Wednesday 5th March - Starting the car trip back to Auckland

We collected our hire car that will take us back to Auckland airport today. It is big enough to take all our bikes and kit. We got a free upgrade to a massive car yet all the pannier bags and bikes still filled the car. It really made us wonder how we had managed to cart all that gear all over New Zealand as it takes a car the size of a double decker bus to take us and the bikes once our cycling was over.

We were up early at the backpackers in Dunedin.  We had a small car that we had hired locally which was to be returned to the airport on completion, which meant we could then pick up our new car from the same location. We are pleased with it and it is very comfortable. We had to drive the new car (Catherine calls it the beast) back to Dunedin so we could pick up all our stuff and load up. The bikes will go in upright which was good news!

We drove to Balcuthra where we had our first planned overnight stop. We got there at 12.30 as the morning car swap had gone more smoothly than expected.

We spent the afternoon driving to Nugget Point. The lady at the information desk in town said it was really good and we found the coast road and views stunning. We have left Dunedin now and the rain stopped and the winds went from gale force to nothing. There was a one kilometre walk to the lighthouse which got us stretching our legs. A cabin again tonight as it is still cold. It may be a while until we tent it again but the cabins are reasonable for the price.

The bikes go into the car. Their work is done. Over 2000k and not even a puncture!

The Beast outside our cabin

On the coast road at Nugget point

The walk to the lighthouse.

We must have been away a while as I completely shaved my head at the start of the holiday and now look at it.