Rest day.

After consuming lots of wine and cycling quite hard for two days we slept in (poor Sam was up early and off to work) in the wonderful comfort of Number 84. The house was lovely and quiet and our room warm and dark. The best nights sleep I've had in ages.

As ever, we'd been planning all sorts of jobs for our time in Invercargill. Tim was on half term so kindly ferried us around and entertained us for the day. We started with shopping. It's been getting colder and colder in New Zealand and being at the most Southerly part of the South Island the climate is particularly Antarctic. We had been thinking we'd be leaving New Zealand in April, so our kit was most definitely for the summer.

Much to Tim's amusement we went shopping for proper winter cycling gear. We checked out the three main shops and bought ourselves waterproof overshoes, leg warmers, arm warmers, wind and waterproof(ish) gloves and flourescent yellow jackets to make us super-visible! We'd been overtaken by some motorcyclists wearing bright jackets and in the gloomy winter light they made a huge difference. Why be at risk for the sake of vanity?

Next up was a quick tour of Invercargill. It's quite an industrial city servicing the Southland but has a nice looking park and is close to several beaches. We stopped off to see the original Burt Munrow bike (it's in a local hardware store)! If you've not seen it go and hire out The World's Fastest Indian now - it's brilliant! The bike looks so fragile in real life that it's incredible to believe that good old Burt went at 200mph on it! What a legend!

To complete the experience Tim took us down to the beach where Burt used to try his bike on and had a go on Tim's bike! There are miles and miles of flatish sand which is actually used as a proper road. There's hardly anyone on it so we all had a go on Tim's 250cc bike. I hadn't ridden a motorbike for years but after riding a heavy pushbike for 5000km the weight felt very natural, which was a really nice surprise. I loved it! I was whizzing along the sand, through little streams and loose gravel (I should have followed Claire's tracks in the car!) and over and through the sand dunes! Awesome fun! I want one! The bike was so steady and capable of going across or up anything.

I was a bit nervous about Claire having a go on the bike since she'd never ridden a motorbike before. After some quick instructions she flew off and never looked back! She was a total natural and wasn't intimidated by the weight of the bike at all! We both want one!

Tim and Sam cooked us a fab roast dinner in the evening which made us really feel at home. They've been brilliant hosts and really welcomed us into their home which is what we miss most whilst being away. To be able to completely relax and feel so comfortable for a few days really is a treat. We spent the evening drinking all the wine we'd bought and playing on their Wii which was a bit of a revelation in itself. We want one of these too!