Upokongaro

 Pirate decided that he would like one last ride on his borrowed bike, so I took the chance to drive to our lunch stop café in Upokongaro..Behind the Door on 4....on State Highway 4...and have a wander around with the camera while waiting for him to come up the Mountains to Sea Path from Whanganui and over the new bridge...and the timing was perfect , we arrived at the café at the same time!

A beautiful Rimu tree

And the village school

With matching postbox

And Kauri trees in the grounds

Pupils' murals on the fence.

The old village stores..now a gin distillery

We have never seen the hotel open in all our years of visiting...but it looks as if it does open sometimes!

And the café..

One car full of ladies...Nain means grandmother in Welsh!

And there he is!

Lifesize models of the now extinct Moa..the equivalent of the Rea or Ostrich

And off he went back over the bridge

Bridge at Upokongaro

 We had a ride from our coach's house (keeping the bikes there is better, not in a car that could sit here getting very hot, and safer too) down to the Mountains to Sea path by Dublin Bridge ( sorry no photo yet!) and up through Papaiti to Upokongaro.

This was where there once was a ferry to Upokongaro. There was a shop, and there still is a school, café, pub and church.

When we left Whanganui in February 2020 everyone was eagerly awaiting the moving of the bridge from a field by the river....but last minute technical difficulties meant that we missed it!

It is beautiful...I am still not keen on heights...and drops....but I did ride over it, and on the return, held hands with a French tourist from Dijon to help her walk across... mutual assistance!!

A model of a Moa...the equivalent for this continent of and ostrich...but bigger!

And on our way back.... couldn't resist this...a postbox!!

It is a relief that this bridge is there...no need to ride for 10 km up the state highway!!