Southern Cross Update #2

Day Five

Day five was just a quick ride down to Wellington to catch the Ferry and then on to Kaikoura for the night. In Wellington we met up with Meanie & Monie and spent the crossing chatting with them and other Southern X'ers. The ride down to Kaikoura was short and sweet and we also managed to catch up with Nev who we used to work with for a while.

Day Six

Day six took us down through the inland route to Cromwell for the night and involved negotiating massive long straights and some more boring riding. The only fly in the ointment was some very windy conditions in the Rakia Gorge and then some rain through the Lindis Pass. A pretty good ride all in all and it was nice to finish early at around 3:30 in the arvo.

Day Seven

The final day of the Southern Cross was truly awesome. We started early leaving Cromwell just after 7am and the ride through to Alexandra and Roxborough was spectacular - the scenery and riding is just fantastic. It was however pretty cool with the temperature display dropping to 4 degrees as we went through Ettrick - heated grips definitely pressed into service. At Edendale we turned off Highway One and took some wet back roads to Bluff bypassing Invercargill completely. When we got into Bluff at about 10am (and 2 hours early) the weather decided to pack it in and we got quite wet standing around. Eventually we headed to the Eagle to collect our badges etc and have a great meal with all the other riders. Job done!

Tomorrow we start the return trip home and are hoping that the weather stays good for us as we intend to see all of the West Coast - fingers crossed!