The Sun Has Got His Hat On

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I understand that it is a bit nippy in blighty at the moment so please excuse the smugness - the forecast today was clear skies and high 20's......it didn't disappoint!  

Wherever I Lay My Hat...

.....or, indeed, pamphlet.  When we got to our hostel room there were 6 pristine beds and we each selected a bottom bunk, though Neil had to remove a couple of pamphlets from his.  We laid out our stuff then went off for dinner and when we returned Neil's stuff had all been moved and replaced with somebody else's.  We swopped it all back and went to bed, shortly to be confronted by a very cross lady ( let's say she was German since they are currently bearing the brunt of my xenophobia) who insisted that placing a leaflet on a bed reserved it.  We patiently explained that she was wrong...   OK, we told her to sod off.  A frosty night ensued.

Reach For The Stars

Our mission for the day was to cross the Crown Range on the highest paved road in NZ, requiring a 25 miles climb over the equivalent of Snowden.  Piece of cake.  From the top there is a screaming descent, though with enough hairpins to ensure no records were broken (but 48.3 wasn't bad!).

Hangin Around

Our climb took us through Cardrona, site of the bra fence.  This has become virtually a protected monument and has now been moved onto private land to thwart some local prude who thinks it vulgar and nicks the bras.

We will Mend It

We were into Queenstown nice and early which was fortunate since, on the climb, we both realised that our bottom brackets (the big bearing supporting the pedal cranks) were knackered.  This is an easy fix if you have the part and a special tool but we had neither so we found a bike shop, bought the parts and borrowed the tool and 30 minutes later were good to go ('sweet as' as they say locally).

We are staying in a cabin in Frankton and have just purchased, cooked and eaten steaks the size of our heads.  We are now laying flat on our backs trying to digest while beef juice drips out of our ears.

In case the photies are not up to scratch it was a STUNNING day!

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