Back to the bush
Wānaka has treated us well. Maybe a little too well. Fat, lazy and sunburned, I stay in bed until 1 pm. Against better judgement as I’m not mentally prepared to leave this devilish paradise. As I come down, Peter remarks my sleeping habits sarcastically. I don’t care, in my head we’re still staying another night. But Peter shows no mercy. We get on the road, it’s a sunny day with little wind.
After cycling about 15 minutes, having just reached the highway, I get a flat. Good start.
The tube seems to have ripped on the bottom, suggesting a problem with the rim. And really, the rim tape is experiencing material fatigue and is revealing the spokes. With medical tape we create a temporary barrier between them and the tube and pump back up. That seems to have fixed the problem, only now the day is already dawning and we’re still basically in Wānaka.
After a few hills we eat dinner in a parking lot and decide to ride for another hour until 9:30 to a river close to Lindis Pass. We set up camp and decide to NOT set a fire as there is a fire ban in place. I repeat, we set no fire. No illegal fires have been set on this journey. I would not be repeating this so much if we really wouldn’t have set up a fire, would I?
We find peaceful sleep in our tents and look forward to actually get something done tomorrow!
