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**saralou** · #1 21 Mar 2018

Back down at the junction if you go straight instead of back down to Sumner or can take the Summit road left over the hill side to the valley thru residential streets and then connect to the tunnel to Lyttelton.

FILE0073 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0076 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Here you follow the Govenor’s Bay-Teddington coast road and then on the Christchurch-Akaroa Road out onto the peninsula.

FILE0078 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0086 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0088 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We took the high summit road, which rides the crest of the mountain and then falls down into the bay at Akaroa town.

FILE0107 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0114 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0121 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #2 21 Mar 2018

It had become hot and very sunny and we enjoyed some great fish and chips at Murphy’s. Riding back we retraced our steps and finally arrived home after 7. We opted to stay in for dinner and a few

s. It was great to hear Lorraine and Neil’s stories from their trips around the world, but they have a lot more book worthy adventures than we have had including having a serious accident in SA and having to come home.

NZ South Isand-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #3 21 Mar 2018

The idea was to ride north west to Greymouth over Arthur's Pass and then the next day back to Hanmer. From here we can do the off road route on “the Rainbow” to St. Arnaud. (Google will not route over the Rainbow road past the campsite). This will then put us just south west of Nelson and we can go to the west coast from there. It is more often then not raining on the WEsT coast. Looking at the forecast is is supposed to be sunny on the coast for the next 2-3 days and then the weather everywhere is rain as a storm hit the island.

Screen Shot 2018-03-21 at 10.28.36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Plans have to change sometimes. We will ride to the coast at Greymouth over Arthur’s pass and then head down the west coast. It is more likely to be nice at some time in the future for the rainbow and the north west road than it is on the west coast itself. (good thing we did this since after the predicted cyclone on the coast the road is now closed behind us). The next cyclone caused a massive landslide on the Rainbow, but that is another story.

Screen Shot 2018-01-31 at 20.23.20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_2065 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #4 21 Mar 2018

Leaving Christchurch we made for the #73 and stopped in Sheffield for their “world famous” hot pies. 5 star pie for sure. Today we must have seem several hundred bikes coming towards us over the pass and we found out why late. There was a biker/music festival on this weekend and they are headed home this Sunday.

Screen Shot 2018-01-26 at 20.56.26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0226 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0234 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_2021 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0265 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #5 21 Mar 2018

We stopped at several view points along the alpine pass and hoped/feared to see the mischievous Kea. This is an alpine parrot that is only found here on the South island of NZ. They are very intelligent and very naughty. They have been known to pick the rubber out of car windshields, bend aerials, eat hand grips, and generally cause damage just for the fun of it.

We did see several flying and one briefly landed on the railing at the “death corner” look out, but when we stopped a few km farther down the road one was walking across the parking lot as we parked and hopped up into a tree. It is 32 degrees today and I think it is to hot for them to get up to any destruction.

IMG_2024 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #6 21 Mar 2018

Arriving to the city we stopped for supplies and then decided on the Top 10 park that is on the beach. The beaches here on the south island are mostly rocky and at least on the west coast teeming with sand flies. These and tiny black biting flies that leave large itchy welts that only get worse if you scratch them and turn into red sores. Luckily there are not too many here. What is more worrisome here is how much everything costs.

Generally the price is double what it s at home and this makes NZ the most expensive place we have been. A small bottle of coke in a store is 4$, gas is 225/l, and camping is 20-25$/person per night. We are very lucky to have been hosted so much. This camp ground is on the sea, but there is a very high hedge that acts as a wind break and this means the large grass area for the tents is nice and sheltered.

We set up camp and you can see our time lapse below. The Top 10 is a little more than the private sites, but they have very nice showers, hot water, full kitchens, BBQs, and wifi.

https://youtu.be/reZtcp1AN38

IMG_2056 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

While we were cooking our dinner we ran into cyclists Rich and Karlene from New Hampshire. They ride their tandem bike somewhere in the world for 3 month every winter. That is not the most crazy thing. What is super crazy is that we met them before in Lake Arenal Costa Rica when we were both at the same B&B in 2013! Small world indeed. They are also headed down the east coast, but what we will do in 2 days will take them 12!

NZ South Isand-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

NZ South Isand-41 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #7 21 Mar 2018

We set off south from Greymouth on the 6 and detoured in to Hokitiki the center of greenstone for NZ and Sara bought herself a small piece for a souvenir.

Screen Shot 2018-01-31 at 20.24.22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0279 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_2070 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Next we continued with very little traffic along the coast and then the road goes inland towards the mountains. We stopped in Hari Hari for a snack.

FILE0314 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0315 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_2071 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_2072 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0320 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr