Tue Feb 7 (Waihi to Opoutere, 44km):

We slept in that day, and after a simple breakfast, we set off to explore Waihi.  We also wanted to get groceries since it was a short ride to our destination and we wouldn't pass any bigger town than Waihi.

Waihi is a town in transition:  the gold mine that caused the town to be built is petering out so they will be building a major attraction to draw in the tourists.  We grocery shopped and then visited the mine lookout and basically saw a huge hole. 

Gold mine, aka the Big Hole

Cornish Pump House

Today was another perfect day for cycling: sunny and warm but with cool in the shade or while going downhill.  We had a couple of hills again, but most memorable for me was an amazing downhill with switchback after switchback:  the cars were often limited to 45 kph, with a couple of 35 kph and 25 kph thrown in.

We stopped for refreshments at Whangamata which had a few nice cafes and ice cream shops and then continued on our way.

The results of logging ...

For these many days, we'd been cycling through hills of dense woods and warm sandstone or of pale green pastures accented, mantled or capped by trees of silver, green or blue.  Now, rounding a corner, we came upon a bleak hillside where Sauron’s minions had run amok: only shorn, withered tree stumps and broken, dried-out stubble flourished.  A sight so shocking, it knocked the breath out of us.  If Robert had been with us, he would've cried.

Before many minutes had passed though, we came upon scenes more pleasing to the soul:  that of sandy beaches and shallow waters of the estuary (emptying into Wharekawa Harbour) at low tide.  And shortly after that, we arrived at the Opoutere youth hostel.

The YH had beautiful lawns overlooking the estuary.   The kitchen was bright and sunny, the communal bathrooms and showers scrupulously clean.  The manager was not yet in so Rosemarie greeted us.  She and her husband had been coming every year to this YHA for over 33 years and volunteered much of their time towards its upkeep.  Rosemarie, though German, had lived in Canada for a few years and still remembered that she'd lived on St. Clair Ave in Toronto.  From her, we learned that the original building had been a schoolhouse and the kitchen used to be the teacher's house.  Over the years, the showers, toilets and cabins had been added on.

We had 3 cabins, each cabin having a covered porch with a clothes line under the porch so after the sun left the communal clothes lines, we simply moved our laundry under our porches to continue the drying process overnight.

The YHA also had a fabulous propane BBQ with grill.  So that worked out perfectly for us since Fran and I had decided that dinner would be hamburgers with all the fixin's with crudites instead of fries (most of us felt we'd gained weight, we were eating so well). We only drizzled a tiny bit of  the rice krispy squares we had for dessert.

Then Martel had to do a little bit of work on Carole's bike:  it had lost a screw from her rear rack and her front derailleur wasn't shifting properly.  But he got it working, so Carole was happy again.