Day 20: Curio Bay to Invercargill

Overnight the heavy winds from the East died down and the clear skies turned cloudy with some light sprinkles. Just enough water to get everything nice and damp. We got up and headed to the kitchen for breakfast, oatmeal with jelly this time, we ran out of chocolate yesterday L

While eating breakfast we sat on the bluff to get eaten alive by insects, well that wasn’t the plan, we actually we were watching some of the Hector’s Dolphins swimming in the surf. It was really neat to see them catching waves and riding them towards shore a bit. Unfortunately the bugs did get a least a little blood while we were enjoying the view.

Packing up pretty quick we got on the road in full rain gear, this ensured that it didn’t rain for at least the first hour of the ride. Out of Curio Bay we turned on to the 13km gravel road and were immediately confronted with 2 signs “Speed Limit: 100kmh” (the typical high speed limit assigned to roads) “Slow Down / High Crash Area.” Talk about mixed messages.

We made our way down the gravel road with neon yellow vests and bright blinky tail lights. We are getting more comfortable on gravel, and traveling quicker in return. We had some light rain showers and rainbows, and sun, and clouds. Pretty much every few minutes the weather changed in some fashion.

Matt made the mistake of getting excited that we were going to make it through the entire day without a double digit graded hill to climb, and then we found the hill. But it was only 75m or so of climbing and when we reached the top found from there on the road was paved. Traffic had been very light all morning and the drivers as friendly as usual.

We passed on the opportunity to visit the Southernmost Point of the south island, 12km roundtrip of extra gravel roads wasn’t worth it, just to say we had been. We had our sights set on Fortrose for lunch, mainly because we were completely out of food besides snacks. Turns out the only food in Fortrose is at the art gallery, but the gentleman running the gallery was very nice and informative. He heated us up some steak pies and made us coffee/tea, then chatted with us while we ate.

Pushing on we had 46km to go and plenty of time, but the wind started picking up, it was generally from the west. I am fairly certain the all the NZ wind blew westward yesterday and today it was all coming back from the west. It was manageable, just irritating.

We paused for a snack at an old Lignite Pit (Coal Mine) that has be filled in the water, turned in to a lake, and has beautiful gardens set up around it. Our snack turned in to a full lunch and took some time, Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagna (yum). To our dismay when we got out on the road the wind had really picked up, we were headed straight west and it was blowing hard straight east.

Those 18km or so into town were just brutal. It is difficult to describe how hard it is physically and mentally to push through the winds at paces that your brain knows are so far below what you should be doing. But we slogged away stopping every couple km to rest weary muscles, eat, or just make unfriendly gestures at the wind.

Along this road into town we had our first really unpleasant encounter with cars, one being just generally to close, the second being a Toyota Camry or something of that size towing a train and a boat which got way to close to comfort probably because the wind and the speed this tiny car was doing seemed to be threating to take the large boat behind it airborne. We saw a lot of that today, small cars towing trailers, boats, and various other things.

Finally we made it in to town. First things first we passed a Kiwi checking his mail and he said a very common greeting to us “Nice for day for it?” Previously when we have heard this phrase it has been a pleasant day, we smile and agree. This time Matt refrained from jumping off his bicycle and strangling the gentlemen, but is still pondering what the response to that question/statement is when, no, it is not a nice day for it! We only got that greeting 3-5 more times on our way through town.

Invercargill is a large city, we paused at the ATM (the exchange rate has gotten very good compared to when we arrived) and the grocery store. Then we headed through town, passing through the lovely Queen’s Garden. We paused and checked out the azaleas which were in full bloom and then headed north through Donavan Park were obsevered several Kiwi’s walking their dogs by opening their car doors, letting the dogs run along the edge of the road and they drove along slowly. Hmmm defiantly found that more than a bit odd.

Finally we made it to the holiday park, our first “Top 10” brand, and got settled in. They were really nice, even gave us camp chairs and towels. Dinner, dessert, showers, and tent set up, we are relaxing for a bit then going to bed. Tomorrow we are heading to the sausage capital of New Zealand.

One last note, I am not sure if Tom D. is reading this or not, but Invercargill is the home of the worlds fastest Indian Motorcycle. We had planned to stop and see it but because it is the weekend the shop was closed when we arrived and won’t be open until after we leave, but we did get a picture of the bronze statue commemorating it outside Queen’s Park. So if you’re ever in New Zealand make sure to check it out.

Distance: 87.67km

Time: 6:36

Average: 13.28kmh

Max: 48.1kmh

Climb 638m

Bronze dtatue of the worlds fastest Indian Motorcycle, love the drivers expression.

Partial rainbow in the distance

Flowers in the Queen's Park in Invercargill