Tawa to Plimmerton

Riding to the Gear Homestead Café has become a bit of a destination for us on a fine day. It’s about 9 km from the start of Te Ara Tawa, which makes it a nice there-and-back ride.

Lunch at the Gear Homestead Café (photo by John)

On Tuesday 26 July, we biked there for lunch, and then decided to keep going towards Plimmerton. There is nothing very different to report about this part of the ride, but on the way we stopped at Paremata Crescent, near the Mobil station, to see if Dave was in his shop, SOS Computer Rescue.

Who is Dave? He is another e-bike owner, who left a comment on my blog post of 6 July, saying he had seen us cycling past. Mystified, I asked where he had seen us. It turns out that Dave and his wife Lynn have electric bikes, which Dave converted himself. He writes an interesting blog about his bikes and biking.

It was nice to meet Dave after our online exchange. He showed us his bike, and he and John talked technicalities. He told us that converting his bike to e-power had been a learning curve, and he made improvements with the second bike he converted for his wife. The bikes are both powered by two batteries, which are housed in panniers on the carrier. Dave and Lynn use their bikes to commute to work from their home in Whitby.

Dave showed us his electric bike (photo by John)

Dave’s wife Lynn arrived on her e-bike to meet him for lunch (photo by John)

After this visit we carried on towards Plimmerton, to see what damage had been inflicted by the northerly storm of the previous weekend. On Saturday 23 July, huge waves hammered the coast from Porirua to Kapiti. At the Plimmerton fire station, which sits on a promontory on the foreshore, ten metres of seawall were ripped away at the height of the storm.

But today, the sea was calm. On the walking/cycling track that runs between the railway line and the shore from Mana to Plimmerton, there was strewn debris, and in some places, relatively newly repaired bits of track had been damaged. Such a pity.

Debris on the seaside track (photo by John)

Waves washed right up the side streets off Steyne Avenue in Plimmerton
 (photo by John)

By the fire station, 1.5 tonne concrete blocks were being installed to replace the damaged seawall
 (photo by John)

We carried on along Moana Road towards the Boating Club. There too, wave-tossed debris was everywhere. However the boats on the trailers seemed unscathed – perhaps they were removed to safety before the storm hit?

Apparently unscathed boats, despite the storm debris on the tarmac (photo by John)

On the way home, the only other noteworthy thing was the new concrete cycle path alongside Okowai Road, between Whitford Brown Avenue and the new Aotea suburb.

The new cycle track on Okowai Road (photo by John)

We got back to our car, having biked a satisfying 36 km.
 

John's shadow as he prepares to load the bike into the car (photo by John)