Cycle: 81km

A very wet day!

It rained a lot during our night in Reefton motor camp and when I woke up in a wet sleeping bag Scott complained that I was moaning. I woke up with wet knees for goodness sake! I was all set to argue my case for a hostel tonight, 13 days stright in the tent was enough for me.

We hung around the campsite in the morning waiting for our stuff to dry and set off late at about 12:30. The ride today was sligtly downhill but we had our friend the head wind for company. We stoped after 40km or so totally shattered and ditched all previous plans to tackle Arthur's Pass tomorrow with a plan to tackle a rest day in Greymouth instead! My arms ached most of all, how wierd?!

As we left the friendly little town of Ahaura, which had the nicest collection of picnic tables we'd seen yet, the rain clouds came in with a vengeance and our final 30km of the day were spent with our heads down into the driving rain. It wasn't much fun but it kept things interesting and meant that my chance of a hostel room for the night had increased greatly as Scott wouldn't want to put the tent down on a bog. And I was right! After following the Grey River into Greymouth on this particularly grey day Scott announced he certainly wasn't going to camp in this weather and so began our search for a bed. We found one in the shape of the Duke Backpackers which was colourful and the staff super friendly. We dripped all over their hostel, stored our wet bikes and had a lovely hot shower. To say I went to bed with a smile on my face would be an understatement, I was grinning like a chesire cat!