Day 1: CBNZB begins

The Cooke Brothers New Zealand (Kiwi) Brevet. Day one. After airport adventures of undisclosed oversized baggage charges and itinerant backpacker sleeping in the airport we tottered out to assemble the bikes just after dawn. An epic three hours later and multiple conversations with smokers had, we left Auckland. (We inadvertently started assembling the bikes in the designated 

smokers hut!) Aucklands Southern suburbs passed in a blur and we motored to Kawakawa Bay for lunch. The wizened navigator Google said that it would take us 4hr 14min to reach Thames. From my previous experience riding this region, I knew there was a spur to crest and undulations round the Firth of Thames to manage. We rejected navigator Googles well meaning advice and decided that we could post off our excess baggage to Cromwell on Tuesday morn. Rather than the planned Monday afternoon. It was a good decision as a headwind greeted us over the spur. Thankfully it became a tailwind that pushed us along the bottom of the Firth of Thames right into Thames. We only exceeded Navi Googles estimates by 15min. Hmmm??!! Lesson learned for the day; bike assembly always take longer than estimated. I have a cut finger that attests to that!