i’m back!
in short words of arnie in the terminator movie ‘i’m back’.
after few boring days in national park backpackers i hit the road again. there were some signs of nice weather and pieces of mountains begun appearing a bit. it’s a shame that this has been the only day i could do the tongariro crossings with others. as others say it’s like ‘crying above the spilled milk’.
it was pretty much downhill from the central plateau of north island. most of the hills were full of snow and that white shit has been predicted for later that day. i really wanted to miss that so i was trying to be as quick as possible. hopefuly everythig was ohkay and after some time i reached raetihi. i was really starving that day. only had few pieces of chocolate in the morning and then nothing. have to admit that i was eating everything which came by. if i could cook a human flesh i would do it because i’m a passionate carnivore 
in the raetihi village it was lunch time and so i got my ass in the closest information centre to be informed and then moved to the cafe next door. i ordered a some savoury pie the one which contained as much meat as possible. it was ham and cheese pie. just for 7 dollars a huge brick like piece. i hope it won’t cause shitting a bricks afterwards 
..and a beer of course. after approx. hour i was able to move. there was downhill road expected on the way to pipiriki but pretty much gravel.. after several hills this hell just appeared and i tryied to stay as calm as possible. wrong.
wet smeg-like layer on the road was probably for tougher guys then me. my rear wheel and my ass on the saddle were sliding from side to side as a drop of sweat between the boobs of the hoola hop dancer! if something like a biker’s hell existsted it would be this road. i was rolling downhill as quick as a knickers of some random K’road’s whore. my face was covered with a pieces of mud as it was splashing all around. i looked like someone who was sitting under a ventilator when suddenly some nasty person pushed a hershey’s squirt towards it! unbelieveable. then rock appeared. as you probably suppose it wasn’t normal rocks. they were in size of a golf ball mostly. my pear-shaped tyres were copying it’s every curve and my bike with that shit load on the back was making moving circus noises. several times i had to check wether my panniers were still attached to the bike.
the biggest shock came few twenty minutes after. a hog nearly in a size of my bike was looking at me. i’ve hit the breakes in a matter of miliseconds just before it disappeared into the bush. all my Rambo senses have been activated and i struggled with it’s animal instincts not to get distracted and continue. i was thinking of pulling out my pocket knife and start a hunt. when my heart stopped beating like a machine gun i’ve been back in my skin again.
as i was reaching the bottom of the valley there was a change into a sealed road but rain clouds were cumulated there and it started raining. it wasn’t a big deal for my heavy duty farming raincoat and trousers. i got into pipiriki just before dark. ladies in the raetihi did a good job and a woman in the kayak tours was expecting me. she provided me some leaflets about this area and advised me to take a look at the meeting place nearby toilets down in the ‘centre’. there was a roof above the area so there were no other questions where to camp. i settled there for a cold night but my tent didn’t get wet from rain. that was awesome.
it was cold night so all humidity was sublimised on the tent from inside. i couldn’t believe how much water am i able to breath out. it was sun shinning quite well so it was matter of minutes to get the tent dryied. i started cycling around 11a.m. it wasn’t very nice because there was a few kilometers long gently hill..on the gravel road again. as it was raining the whole night there were big pieces of mud and bush slided down on the road. i was taking care of not being really close to the sliding area as it was that sticky yellow mud. it was very nice ride with beautiful views on the meandres of the river and quite deep valley under. vegetation was really wild and i’ve also seen several possum pancakes. then it was mostly downhill with several bridges over wild streams and small hills. it was 80 kms to wanganui. i was really starving because i haven’t bought any sweets or chocolate. after 50 kms i was really desperate and hungry. i just sit on the street and took a rest. there wasn’t anything i could do for me. after this rest it was a bit easier. i’ve met those road workers with heavy technique who were trying to get rid of the slides on the road. it was brave work because without them there probably won’t be any cars passing me by that day. i’ve reached 60th kilometer and was completely demoralised. hopefuly there were huge fosilised oysters rocks around the road. i took some picutres and started thinking of setting the camp over the night. it was getting darker as the time on my watches reached 5 pm.
and then there was a miracle in the form oh real humanity and gentlemensness. those road workes just stopped with their big car and offered me a ride into wanganui in their truck. i was so happy i couldn’t describe how my face had to look like when i’ve heard that. there was a last and gruesome 6kms long hill out of the river valley to state highway 4 leading to wanganui.
they were so nice that they took me to the front of the backpackers. totally awesome. i had just some stories to share with them and they were both laughing to some of them. new zealand is awesome country with best ppl i’ve ever met.