Estuary and Pub Cycle

March 23, 2019

The 4 Victoria amigos decided to do a longish but flat easy ride today so we stuck to the Hawke’s Bay trail system. After checking the tide tables to make sure the trails were passible under some of the bridges we went north first. We rode through the beautiful estuaries up by the airport catching a glimpse of some of the birds that live there. After the estuary we headed south through Taradale to the trail that took us to the Puketapu Pub. This was the one section of the trail system that I did not ride in February when I was here for the month. Along the way we came across a pasture of about 30 male deer (we would call them elk) who were roaring and making a lot of noise. There was even a little head butting. I tried to make a video to catch the sound but was unsuccessful however I think Maureen or Stefa succeeded so check Facebook for a posting. We returned to the hotel for our last Napier happy hour before heading off to Rotorua tomorrow for the last leg of our journey.

An art piece out near the airport dedicated to the Kuala (Godwit) birds who navigate 29,000km across oceans from Alaska to Aoteraroa (New Zealand) and back. They have developed a skill to fly while using half their brains while the other half sleeps. Boy could I use that skill.

A little blurry but I captured this white faced heron taking off from the fence post.

The 4 amigos plus 2 other US members of our tour awaiting our lunch.

Now we have Maureen and Stefa trapped behind the cattle gates

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 147 km (91 miles)

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