All the best things in life are free
The time on the road in New Zealand is slowly coming to an end, today is the last of the long runs. The plan was always to leave a light last day to see if I could shoehorn in some of the stuff I have to do in preparation for flying off to Australia.
As it turned out I ended up overshooting the target by 14 miles, leaving myself only 18 miles to do tomorrow.
The start of the day was a bit gloomy and indeed in the night it was fairly cold, so much so that I was prompted to put my socks on mid way through the night. That proved however to be sufficient to stop the chill and I got nowhere near the dizzy lows of the Cattlins.
Unfortunately, contrary to my hopes, it stayed overcast for most of the day providing a dull background to the rather rural and unexceptional foreground of the day.
The rolling countryside of south northland and north Auckland was definitely showing autumn setting in, most of the deciduous trees have now lost their leaves and the ferns and the native evergreen are the only plants that supply the green on the hills.
I quite quickly came up to SheepWorld, the holiday park next to it was where I had meant to stay the night. It was 14:30 and the country park looked very uninteresting so I decided to continue cycling.
Most of the day has been spent on the SH1 the main north-south artery but I got to a point where there was little choice but to leave it, I have done strange things riding around but so far I have not yet been on a tool road.
Luckily I was not too far.
One more hill and I got to the campground. This is one of the recreational parks run by Auckland district council and I have to admit they do a pretty good job with them. The toilets in the toilet block were better than I’ve seen in many houses and the grass was immaculate and soft.
Unfortunately, others may disagree the place was infested with ducks and Pukekos which where a damn nuisance, given the thin walls of my dwelling.
This is the last night I’m camping in New Zealand on this trip and I am very happy to close this chapter on a high note.
This country is truly made for campers and for sure I have enjoyed greatly all of the nights I have spent in the tent whether they were under the stars, in the blowing gale, in the pouring rain or listening to the rhythmic sound of the ocean waves.