And so the final leg of my cycling journey began. With it, the most unenjoyable day on the road. I couldn’t tell you much about the scenery I passed that day as my entire being was focused on getting to my destination and off the busy highway as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, in true New Zealand style, the road was continually hilly, making my desire for haste truly exhausting.
As I neared Waihi and the Coromandel Peninsula, the traffic wained and I began to relax. The town of Waihi is steeped in gold mining history and I paused to walk to the edge of one mine on the way to the campsite. My eyes met with a huge yellow depression in the ground, old walking tracks visible amongst the remaining rubble.
Pitching my tent for the final time, I became a little despondent at nearing the end of my adventure. I felt as though I had just fully gotten into the swing of things, my one man tent had become large and homely, the roads now returned to their quiet scenic ways.
Still, I had one last night and one day of riding to go and I had happened upon a wonderful green campsite, a number of wood cabins spread across its ground, with a central structure for the kitchen, bathrooms and backpacker accommodation.
I left the next morning amidst a low lying fog, tinted orange with sunlight and felt a heightened awareness of my peaceful surroundings after the contrast of the previous day.
As I stopped for lunch one town from Tairua (my destination), I was approached for what would be the final time, by an intrigued passer by. Interested in my journey it emerged this man had himself done a cycling trip in New Zealand many years previously, with a surf board in tow!
Over my final few days I began to reflect on my trip, the simple yet truly wonderful moments as I rode beside butterflies and experienced sounds and smells that would have been lost travelling by car or bus. I spent three weeks on the road, camping all but three nights and the majority of my conversations had been with locals. It is so easy to get caught in a ‘travel bubble’, travelling from hostel to hostel, from one sight to the next and often missing the opportunity to discover a country outside its initial touristic appeal. I discovered touring by bicycle is a great way to break away from this mold.
So, an experience I will treasure without a doubt, would recommend to others and hope to repeat elsewhere in the world.