Sunshine Ride to the Tasman Sea

Today we shuttled from our hotel to the ride starting point, about an hour. We got to drive past what we couldn't see while biking in the rain yesterday -- green pastures, cows and the Southern Alps in the distance. The 17 mile ride, in comfortably warm sunshine (about 65 degrees), was on lightly trafficked valley roads.

At one point, we rode past a couple of good Samaritans picking up the tire tread left on the road by a passing truck, but what we first noticed was the grouping of cows, all watching the action on the other side of the fence.

The bike ride took us to our lunch spot, where we had a pub-style lunch at Speight's Ale House. (Speight's brewery has a 150-year history in New Zealand.) After lunch, there was a choice of riding back in the shuttle, or biking on another 12 miles. We decided to go back in the van so we could spend more time on the seaside. The little town of Hokitika is an old gold-rush town, which boomed faster than San Francisco and Melbourne combined, according to one of the informative signs along the esplanade. We were delighted to run across a beach full of driftwood sculptures -- many representing Maori symbols. The sea is rough and there have been many shipwrecks over the years. Still, we did venture to put our feet in the water -- cold!

We wrapped up with a delicious dinner at a working farm, enjoying wine and appetizers on the terrace among the pastures and alpacas.Read more