Sunday, March 1, 2015

Waihi to Te Puna NZ

Today I packed up my camp and hit the road to the beach. On the way through the town of Waihi I stopped to check my wifi. I got bad news that upset me for the rest of the day. My friend went on a fishing trip in Indonesia and the boat did not return to port. That was two weeks ago. We were hoping that he was kidnapped for ransom but no ransom demands came that I ever heard about. Yesterday the boat washed up on a small island with two decomposed bodies in it. One was identified as his girlfriend and the other was buried without identification. There is still a very slim chance that he did not perish but my heart tells me he is gone now. I have known him for many years and fished with him many times. I will miss him.

I carried on with my ride today from there to the beach which took about an hour. My first stop was the gold mine pit in Waihi as I was leaving town. Big ass pit for sure. Down the road I did not have my heart into exploring the beautiful Waihi Beach today and just took a cursory look around before heading on down the road which was mostly rural with lots of kiwi fruit farms, cows, horses, and of course sheep. I ended up in Te Puna just north of Tauranga which was about a fifty mile ride after my double back at the beach. It was a lot of hills today. They weren't real high but they came one after another and were fairly steep. The heavy traffic and narrow shoulder kept me from enjoying the views because staying alive was a full time job.

I am cooking a dinner of curried shrimp in my campground at the moment and just watched New Zealand win another cricket match in the World Cup of Cricket. I am starving so can't wait to eat. Here are the few meager pics I took today.