It was a bit of a surprise given the rain overnight, that the day dawned fine, sunny and clear although I was to find out that this was only for the first hour!

As it was very cool, it was all gear on and a breakfast was planned at Fox, but that was nearly 30ks down the road.

Rolling out on the road just on 7.30am it was cool, but actually quite nice riding as there was thankfully no wind and there were just those group of 3 climbs which are all really continious but nice climbing. There was the odd glimpse of the snow covered mountains between high clouds which even encouraged me to stop for the odd photo. There was quite a lot of helicopter traffic taking tourists on trips.

After breakfast at Fox where I met an owner of a Cafe who had relocated there after his Cafe in Christchurch was destroyed in the earthquakes, it was back on the road to finally pass “Farmer Browns” (basic accommodation where Al and I have stayed previously when Franz was booked) at Jacobs River and then it was a quick stop at Bruce Bay where the surf was really pounding. It was a quick stop as the sandflies must have detected “fresh meat” in the area as they just swarmed and were quite large..

Just south of Bruce Bay the day changed and the rain set in and basically did not stop for the rest of the day. There was a stop at our normal being the Cafe at the Salmon farm just a couple of ks out of Lake Paringa and I had the best whitebait sandwich ever, with 2 large patties between white bread, yum..

While it was raining, at least there was not the wind of yesterday as it was cold and unpleasant enough as it was.. Getting out on the coast I love the way that all the vegetation is sort of mown and even due to the effect of the prevailing wind, makes it look really tidy!

The normal lookout at Knights Point was closed due to landslips, but there was another site offering similar views and despite the overcast and wet day, it was a compulsory photo point.

I was counting down the ks to Haast Junction (a quick look for Jennie at the Service Station which is a private joke) and then it was on to Haast and on the way past 2 touring overseas cyclists with panniers who had ridden from Fox. As I was pretty cold it was nothing more than a quick greeting as established that they were staying at the Wilderness Lodge where I was booked, so would catch up with them later.

Having stayed here before it was familar and a 20 minute shower finally warmed me up before attending to the laundry and bedding Mr Scott down for the night who had the indignity to share a shed with some mountain bikes!

An evening meal was the next challenge as the hotel in the village was closed pending new ownership and as it was still raining heavily, I was not going to bike back to the junction, so I had to resort to making pasta and with only 2 TV channels and no mobile or internet coverage, it was going to be an early night!

Total for the day 143ks with a climbing elevation of 1,272m.