Day 6 - The Appetite

Day 6 - by David Berry

Helensville to Auckland

44 kilometres

When we started out on Day 6 we hadn't even gone 800 meters when we saw our fellow tour riders that were on the water taxi with us. They were stopped at a little cafe so Luc and I decided to join them. Two Aussies, Jill was from Tazmania and Jeff was from Melbourne. We swapped all sorts of biking tall tales, ate too many pastries and just had a jolly good time. With full bellies we took off down the road towards Auckland. After about 20 or so kilometers the traffic had at least doubled, it was clear to me that we were on the outskirts of Auckland (Messey suburbs). We got to a very very busy intersection where Luc proceeded to pull into a strip mall and he headed towards a bakery. Like a siren calling to him, the smell of freshly baked doughnuts was too overpowering to resist. We each had something from the bakery, then I went in and got some sushi at the sushi shop, then we both went into the Roast Shop where we split a lamb sandwich on white bread smothered with lavish gravy. According to Luc it was some of the best lamb he has ever had!

We went back to the bakery to see what else we could find. Then I spotted ice cream. 

We finally broke away and finished our ride into Auckland on a dedicated bike path which was an absolute delight.

We marked today as the first day of having a true Tour Aotearoa appetite.