1-20-12

Te Fuiti

The room I had in the Pub in Wangunui had this blanket on the bed. A lot of places use made in NZ products and wool is one of them that is always popular.

I just had to stop and ask the owner what the hell is that? It is a National Mastiff and she said it was a War Dog.

There was a tv in the room and one of the chanels is Moari. I have seen some women with small tattoos on the chin but not to this extent. While I was eating my continental breakfast at the pub a woman came over and sat down next to me. She was dressed in a sort of uniform and it said”Warden”on her shoulder brackets. I asked if she was a Police or something and she said that the wardens are a go between the Maori and everyone else. She said they work downtown and do a lot of mediating in the bars. They are sort of a peace officer I guess. I asked about the tattoos on the chin of some women and she said it was a sort of mark of rank or influence. The men are marked on their arms that tell everyone who their ancestors were and sort of the family history. There sure is a lot of this I have no idea what they are even talking about.

Some nice street flowers.

This looks interesting eh?

turns out only a commercial product mostly like Rainbow bread I think.

This flower was almost six inches across.

I had to stop and watch a farmer with a bale wrapper working behind the baler.

The guy running this hay rake stopped to talk with me and turns out he is the farmer and the bale guy is a contract baler dude. They were putting up high moisture baleage and he said it was for his milking herd. He milks nine months of the year. He does put up some dry hay but not much. They want high quality feed for the milkers and I guess the extra cost of wrapping pays off.

I asked the info desk girl where I could find a backpacker place and she gave me directions to this place. Wow, what a nice driveway into the place.

it turns out to be a really laidback place and I like it a lot. I will stay here for a few days and do day rides out I think. $25 a night is a lot better than that pub room in Wanganui for $120 and I have dogs to pet and even a horse in the front yard. No old cars tho…..

Last night this guy came in and bunked I my room with me. He turns out to be from Colombia and is an accountant and is down here on Holiday. I think he worked a little up in Auckland at a restaurant for a while. He said he was working on his English and he sure was doing very very well with it. He is from Bogotá and that is where my daughter Anna is now. Maybe they can meet up some day in this small world. He had just toured the caves in the background. 

I went downtown and found a motorcycle business that would order me a new rear tire of the kiwi dog. I came back and fixed some lunch and took a quick nap and then headed out on the little road that went past the hostel and out in faming country. It is getting rather green up here as they have had lots and lots of rain.

That is a quarter mile of cows heading back to pasture or is it heading in to the milking parlor?

you might see the little motorcycle dude pushing from the rear.

This is a different dairy but this is common size. He has a sprinkler to keep them cool and I think to wash them down as well. The cows are out on grass all day and only come in for milking. There is a guy here a the hostel that has been working as a relief milker for the local dairymen. He says that the cows are always on grass and some farmers only milk once a day even though they loose 25% of capacity. He says that they like having more time for other things than milking twice a day which leaves no time for anything else.

I bought a map from the info desk gal and when she found out I  was a bike guy, she got her making pen and marked several roads and places that in needed to visit when in the area. One of the areas was a place on the beach that you dig a hole in the sand at low tide and hot water will fill it. Humm. Sounds like a place I could ‘dig’. So on this ride I was taking I happened to ride out to just that area. I got directions locally to go to the park and go up and over the hill and down on the beach and where the water was coming up and smelled of sulphur, I should dig…

Another ride is the “Lost Highway” which looks great on the map but she said there was a little gravel stretch in the middle. Fine with me!!

Here is a damn steep soft sand hill.

The view from the top of the hill. See way out there something is going on down by the water edge?

Crank up the telephoto and looks like folk have dug big holes and are also playing in the surf. The sign back where the bird warning sign was said be very careful of the rip tides. The tide was coming in and by the time I got out there I have an idea the holes would be under water. So, next time come early…..

Walking back down that steep sand hill. Next time I will have to wear shorts and sandals and not full riding gear.

I think they had thinned out this stand of timber. They grow forests like we grow wheat in Montana. Takes about twenty years I think for this crop. Notice how the lower branches have been trimmed off the trees in an early stage. Not sure but maybe peelers for plywood?

the road are fantastic and fast but you sure have to watch the corners that they have posted as slow ones. I have heard that the north island guys wear the rubber off the sides of their tires rather than off the bottom like the south islanders so. I am beginning to see why.  This is actually a rather straight stretch. I have been riding the twisty zones in third and forth gear and running up in the 5-6 thousand RPM range. That way it gives me a lot more control on compression braking and I use the transmission a lot and the brakes not so much. The outside edges of my boots are getting a little worn.

I was in the grocery store and this guy comes up and visits with me as I was dressed in my stitch riding gear. He invited me to his home and showed me some of his bikes. He is a Trials biker and just had a north island group that stayed at his house last week. He got his 1970 Bultaco out and gave me a little demo on how it still performs.

His name is John and he can just stand still like this  with perfect balance. He did a little loop around the yard for me.