Waihi Beach, NZ
Sleeping
Reading
Swimming
Walking
Talking
Painting
Lovely way to spend a day on a quiet little bay. Two night limit. Besides. I needed to keep moving north.
There's a chill in the night air and the leaves are smelling dry. Love autumn! Can't wait to experience one in NZ.
I'm heading up the east coast if the Coromandel peninsula. I hope folks are using this opportunity to familiarize themselves with New Zealand. I often do that when I follow other cyclists blogs. If you type the location I give you on any particular day into Google Maps...voila! I know I'm not writing much of a travelogue, describing the scenery, etc. This is "my" journal so you just get what I want to write about:). Power of the pen!
I'm following a main State Highway 2 and its quite busy and noisy. Hopefully, when I pass through Waihi today and pick up 25, things will quiet down.
Yesterday I met a German couple that have been on the road 2 years and cycled here from home...through India. I love hearing how couples handle the difference in cycling paces. This couple meets up in town. Yesterday Robert stopped to take a swim at the beach while Sabine continued on to town. He's so much stronger that he catches up easily. They also love mountain climbing with ropes and everything. So instead of carrying that gear, they find a central town to stay at for 6 weeks and have their gear shipped to them. Then before moving on, ship it home to Mom. Costly but far easier than carrying it and you get Your Stuff.
At the suggestion of a local, I cycled out to the tip of the peninsula to camp last night. There was a parking lot, johns, picnic tables and folks with campervans set up. Seeing no camping signs, including campervans, I chatted with some people and found out it had been recently opened to self-contained vehicles. (Those upscale rigs with bathrooms and grey water tanks.). But there's a bathroom here! Well I decided to risk it. Didn't want to bike back. It was after 5 pm.
Found a spot, set up, was cooking up some lentils for dinner and chatting with Karen
when a cop car pulls up. "No camping," he tells me ever so nicely and with the sweetest smile. This is the country of gentle cops! I convinced him to let me stay until morning. Sweet!
I share my dinner with Karen, then tuck away for a night's sleep. Janine comes by calling "Girls!" Just me. She wonders about the cop and am I alright. I believe she was wondering why I was still there. Not safe way over here away from everybody. Give me a break! I am so tired of hearing about not being safe. I'm fine!!! Don't even put that thought into the Universe, please. She leaves and then...
About 9 pm, a representative from the District Council shows up and wakes me. "No Camping! I got a call and have to respond. The cop didn't have authorization to let me stay. Where you go is your problem, Love."
Flashbacks are happening! Am I in Holland? I think Janine called 111 to complain about me.
As I pack, the rain comes back. I cycle away having no clue where I'm going. I'm not going to the campground, that much I know. I'm getting wetter. There was a spot I'd noticed on my way out by a car park and on the water. Lets see if any cars are there. Nope. Look at this...I can set up behind this huge flax plant. This should be fine. In fact, better than where I was:)
And even though I took down and set up the tent in the rain, I've managed to get warm and dry inside...just a slight bit of mopping.
This morning, the locals who told me about going there stopped me on the road. They'd been down to the point for a swim and heard about my fiasco...and felt bad. But I was fine. Everything seems to work out. Just need to obey the signs and not camp near folks. Lesson learned.
BagLady
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