Day 14-16 Ohakune

After careful consideration and further discussions with Chaty from the information center, I will ride the first two sections with my bicycle, then my bags and bicycle will be picked up at an agreed location and I will be given a mountain bike, which I will exchange after about 45 kilometers and a half-hour ride with a jet boat. From there, I will ride the remaining 90 kilometers in 1 or 2 days.

Unfortunately, the next two / three days were forecasted to have bad weather, so I extended my stay until Wednesday morning. Sunday and Monday were characterized by hurricane-like gusts and continuous rain. That's when I met Max in the common room of the Max camping site, who is also traveling alone through New Zealand for 6 weeks. I spent the evenings with him and other campers in the common room.

Today (Tuesday), I took advantage of a break between the rain showers and rode the Old Coach Road with my bicycle, which explains the history of the North Island's development by the railway. By the way, the train runs from Auckland to Wellington every 3 days, straight across the country. The route took me past 3 high viaducts. In total, there were significant ups and downs over about 40 kilometers. I had to realize that my bike is not really designed for mountain bike trails. For a few days now, I noticed that my rear brake squeaks loudly and doesn't brake properly anymore. That wasn't great, especially on wet ground in the forest. After trying to remove the brake pads myself, I pushed my bike to the only bike shop in town. Riding on gravel had caused dirt to accumulate on the brake disc and brake pads. The brake pads were replaced and the brake disc was sanded and cleaned for 20 dollars. Now I can brake properly with the rear wheel again and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's tour. It's about 60 kilometers from Ohakune to Ruatiti, to a campsite near a backpacker hostel, where I will meet Joe on Thursday morning and receive the mountain bike. Fortunately, the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow.