22nd Jan 2011 - Slope Point - Southernmost Point of NZ Mainland
A day, of about 28 miles on the bikes, doing three important things:1. an exploration of the rim of Guy's back wheel to see how bad the breakage is and whether it could last a hundred more miles or so when we'll be, possibly, near a bike shop. The result is that it may last for a while but it won't be fast cycling. We are still pondering whether to try for Invercargill by return bus or push on towards Balclutha and, eventually, Dunedin. 2. a visit to the most southerly point of NZ - Slope Point. No cafe here, lower profile than Stirling Point at Bluff, but another 7 kms further south. And more of a genuine 'end of land' feel. This is a ride from Curio Bay that is almost entirely on gravel. The end is somewhat exposed and the grass is scorched by salt winds. Turbulent seas crash at the bottom of low cliffs. 3. an attempt to see some of the local wildlife - success being a distant view (well 100m away) of a yellow eyed penguin (Is Tux the linux penguin yellow eyed? We love Tux! and this is being composed on a Meego Linux System - Nokia N900 phone) returning rather late (8pm) from the office, sorry I mean sea, to his/her chicks bearing fish soup. We had earlier in the day visited this beach to see 170,000,000 year old fossilised trees remains (Jurassic I believe). In doing all this we did about 44 kms (about 28 miles) on our bikes and a few kms on foot. Most of the bike mileage was on gravel. The yellow eyed penuin is a local celeb - and about 50 people, mostly with cameras, watched from a sensible distance the little darlin' penguins waddling very slowly, preening as they went, up the beach. We know there is a bluegrass music festival up the road and we may, while deciding what to do about Guy's back wheel, pop over to see what a bluegrass festival is like, picking up Blue Cod and Chips for lunch perhaps as we go. Of course we're still pitched at Curio Bay Campsite.
A day, of about 28 miles on the bikes, doing three important things:1. an exploration of the rim of Guy's back wheel to see how bad the breakage is and whether it could last a hundred more miles or so when we'll be, possibly, near a bike shop. The result is that it may last for a while but it won't be fast cycling. We are still pondering whether to try for Invercargill by return bus or push on towards Balclutha and, eventually, Dunedin. 2. a visit to the most southerly point of NZ - Slope Point. No cafe here, lower profile than Stirling Point at Bluff, but another 7 kms further south. And more of a genuine 'end of land' feel. This is a ride from Curio Bay that is almost entirely on gravel. The end is somewhat exposed and the grass is scorched by salt winds. Turbulent seas crash at the bottom of low cliffs. 3. an attempt to see some of the local wildlife - success being a distant view (well 100m away) of a yellow eyed penguin (Is Tux the linux penguin yellow eyed? We love Tux! and this is being composed on a Meego Linux System - Nokia N900 phone) returning rather late (8pm) from the office, sorry I mean sea, to his/her chicks bearing fish soup. We had earlier in the day visited this beach to see 170,000,000 year old fossilised trees remains (Jurassic I believe). In doing all this we did about 44 kms (about 28 miles) on our bikes and a few kms on foot. Most of the bike mileage was on gravel. The yellow eyed penuin is a local celeb - and about 50 people, mostly with cameras, watched from a sensible distance the little darlin' penguins waddling very slowly, preening as they went, up the beach. We know there is a bluegrass music festival up the road and we may, while deciding what to do about Guy's back wheel, pop over to see what a bluegrass festival is like, picking up Blue Cod and Chips for lunch perhaps as we go. Of course we're still pitched at Curio Bay Campsite.