The First Ride

We finished our time in Wellington with a game of touch rugby followed by a homemade lasagna dinner in the botanical gardens to hear a local concert. After the concert we wandered around to see the light display which highlighted many of the trees and plants. However, a Kiwi led us down a dark path to see the best light exhibit of all: glow worms on the side of a hill. They looked like little glow sticks dotting the slope. Unfortunatly pictures of glow worms don't come out. I'll have to keep that one in my head.

The next day we finally found Mally some panniers and shipped off her massive bag of hiking gear (we were quite a scene in the post office trying to pack her back pack into a garbage bag). After lunch with our host Molly, we made our way to the ferry and headed towards the south island. The boat ride was spectacular - with green hills jutting out of the water all around as we approached Picton. I never did make it inside the boat to sit down.

We anchored in Picton around 6pm, quickly changed into our gear, and set off on our bikes for a 35 km. ride to Havelock. A young Canadian named Mike joined us for the ride. He had just finished touring the north island and is about to explore the south. We followed Queen Charlotte Drive along the coasts of Okiwa Bay and Mahau Sound. It was perhaps the best ride I have ever been on. We climbed bluffs which gave us spectacular views of the coast and were surrounded by slopes of lush vegetation. We also managed to pass a few farms and fields of cows along the way. The weather was warm and the sun gave off a pleasant glow. The cars were also quite sparse. We ended at a hostel/camp site where we set up camp for the first time, ate some couscous, and fell fast asleep. Overall, a great start to riding. Hopefully we will have many more beautiful rides to come!