Jan 17. Reefton, New Zealand
I left Murchison late on the morning of Jan 15th. It had rained most of the previous night and somehow my tent failed. I ended up with a light puddle of water in my tent, under the pad. (My bag remained dry.) I am not sure how it got there, but I need to find out! A tent is not much good if it doesn’t keep you dry when it is raining. Fortunately, the sun came out it I got most of my things dried in a couple of hours.
The first 10 km on the ride to Reefton had very heavy traffic, including trucks (road trains). But eventually I turned onto Highway 69 and all of the traffic, but the occasional car, disappeared. There were some small rolling hills, and one big one, but soon the route turned to mostly flat ground amidst green farm lands. At some point, I met a cyclist from Germany–Michael–and we rode together for a while.
Michael
That is always a nice break from the solitude. Later I ran into a Spanish couple that I had met several days earlier, on their way to Greymouth. I will likely reconnect with all three of these folks in Greymouth this evening!
Fellow cyclists from Spain
I arrived in Reefton late afternoon and got a hotel, so I could spend the next day (1/16) working. Today, I am riding to the west coast town of Greymouth, and will take a train to Arthurs Pass, leaving me two days then to ride to Christchurch. It is currently raining and supposed to do so the entire day.
Reefton town center
Cheers
Scott
Previous Post
We’ve been home a week from a 16 day, 3500 mile, holiday trip to the coast. I’ve just caught up with the blog. Sorry about the cold:( Your photos remind us so much of our (much easier) group tour last year.
All is well here with temperatures in the single digits F. Lots of lovely snow and brilliant sunny days.
Cheers, Uncle Loren
Yay for company! Sorry about all of the rain. I hope your sunny days out number the rainy ones. Love you Scott!