Day 20, final day at Leithfield Beach camp.

In two days I would be in the Molesworth. But rather than struggle through 200km of gravel which my bike is not good for, I decided to end the trip here and come back another time with wider fat tires.

My bike has narrow tires which dig deeply into the gravel, and slip and oversteer badly. It's exhausting concentrating so much.

Plus I am heavily loaded so the bike doesn't float over the gravel, it sinks in.

I have a bus ticket and have disassembled the bike, and will stay in Blenheim for a few days before cycling to Picton and on to Wellington on the ferry.

It feels good to have made the decision, and I don't regret not doing the last 270km this time.

Day 19, Waimakariri River to Leithfield Beach north of Christchurch. 79km

Hot day! Really hot. 36.1° was the high for the day. No wind, just an oven of dry brown grass and endless scorching fields of hot cows and sheep looking for shade.

I drank about 8 litres of water and did not pee much. I probably should have drank even more. Towards the afternoon I started adding electrolytes to the water, and it really had an effect. My body immediately let me know it wanted more of the salty sugary electrolyte goodness.

Fortunately I did not have any trouble finding water refills. Unlike somewhere like the Mackenzie Country there were small towns or churches with a tap quite frequently here in Canterbury.

I stopped for lunch in Oxford, home of Who Ate All The Pies. Stupendously good pies, even in 36° heat. I ate two pies.

Onwards on the back road to Ashley Gorge, where from the bridge I could see hundreds of people swimming in the river. I guess it was Waitangi weekend and the hottest day of the year, and this was a most lovely little river for swimming and sitting in the shade.

Onwards ever onwards, through the baking brown land.

It is very dry land. The previous night at the Waimakariri I had seem a huge fire in the distance, as I woke in the night to pee.

Apparently more than 70 firefighters and 7 helicopters were battling a blaze.

It looked like this from my pee spot, but this is not my photo.

Towards the end of the day I struck some bad gravel roads for an hour. Deep gravel from roadworks maybe? My heavily loaded bike with narrow tires did not like the gravel, and slid side to side, sometimes digging in and throwing the steering off. It was not fun having to concentrate so much, and I vowed to avoid gravel in future until I got fat wide tires.

Finally I pulled in to Leithfield Beach holiday park which was packed with Waitangi weekend holidaymakers. 

Not a very nice camp. There were few trees and no shade until about 3pm but there was a cool beach with crashing waves. I wasn't brave enough to swim but I paddled up to my ankles in the cool water, before collapsing into a sweaty sleep. Overnight I didn't even use a sheet, just bare on the camping mat. It didn't cool down much at all.

Day 18, Staveley to Waimakariri River, 78km

It was cold overnight; on the hills overlooking the camp it was snowing, and in my sleeping bag I was wearing 2 jerseys, a down jacket, a woollen hat, and fleece pants. I was warm enough with all that and slept well.

The morning was bright, warm, and breezy, so I laid out all my wet things soaked by yesterday's rain and let them dry.

I departed at 11am with most things dry and headed towards the Rakaia gorge. 

The wind started off as a gentle breeze, and over an hour increased to a full gale. Wind more than 65kph! In my face, and sometimes to the side, blowing me into the road. 

I was down to 6kph and working hard pedaling into the wind.

Fortunately I didn't have far to go before I changed direction and descended to the Rakaia Gorge.

Dust and sand was billowing up from the river, so much dust that the river itself was hidden sometimes.

The descent should have been fun but was not because of the gale wind blowing from the side. Whenever the shape of the land funneled the wind I was pushed violently to the side, it was scary.

I took a well-deserved break behind a windbreak at the Rakaia bridge campground and watched a rescue helicopter land in high winds on the riverbed to take someone to hospital. 

Then refuelled with food and coffee I continued on.

The wind was my friend now; on a long 17 km straight the wind pushed me to 56 kilometres an hour without me pedaling at all. I think this is the strongest wind I have ever cycled with, and fortunately it was behind me. Those 17 kilometres I just coasted, never slowing below 25kph, and often exceeding 50kph. No pedaling! Just amazing.

But then I turned onto a differently angled road and the wind was from the side again for the last hour to the Waimakariri River. No good.

Wild plums gave me a boost of sugar in the last stretch, before I slept in my hammock in a pine plantation.

So tired. Happy to lie down.

Day 17, Geraldine to Taylor's Creek campsite near Staveley, 85km

It was beautiful riding today, on my favourite surface: hard tar-sealed roads through flat country, with no headwinds. On backroads, so there was no traffic.

However it did absolutely pour down, complete with thunder and lightning constantly for about 20 minutes.

Fortunately during the thunderstorm I was able to shelter at a cafe in Mayfield ("I reckon it's the Mayfield grain") and drink coffee and eat a pie while observing the torrential rain outside.

That Mayfield guy, from the ad on TV. Today I learned where Mayfield is, as i went though it.

I continued on once the storm passed but I did get caught out by another shower which came through about an hour later. I got pretty wet because my raincoat is worthless, but it was not too uncomfortable.

It is snowing on the hills above me. I'm directly below Mount Hutt ski field and I suspect from the fresh snow that has just fallen that I will be wearing ALL my clothes and hat and trousers in my sleeping bag tonight! Brrr.

Added later: I have discovered my tent leaks terribly. Why did I not find this out last trip when it rained on the Rees-Dart? I need to re waterproof the fly.

Day 16, more than halfway. Fairlie to Geraldine, 64 km.

Highlights of the day: 

Vomited in the night because of mild food poisoning. Terrible sweet n sour takeaways. Felt better by morning though.

A shocking hillclimb of 300 vertical meters. I had to walk most of it. Whew, a real workout!

Almost fell off on deep gravel, going downhill (at very slow speed). Gravel is difficult on a heavy bike with skinny tires.

Hanging Rock

Rained on me for the first time. But it was a nice warm rain with no wind so it was ok.

Reached the official halfway point. I'm far more than halfway however because I did a big detour to Dunedin.

Halfway point.

Day 15, second day of rest in Fairlie

Today was my second day of rest in Fairlie. I woke with the sun and set out to hitchhike to Timaru. The campground owner kindly offered to give me a lift there because she had errands to do in the big city.

So kind!

We chatted awkwardly in the car. I have discovered that I do not like hitchhiking anymore because I don't like chit-chatting with people. And the people who pick up hitchhikers usually want some chitchat.

Hmm.

Anyway she very kindly dropped me right outside the bike shop where I purchased the needful things.

Then a water filter from an outdoor shop, and some good healthy food.

Then I did something I've never done before: I took a decentralized bus service. It's really modern: on your phone you put in your location and destination. A computer somewhere links up all the people in Timaru who want bus rides at that time and creates an entirely novel route to satisfy everyone.

I waited 18 minutes for my bus which took me right out to Washdyke and only cost $2.50.

It's really bizarre, there are no more set bus routes in Timaru but this clever computer thing gets everyone to their destinations faster than they would otherwise, without having to walk far, and it costs the council less because there are never empty buses on unused routes.

Amazing! The future, man!

From Washdyke I hitchhiked back to Fairlie, fixed the tyre, and had sweet and sour pork for tea.