The day dawned grey with heavy rain though it was stopping by the time we finally had shopped, eaten an extra breakfast and messed around with our bikes. On the way out of Wellington we more or less got lost around the back of the docks and it was thanks to a helpful local cyclist that we got put on the right road - basically the big dual carriageway that is highway 1 for the first bit. I think it was in all the rain and cloud of that morning that I remembered that Aotearoa (the Maori name for NZ) means 'the land of the long white cloud'. Hmmm, perhaps this wasn't going to be that sunny a summer ride after all. Getting out of Wellington by bike is not particularly easy. The best way, considering that you are going to have to slog through a lot of suburban sprawl and ribbon development, is to do what we did and get it over relatively quickly by using route 1 (a mixture of dual carriageway and motorway), dodging off onto a local road at Johnsonville which goes all the way to Porirua. Although route 1 is mostly motorway, it isn't for the crucial bit before Johnsonville. Then we went along to route 58 and took the Paekakariki Hill Road which is a lovely climb up to a coastal lookout with stunning views over the Tasman Sea. Sparkling water stretching out to the green of Tapiki Island's nature reserve. A good deal of this area is Wellington commuter territory - rather plush generally with a fair bit of traffic. We ended up at Paraparaumu Youth Hostel after a relatively short 40-ish miles. There are people trying to surf out at sea but frankly, today at least, it is all very like Mablethorpe even to the extent of having a few sandbanks evident out at sea. Plus the wind, southerly and blustery at times, is spoiling the waves. And the sea is about the same temperature as Mablethorpe in August. Pleasantly cool...Paraparaumu means something like scattered bits of kiln. The names round here have a certain odd touch - we're right by Waikanae - pron. why can I. If only there was a Waiami since then it could be populated entirely by philosophers. I guess why something rather than nothing is unlikely to exist as a Maori name but we live in hope..
The day dawned grey with heavy rain though it was stopping by the time we finally had shopped, eaten an extra breakfast and messed around with our bikes. On the way out of Wellington we more or less got lost around the back of the docks and it was thanks to a helpful local cyclist that we got put on the right road - basically the big dual carriageway that is highway 1 for the first bit. I think it was in all the rain and cloud of that morning that I remembered that Aotearoa (the Maori name for NZ) means 'the land of the long white cloud'. Hmmm, perhaps this wasn't going to be that sunny a summer ride after all. Getting out of Wellington by bike is not particularly easy. The best way, considering that you are going to have to slog through a lot of suburban sprawl and ribbon development, is to do what we did and get it over relatively quickly by using route 1 (a mixture of dual carriageway and motorway), dodging off onto a local road at Johnsonville which goes all the way to Porirua. Although route 1 is mostly motorway, it isn't for the crucial bit before Johnsonville. Then we went along to route 58 and took the Paekakariki Hill Road which is a lovely climb up to a coastal lookout with stunning views over the Tasman Sea. Sparkling water stretching out to the green of Tapiki Island's nature reserve. A good deal of this area is Wellington commuter territory - rather plush generally with a fair bit of traffic. 
We ended up at Paraparaumu Youth Hostel after a relatively short 40-ish miles. There are people trying to surf out at sea but frankly, today at least, it is all very like Mablethorpe even to the extent of having a few sandbanks evident out at sea. Plus the wind, southerly and blustery at times, is spoiling the waves. And the sea is about the same temperature as Mablethorpe in August. Pleasantly cool...Paraparaumu means something like scattered bits of kiln. The names round here have a certain odd touch - we're right by Waikanae - pron. why can I. If only there was a Waiami since then it could be populated entirely by philosophers. I guess why something rather than nothing is unlikely to exist as a Maori name but we live in hope..