Day 92 - Coromandel

Had a good day on the Driving Greek Scenic Railway and Pottery which sounds as though we have completely lost it! An artist/sculptor from NZ bought 60 acres of land (up a mountain) and started to take the clay from the mountainside for his pottery. It was very hard to bring it down so he decided to build a narrow-gauge railway line with one carriage, that over the next 36 years grew and he built bridges and tunnels to enhance the journey, got into financial difficulties and loaned from the Bank and he went onto spend it on more railway line. On advice he opended the railway to the public, which he didn't want to do. At the top he built a wooden lookout called the Eyefull Tower with magnificant views of the Coromandel Peninsula and Hauraki Gulf . . . Keith absolutely loved it.

Day 93 - Coromandel

Bike trip round to Shelly Bay Beach and on to Colville, some of it around the coastal road. Most/all of the area is mainly fishing and just about everyone has a boat. Singapore Airlines rang and said that we had seats for Thursday 29th April. The owners of the BBH here have been good to us - reducing the rates for us to stay.

Day 94 - Coromandel

Got everything sorted out to leave (thanks Keith Jnr for arranging things with Cabby Keith . . . if anything changes we will ring him directly. Booked the Ferry straight back to Auckland, decided to take another route to get a different perspective from the water. Again got reduced rates courtesy of Jackie at the BBH. Booked Auckland BBH but found that quite difficult as everything was alaready full up. Took ourselves off for a cycle around Long Bay and then walked for an hour or so. Keith had a feast from the rock oysters which he said were 'juicy' but I will take his word for that. It begins to get dark now about 5.50 - 6 pm each day and today it looks like rain, this is good news because NZ had been in a drought situation for 3 months plus.

Day 95 Coromandel - Auckland

Have to cycle about 40 minutes to the Ferry which is only for foot passengers and cyclists. It only runs certain days and times and our sailing is 4.30 pm and should arrive in Auckland at 6.30 pm approx. Floods on the South Island now but they need the rain. In some areas people are being evacuated specially at Milford Sound. Hope you had a good holiday Spencer and Lynda and thanks for the message today. Now 6.30 and we have just got off the Ferry, not a good idea it was too misty to see anything and it has been raining all day. The sea has been too choppy for yours truly and the captain or however thought that the double hulled boat was better suited as a speed boat, we have never got in anything so fast before. . . knew I shouldn't have had the seafood chowder lunchtime!!!!!

Day 96 Auckland

Still cannot up load the last of the photos, but we will try again later so that they can accompany this last blog.

Well that appears to be about it folks. . . it'd been a great trip and well worth doing on the bikes. Sometimes it's been hard but we bloody did it, 3600K plus covered. A little apprehensive at first but we got into it pretty quickly. . . it's funny how soon you remember what pain feels like! As usual we have met some great people and the New Zealanders have made us very welcome. The weather has been kind to us and thank goodness we have both kept physically fit. The cyclists we met on our journey shared their experiences with us and most of the time gave us good advice. Special thanks to David and Sabina, Alan @ Trampers Rest, Brenda @ Le Gite and Brian and Julia @ Cyclists Retrest (Book was great me dear). Thanks to all our family for their e-mails/messages and also our 'regulars'

That's All Folks!!!!!!

Just one last message to my co-cyclist and mechanic "it's been emotional" quote by man of very few words Vinny Jones.