21st December 2021 (Hot and very windy afternoon) 51km

This Top Ten Holiday Park is very nice. Located in the centre of town, handy to everything. I can only imagine that between Xmas and New Year, it will be packed. I spoke to a lady in the kitchen yesterday who had brought her two grandchildren for a few days holiday before Xmas. One of the reasons was that, aside from being a lovely spot, they had all the add ons. Trampoline.. well no actually, closed for repair. Table tennis, kids love that.... Umm, sorry, only one bat, in the whole camp, even though they have shops here.?Still, if all else fails,, the good ole Kiwi barbecue. Stick a few sausies on the Barby and she'll be right mate. Well .. no again. How about star gazing, or watching the grass grow( super quick with all the rain we've had). Or..  Take a trip back in time to the days when kids should be seen and not heard, so there's a nice little corner of the camp over there Johnny, go over there, face the fence and shut up for three days.   Oh.... Merry Xmas by the way.       Ho ho ho.       

We were out of the tent and in the kitchen for a cuppa by 6.30am.No need to rush today as we only have 43kms to travel to Cave...  that's right...apparently one man and a hibernating bear. Dennis leaves for his next section up in the mountains this morning and what a beautiful one it is. We are waiting for the sun to come up over the yardarm to take the moisture off the tent, before we head into town for the full English. 

Arrived at Verde, a beautiful little cafe just around the corner from the camp, shortly before 9am, opening time.  Sat in their lovely English garden (in the shade) without the octopus (only the oldies will get that) eating and looking forward to another day of freedom under blue skies. The food and coffee was delicious and we would recommend Verde highly. 

This mum and baby entertained us at breakfast. He was too scared to fly and she kept coming back to feed him.

Dot joined us after saying goodbye to Dennis and it was a long leisurely, two coffee goodbye before we headed out of town.

Through to Temuka and picked up  State Highway 1. Not our  best idea, but it was only for 2kms, with trucks flying by too close for comfort. Turned off to another side road and instant relief. Rode this without a care in the world until Highway 8, where we had a cycle track alongside the road for the 2.5kms into Pleasant Point. And a very pleasant little community it was too. Sat eating a real fruit ice cream in the shade before pushing on toward Cave, our resting place for the night. 

Cycling into Pleasant Point....and that's where the pleasantness ended.

And then it began. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the wind hit us head on. We've had crosswinds, but this was our first headwind on this trip and it was strong. At one point we pulled over under a shady tree for a break and a guy came over and chatted to us. He was helping a mate with his property and came to see if we were okay. Had a long talk with him and it just reinforced what great people these mainlanders are.                

By the time we got to Cave, we were hot, flustered, exhausted and in need of food and drink. The local general store provided both, all we needed now was a swim. Across the road was the local swimming hole, but with the bad weather last week, it was dirty and full of trees. So we went in the shallows, which was cleaner, but only just covered our prone bodies, however, it did feel so good. Back to Cave and the local pub. Inside we struck up conversation with three locals and Sue the landlady. They were a great laugh and once again reinforced our opinion of these good Kiwi farming folk. As there isn't a campground here, they suggested we throw up the tent across the road on a decent sized patch of grass. No ones going to worry if you do that we were told. 

Ordered fish and chips and sat doing the blog, until Ju went up to ask the barman, Kevin, about some roads we had planned for tomorrow and what they were like. She struck up a conversation with him and a guy waiting for his fish and chip order who told us planned roads were gravel and not graded too well. Then fish and chip guy said if you want a quieter place to pitch your tent you can pitch at my place if you like. There's a nice patch by the church. 

That sounded pretty good to us as the village green was right by the highway and there might not be many trucks going past, but you'd hear every one. 

So when Paul got his fish and chips, we followed him round to his place, which was this beautiful village church.  He'd purchased it three years ago and for two people who love watching Grand Designs, it was like walking into our own episode.

He very kindly showed us through his lovely home which is still basic, but has everything you need to live comfortably.  He has spent a lot of time in the garden, planting fruit trees and vegetable gardens and making awesome pallet furniture. He's got an outdoor bath and outdoor composting toilet which is very clean and smells nice. His whole set up is a remarkable example of how to take responsibility for your own existence, including your waste, and recycling it and reusing everything. His garden is absolutely thriving and it must bring joy to him every time he comes home to this lovely space. He asked if we would be interested in going to see St David's Church and an old heritage school, built of the same stone as his church.

Into his car for a short journey. Both buildings were amazing, but the stone work on St. David's was something else. By 10pm we were tucked up in the tent in Paul's church grounds. So fortunate to have shared his efforts and to see his work in progress.