Cycle: 64km (gravel)

Ranfurly to Omakau.

Time to leave Ranfurly (did Scott mention that yesterday I enjoyed a shower with Brierley, Eli and Fay who were being deloused?). The trail today was similar to yesterday until we reached the summit and then whizzed downhill into our lunch stop, Oturehua. It seemed the tougher riding yesterday was because we were climbing slightly all day, not because of the gravel. Goody! Oturehua was an odd place, sadly there was not a fabulous cafe like in Hyde but instead a simple tavern with a scary barman or the "historic" Gilchrist's store. We opted for the pre-packed sandwiches from the store and watched the hoardes of happy cyclists setting off for their afternoon leg.

In the afternoon we cycled through the Poolburn, the definite highlight of the route. The gorge was very impressive, is home to the New Zealand falconand you get to go through two tunnels and over a couple of hig bridges. Midway through the gorge we stopped to make a cup of tea and look out for falcons (we spotted one).

As we arrived in Omakau it began to rain but we pedalled a couple of km on to Ophir in search of a hostel that apparently no longer exited! Oh well, the detour was on sealed roads. Instead we went back in to Omakau and found the Omakau Recreation Reserve Domain Board Camping Ground, i.e. the local sports pitches! But it was awesome - basically free with a facility block just like a typical sports pavillion at home (it reminded me of school sports and post cross-country showers!). Omakau were playing Arrowtown in a "dinkum match" with floodlights, 1980's pop and a post-match feed. Very atmospheric!