Post-cyclone Moerangi

Cyclone Cook and Cyclone Debbie have done a bit of damage around the country.  We had some wild weather in Tauranga, and know that Edgecumbe was dreadfully flooded.  But we hadn't really appreciated the strength of the storm, the viciousness of a cyclone, until we headed to Whirinaki for a few days.

The Moerangi is one of my favourite trails.  At last count, it was 5 hours of honest riding, through glorious ancient forest, with an abundance of wildlife.  Today, Moerangi and Mother Nature whooped my ass.

Massive sinkholes in Okahu road added an extra hours (uphill boring) ride.

And small tributary streams into the main river were now in vast, fresh gorges, where huge flows of water and treefall debris obviously came gushing down when the storm was at its height.  It was hugely impressive, and nearly unbelievable to see.  A reminder that we humans are small and insignificant.  I love being reminded that I am small and insignificant, I think it's the part of going bush helps me to brush off the stress of a busy life.

At some slips, I had to haul my bike over huge treefall and down into the river bed, yanking on supplejack and trying to keep my footing on fresh new banks and falls.  At one gravelly slip I couldn't get traction to carry my bike up but Tom had given me a short rope so I could haul it up after me.  (mental note - work on knot tying...)  

Anyway, SEVEN AND A HALF hours after starting, I dragged my aching, weary, stinging nettled, bush lawyered, cutty grassed self into the car park where the family were waiting.  It was a fairly stressful day once I realised I was going to be even later than our conservative estimate after Tom had ridden a day earlier and checked out the track.