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Published: March 11th 2018
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Day 13: Masterton to Welington, 140km, lots of socialising and a spectacular fall
The Donkey was up before the crack of dawn and set of in the dark at 6.30 a.m. It was cold. The donkey could not find his cycling jacket, must have left it somewhere, he thought. He was not surprised as he always lost stuff. Butterfly usually came to the rescue as she had an uncanny ability to know where any of the Donkey’s lost items would be. But Butterfly was not there (yet) so he could not ask her.
As expected the Donkey got lost trying to find his way out of Masterton. Perhaps he should have waited till it was light as by the time he finally found Colombo Street, the street he was looking for, dawn was breaking.
There was no wind and the road was asphalt and straight. The Donkey worked a bit harder to stay warm. He made good pace. Suddenly a panda came swinging by at a great rate of knots, said a quick hello and immediately accelerated. Hang on, I can do with a lift, the Donkey thought and sprinted up to the panda and settled in behind,
out of the wind. The panda obviously had not noticed as when he looked back 15 minutes later he reacted surprised. Have you sped up or have I slowed down, the panda demanded. Mate, it is called drafting, the Donkey answered.
They started chatting and that always helps make the time go faster. The panda turned out to be a psychotherapist from Nelson. The Donkey lightened up, good, he had found someone who he could tell his woes, someone who would understand. But the panda would have none of that.
He asked the Donkey what his highlights of the trip had been thus far.
My friend having to quit, getting the shingles and the day of the storm, the Donkey blurted out, what about yours. The Waipoua Forest was wonderful and so were the sand dunes before Omapere and I loved the Timber Trail, the panda answered.
Mmmm, the Donkey thought, this must be the difference between a pessimist and an optimist and he vowed to do better and enjoy himself a bit more, like the panda.
They stopped in Martinborough after 50km for a coffee and some food. The panda was in a hurry
as he wanted to catch the 4 p.m. ferry so did not stay long.
In the café in Martinborough the Donkey got talking to a bulldog from Wellington. He was in security so the Donkey thought he would not attack a donkey as that would not look good on his c.v. As it turned out the bulldog turned out to be nice, for a bulldog that is, and more importantly he knew the way. So they teamed up to ride to the start of the Remutaka trail, 70km North of Wellington. Here the Donkey met up with Butterfly who was going to join him for that section of the ride. Butterfly had taken a friend, who is also the Donkey’s friend. She is a lovely busy little hen with a rather large head, which is to contain her brain as it is larger than the average hen’s brain. As a consequence the hen’s head is a bit wobbly which the Donkey thought rather cute. The Donkey liked hens.
The hen, Butterfly, the Donkey and the bulldog rode together and had a jolly good time. They had to traverse through some long tunnels which were darker than the night
and of course the Donkey’s light was not suitable at all, he thought the batteries must be getting low. The bulldog came to the rescue. As he was in security he had the best equipment and a light so strong that no criminal or tunnel could escape it. He lead the way, making reassuring noises for anyone who was a bit scared, which the Donkey was but he did not want to admit to that with Butterfly right behind him. When they reached the car park at the end of the trail the Donkey and the bulldog said a quick goodbye to the girls. The Donkey was going to see them again that night as they were staying at the little hen’s place as she lived and worked in Wellington. The bulldog also lived in Wellington and smelt his stable as he pushed the pace and the Donkey did not mind and joined in. They followed the Hutt river trail, which the Donkey found beautiful. He always thought of Lower Hutt as an industrial area with lots of state housing but riding the trail he imagined himself to be in Switzerland. The sun had finally come out after three wet and grey days even if the Southerly had not abated.
The Hutt River Trail is supposed to be grade 1, which means easy. Still the Donkey managed to fall of his bike at a tricky switch back when he did not quite make a sharp uphill corner because Spot was in the wrong gear. Spot stalled and bucked. With the front wheel in the air the Donkey lost control and tumbled backwards, bike and all, down a steep bank. He landed hard on his backside and was lying on his back. He quickly did a body check. First he shook his head to make sure it was still attached to his body and then he shook his legs, one by one. The bulldog had heard the commotion behind him and arrived at the scene of the disaster looking worried. Are you all right mate, he asked. A donkey on his back is not very dignified so the Donkey quickly stood back up and assessed the damage. Bit of a graze on one elbow and a sore butt. You would think that the Donkey would have a solid backside, like most donkeys, with a bit of meat on it, but the Donkey’s butt had worn away after all the years of heavy work so he had not much butt left to soften the fall. When the bulldog worked out that the Donkey was o.k. he burst out laughing, trust a donkey to crash on a grade 1 trail, he said shaking his big bulldog head. The Donkey laughed sheepishly (now, there is a word, the Donkey had never ever heard or seen a sheep laugh!) and climbed back on Spot who was also a bit embarrassed.
The bulldog and the Donkey arrived in Wellington at 5 p.m. and agreed to meet again the next day on the ferry across Cook Strait. The Donkey got spoiled by Butterfly and the little hen with a beautiful meal of lamb and veges. When eating lamb the Donkey always blocked out any thoughts of little lambs running, jumping and playing freely in the green pastures, not realizing their lives were going to be cut short brutally for the benefit of anyone who liked the taste of them. The Donkey watched a bit of the rugby but his second favourite team, the Canterbury Crusaders (his first favourite team is the Highlanders, go the Highlanders) lost to the Wellington Hurricanes but the Donkey did not let it spoil what otherwise had been a good day.
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