Cycle: 44km (gravel)

Omakau to Clyde.

We woke up to a damp morning with a heavy fog across the sports field next to our tent. Over breakfast we got chatting to two Israelis going the other way down the trail, Guy and Gilly. They're doing the Routeburn track at the same time as us but were planning to go much faster and return via the Greenstone or Caples track. This gave us some food for thought, and we might well change our plans too. The Routeburn is very short and an easy walk for people of all fitness levels, and by returning via a different track a lot of transportation costs could potentially be saved...

The weather was still pretty rubbish when we started our final leg along the Otage Rail Trail. The weather slowly cleared over the morning revealing some lovely hills and lakes. The track was mostly downhill for us today and we cruised into Alexandra in time for lunch at the old Courthouse. After some great food we decided to just go to Clyde and take as easy a day as possible. The last section of the trail was flat so we covered our 44km today without really breaking into a sweat.

At the end of our 150km off road experience we were pleased to get onto some asphalt. We went round the houses (quite literally) in Clyde before finding the small town centre which was quite quaint. The campsite was another domain effort but with nice enough facilities. We were feeling tired with deep set fatigue and really just wanted to get to Queenstown and relax for a couple of days. To that end we simply chilled out reading, relaxing and eating through the afternoon and evening.