Day 1

3 1/2 hours of sleep and I still missed the 8:25 train to Masterton by 10 minutes. I took the advice of some mates and decided to take highway 2 to avoid the winds on the kapiti coast, only problem is highway 2 goes over the rimutaka mountain range (or something), so I'm cheating and starting out the cycle portion of the trip from Masterton to avoid the nasty bits.

I had time to kill while I was waiting, so I said my last goodbyes to a few people downtown:


Anton over at Victoria Street Cafe


Kimi over at Gloria Jeans




and Geoffrey who made time out of his busy MINISTRY OF HEALTH work schedule to meet with me over at the train station. (this picture, however, was taken at cornerstore over some farewell drinx.)

I even saw blanket man strolling down lambton quay like a man with a mission, and I swear he nodded to me with recognition.

I had time to print out the blessing of the sun from iPlay, hey man, it only happens once every 28 years. I said it silently by Cuba Street & manners mall. At least the weather seems fine today.

Once I got to the train platform, a very nice maori lady showed me where to stow my bike, unfortunately she seemed to be very confused on where I should put the darn thing. We had to shout over the roar of the engine (I'm guessing it was the engine), as I explained to her that I'd rather stow it somewhere where I could either tie it to a pipe or something coming off the wall, or stow it lying down so it wouldn't fall over and buckle the wheel or something. I must have moved the bike eight times, and there were only 5 other bags in that huge compartment.

I grabbed an hour of sleep on the train. This trip is going to be the best thing I've done in a long time.

Got to Masterton around 3:00. There I realized that the pair of jeans I grabbed had a hole in the right pocket where I stashed my bicycle computer. Needless to say that ticked me off quite a bit, I really could have used the odometer to pace myself. Oh well.

Asked for directions to highway 2, I guess they must call it something else because the guy at the garage didn't know what I was talking about.

I figured since I started late I wouldn't make it to the Eketahuna campsite in time. As it got darker I started to get desperate and considered Hansel & Gretel time options:


but finally settled on camping out on a scenic trail in Kaipororo. Illegally of course, but hey, there were no signs that said "No Camping." There was a fence that I had to lift my bike over, and once I got to my location it was dark and scary but I told myself the cows mooing on the downside of the cliff probably didn't have american bovine growth hormone in them, and so probably couldn't climb up the ledge to eat me. It was a little difficult setting up the tent in the dark but I somehow managed, and then went back out to the picnic bench and cooked up some sausages and ate them. Back in the tent, looked at the map by flashlight and tried to figure out how far I'd gone, those little red numbers couldn't be right because they said I'd gone about 60km, and I hadn't even reached Eketahuna which was only 40km from masterton. Hopefully I'll be able to work up to that by tomorrow!

(see https://photos.app.goo.gl/HmE5Goxpr5nUxSQq6 for more pictures)