Tuesday 11th February - We're knackered in Wanaka

Time for a rest day! Lots of jobs to sort. First off we booked a cabin for two days so that we could have a real rest. It's hot and sunny but showers are predicted this afternoon and tomorrow.

The second job of the day was to catch up with everyone back home as we now have good wifi.

The bikes have done 900 miles now and needed a look over so that was Tony's job of the morning. This included:-

1) My Brooke's saddle looks more like a deck chair as the leather has stretched making the saddle uncomfortable. I borrowed a grip from our neighbouring camper and was able to tighten the saddle nut satisfactorily.

2) Went round every allan key bolt checking they were fully tight. My bottle cage bolts on the front bottle rack needed several turns. Catherine's carrier bolts and mudguard bolt also took half a turn or so each. So always worth a check!

3) Cleaned the chains and jockey wheels and put a damp rag over the frame and wheels.

Catherine's jobs for the morning was to pack away the tent gear ready for the move to our cabin (we tried to get a cabin last night but they were all full) and to rest and read her kindle as well as do some of the blog.  Another job was to update the data record of mileage, finances, accomodation data and also to have a look at some of the options for routes to Queenstown and do a quick check on possible itineraries after Queenstown.  

Afternoon snooze time then. Then an afternoon cycle into town which was most successful . We managed to purchase the following:-

1) A new sleeping mat.T found that the lamination had failed early on in the tour and the cells in the mat had started to join together. This became a big ball at the top of his mat. So we waited to get to a big town with outdoor shops. It cost over £100 ouch! 

2) some new cycle gloves for T. The only problem cycling was that his left hand kept going numb after cycling for many hours. We are hoping the new gloves which have good padding will help.

3) Some shaving gel. T left his in the showers a week ago and has been managing with soap to shave with so this is a luxury.

4) a bar of soap. We had used most of ours . The supermarket sold lux and Palmolive.... In packs of six! We ended up with posh perfumed soap costing as much as six lux bars.