Breakfast was Chinese stir-fried rice, courtesy of Robert. At breakfast, we decided we'd visit the East Cape Lighthouse, the world's eastern-most lighthouse.
We got about halfway through the 20km of gravel road to the lighthouse before we decided to pile into the van for the rest of the way. Robert soldiered on with his bike, though, and met us at the lighthouse.
We had to climb, by foot, the last hill to the lighthouse. We were buffeted by the strong winds as we took in the views from the summit.
Then it was back to Te Araroa for fish and chips and abalone fritter (dark, salty, minced) and ice cream. Before heading home, we stopped to admire Te Waha-O-Rerekohu, a 350-year old pohutukawa tree. It was massive.
Once home, we had to tend to the bikes: tightening screws, wiping off dust and cleaning our chains. There was very little we could do about the gobs of tar stuck on our bikes.
That afternoon, it rained off and on, sometimes lightly, but sometimes in sheets that pounded the roofs. We were so glad to be snug and dry in our rooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment