From Sanson to Wanganui it is just 50km, but I take around 4.5 hours because I am so unlucky that I have my second puncture within 3 days, besides, it is still raining. I have a feeling that somehow North Island doesn’t welcome me. Anyway, I have to pull over my bike, check the tube again, it is NEW, just changed it 2 days ago. Then I find a sharp rock puncture a hole making the air leaks, I replace it by another NEW tube but keep the punctured one for fixing later. Thanks to a man who helps me pump in air using his machine pump, as handy pump cannot fill up 100%.

Finally I finish that 50km and reach a place called Quaker Settlement in the outskirt of Wanganui, it is like a small village with around 30 people living there. They form a community to run the place as environmental friendly and self-sufficient. My Warmshower host Peter shows me the community garden, the chickens, ducks and sheeps, and a lot of fruit trees all around. Residents are free to pick anything which is ripe, and at the same time they are responsible to look after them. Peter is a busy man, which still have part time teaching job in kindergartens, and involve his free time in the community, as well as bike groups.

I stay in the Settlement for 2 days, meet a few residents in the coffee morning and have nice chats. There are altogether 3 Warmshower hosts in the settlement, they are all enthusiastic cyclists. They welcome WWOOFers too. Last year I had a couple of months helping out and learning heaps in organic gardening, it is a good chance to put it into practice. Sadly I don’t have much time here, I only help them weeding “Wandering Willies” which is a weed growing very fast, but the chickens love it as a snack, I feed them with a full load!

I also meet another host Lyneke who did an amazing 4-year-bike-trip around the world, and I am so lucky to attend her public talk the second night I stay there. She and her partner cycled across Africa, South America and North America, and just used around $25,000 for 4 years, that’s incredible! Thanks for her advice of getting a better quality bike to make sure the journey goes smooth, as it is hard to find bike shops and accessories in developing countries.