It was raining and raining. Our start delayed and delayed. Meanwhile I repaired my goretex all-weather trousers, that were no more all weather proof. I reinforced one broken seam by sewing and some duct-tape. We were watching one duckling that was picked and bit by the bigger ducks. It was all dirty and a bit hurt. Judy took it to the backyard, where it washed itself in the pool, and got something to eat. The rain stopped, and we decided to go. We were wished welcome anytime we visit NZ again. We just hoped, we'll have the possibility to come here again. Then we left. Unfortunately the dry area was only local, and after few kilometers, the rain started again.

Marokopa valley

Once again we were in Waitomo Caves in a hurry, in rain and all wet. So we had to leave our plans to go to so called Black Water Rafting, with car tyre tubes, and wet suits, down to the water filled glow-worm caves. Bit frustrated we went on. The road to Marokopa was twisting inside a beautiful green forest. We passed some mountains, and saw a sign to Marokopa falls. The walk to lookout would have been 20 minutes return, so we decided not to go. Because of the rain, the water in the rivers was muddy and high, so we wanted to go on, since we were afraid of flooding.

The amphibian...

In Marokopa the rain finally stopped. The road to Awakino rose high up to the mountain. The view down to the Marokopa lying close to the mouth of the river by the seaside was beautiful. It would be just perfect scenery for a jigsaw puzzle. Lots of different shades of green and bluish. In the beginning of the Awakino road was a sign that said the road is twisty gravel road of 45 km, and that it is open. The road turned to gravel, and after some five kilometers, we lost the road. It was under brown water. Some hundred meters of the road was invisible, and the deepest flooding was about 40 centimeters. There was no stream, so it was safe to cross. But since we were in the middle of nowhere on a Christmas day we didn't want to risk anything. So Elina took off her boots, and rolled her trouser legs. Then she walked in front of me when I rode, probing the water that there are no invisible pits that maybe the water had made. Fortunately there was none, and also there was a fence in the roadside, so we could follow it, and sense where the road should be. Finally we crossed it with no problems.

...and the probe

After the flooding we continued, but worried always when the road got lower and the river came close to the road. We crossed couple of road-wide wet spots, but they weren't actually anything compared to the first one. In Waikawau, about the halfway of the Awakino road, we visited seaside. We had heard there was a hole in the rock between the end of the road and the beach. We were a bit disappointed, since this hole was carved tunnel to the beach. Anyway it was a very interesting place. There we met a kiwi with a 4WD car. He was travelling also backroads, but north. I asked him, whether he came from Awakino, and if there were any floodings along the road. He told us no, and we were relieved. I warned him about the flood near Marokopa, and we went on to Awakino

Road Open

Despite of Dave Fentresses guesses, there was no open gas station in Awakino, neither was in Mokau. I had calculated, that our fuel wouldn't be enough to Hawera, where we had reserved our accommodation, and I couldn't rely that there were any open service stations in Stratford, so we had to leave our plans to ride one backroad to Stratford. We headed towards New Plymouth, where we trusted that we could find some fuel. Luckily we didn't need to go so far, since we found one service station in Waitara. I tried also look some chain lube there, since after the fording the chain was squeaking already badly. They didn't have any such lube, so I just lubed the chain with plain motor oil they had in a drop can. From Waitara we took kinda sh3 shortcut (3A) to Hawera.

Just before Hawera, in Normanby we stopped, since there were already some Hawera-related signs, and we wanted to check the driving instructions from the BBH, Backpackers guide book. Also Elina had noticed a sign in one crossing, that pointed to some farmstay lodge. We stopped in a very good spot, since this lodge was not actually in Hawera, but in Ohangai nearby, and the crossing we just passed was our crossing. We turned back, and followed the signs. Finally when we got there, the owners had left us a note, that we should go to the lodge, that was a barrack style small building in a corner of a field. The owners had been invited for a Christmas dinner by their friends. However, in the lodge there was also staying one German guy, who had not locked his room door, when he left out, but he had locked the whole barrack. Fortunately there was one open window, so we could get in and open the door. There was a double bed ready for us, and while having evening tea, we could watch hundreds of cows on the field around the lodge.

Mt Taranaki and cows

Elina washed some laundry, and put all our wet clothes to the dryer. While having tea, I was just shivering and shaking. I wrapped myself to a blanket, but neither it nor hot tea helped. I also put a heater blowing hot air towards me, and I was sure, I'd get a cold, and would have fever next morning. We had sheets and blankets and all, but I slept in my sleeping bag under the blankets. Next morning I was surprised and relieved, since I was perfectly all right. No fever, no cold.