Success is Falling Over Twice and Getting Up Thrice

I was a bit excited this morning – I wanted to see exactly where we’d parked up last night for our first adventure of Freedom Camping (yes, we’re now one of those people – Freedom Campers!).

Alan joined me – we were both surprised to see that another van had arrived sometime through the night – neither of us heard a thing – a little Toyota van emblazoned with lots of happy murals all over it. What we thought was a good idea was the spare tire on the front of the vehicle – not taking up valuable boot space – like our spare tyre.

The water on the lake was like a millpond – the hillside was reflected on the water – pretty lovely to look at.

Lake Karapiro to Opotiki

We crossed the Kaimais in misty, spitty, showers but the further east we headed, the clearer the skies became. The sun never shone fully, but at least it didn’t continue to rain.

Step Stool Required

I keep telling Alan and the world isn’t designed for people of my height. In this instance, my feet could only touch the floor in the van on tippy toes. This meant for the first hour or so, I sat with my foot propped against the dash.

The solution…? We invested in a stool. What a difference that made!

Dunes Segment – Motu Cycle Trail

Alan and I first discovered the Motu Cycle Trail back in the days when he overnighted in Whakatane. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to ride the Dunes section – (18km return, easy riding).

Before that though, we had lunch at the Bridge Street Cafe, Opotiki. Being the adventurous couple we are we ordered what we usually order: eggs benedict bacon plus large cappuccino and chocolate for him and eggs benedict salmon – sauce on the side – with an espresso with additional hot water (please, thank you).

Not Once But Twice – Oucheeee!

I’ve been looking forward to riding the Dunes Section of the Motu Cycle Trail. The only bit I wasn’t looking forward to was crossing the suspension bridge as the last time the vertigo was awful. However, the kids jumping up and down on the bridge sure didn’t help.

This time though, crossing the bridge was fine – no vertigo at all – phew!

Haaaah! Little did I know what lay ahead.

It’s been a while since I’ve fallen off my bike – I think it was when we were going out for a training ride before we rode the Otago Rail Trail – which was a looong time ago. That time I gave myself a doozie ‘egg’ on the side of my head – thank God for helmets.

Today though, I fell off not just once, but twice and man! did it hurt. I mucked up my starts… more practice required, obviously.

Because of all the grit and muck I got in the graze a trip to the pharmacy was required – turns out each crash cost me around $18 a fall – in saline to irrigate the grazes, dressing and antiseptic cream. It not only hurt in my knees but my wallet as well. Oh – and now I’m going to have to look at another helmet because the second time I crashed my head on the ground. An expensive fall.

The cycle trail I was soooo looking forward to, didn’t happen – not today at least. Even though I got back into the saddle again each time, my confidence was rocked and I felt sick.

Tirohanga Beach Holiday Park

Our second night was spent plugged into mains power at the Tirohanga Beach Holiday Park.

Before dinner (more of last night’s rotisserie chicken and salad) we went for a walk out to the beach.

Interestingly, the Dunes Section of the Motu Trail intersects with this campsite. The surface of the trail here looks a lot more friendly than the huge lumpy rocky stuff I fell off on.

Tomorrow I’d like to ride at least a teeny, tiny, insy winsy, dinky little bit of this Cycle Trail until we come back again another time.

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Here’s to falling down twice and getting up three times…

Here’s to bruises, scrapes and grazes and no broken bones…

Here’s to Day 2 of our East Cape Motorhome Holiday.

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Here’s to SmilingOnTheInside!