Wellington - Masterton - 169kms - 4 days

Rolling off the ferry at 6pm in the dark, the friendly “yahoo” comes from Gran and Grandad John who meet us on the waterfront. The wind is howling and we struggle to stay up right. The YHA is a welcome site from the storm ragging outside. We spend the next day enjoying the city and have a good explore around Te Papa. Then the packing starts for riding out of the city the next day until Jazz comes in from the TV room. “ Is NZ going into Lock Down?”. The news comes as a shock,

Alert level 4 is 4 hours away.

There's a slight hustle and bustle around the YHA as people come to terms with what’s happening.

We lock our bikes in the basement, thanks to YHA for allowing us to do this. We borrow Uncle Nics car and drive over to Masterton.

Lock down 8 hours before were meant to start our North Island bike ride. “oh well”. Masterton is a great spot to hang out. The grandparents enjoy the grandies and the extra labour around the house. We manage to drive between alert levels to spend time at Gran and Grandad John's as well - feeling pretty lucky we have this option and are not cooped up at the YHA or in our tents!

3 weeks later and a change to alert level 2 means we can set off again. This time we arrive in Wellington and the winds are back, trees are blowing over, trucks and buses being blown off the road.

We wait a day before setting off. We then strike it lucky with getting a bluebird day, the early morning ride around the harbour is enjoyable. Until our cycle trial ends abruptly, 400m from Petone. The only option is to turn around or ride the motorway on the wrong side straight into the oncoming traffic. We prep the kids to stay right (after always telling them to stay left!?!) and just get it done, they are pretty road savvy now and it's over and done with pretty quickly. It’s a real experience that we won’t want to do again. Once we hit Petone the trails led us along the Hutt river.

We pop into Silverstream to catch up with MJ and enjoy lunch that leaves us full to the brim. If only all our lunches were that good!

The easy day turns into 53km, thanks to detours, washed out tracks, and a few wrong turns. The kids have done well to start on a big day after 4 months off the bike. Although Mahe is feeling it towards the end of the day with severe growing pains.

Hutt valley campsite we are joined by Isla and Nic, who join us over the Remutaka Incline along with Nan and John. The day is reasonable but slowly deteriorating. On the Incline summit the winds build and we farewell Nic and Isla, and push on down to the Wairarapa side. Once at Cross creek the rain sets in and Nan and John farewell us as they head on out to a warm car that will take them back to a comfortable bed.

By now the wind is gale and pitching the tents creates a challenge. Stef and I opt for the small shelter with rain blowing in. But its a lot more enjoyable than being in a shaky tent. By 10pm the wind hits another level. The bike trailer roly poly's passed, squashing Charlies tent, and Jazz and Mahe's tent starts shedding tent pegs and bending poles. We pull everything into the shelter, kids and tent and try to sleep with the wind howling outside. Every now and then squalls of rain enter the shelter, it makes for a sleepless night but at least we are all huddled together and not fretting about kids and tents being taken off by the wind.

6am the light rolls in, the wind is still there, We decamp, rug up and push off down the trail. Fresh trees across the track slow the progress.

John meets us at the carpark with warning about strong wind and heavy rain, but we keep pushing on anyway with John deciding to join us too on his E bike.

The kids enjoy the challenging day, with wind blowing them off their bikes. Charlie has numerous crashes into fence lines but luckily is unscathed. It's an experience that we won’t forget. Eventually the wind relents and the rain sets in. Reminding us off our first stage around Southland, also in September.

Scott and Lizzies house is a welcome site in Greytown. We don’t even change into dry clothes. Its straight into the spa to warm up.

Scott and Lizzie serve up a fulling meal of burgers and chips, and Annabel keeps us entertained.

Through the back roads to Nan and Grandad Stan's, the weather deteriorates even more. This hastens the speed and we keep moving to stay warm. Thankful for another warm house for the night. The grandparents becomes a chinese laundry, as we try to dry all our gear out. The next 4 are pretty wet, so we enjoy some down time with the grandies.