Thursday, January 12, Dunedin to Oamaru

Thursday, January 12

Dunedin to Oamaru

We woke up to very wet streets and overcast. Our plan was to ride the bus out of town over a major climb and start riding about 11 miles out of town. The roads were still wet but it was not raining. We followed along the coast with some significant rollers for about 14 miles. Rather then continuing on a very busy road and some step climbs we loaded back on the bus. We made a stop to see some very interesting geological formations down on the beach. These very spherical bolders have been formed by the wave action and are just lying on the beach. Lunch was at another great restaurant in Moeraki called Fleurs a very famous restaurant here in NZ in a small fishing village. The chowder was unbelievable. Overall the food has been great and as usual we are eating too much. A short ride on the bus after lunch and we were back on our bike. We got lost looking for the hotel so we ended the day with 32.7 miles. Not a lot of miles, but the rollers were pretty step. We have been using our last gear quite often.

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in the old wharehouse area of Oamaru. As always the food was delicious. After dinner Cindy went back to the room and I went to see the Blue Penguins. Every night the Blue Penguins come out or the ocean in a breakwater area of Oamaru and you can watch them as they walk (waddle) to there colony nests. We got to see about 130 penguins.

A storm is coming into the area tomorrow so we will not be bicycling. Our very resourceful guides are putting together some sightseeing activities and to Cindy's delight will include an opportunity for some shopping in Oamaru.

I have not been able to upload pictures to the Blog so here is a link to our Picasa webalbum if you would like to look at pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/denspillane/NewZealand?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPehhams9fSM_QE&feat=directlink