We were a bit slow getting out of town due to a visit to Hawera's water tower, from which a really great view of Mt Taranaki can be had. Then out on the surf highway, State Highway 45. But we soon turned off to avoid the traffic. Most of the roads so far have been busy. There's a good shoulder to cycle on with mostly a very good surface, but the endless trucks get you down so we wound our way around Mt Taranaki on little roads thata shot straight obver the undulating landscape and consequently had some fun switchbacks. The views of Mt Taranaki were endlessly interesting. It is a fairly classic volcanic pyramid - until you get close up and then you see how knobbly it is with various sub-peaks and, I guess, ancient lava flows. Eventually rejoined the 45 for the final run into New Plymouth, where I'm typing this and using their 50p for 15 mins internet.Are the kiwis like the brits? A bit but they seem more like americans to us. Evidence? They drive lots of pickup trucks, they have huge lawns, they drive everywhere, they use dollars. I rest my case, m'lud.I ought to be mentioning mileages... We did about 105km today. But the bike computer is on the blink so this is a very good guess instead.
We were a bit slow getting out of town due to a visit to Hawera's water tower, from which a really great view of Mt Taranaki can be had. Then out on the surf highway, State Highway 45. But we soon turned off to avoid the traffic. Most of the roads so far have been busy. There's a good shoulder to cycle on with mostly a very good surface, but the endless trucks get you down so we wound our way around Mt Taranaki on little roads thata shot straight obver the undulating landscape and consequently had some fun switchbacks. The views of Mt Taranaki were endlessly interesting. It is a fairly classic volcanic pyramid - until you get close up and then you see how knobbly it is with various sub-peaks and, I guess, ancient lava flows. Eventually rejoined the 45 for the final run into New Plymouth, where I'm typing this and using their 50p for 15 mins internet.Are the kiwis like the brits? A bit but they seem more like americans to us. Evidence? They drive lots of pickup trucks, they have huge lawns, they drive everywhere, they use dollars. I rest my case, m'lud.I ought to be mentioning mileages... We did about 105km today. But the bike computer is on the blink so this is a very good guess instead.