As the Cafe did not open until 8am, it was a bit of a lazy morning till breakfast, which was just as well as there was a bit of “West Coast drizzle” going on as there had been all night… I was also not going to leave without food on board.

It was a cosy feeling being tucked up in bed overnight listening to the rain and hoping (praying) that it will magically stop by daytime.. The good news with the rain, is that it was not as cool, not that it needed to be any cooler..

In going out to the main road this morning, it was like Arthurs Pass was a town of 2 halves. In one direction, towards Christchurch, there was sunshine and what looked like it was going to be a good day. In the other direction, well that was just the opposite.. low cloud, rain and it would not have surprised me if there was a light dusting of snow on the tops.

After breakfast I could not delay the departure any longer after draining the last cup of tea out of the tea pot, so it was all clothes on, double arm warmers, double gloves and jacket to brave the elements. By good fortune it actually had stopped raining, but the road was wet and it was cool, in fact very cool making me thankful to have taken the additional pair of gloves for part 2 of the Odyssey.

A start at 9.30am was very gentleman hours and not even the BP Group in winter with a late start!

It was good for a change to be going down Gentle Annie, or whatever it is called as against trying to struggle up it..

It is basically climbing straight out of the village, so soon started to warm up and stopped on the viaduct to take some photos. I have not actually stopped on the viaduct before and with cycling shoes it was actually quite difficult to walk either up or down.

There was no hurry as a couple of trucks with trailers had gone past and they were just literally crawling down the incline.

While the wet weather brought out all the colours of the bush and the waterfalls were going, it spoilt a good decent and with the brakes on it still felt that you went faster..

Getting to the bottom was a bit of a relief due to the conditions and then it was predominantly down hill, at least for a while. I resisted the tempataton to take a slash in the front room of Al’s old house at Otira (house since removed and this has been our ritual in previous tours) and continued on. The crossing at the Deception for the Coast to Coast transition where we did a tramp a year ago was just about unrecognisable with the amount of scrub growing in the river bed, if it was there when we did the tramp, I certainly don’t remember it.

On hitting the valley floor the wind kicked in which was not helpful and had me thinking that perhaps Emma was right and I should be coming up the coast, not down it. The wind got worse when I turned to go south at Kumara Junction. Its character building stuff.

It was a bit of a grunt to Kumara and did not stop at Jacksons as while the Hotel/Cafe has re-opened, GK had already told me that it was closed on Monday and Tuesdays.. Kumara though had a couple of options and food by then was well overdue. Met, or rather 4 touring cyclists past me going the other way obviously doing the bike trail. It has been surprising the absence of cyclists seen on this trip.

The Kumara straight was not as bad as I remembered and then at the junction the full force of the wind kicked in right on the nose as I headed south, great..

One thing about today and also yesterday is that there has generally been a great road surface with a consistent surface right to the edge and free of any debris of stones and the like..

Checked into the accommodation at Stumpers in Hokitika and Mr Scott is tucked into the utility room for the night.

With only 99k for the day and a climbing elevation of 669m, it is good to check in early and get the domestics done and basically just chill out. Thankfully Al sent a text earlier saying that he would not be coming over for work due to a change of plans, so that means no Tuesday night racing with the locals at Hokitika. I made sure though that I had several beers so that if he changed his plans and showed up I would not be capable of racing..

Due to previous experience on an earlier tour of arriving in Franz Joseph with signs saying no accommodation and if you are heading south continue to Wanaka, or if travelling north, continue to Hokitika, I have booked my bed for tomorrow night! At the same time showed confidence by also booking Thursday night at Haast..

Day 2 of part 2 of the Odyssey successfully completed.