'd ridden it at Christmas time.

We made good progress into the central city, where we stopped at Mt Eden Cycles. I bought a packet of Nuun, which are electrolyte tablets, while Greg got his bike serviced and bought a new stuff sack for his tent. He also left a bag of stuff he didn't want any more, including his big head lamp...he intended to buy a small bike light, but he forgot so he doesn't have a torch or front bike light any more.

I checked my dynamo battery and confirmed my suspicion: it wasn't charging. Great -- now I have no way of charging any of my electronics!

The bike shop couldn't help but they pointed me to a computer repair shop two doors down. The technician and I managed to show that the hub itself was working, as was my USB cable and battery -- the fault was in my cable or voltage converter. Grrr...they are all sealed up and impossible to repair.

We saw several other TA riders at the bike shop, including Richard Harding.

After we left the bike shop, I had a burrito from Pita Pit with Richard (fresh vegetables...yum!), while Greg had sushi and soup. We headed out and began the climb up to the top of Mount Eden, which is our fourth photo stop. Unfortunately, Greg's bike was even worse!

 After the photo stop we headed down the hill, through Cornwall Park and down into Onehunga. There we found another bike shop, where Greg got his bike serviced again while I went off and bought a USB wall charger and a milkshake. Fortunately they managed to fix Greg's bike, and it's working well now.


We headed through South Auckland, which was terrible. When I had ridden it at Christmas time there was hardly any traffic, but this time the traffic was diabolical. Near the airport we met up with Louise and Neville, a couple riding together, as well as Kay Haasma. They wanted me to guide them out of the city, so Greg and I slowed down so we could stay together.

 I managed to leave two of my food bags at the Kaipara Cruising Club, so I had no milk powder, Parmesan, sugar or oatmeal.  Annoying, but very easily done.  We all stopped at the Countdown supermarket near Auckland Airport for food, then continued on together. Kay struggled once we hit the hills, but I think everyone was tired by then.

After riding through Totara Park, we left the city behind and finally headed into the countryside. Why we began to climb again, Neville suggested that Greg and I go on as Kay was still finding it hard and the hills were coming up.  There were some nasty hills heading into the Hunuas, and I quickly ran out of my remaining water. I should have refilled my bottles at the supermarket.

We reached the top of a major hill, with a trig right beside the road, when Greg noticed someone sitting nearby and asked for some water. We had a good chat with them, and I really enjoyed the water.

From there, it was only a few km down the hill and into Hunua Village. We stopped at the local store, and saw that, of all things they had an Indian restaurant next door!  We decided to eat dinner at the restaurant while we charged our devices and figured out where to stay for the night.

Kay, Neville and Louise turned up, as did Richard Harding, and Louise managed to arrange for us to stay at the nearby YMCA camp. It was perfect -- showers, toilets, cabin beds, and a kitchen.

 There was even cellphone reception so I could call Ruth. I also got to speak with Anneke, which was wonderful as I'd been missing her.

Towel drying

The best thing was that someone on the TA Facebook forum said they had dynamo equipment for sale. I asked, and it looks like he may be able to make me up a cable and lend me a new battery so I can use my hub to charge things up! The challenge was to figure out where to get him to send it to...because it's Friday today the mail will be slower and unfortunately there are no convenient towns. The best option is Wanganui, maybe five days away. But that's a lot better than nothing, and I feel very very lucky.

Making repairs with duct tape

We only rode about 115 km today, but still climbed 1,400 metres. It was slower going through the city with all the traffic, and it was still a solid day.  It looks like we've reached the end of the good weather, with rain predicted for tomorrow night, so we're going to have an early start to get as far along as possible. Bring it on!