7th January 2022 (sunny and warm) 35 km

 Up at 7am, over for a shave and shower, before sorting gear, eating our Weetbix and hitting the road at a leisurely time of 9.45am.

It's been a nice camp to stay in and whilst I understand how the owners love this place, it would drive me crazy being so far away from anything except mountains, rivers and even other people. But that's life, so many different people trying to find what makes them happy.                   

Over the past couple of days in camp, we've had a family, mum, dad, boy and girl, plus two grandparents, who were definitely a little different. All of us were wondering if they weren't ex Gloriavale inmates. 

Decided to take the main road this morning rather than doubling back on the cycle track.  The main road we were on did have some traffic flow, but all the drivers, in the hour we were cycling, were courteous. After 17km we stopped at the Five Rivers Cafe for a break. 

The woman who took our order at 10.45am had either had a bad start to the day, or that was just her usual demeanor..... miserable.  Luckily she wasnt making the coffee.

After an hour, we headed off again for the small community of Athol. We wanted to have as light a day as possible for Brody's knee so it wouldn't flare up again.  Luckily we got everything we wanted in that regard and it was the perfect day of mostly flat riding with no wind.

The weather was perfect today under sunny skies and the scenery was lovely. We were on a perfect off road surface and just enjoying being out on such a nice day. 

About 1.30pm we decided to eat the sandwiches we'd  bought at the cafe. Stopped on a little bridge, in the shade as there weren't many shady options about and just talked about what we were seeing. 

Time for a dip in the crystal clear river.

Pete's fans start to gather when he starts singing, "you can't stop the moosic"

Rode toward Athol and with only 1km to go, crossed a really nice bridge with a river, deep enough for a swim, so in we go. The temperature of the water was great and once we'd finished, Julia and Brody sunbathed on the warm river rocks, while I took some photos of the bridge and river, then wandered along the cycle trail and found two old ramshackled farm buildings to shoot. 

When Brody and Julia had finished, we all rode into Athol and found the camp, a beautiful place, run by a lady who used to live in Stratford. Charged us $10 each for the night.                           

After pitching the tents in a beautiful spot, I spied a large bird under one of the trees. Turns out to be a hawk, which looks to be sitting on a nest. Brody used his lens to get as close as he could without scaring the bird, but eventually it flew off. Sorry, tried to get his photo on the blog but having technical difficulties with that one.

We didn't go to check if it was on a nest, but thought it would be strange for a hawk to have a nest on the ground, but then again, it was strange seeing a hawk sitting on the ground.                                                   

Wandered about a km into Athol to"The Brown Trout" cafe where we enjoyed pre dinner drinks and then delicious meals. Julia had corn fritters and salad while we both had the Athol burger and what a burger it was. The staff were excellent, the food was good and we all finished off with an ice cream.       

                                                  

We are waiting for the sunset tonight as we want to try and capture those old buildings with the mountains behind. We'll see how that pans out, but either way, we've enjoyed ourselves in this gem of a place.