Day 19 Wairoa to Lake Tutira 74km
Minus 7km, but more of that later.
I can't tell you my relief at 7.45 this morning when Mark said "I don't really fancy a pie, I don't think I'm going to have one".
Anyway, we headed out of Wairoa with a little trepidation. It was already hot and we had a very hilly day ahead. We'd agreed that we wouldn't easily make it to Napier in one day and had been told about a DOC site at Lake Tutira. Camping in New Zealand is different to the UK. Most land is privately owned and it isn't ok to just pitch a tent anywhere. We've ended up staying at a lot of proper camp sites, expensive and although not crowded, not the wilderness camping we both love. The Department of Conservation (DOC) designate some beauty spots and nature reserves for camping and if we can find them and they're in the right place we use them.
So we were heading for Lake Tutira painfully slowly. There was only one possible tea shop about 60km in and we were delighted to find it open. We stopped to refuel(steak pie...) and got chatting to a gang of loggers, having their Friday lunchtime drink before going home. They described the next gorge, narrow, steep drop to one side and sheer cliff to the other. They hooted with laughter about our prospects (low) of making it out the other side in one piece, and advised we use the nearly finished new road and bridge instead. Safer by far and would spare us yet another steep down and up. So we followed their advice. Trouble was it wasn't nearly finished at all, it was very much a construction site. We got quite a long way with thumbs up signs from the various truck and digger drivers, but the foreman told us "No way, buddy". We turned around to trudge back uphill towards the scary road when he came after us. He got one of the men to drive us through the gorge in a truck.
So, even if we make it to Cape Bluff we won't have cycled it all!
The DOC site is lovely. We pitched in a perfect spot and went for a swim. We then found a sign pointing out the designated camp areas. Of course, we aren't in one. We've decided to brave it out and hope we don't get moved on. Planning a very early start tomorrow anyway to tackle the huge hill between us and Napier before if gets too hot....