Today was a lovely winters day, bright and sunny, a few clouds but not too cold. Jo and I decided that today would be a good day to try a new bike ride so we headed off to Eastbourne.

That’s Eastbourne, Wellington not Eastbourne in the UK. We drove to the end of the road and then unloaded the bikes to head off towards Pencarrow Lighthouse.

With the wind behind us we were soon at the light house and decided to carry on a little further around the coast. We ended up cycling past Lake Kohangatera.

 

After about an hour cycling we decided to turn around and make our way back.

We stopped near Pencarrow lighthouse for our afternoon tea of lamb sandwich.

Just as I finished I looked up to see a plume of water rising just beyond some rocks.

I asked Jo to take a look.

As we both peered into the distance another plume appeared followed by the sight of a whale’s tail as it started to make its dive.

Jo was up in a shot, saying ‘let’s get a closer look’ as she jumped onto her bike and disappeared off down the track.

I was left to pack up and follow.

We managed to see them again a few minutes later. What an amazing sight and all it cost us was an afternoon cycle trip.