Day 26 - West Coast Escape 6 - Hokitika to Christchurch

[arcadiagt5]

No we didn't ride all that way. Especially not Arthur's Pass.

We started with a cafe breakfast and a bit of shopping since Hokitika is where the best greenstone and paua shells can be found.

From there we drove up past Greymouth to a back road that would lead us past Lake Brunner and then on to the main highway leading to Arthur's Pass at a place called Jackson. Some nice scenery along this road but it was quite hilly, mostly up.

The weather today wasn't the best and I was tiring fast so I called it after two hours riding just before the rain came down. Kara and Ingelise rode all the way through to Jackson's Pub which I think brought up 1000KM for Ingelise so yay for that!

We got changed into non-cycling gear at the pub and also had a pleasant lunch there. From there we drove to the Arthur's Pass village (about 200m in altitude below the summit of the pass on the Christchurch side). I am so glad we didn't ride that though. There were a couple of unsupported cycle tourers we passed on the way up and they weren't having much fun. At least one had dismounted and was walking her bike up the pass...

From there we caught the TranzAlpine train down to Christchurch passing much pleasant scenery, occasionally chatting, but mostly (for my part) quietly vegetating.

Rosco met us in Christchurh and dropped us off at our hotels.

And here are the final stats for the tour

Day	Max	Average	Distance	Time	BJ Rank	Against
26	51.4	17.3	34.65	2:00:02	634	5028
		Totals	1248.26	68:15:04

I probably won't do much tomorrow and will pack the trike on Monday. Tuesday I fly to Perth