Masterton - Moawhango - 275kms - 9 days

After 4 days of enjoying home cooked meals, warm showers and comfy beds we head off again as there is a break in the weather so we make the most of it and set off for Mauriceville. The back roads are nice and quiet, a welcome change from the busyness during the stormy weather.

Clark’s Reserve is a nice spot for the night, tucked away beside the river. We catch up with Tess for the night and sleep out under a shelter as the rain comes down overnight yet again.

Eketahuna is calling, the sky is dark, and the temperature is still dropping. A quick lunch stop at ANZAC Bridge on the Makakahi River then we roll into Eketahuna campsite just after lunch with more rain coming and going. A perfect campsite with hot showers and a great covered in outdoor area, we spend the afternoon home schooling and enjoy chatting to other campers.

Our next day is a big one – almost 50kms on back roads to Ferry Reserve at the start of the Manawatu Gorge. We stop and enjoy seeing the cows heading off to the milking sheds, lambs frolicking around and Jazz admires all the new born calves. Stan, Jenny and Great Nanna surprise us with fresh pies and lolly cake on the farm roads, a welcome change to our ordinary salami, cheese and spinach wraps!

Out of nowhere a young friendly magpie lands on Charlie’s handlebars. Squawking away providing much laughter from the kids. As we bike off it stays on Charlies helmet. Eventually Nanna had to rescue us by holding onto it while we cycled off.

The Manawatu Ferry Reserve was a great spot camping at the entrance of the Manawatu Gorge, Mahe enjoyed fishing in the river, while the kids made up challenges in the planted reserve. We had a relaxing morning. Knowing we only had 10km to peddle through the gorge to Ashurst.

Once we eventually pushed off we were surprised by Gran and John waiting for us at the Gorge entrance. They had already biked through hoping to catch us.

The Manawatu Gorge once a busy road, but slip after slip closed the road, now just allowing bikers to get through. The old road was a welcome site to getting away from traffic. It did feel a little surreal biking on a main road that was now relenting back to nature. Trees growing through the cracks in the asphalt, old slips regenerating with plant life and native birds chirping away. The only down fall was manoeuvring the bikes and gear over the numerous roadblocks!

Ashurst a sleepy town with a lovely domain was a great place to pitch the tents. Rain set in and we were confined to the playground shelters for much of the afternoon.

The Pohangina Valley was a great chance to get back to rural farming as it was. Shelter belts, friendly farmers, scenic beauty with native patches of bush always within view. A welcome change from the treeless deserts left from dairy farming country.

We stayed with a good family friend Rod. Rod took us out for a lambing beat. We enjoyed the rest from push bike to quad as we cruised round tagging new-born lambs. A comfy bed and good hearty farmers meal had us ready to climb the out to Apiti. A few times the road would dip down deep into the valley, only to climb steeply back out. The kids knew we had 10-12 of these hill dips over the coming days so were well prepared for them, they were tough hills but with the kids working together to help each other up, they made them a breeze. The day again was scenic with plenty of stops yarning to the farmers.

At Apiti we pitched tents behind the town hall and went off the pub for a second dinner. Kids always enjoy a double meal to make up for the energy they are burning.

Out of Apiti we were surprised to see Gran and Grandad John again with pies for lunch. John joined us on his E-bike rolling out to Mangaweka. The last 8km was a nice steady downhill passing the papa cliff country to Awastone campsite. Situated right on the banks of the Rangitikei River with a hot tub, which was absolute bliss after a day’s biking! Again, we treated ourselves to delicious food from the café and had a second dessert. This is one campsite that would have been nice to stay a lot longer.

The push to Gran ‘n Johns was going to be a big day. We attempted to set off early. However the deluge of rain was intense and we were left hunkered down in the kitchen hoping the rain would ease. Rivers started flowing down the road, it wasn’t at all inviting to set off.

By 10am a faint blue sky could be seen and we went towards it up the first series of hills. On the gravel section we came across Grandad John's truck fill of pies so we followed him into a friends house to enjoy warmth out of the rain for lunch.

Back on the bikes we meet more of Johns friends biking, this was great to catch up with people, however it meant slow progress. The hills grew and we had been warned of the 'McCarten Hill' which was a steady 4km long hill, Mahe sped up this unbelievably fast, once at the top Grandad John convinced him to walk on down and give Charlie a little push! Super impressed with the kids team work on this adventure. By now the twilight hours were approaching. The kids were once again keen for a night adventure so just on dark we cooked up Back Country Cusine on the back of Johns truck. Head lamps out, we piled the excess gear onto Johns Truck and we were off to tackle the Kotukuraeroa Road aka The Clay Road. This section of road which was just 5kms was slow wet, muddy and caked with clay! The first 200m our wheels started to slip and slide, then clogged up with mud. All in good spirits though as we all knew it was going to be a challenge.

The kids said this was the first time they’ve had to push there bikes downhill. The mud went everywhere. Adding weight to heavy bikes and making our chains slip on the cogs. 2kms took us 1.5 hours. But we were having fun in the dark navigating closer to Grans for a warm bed and late dinner. Once out of the Clay Road we were on gravel which the kids said they would never complain about gravel roads again! Grandad John once again turned up on the quad, this time with salty chippies that went down a treat at 9pm. Soon after, we hit the tarseal, by this time Charlie was really struggling to keep his eyes open, at one point he closed them momentarily and when asked what he was doing, as he was biking off the side of the road, he said "my eyes just needed to close for a little bit". We dosed him with a fair few lollies to get him through the last 4kms!

By 10pm we were finally rolling down the last 4km to the wool shed to clean the bikes off. The kids were tired but buzzing. We clocked up 50km of hills with a fair bit of bike pushing and then spent a fair bit of time bike washing. As soon as the kids heads touched the pillows they were out to it.

We enjoyed a few days in Taihape cleaning and drying out gear and spending time with the grandparents. Roast dinners, hot showers, comfy beds and farm time was just what we needed, before our push to Ohakune.