Day 33

Hokitika to Harihari 75km

After a few km of farm land past Hokitika the road re-entered the rain forest. It is a real treat cycling through the native bush of the west coast, particularly after the ubiquitous forest plantations of the north island.

75km was a rather longish distance for me on another unseasonably hot and sunny day here on the coast. But often the enormous trees would close in a provide welcome shade. I've grown quite fond of listening to the sounds of the forest while pedaling along. All the various forest creatures stop singing when a car or worse a truck zooms past, but that fortunately doesn't happen too often. Since arriving on the south island the number of automobiles has decreased quite nicely. The number of touring cyclists has increased quite a substantially over the north island as well. This is definitely the better place for riding a 'pushbike'. I've past several cyclist each day since arriving on the south island. There are three groups including myself at the campsite here in Harihari. I passed two couples on tandems heading north earlier in the day.

After arriving in Harihari I didn't see any Chrisnas but I did find a nice pub and spent the early part of the evening trying to figure out the rather inscrutable game of cricket. I think NZ was winning their match against Bangladesh, but I'm not completely certain. There were a few locals cheering at various points in the game that help suggest that the NZ team had made a particularly good play.