 |
| Our cute container cottage at Kurow |
Today was
our rest day as we were to ride about half the distance of any of our previous
rides. In theory it was meant to be
quite easy.
 |
| Main Street Kurow featuring the pub |
We had a
slow start in the morning including a leisurely breakfast, before packing our
bags ready for them to be transported to the next location by Cycle Journeys We had decided we would head back to Kurow
for a coffee as it was only 3 kilometres and easy riding. The day started off very
clear and warm. The only possible
negative was that the wind was coming from the east which was the direction we
were travelling.
 |
| Leaving Kurow |
We cycled
the 3.5 km back to Kurow and found a nice little café in which to enjoy our
coffee fix. Then we visited the local
museum. One of the most interesting
exhibits was one about how our social security system was developed. It was interesting reading the comments about
it, for example, from the Chambers of Commerce etc who said it was creeping
socialism and would deter people from work.
The model for it had been developed by Arnold Nordmeyer from the Workers
Benevolent Fund in Kurow to support people during the depression and when they
had been injured building the Waitaki dam.
 |
| River T Vineyard |
We then
headed off into the wind, calling into a couple of wineries on the way, where
one gave superb service and the other was terrible.
After that
short break, we missed the turn to the A2O trail and when asked for directions
I was pointed down the main highway. So off we went. A kilometre or so down the road we came
across an orchard selling fruit. We
stopped in there and I got some apricots which I promptly left behind as I
became distracted by B who wanted to try their superb sorbets.
 |
| Ready to leave after our 2nd coffee |
A quick
consultation of the guidebook revealed that we had to go through the vineyard
and so we got blown back to the wine shops, and quickly found the trail. It was lovely riding through the vineyards
and we soon left them and rode along the path that had a couple of river
fords.
At first it
was relatively easy riding then we encountered the first of a number of
washouts and fords. This section had
been closed until relatively recently and we could see why. There was a lot of water around and we soon
had rather wet feet. The variable state of the track made the going a lot slower
than we had imagined it would be given the gentle start. We were able to get through, all except one
ford where the depth of the water and the subsequent bank finally defeated
us. Essentially the water had slowed us
so much that we did not have the right gear to get up the last steep bank. From then on it was relatively smooth riding
although we were riding into a stiff easterly.
 |
| One of the many obstacles |
There were
some Maori cave drawings just before our final stop at Duntroon. At the cave art we met a lovely German woman
who was cycling the South Island and had already done 1000 kilometres. She was very interesting and after three
months in Africa and a month in New Zealand she had had her first puncture just
before we encountered her. We told her
that we had met a German/French couple on the trail and remarkably she had
heard about them. Just as we were leaving
the same lovely couple turned up and we introduced them. They chatted away in
English rather than German which surprised B and I.
 |
| Lunch spot |
Ten minutes
later we were in Duntroon at our accommodation – a B & B called Constables
Cottage. Rachel, our hostess, was lovely
and the accommodation brilliant. Her husband
is a deer farmer and as a result we had a lovely venison stew and for dessert
we had a rhubarb and gooseberry pie. She
had been picking gooseberries when we arrived.
Feeling fully replete we went for a wander around the village, which had
been much more substantial in days past.
Total Distance
cycled: 34km; cycling time 2h14; Elapsed
time 4 hours.
 |
| Farm building |
 |
| Sculpture Duntroon |
 |
| B's accommodation |
Comments
Post a Comment