Some great coastal cycling today with some lovely sea stacks. Even found a cafe at the halfway point.
We met Mr Yan on our travels who was cycling the same way as us. He had a really nice Surley bike.
The official start of the West Coast Wilderness Trail but it was loose gravel about an inch thick and had huge sea stones in it. A no go on our touring tyres which is making us reconsider if we should do any trails at all in NZ. It may be best to stick to the roads which is disappointing but these trails are designed it seems for mountain bikes.
We will follow this along the coast on tomorrow's route. It looks as though it has worn in better here so we will give it a try.
This is where we are tonight. We had a look at the beach this evening and it was a long stretch of grey sand. We have largely been on the West coast of NZ this holiday and the beaches have been disappointing. I think that Australia spoilt us last year when it came to lovely beaches. The traffic may get heavier as route 7 has joined with route 6 now as we continue South.
We are staying at a "top ten" site tonight. They are expensive but they have kitchens and lounges and it makes the camping easy and we can charge our phones etc and use the wifi. The schools are starting back shortly which means hopefully that things will be less busy and there will be less children around.
If you come to NZ and buy anything be prepared for them to finish the transaction by saying "fly buys". It threw us at first, it's some sort of points system like air miles but at first when they finish with Fly buys you think it's some way of saying goodbye!
Interesting observations! Agree about trails some are suitable for touring bikes but many just arent which is frustrating as our PM said he would put in a cycle trail from North to south of the country but many trails are only for day mountain bike trips.
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