Waihi to Karangahake

Before departing to Karangahake, a local cyclist couple offered a place to stay and some good advice about an alternative route to avoid the highway.

We took backroads all the way to Karangahake and it made the ride so much sweeter. Via Endowmnent Street we cycled parallel of the highway. The landscape is not very spectacular but it was still a beautiful route and enjoyable to do. After some 15 kilometers, the road bends towards the highway but just before getting on it, we took a walkway that crosses the Karangahake Gorge. Although the path was rather rough, it was very nice to cycle without traffic. Our personal advisors had warned us of a 1 kilometer long and dark tunnel but nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to experience. There was barely room for our trolleys in this pitch black and wet tunnel. What a sensation! Ella was singing and shouting the whole way and we joined her. It seemed to go on forever and when we finally got back into the daylight, the bridge in front of us was even narrower. Vanessa had 30 centimeters at each end of the buggy, just perfect. To get off the walkway we had to lift the buggies over a barrier...another great cycling adventure set in the spectacular scenery of the Karangahake Gorge.

In the afternoon we spent some time with our hosts at a farm and although Ella seemed to enjoy most of it, any animal bigger than a rabbit was seen as a serious threat and would not be approached by any means. The weather turned nasty.
There was still some time left for a walk through the spectacular gorge. The track takes you via a hanging bridge along the old railroad and gold mines that used to be here. It is quite a peculiar place and certainly worth a detour.

We had a lovely dinner with our new found friends and were lucky to sleep in a real bed yet again!





We were received and treated as king that afternoon at our guests´ house in Karangahake. Thank you guys for a great time, great food, good cycling advice and a lovely little playmate for Ella. We hope to see you one day in Spain so we can do some cycle trips together. We slept in a bed...again!