A visit to Kaitak and Akitio Beach

A leisurely start, using Pauline's washing machine and internet access (occasionally, life off the road has its temptations!) It was good to get news of Karsten and Agata to share with Pauline, as we last bade them farewell here in 2002 when our cycling paths separated.

Next we drove back for 24 km, through Pongaroa towards Weber, to Harvie's farm at Waione, which is named 'Kaitak' after the old airport in Hong Kong. Chrissy was at school but Harvie entertained us for the rest of the morning, over lunch and into the afternoon. The conversation was wide-ranging: from world events and our own travels, through the progress of his two sons (both helicopter pilots in the NZ Air Force) and his own flying escapades, to his own recent serious farm accident and recovery. A brave and thoroughly likeable man, farmer and bush pilot, Harvie's forebears include one of Lord Nelson's naval officers by the name of Hindmarsh, who came out to Australia! The single-engined Cessna now standing in the hangar is one Harvie has rented, to fly while his own is being repaired after turning over on his farm airstrip in a storm (it was being flown by a son!) The beautiful 'Lockwood' farmhouse - a replacement for an earlier one, destroyed by earthquake - has recently been flooded when the stream rose to unheard-of heights. Luckily, he had the house built on wooden piles, rather than a concrete base. A man of many parts – and many lives – and a privilege to know!

From Waione, we drove 31 km on a newly sealed road to the beach at AKITIO, where George and Pauline have a sea-front two-storey house for family holidays and for rental (fully equipped to sleep 11). We checked that all was in order there, enjoying a pot of tea with a magnificent view of the ocean towards Cape Turnagain. The village has a caravan park, store, school and excellent fishing. The road loops back, joining Route 52 at Pongaroa, though not yet fully sealed. (To rent the house, contact Pauline and George Wardle at Glenross Lodge, email , tel 06 376 7288.)

We returned to Glenross for a splendid roast dinner – their own beef and Margaret's Yorkshire puds (which didn't quite rise to the occasion, but then, she is from Lancashire!)

August 2     82 km     MASTERTON, Mawley Park MC     ($NZ 20)

To the end of Route 52 at Masterton

We had more conversation and a last lunch with Pauline (having said goodbye to George when he left to attend a sheep-farmers' meeting) before continuing on the quiet Route 52, climbing to a max of 846 ft. The recent rain had caused several landslips, reducing the road to single file in places.

Route 52 meets the SH2 at MASTERTON, the largest town in the Wairarapa. See www.wairarapanz.com. As a  sheep-shearing centre, it has a 'Shear Discovery Centre' and hosts the International Golden Shears contest, though we know it better for the country's best bicycle shop – Happy Valley Cycling. It also has a friendly motor camp by the Waipoua River, a short walk from the town centre.

August 3     50 km     MASTERTON, Mawley Park MC     ($NZ 20)

To Greytown to meet John and Ann Rhodes

At Glenross, Pauline had introduced us to John Rhodes through his beautifully written emailed accounts of a tandem ride, with wife Ann, through the Indian Himalaya last August. We found ourselves invited to visit them – a welcome opportunity to talk with fellow travellers and cyclists.
John and Ann's home is just 23 km south of Masterton down the SH2, through CARTERTON to GREYTOWN – both pleasant towns settled in the 1850's, each with a caravan park. Over a pumpkin lunch we exchanged experiences and travellers' tales, learning more about John's tramping and cycling life. We envied him the spacious workshop and garage, with several good touring bicycles and the tandem 'Apollo' he rode with Ann. Their house came with a couple of acres of orchard and paddock, where 2 of Ann's 5 sheep had recently lambed. Going out to feed them, we were amused to see the newest twins wearing woolly jumpers over their own coats!

We learned that John and Ann, who had both been teachers, had previously cycled the Khunjerab Pass (4,730 m or 15,600 ft) on the Karakoram Highway, linking Pakistan with China. John edits a walkers' magazine in New Zealand and aims to produce his own website. It will be a pleasure to keep in touch with such an adventurous traveller. 

Back in Masterton, we tried the Library for internetting but the system was 'down' and no other access was available in the town.

August 4/5     123 km     FEILDING, Greenmeadows HP     ($NZ 24)

Meeting Gordon at Happy Valley Cycling, Kaka and Kiwi at  Mt Bruce

Before leaving Masterton, we went to Happy Valley Cycling on Church Street, to see the wonderfully happy Gordon Hyde. Originally from Derby in England, Gordon, a keen mountain-biker, is the kindest cycle-shop owner we know (and we've met quite a few, of all kinds!) He has been a great source of spares and inspiration on our previous cycling visits and when Margaret's handlebar-bag carrier broke, he made her a new one free of charge. Now turned 70, he has finally put his business on the market and we wish him many happy cycling years.

Driving north on SH2 into the Tararua district, we came to the Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre, run by the DOC, after 30 km. This Centre (with excellent exhibitions and café) offers a short bush walk past various aviaries and uses the $NZ 8 entry fees to support its work, breeding threatened bird species for release into safe environments. We saw Kakariki (endangered yellow-crowned parakeet), kokako (bred to release on Kapiti Island), and a North Island Brown Kiwi foraging in the dim light of the Kiwi House (where chicks are reared for mainland areas cleared of predators). We were sad to learn that 95% of Kiwis do not survive their first year, falling prey to stoats, possums, dogs and cats. 'Operation Nest Egg' has been launched, hopefully in time, before they become extinct.

Most fun was at the daily feeding of forest parrots (Kaka) at 3 pm. They were re-introduced into the wild here in 1996 and about 50 now live freely in the forest. The daily feeding is a small supplement to their diet, in order to monitor their numbers and show them to visitors. Stoats are their main enemy and their numbers are being reduced. Too expensive to fence the Wildlife Reserve, local farmers help by keeping predator numbers in check around the perimeter of the forest. More on www.mtbruce.org.nz. (We missed the daily eel-feeding in the stream at 1 pm.)

We continued north, through EKETAHUNA and PAHIATUA (both villages with motor camps), to WOODVILLE. A small town at the entrance to the Manawatu Gorge, site of the largest windfarm in the Southern Hemisphere (you can't miss it!), Woodville has a Visitor Centre but no official caravan park. We were told we could stay overnight on the Community Centre car park, but the Library was not internet-friendly and we drove on. See www.tararua.com for information on the area.

SH3 westwards to ASHHURST through the Manawatu River Gorge, 7 km of which is extremely narrow, with no shoulder. The road follows the south bank of the river, while a railway line clings to the north bank's ledge, occasionally disappearing into a tunnel. We remembered our relief on emerging unscathed when cycling this route! From Ashhurst, the SH3 or SH57 lead to Palmerston North (NZ's fifth city) but we again followed a back road to quieter FEILDING (sic), where we found rural camping, 2 km NE of the town (pop 13,600), named after one Lt-Col Feilding, which explains the spelling (?)

After a frosty night, the occupants of the dovecote amused us over breakfast – and how did a pair of starlings get inside, anyway? We enjoyed Friday (weekly stock sale and farmers' market) in Feilding, a lovely town. With its Edwardian Heritage theme, it has been voted NZ's Most Beautiful Town a dozen times. The Visitor Centre welcomed with a blazing log fire, both Library and computer shop offered excellent internet access and the farmers' market baking was jolly good! Good shopping, too – Margaret found a new fleece jacket in the sports shop half-price sale. (Described as Mossy Oak Camouflage pattern, she'll never be seen again!) The old post office was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1940's, but its clock now graces a Millenium Project tower in the square. Visit www.feilding.co.nz for info.