Day 15 Tuatapere to Te anau

HEADWINDS !!! just HEADWINDS !

from 10am till 7pm we battled headwinds. The wind channeling down the valley so no matter which way we turned it hit us face on.

With no services for 80K we had no choice as we only carried a days food !

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Clifden Bridge

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The hills were big

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following the tour of southland has its advantages .... we passed through the "hurt box" and then there was the "alp`d blackmount"

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Hills near Manipouri

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Debbie winning the womans Luxmore Grunt

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Te Anau from the control gates

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Hills over Te Anau lake

Very Random day. Sat in a Manipouri cafe and got speaking to a local who invited me out on a ride to Moke Creek. Turned out he was Marcus Roys father (a rather famous MTBer in NZ who came over the WC at Fort william)

Day 14 Back on the road

After resting(i mean riding with the locals in the woods...some of whom had never heard of cyclocross and thought i was just riding a road bike off road!) and riding some of the latest GT bikes out at bluff ......If anyone wants to give me a Carbon Marathon for next year i wont say know. Some very posh kit.

Managed 5k this morning before our first puncture of the trip(Jayne tells me this is your doing Ron ??). Large chuck of glass in my rear tire on a cycle path of all things ...somethings are just like home !

heading out to te anau for the weekend in a two part journey- Invercargill to Tutapere and then on to manapouri/te anau on friday

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Surfing at Colac bay

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seafront we rode along for most of the day

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apparently its windy here ....those trees were growing like that

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The wind had stopped by now and was allowing us to progress to tuatapere

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Tried to trade my bike in ...but they werent having it

Day 10 Invercargill

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We arrived at Matt and Debbies on Day 10 , we reached the 800k mark just upon arrival. We have been glad of the last few days rest using things like real towels and propper beds !

We have still been keeping the legs spinning though !

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From New Zealand Cycle tour

We have also been eating!

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Zookeepers cafe are big into cycling and this is their staircase

It has also rained , well thunder storm....but we didnt get wet

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Then ten mins later

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Note the blue sky and Christmas Decorations!

day 8 and 9 Cromwell to Gore

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A giant motorcycle sculpture on the road to Cromwell

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Riding along side lake Dunstan (again manmade hydropower lake)

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Riding the rail trail from Clyde to Alexandra

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Clutha river between Cromwell and Clyde

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Look familiar ? Riding through the teviot valley and i was looking for the tweed on my left and expecting to see a sign for Glentress or Innerleithen

Day 7 Omarama over the lindis to Cromwell

Riding over the lindis almost seemed easy as it was just a straight up then down hill as oppose to alot of the rolling hills we had encountered previously.

Ive also located a computer with picasa so i can upload an album of photos....just stuck a selected few up ...i have 600 so far and didnt want to bore you with them all. click on the photos below to get into them

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From New Zealand Cycle tour

From New Zealand Cycle tour

From New Zealand Cycle tour

From New Zealand Cycle tour