Surf Highway 45

After Mokau my journey continued to New Plymouth and from there it’s only a 10 minute drive to Egmont Village. The thing that makes people come here is the mountain, called Mt Taranaki or Mt Egmont (the first name is the Maori name). I got dropped of in the middle of nowhere (again) and found my way to the backpackers. An awesome place. The owner, Brian, is a quirky, friendly kiwi (this is exactly how he describes himself and it’s true) and he is mad about bikes. The whole frontgate is made out of bikes, they hang on the ceiling and so on. Brian used to cycle around the mountain in one day (180 km). The 2nd day I decided I’d do the same, not in one but three days. Yesterday I started cycling. I made it to New Plymouth. I made it to Okato. And just after Okato I lost one of my paddles. I walked back to the village and found a petrol station. Behind it were three guys fixing cars so I walked in and had them (yes, all three of them) fix the bike. I started cycling but the paddle fell of again. I called Brian: shall I start hitchhiking back?? It was about 45 km back to the village. Brian told me to just wait there and he came all the way to pick me up. Today I’ll have another go on the bike but not around the mountain. I’ll just go to North Egmont, only 16 km and it’s one of the entrances to Egmont National Park.