I left Wairoa heading to Gisborne, a 99km ride. Gisborne is a decent sized town and the start of the east cape area. It was a hot, tiring and beautiful day.

The hilly nature of the past few days didn't stop today (nor will it any time soon). Though today most of the time spent suffering was on one big climb in the middle that turned into some weird stair-step like climb until I was left with a stunning view before the descent.

Outside of the hard 25km in the middle, the rest was mostly flat and with a reasonable sized tail wind so I cranked an average speed of 19kmh, including the time spent eating lunch, snacks and occasionally resting my wimpy legs. That's ignoring the effect the hills in the middle had, though.

I was set on Gisborne today as I was staying with another warmshowers host, Eric and Laura. A bed may not have been waiting but a quiet and cozy spot for my tent in their back yard was great.

I got my hot shower and discovered Eric and Laura went to University of Dayton and had moved here from Kentucky. Even more Americans who gave into the temptation to stay after visiting! Had a good time talking to them about their move and life in New Zealand. Eric even shared some tasty home brew cider.