Rest Day

This was a well deserved rest day after six days in the saddle. We haven't ridden the bikes too much over the last month while we were busy in Te Anau, Milford & Doubtful Sounds, the Kepler Track, Invercargill and Stewart Island. As such, after six days in a row our bums were feeling a bit sore! A day off before embarking on the Crown Range Road to wanaka (with its 1080m pass) was definitely due.

We didn't have much planned and enjoyed the comfort of our hostel, Riverdown Guest Lodge, after a lie-in. We had a few jobs to do so wandered into town. After checking out the competition we went for pies! Mmmh, New Zealand pies freshly made in a bakery are tasty. We were by this stage 14 days behind on our blog so set ourselves in in the local internet cafe, Mondos. We spent several hours here and managed to write 10 days of log which really means we're almost on top of things! (Writing in Wanaka now getting things completely up to date!)

We spent the rest of the afternoon having a look round town and exploring the river. Arrowtown looks stunning with Autumnal leaves everywhere, but the trees still have some colour. The mountains were a multi-coloured range of greens, yellows, oranges and reds - really beautiful. The town has a lovely atmosphere. Much of New Zealand lacks the sophistication we've grown accustomed to in London but this place oozes it. There are really nice cafes, restaurants and shops, and the whole place has a relaxed, friendly vibe.

The evening involved a healthy vege-fest and sorting of what we could post home (tent or no tent, that was the question!) Our host, Valerie had a friend over and we chatted to them. I was reading a book on the "hardest fought battle of WW2": Monte Cassino and it turned out that Valerie's friend's father had fought and survived there. She had been to Cassino to see it for herself and this really brought home the fact that what I was reading about had really happened to real, tangible people. Very sobering really.