Day 5: Maruia-Reefton
Today and yesterday make up the 9 hour ride to Reefton; 5 yesterday and 4 today. Which makes today an unusually short day.
It's a really nice sunny day! And given how wet it was yesterday I wonder if I should have stayed in Murchison instead, and cycled the 9 hours today.
It's an uneventful and low stress day. The ride started with a brief stretch on the State Highway. The only excitement was in a section with no shoulder, when a 4wd surges past at the speed limit, and I notice a sign on it saying "Pilot vehicle - wide load". I promptly rolled off the road onto the grass verge to get clear. A huge piece of construction equipment, bigger than a single lane, swept past at great speed moments later. (There would have been space for me - but I'm always happier if it doesn't matter.)
After 2km of State Highway the route turn off down a sideroad. It was so quiet I got out the selfie stick and tried to get some pictures in the middle of the road, and didn't even get interrupted. Flat road, no traffic, easy going.
The second half is back on the State Highway. Traffic is fairly light so it's OK. There's mountains on every side, tall trees surrounding the road, it's a great environment. I take one-handed photos whenever possible but they're not going to do it justice.
From left to right: Maruia river. Quiet, flat, fast backroad. Two selfies. More one-handed NZ photos, I’m definitely getting used to scenery like this.
The only thing worth mentioning (putting aside the epic landscape, alien flora, fine weather, and good road surfaces) is that there was a very nice downhill for the last 30km. Not too steep, gradual enough to provide some good speed, no uphills. So I zipped happily along at over 20km/h without having to do much work.
Reefton is pretty small and pretty quiet. After getting cleaned up I idly thought I'd go out and find a cafe. There were two but both closed before 1530, unfortunately. I got some juice from the supermarket and sat on a bench instead. It's really hot, too hot to do anything much.
Tomorrow is a long haul to Greymouth. 8 hours, 103km, 1400m of climbing. First half is mountainous gravel backroads. Hope the weather stays dry.
