One Day to Go

We haven't had a chance to get the blog updated for day 10 and we have just finished day 11! We are now comfortably in our digs in St Arnaud.

We had a tough ride from Waipara into Hanmer Springs yesterday. We seemed to have struck the nor westers at the wrong time. Nick and Rex myself hung in there for the 76 km stage. We arrived to a beautiful evening in Hanmer and relaxed around the brazier.

The day to St Arnaud through the 'Rainbow Rage' could only be described as 'bloody tough'. We had strong northerlies through to Lake Tennyson with a slight reprieve before heading into Rainbow Station when the winds picked up and it turned cold. We put on all the clothes we had to keep warm and at times had to dismount our bikes before we were being blown off them! We also had our first puncture of our trip in the worst place ever. I fixed it in far from record time with very cold fingers. Thank goodness we had no repeat for this leg. We were very pleased to see Lynelle and Louie in our support vehicle as we came through the last gate! We battled on in heavy rain and rode in the headlights of the car to gain a few extra kilometres before tomorrows ride to Nelson.

Its now the next day and although its still raining here in St Arnaud the reports are that it is fine, calm and mild in Nelson.

We hope to get on our bikes from where we left off last night at around 9.30am. looks like we will get wet for awhile but have the prospect of a fine finish.

We plan to paddle to the lighthouse from the car park near the Yacht Club and Coastguard buildings for those in the area and wish to come down and see us finish. Its been a big couple of weeks and Nick and I looking forward to finishing what has been a great adventure!

Sorry about the lack of order in the photos but time is against me.

signing off, Denis