Gosh, two whole months without writing up any blog posts. It doesn’t mean that we have not been biking, but the weather has been “trying” quite a lot of the time. I can’t wait for summer – I hope we do get one this year!
I have a few posts to write up. So here goes.
On Saturday 5 August, it was a beautiful day – bright and sunny, but cold. We opted to go to Paekakariki, which is becoming a favourite ride, not least because the weather there is often a bit better than in Wellington. After coffee at the Perching Parrot Café, we set off along the Paekakariki foreshore. The sparkling waves and Kapiti Island beyond were looking stunning.
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| The Perching Parrot Café in Paekakariki (photo by John) |
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| Kapiti Island from Paekakarirki Beach (photo by John) |
We biked to Raumati on the lovely Te Ara o Whareroa track through the Paekakariki sand dunes. About half-way along we like to stop to look at a valley with several small lakes or wetlands. Sometimes sheep dot the hills, but today all we could see was a pukeko picking its way along the edge of the water.
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| Wetlands on Whareroa Farm (photo by John) |
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| A lonely pukeko at the water’s edge (photo by John) |
At the end of Te Ara o Whareroa, we headed towards the track alongside the Kapiti Expressway. We didn’t go very far though, as the cold air was affecting John’s (non-closing) eye, even though it was not windy. So before Paraparaumu, we took a side track towards Kiwi Road. There are quite extensive new wetlands here, created as a result of the new Expressway. Gradually, the wetlands are becoming populated with waterfowl. There are a few seats overlooking the wetlands, and we made a brief chocolate and photo stop.
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| A stop by the Kiwi Road wetlands (photo by John) |
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| A perfect reflection of a pied stilt (photo by John) |
On the way back to Paekakariki, we took a little detour to the Kapiti Aeromodellers Club, near McKay’s Crossing. We stopped there once before – John loves to have a close look at the model planes.
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| A beautiful model plane on its prepping table (photo by John) |
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| Oh dear, looks like this one came to grief … (photo by John) |
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| The vehicles were equipped with all manner of special fixtures for transporting the planes (photo by John) |
We didn’t cover a huge distance on this ride – about 20 km – but it was great to be out in the sunshine even though it was cold.
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