I was supposed to take a day off today but I felt replenished after more than twelve hours of rest, so I moved on.
The route to Te Aroha I was planning to take was mostly gravel. After riding some time on it, realizing that neither the road nor the surroundings were pleasant, I took the mix’n’match approach: I rode the beginning, a part in the middle and the end on the Hauraki Rail Trail, and the rest on the highway, which was running parallel to the trail.
While on the trail I took a control photo of dairy cows – or as someone put it, “the engine and the exhaust pipe of New Zealand“.
The road was practically flat, so I made it to Te Aroha just past noon.
I was mulling over if I should continue to the next town when I received a notification from Couchsurfing that my request to stay with a local host came through. At the same time, it started to drizzle. That sealed the deal: I stayed in Te Aroha, because a couch beats an airmat in a tent, particularly on a wet day.
Moreover, my airmat started to leak air out last night, so not only it was uncomfortable but cold as well. I need to find a replacement but I am going through small towns, so it might have to wait.
Today in numbers:
82 km – distance cycled
4235 – litres of milk per year produced on average by a New Zealand dairy cow