This morning we traveled south heading towards the ocean town of Invercargill … It is exciting to be back on the road for a stretch! We traveled through some incredible countryside called the Catlins, it is pretty much where the forest meets the beach and what a treat it was! We stopped for a cuppa along the way at a quaint road side cafe, and got to chatting with the Robinson's and crew a great group on holiday from the North Island. As it would turn out, we ran into this fun group of Kiwi's for the next couple of days…we would pull up to a store, and they would be walking out of the store….we would be riding down the road, and they would be on the same stretch….uncanny!
We arrived at our Holiday Park Cabin, it was a fairly old cabin and come to find out we were bunked next to another couple of bikers that we had actually passed on the road in. They recognized us and we them! We unloaded the bikes, off'd the heavy riding gear, rolled out our sleeping bags…linens were not included with the cabin, we could have purchased them but decided it would be a good time to test out the bags! Then we decided to go have a drink…after all it was Friday night and maybe a few would help us survive the bags???…ha ha ha! We did not realize that it was Good Friday!!!…Well, we were out of luck, no alcohol was being served at the bars on Good Friday!!! Oh well, we will do a run tomorrow! Ahh the gods are on our side, we took a stroll in the other direction and came across a restaurant that would serve us a beer if we ordered some food. We ordered wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce and tossed a couple back! Note to self…New Zealand will not be not serving alcohol on Sunday either!
Saturday we rode into the town to go and see Invercargill's most famous exhibition…The Worlds Fastest Indian. Bert Munro's Indian was on display at the Hayes Hardware store, and what a hardware store it was! They had all sorts of stuff on display from old hand made engines and antique woodworking tools to classic corvettes and Bel Airs! Bert Munro was quite a character, and in this oceanside town of Invercargill his legend and record lives on. Later we headed out to Bluff, New Zealand's most southern point, the weather and views couldn't have been more spectacular. We stopped at a grocery store along the way to pick up some veggie's to have with hummus that night…and ran into the Robinson's Northern Kiwi Crew, coming out of the store! Onward we traveled to Bluff, the lands end, and wouldn't you know it…there is that darn group of Northern Kiwis again!…we laughed! We exchanged info, it seems that this would be the only way not to run into them…ha ha ha…hopefully we will catch up with them for a bbq when we reach the North Island!
Before we headed out of town we headed down to Ocean Beach where you can ride and drive straight onto the beach! We had to try it out, even though we were fully loaded for the days trip ahead. We managed to stay upright in areas of soft sand…it was a blast, although it did make my heart skip a beat!
