12th January 2022 (cloudy and cool) 45 km

After a good night's sleep, which I have to say, we've been enjoying on a regular basis, we were up at about 7.45am and straight into packing up the tents. 

Have thoroughly enjoyed the whole camp life aspect once again and living out of a tent. I know it doesn't appeal to a lot of people, but we love it. 

The sleeping mats we bought for this trip have been great. We've always been a bit nervous about buying a blow up mat as they seem so flimsy compared to self inflating mats.  But we bit the bullet and purchased two klymit v static mats for this trip, mainly because they were half the size of our old mats.  They have been awesome,  and so have the two inflatable pillows we bought.  We have been getting good sleeps from day one - when we haven't had noisy Russians on the blower to their comrades.

                                                        Quietly rolled out of camp and headed for Beaumont on a very nice trail.  Smooth surface, nice bends and easy riding with a few stops for photographs.          

A bleak but oddly scenic spot where two men lay buried. One had found a dead man by the river and buried him with the headstone,  "Here lies somebody's darling." When the man died himself, he was buried next to somebody's darling as he had no family himself. 

People are very friendly round here. First we were offered a lift......

Then accommodation for the night, but we turned down both offers.  

We made good time, probably because we hadn't had breakfast and were planning a feed at the next place along the Clutha Gold Trail.

At 10.30am we rolled into the only building in Beaumont, the pub. Unfortunately they didn't open until 11am, but the landlady opened ten minutes early as she saw us sitting outside. Once inside we heard her story of battles with the council over various issues which she is thoroughly disillusioned with.  We agreed with everything she said, after all, she was cooking our breakfast and making our coffee....we're not stupid. 

She had lived twenty one years in Iceland and was a hard case. But she was tired of all the council bs and doesn't plan to stick around running the pub much longer.  However,  if she wants to sell it, I can't see people queuing up to take it over.  It's in the middle of nowhere and we have seen a lot of hospitality places and campgrounds for sale on this trip.  

By 11.30am we had finished breakfast, and were nicely full before taking on the final 20kms to Lawrence. 

Apart from a couple of short climbs, a bit of drizzle and a 400 metre tunnel, finishing with some downhill, then flat riding, it was pretty much uneventful.   

Shame it was too cold for a swim.

After arriving in Lawrence, we chose "26 on Ross" as our local town cafe.  It was a shame we'd only just had a very big breakfast as everything at this place looked delicious. 

We congratulated ourselves on choosing this place as there were at least four other cafes on the 200 metre long main street with another four no longer operating. 

The world is a very small place, confirmed by a guy and his wife, from Dunedin ( Ian and Roz), who know Kevin and Glenis Mcdonald and John and Di Wilmshurst. Ian Craven has done a lot of riding and twice ridden the North Island from coast to coast. Had a great chat with them, and they gave us tips on the best way to get to Dunedin Airport.                          

We had only just stepped out of the coffee shop, when we were met with a howling head wind on our way to the campground and the temperature suddenly took a dive. We couldn't believe the instant change in the weather. 

Decided to take a cabin tonight as we really only have two choices of riding tomorrow. Either a big climb and then a boring slog across uninspiring farmland, or hit the main road early and try to rattle off as many kms as possible on the main road, before it got too busy.

We were also hopeful that wind would die down tonight and wouldn't get up until later in the day tomorrow. Currently at time of writing, it is blowing a gale and is expected to drop to seven degrees overnight.                                                      

So... it is now 8pm.We have all showered and been into town to the local pub for dinner. Nice enough food and good friendly service. The wind is still blowing and the rain is coming and going. Fantastic summer down here..?   

We bought some fruit and meusli bars to have when we wake up at 5am, before hammering it out on the tarseal for a couple of hours. Just got to hope for little to no traffic, and if possible no headwind. Don't mind a shower, but would prefer not......