Day 32

Greymouth to Hokitika 38km

After seven straight days of fairly difficult cycling I thought I might take a rest day. Greymouth didn't have much of interest however so about 1:00pm I made my way down the coast to Hokitika. The road through the coastal plain was very flat, a bit like Christchurch and I made the 38km in just over 2 hours. It's the shortest and easiest distance I've made while here in NZ, so kind of like a rest day.

After a shower and a long walk on the lovely beach I went into town to see the Clint Eastwood film Invicitus. The film touches on something of a sore point for the Kiwis. The national rugby team tends to completely dominate in international competition only to lose the world cup. Apparently something the All Blacks have been doing with some regularity is now immortalized in Clint's new film.

The local paper had a review of the film of sorts. It didn't actually have much to say about the film instead discussing at length an important detail not actually in the film. Apparently the beloved All Blacks came down with food poisoning the day before the big game. Obviously on purpose as far as the film reviewer was concerned. I thought it was a pretty good movie though I wasn't able to gauge the reaction of the four other people in the theatre.