The bike rides I’ve taken so far have been mostly flat. Today I decided to ride from the Parakai Hot Springs to Shelly Beach on Kaipara Harbour, about 45 km. From the paper maps, it looked like a piece of cake.

 

It started out flat and I just cruised along at my usual 20-25 kph (and was passed by the usual trio of thin, fit road cyclists), then it started to roll a bit, then, about halfway to Shelly Beach it go downright hilly, right down to the long climb before the beach and the steep down to the water, not unlike riding out to Orapiu on Waiheke, but with better, wider roads and more traffic.

 

Shelly Beach is a small beach community with a pier, a launching ramp, a cafe and a shoreside domain with camping. I’d come out to Shelly Beach to check out the camping area. The grassy part was well kept and had a few tents, but the campervans and motor caravans were limited to a gravel parking area. It had power available and a small toilet block with a shower, but that was it.

 

As I headed back up the hill, I stopped at a place with a sign for organic fruits and vegetables. It was about noon, and a piece of fruit sounded like a good break. Unfortunately, all they had at he moment were avocados, not exactly what I was looking for. The fellow did offer to refill my water bottle and came back with it full of fresh chilled water.

 

With a cool gulp, I headed back up and down and up and down towards Parakai, stopping first at a new lifestyle block subdivision and then a cafe along the way.

 

The subdivision, Tupare, was a gorgeous, open 800 acres of fields and wetlands over looking the harbour. It has been divided up into blocks of 5 acres+ each, with about 200 acres left over as common area and wetlands. About half were already sold, including all of the waterfront and larger blocks. The ones still available ranged from $359,000 to $850,000 NZD. Aside from the original house, a tile-roofed, brick and stone Victorian and a common clubhouse, I saw nothing built, but I didn’t ride out the the end, since the skies were looking a bit threatening.

 

Heading on to the next hilltop, I stopped at the MacNuts Macadamia Farm and Cafe, as it was now 1 pm and I was flagging a bit. I passed a couple of women loading what looked like very large bags of nuts into their car. I asked what they would be doing with all those nuts. They were actually bags of macadamia nut shells, which they were going to use on their garden paths. Evidently, the birds also loved to peck at them. Looking down I realized that the entire drive into the farm was macadamia nut shells used like gravel.

 

After a flat white and a tasty macadamia scone with strawberry jam and cream whipped almost to butter, I started back once more and it started raining. A heavy drizzle actually, enough to coat the glasses, have water drip down my nose and soak my shirt. Just as I pulled into the campground, the sun appeared--of course.

 

45 kms, 554 meters of climbing, a chilled bottle of water and an macadamia scone--not a bad ride.