69 miles, 3064 feet of climb, 2103 ft max
We slept in a bit because of the late night yesterday - up shortly after 7:00. Sue had to repack all her panniers and handlebar bag so we didn't get off until 9:30.
The road through the upper Buller River gorge is hillier than the lower. We stopped
for venison burgers at the Old River Cafe in Murchison. A couple of the racing teams
were there having lunch. We chatted with an athletic-looking young man on the
winning team. (They won by 11 hours!)
The swinging bridge is a popular tourist trap. We didn't try it but watched others
walk across and take the cable car just barely visible in the photo above the bridge.
There's a lot of tree farming in New Zealand.
I'm not sure if Sue was more interested in the cattle or the other way around.
We rolled into St. Arnaud about 6:30, shortly after the only store in town had closed.
So we quickly showered and changed and hustled down to the Alpine Resort before the
kitchen in the bar closed. We both had a lamb shank on a bed of "mash". Good, but
not a lot of food (for NZ$14.50, about US$10 or so.)