Cycle: 35km

We were both a little nervous about today's cycling, over Arthur's Pass. The pass is probably the most famous in New Zealand, and was cut in about 1860 to provide a desperately needed route between the gold rich West coast and the more inhabited East coast. Arthur Dudley Dobson found the route over the Southern Alps and at one stage had to abandon his horse and lower his dog with a rope! The profile looked pretty steep but we were fairly confident that this wouldn't be too much of a problem.

We left our campsite at noon after a lie-in (much required due to the sloped tent pitch) and much chatting with the locals. The first 19km were fairly straight-forward up to Otira where we stopped at the "Deliverance"-esque "Otira Hotel" which looked like it hadn't been decorated for 703 years. We had a nice cup of tea and some wedges (can't go too wrong with them, eh?) and played with the chilled out dog, Havoc.

We tackled the ascent with a mixture of nerves and excitement. This was the one that everyone talks about. They're right to talk about it. It's bloody steep. For a long time. Blimey.

The ascent was tough, but we made it up and even took the steep detour up to "Death's Corner" which is a lookout from the old road before they build the viaduct, which is only 11.7% (!!) We passed a sign saying the descents were up to 16% which explains a little of our discomfort! Still, we felt very elated and the views were amazing. At the top a swarm of Keas descended on us and started waddling around for the cameras! Very entertaining! These are the first we've seen - they're an indigenous local kind of parrot.

Due to our late start to the day; the prospect of some good walking around the village and the threat of crazy tent & bike-rubber eating Keas, we decided to stay in the local YHA for a couple of nights of comfort (and warmth at the altitude).

We spent some time enjoying our room (one of four in a lovely little cottage with a log fire) and having a think about the rest of our trip in the South Island (it might take some time!) We went out for dinner at the Wobbly Kea and had two gigantic pizzas (each for two people, but we had one each) and a nice bottle of red. Mmmh, treats for cyclists. The food and service were great!