14th Jan 2011 - Fixing My Bike and a Walk in the Woods
A day spent mending my bike, doing the laundry, planning the next stage of our bike ride (a visit by bike to Milford Sound, with a trip out on the Sound) and a three hour walk along the Kepler Track. The Mower and Cycle place (which seems to be joined to a garage) fixed the broken off screw (pannier fixing) quickly by drilling out the middle and then the screw could be turned. They replaced it with a steel (rather than the previous aluminium) screw. Looks stronger.Met two other cyclists - Anna and Liam from Germany/UK. Liam was doing the thing so many cyclists do when in a sunny spot stationary - drying his socks. They intend to do Milford via the various campsites on the way. They had old fashioned road bikes, which always pleases Guy.Then a chunk of the Kepler Track, from Rainbow Reach to Motorua Hut. The Hut was impressive - spacious and with flush loos and cooking facilities. Beautiful beech forests so took a fair few photos. Then texts flew and we met up with Steve and Carole for a beer - easy considering that they have pitched up next to us (they've got a sturdier looking tent than ours - maybe a touch bigger - a classic tunnel tent. It weighs a bit more but is that bit more comfy I suspect. Our tent, though small, feels like a palace after the tiny tent (still in decent condition) that we took across the USA.Had some excellent local wheat beers and porters - Tuatara or suchlike brewery. We must find out more.We felt a bit sad that such a beautiful hot day was spent partially on mundane mending and laundry - we hoped we would have similar weather tomorrow.
A day spent mending my bike, doing the laundry, planning the next stage of our bike ride (a visit by bike to Milford Sound, with a trip out on the Sound) and a three hour walk along the Kepler Track. The Mower and Cycle place (which seems to be joined to a garage) fixed the broken off screw (pannier fixing) quickly by drilling out the middle and then the screw could be turned. They replaced it with a steel (rather than the previous aluminium) screw. Looks stronger.Met two other cyclists - Anna and Liam from Germany/UK. Liam was doing the thing so many cyclists do when in a sunny spot stationary - drying his socks. They intend to do Milford via the various campsites on the way. They had old fashioned road bikes, which always pleases Guy.Then a chunk of the Kepler Track, from Rainbow Reach to Motorua Hut. The Hut was impressive - spacious and with flush loos and cooking facilities. Beautiful beech forests so took a fair few photos. Then texts flew and we met up with Steve and Carole for a beer - easy considering that they have pitched up next to us (they've got a sturdier looking tent than ours - maybe a touch bigger - a classic tunnel tent. It weighs a bit more but is that bit more comfy I suspect. Our tent, though small, feels like a palace after the tiny tent (still in decent condition) that we took across the USA.Had some excellent local wheat beers and porters - Tuatara or suchlike brewery. We must find out more.We felt a bit sad that such a beautiful hot day was spent partially on mundane mending and laundry - we hoped we would have similar weather tomorrow.