Everyone said goodbye and we had gone our separate ways.

It’s Wednesday. I wake up in the luxury of an AirBnB for a change and enjoy the breakfast bits they’ve put out. I’m taking it slowly today as the course guide recommends starting after 9am to avoid traffic. I pull onto the road and leave Helensville. The day starts with rolling hills, as is typical of New Zealand it would seem, with the sun already making sweat drip from my forehead. Following about two hours of pedalling, I see a high vis in the distance. Who’s that? Is it one of me? I pedal harder to catch up. Fortunately, they have stopped for a rest. To my delightful surprise, it’s two people – Sherree and Markus, my Dargaville buddies. We’ve converged. In high spirits, we then continue our ride together, passing Janet and Aaron along the way. Whilst they tuck into the local cuisine, we decide to stop off at Pizza Hut. This is not a proud moment, but filling three hungry cyclists for 22NZD can’t be argued with.

We finish our pizza and set off again. The Auckland traffic is vile and we somehow manage to lose Markus in all the commotion, but we reunite at the bridge on highway 16, which fortunately has a sealed cycle path, with a fence separating us from the four lanes of cars. We bomb it down and make our way to Mount Eden. On our way, we pass Ash and Andy, Sebastian, as well as a couple of others, and naturally, continue our journey together. It’s good to be with the team again. We push ourselves up the ascent to the summit, whilst simultaneously trying to navigate the awkwardness of Auckland’s cycle lanes. We eventually make it to the summit, where we find Janet and Aaron waiting, as well as a few others. The views are absolutely stunning, though I must say, the bikes all lined up again is an image I enjoy even more.

Following a fairly easy day, we still don’t hold back on treating ourselves to a wonderful feast at a local pub – myself, Sherree, Sherree’s sister Mikayla (who is visiting by car), Markus, Ash and Andy. Afterwards, we say goodbye, confident that this is really it for the last time for some of us.

The next day, I again make the decision to leave after 9am. This is a wise decision. That first two hours of heaving through the traffic is not enjoyable. Luckily, Sherree and I had planned to converge at the airport. We get moving again and are relieved by the sight of cycle lanes at last. As we are grooving along, something odd happens to her bike. She’s pedalling and nothing is happening. The chain is on. This is odd. Something is seriously fishy and this is not something that we can fix ourselves. We Google the nearest bike store. There’s one 2.5km away. It also, by divine chance, happens to be where I bought my bike 12 days ago.

Sherree scooters the bike over and I cycle ahead to give them a heads up. She only arrives two minutes after me. Perhaps she doesn’t need this fixed. Perhaps scootering the last 2,300km will do? They take a look at it and whilst we wait, we have a fantastic brunch at a cafe opposite that they recommend to us. The Kiwis have the best cafe game I have ever known. Mikayla joins us and we have a charming break. The call then comes through on Sherree’s phone and the bike is fixed! The man who fixed it is the gentleman who kindly sourced new handlebar washers for me back during the first hurdle of my trip. It is delightful to be able to finally shake his hand and say thank you in person. We then bid a temporary farewell to Mikayla and hit the road again. Moral of the story: if your bike is going to break, pray that it happens in Auckland.

Being slightly off course, we cycle through a lovely park and then make it back to the road. We zoom down the highway to Clevedon, stopping for a drink with Paora, who we again have coincidentally crossed paths with along the way. Next, we head for Kawakawa Bay, home of Alex and Cliff (think back to when I herded sheep) and stop off for a catch up, as well as some apricots and biscuits to push us over the next hill. It is fun to have come full circle.

We leave Alex and Cliff’s and within seconds my chain comes off and then two minutes later, I realise my bike seat has gone crooked. I’m obviously becoming a mess. I sort myself out and we turn left to the hill. In the distance, another high vis (it’s good that these things are working). It’s Ash! We pedal on and find Andy ahead too. Convergence, yet again. We now have our team of four riding buddies. With two months to complete the journey, I am surprised Ash and Andy have pedalled this far, but then I learn why. We are on course for Kaiaua, which is famous for its fish n chips. Everyone has a common goal now. Fish n chips for dinner. Though, with last orders at 6:45pm and a good 30km separating us, we had better get a wiggle on.

We trudge up the hills and then soar back down them again and eventually find ourselves on the final flat stretch along the coast. We whizz along, determined to be fed well tonight. The clock is ticking and as we approach the destination, a headwind arrives to hinder our chances. Ash and Andy fall back and Sherree zooms past me to the finish. I am amazed to find a full squad of cyclists – Janet, Aaron, Denys and Lucian. Sherree places an order at 6:41pm. We did it… just about. Ash and Andy pull up and we all tuck into an epic feast. With 97km done today and another 13km to the campsite, I’d say that these are well-deserved.