South Island New Zealand by bike.

After skirting the Mt Hutt snowfields and spending a bit of time in the 22 front ring yesterday, back to more familiar South Australian conditions today…..except for the wet roads, overcast sky and shortage of degrees Celsius. The inland route 72 has taken us back into the heart of the Canterbury Plains, onto straight roads and into the 42 chain ring…..could do with a few more teeth! Cow paddocks, centre pivot sprinklers, and a few things I’d never seen growing before. Corn I think.

Beef brisket and cheese pie. A good pie makes everything seem better The rain arrived around   4 am   and stayed with us until close to lunchtime. Packing up a campsite in the rain is not one of the great joys of bike touring, but by about  8:30 am  we were rolling again. The first stop was a short ride into  Sheffield , home of the famous pie shop. Breakfast was a  beef brisket and cheese pie , which can only be described as world-class tucker. A good pie makes everything seem better. From Sheffield we continued along  Inland Scenic Route 72 , which gradually moves you away from the Canterbury Plains and into more undulating foothill country. The road runs right along the edge of the ranges, and the riding reflects it — rolling terrain with the occasional sharp climb thrown in. The  granny gear  made its first appearance of the trip today. The highlight of the day was the long freewheel down into  Rakaia Gorge . Even in the mist and dr...

Right. Let’s ride. Bikes rebuilt, bags strapped on, and a quick test roll confirmed two important things. 1. Everything seemed to work. 2. These bikes were now a lot heavier than I remember. Leaving Christchurch  was always going to be the easy part. Actually leaving on time proved a little harder. We finally rolled out of  Ashley a bit after 1pm , much later than planned, after dealing with some IT issues that needed sorting before we headed into the sticks. Not even one day in and the itinerary has already been thrown out the window.