Monday 7th Dec
Darryl and Jen had to go to work early today. So I had a nice lazy day got up late the sun was shinning but there was that cold southerly wind again. Took a walk in to town and wandered around the shops, bought some snacks from the supermarket and a pie from a bakery and sat on the beach and stuffed my face, as far as the eye could see the beach was strewn with drift wood, Darryl told me later how people often sit on the beach at night and get a good fire going. Later I ended up in a bar washing down my food with a nice cold beer, I have quite got to like the Speights old dark not a patch on a pint of Doombar or 6X. I had another good evening with good food and good company. After dinner I took a look at  the tyres on the bike and they are in need of replacing soon especially the rear. So tomorrow I will head over towards Oamaru and take a visit to a tyre place Darryl recommends.

Tuesday 8th Dec
It was a warm start to the ride east but once I started heading across the mountains to the Arthur's pass it turned cold I stopped at Jacksons Bar and Grill
for a warm up, the place had not long opened and was empty and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was playing on their sound system. I was just going to have a hot drink but decided to treat myself to a full on Sausage Bacon and egg Breakfast and a pot of tea, It was a very large breakfast. I got chatting to the staff and the landlady who said if I come back this way and need a place to stay drop by as she had a spare room and would be happy to put me up for the night as long as I bought a meal in the bar. It started to get warmer as I reached the viaduct  so once over it I stopped at death corner overlook took a couple of pics then turned around and road back across to the start of the mountain pass just to do it again. it seems so much shorter than it did a few weeks back being chased by heavy rain.[PHOTO_ID_L=the-viaduct-arthurs-pass.jpg] [PHOTO_ID_L=1-the-viaduct-arthurs-pass.jpg] Once over the Arthurs pass it warmed up and I had to stop and peel off a layer as I was getting to hot. I went for a ride down a couple of dead end trails just to see what was there but didn't find anything exciting. I stopped off at Springfield for a cuppa and I arrived at Darfield only to find that the motorcycle tyre place that Darryl had recommended to me had moved it was only 10 miles away but by the time I got there it was closed. So I set off for Oamaru as there are motorcycle dealers there as well as some of my new friends. By the time I had reached Timaru I was beginning to do the nodding dog impression so with no one on the back to wake me up I decided to find a bed for the night.

Wednesday 9th Dec
Sun was up and so was I, early start set off for Oamaru at 8 so I could get the tyres ordered and booked in. Got there within the hour and have the bike booked in for Friday morning. Could not decide where to go as I had to be back here for the tyres on Friday so I just went wandering along the East coast until I saw a sign for Moeraki boulders and stopped to take a look, not very impressive just a few boulders on the beach. After a large pot of tea, a catchup with friends via the free wifi I set off again. The next sign I decided to turn at was for Trotters Gorge. I thought with a name like that got to be worth a look I had a good walk for about an hour but sadly when I went to take some pics I found that the bottom of my camera had fallen off and the memory card was missing. When I got back to the bike the bits of the camera were sitting beside the bike I have managed to fix it back together but the hinge pin is bent and does not fit very well and it may well happen again. From there I kept on inland just taking random turns and ended up on the Palmerston to Ranfurley road, I seem to remember someone saying that this is a good road so I stayed on it all the way to Ranfurley and had a very enjoyable ride. I rode through to Naseby thinking about heading back along the Dansey pass again but after a pint and some fish and chips at the Ancient Briton pub. A pub that made me feel quite young as its occupants were definitely ancient. I decided to set off the other way towards Alexandra and maybe on a bit further as it was only 57miles from Naseby but I kept taking random turns down dirt roads until I did not really have a clue where I was, after about an hour of dirt roads I turned on the SatNav and I was now 50miles from Alexandra so I had managed to get 7 miles closer to it in an hour lol. Once at Alexandra I decided to call it a day and found somewhere to stay bought some food from the supermarket and chilled out for the rest of the evening.