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Tuesday Feb 28th 2017 DOC Campsite -> Rangiwahia (88 miles)

I wasn’t planning on today being such a long day in the saddle, nearly 8 hours to be precise, but I was happy to just keep pushing on.

As usual, proceedings were not going to be commencing until the daily ritual had been observed!

The 25 or so miles to the town of Whanganui were relatively easy and I reached the town

early enough to grab a coffee and use the wifi to skype Sarah and Mai back home.  It was then grab a few provisions from the supermarket before heading over to cycle through the tunnel to the Durie Hill elevator which would take me to the top of the hill.  I can hear mutterings of “isn’t that cheating”, but don’t blame me, the TA guide made it a photo control point.  The elevator was very rickety and I was thinking to myself as it clattered it’s way up the shaft how often it was serviced.  The lady who manned the elevator was very reassuring though.

You can read about the elevator hear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durie_Hill_Elevator

Views from the top overlooking Whanganui.

I left Whanganui and pushed on to Hunterville.  This next section was all on the highway.

I reached Hunterville at ~ 1530 hrs which in NZ seemed to be the warmest part of the day.  I took the opportunity to set the tent up in the local park so as to get it dry and also give the down bags a airing.  It doesn’t take long to dry things in the strong NZ sunshine.   It was also nice to relax in the shade and try and get a few minutes sleep.

Hunterville.

I pushed on from Hunterville to the small settlement of Rangiwahia.  The elevation profile was showing this section as all uphill and it was dusk by the time I reached the small campsite.  It was there that I met Nigel and his wife who were riding part of the route and had started in Auckland.

Next : Day 11 – Rangiwahia -> Eketahuna