Invercargill to Ashburton, Thursday 10 February




Bikes on the Atomic Shuttles Bus to Ashburton (Picture taken through rear window)




For today we were taking the bikes on Atomic Shuttle buses. We were also saying goodbye to Peter who was going to Christchurch to fly back. To deal with the 2 bikes per bus problem Peter took a bus from Invercargill to Queenstown, changed there and caught another bus to Christchurch. Martin and I got a bus to Dunedin and changed there for another bus to Ashburton about 50 miles south of Christchurch from where we will continue touring.

The morning dawned with continuous heavy rain as the weather broke. We donned waterproofs for the first time in 5 weeks of touring to ride the 1/4 mile to the Information Centre a few blocks from the Motel from which the buses left.

When we arrived the Information Centre was just opening and about 3 of the ladies were gathered round the corner searching for a Spider. As soon as we came in Martin shouts out "there it is" which brings forth a few screams and a lot of hilarity from the rest of the Staff.

The various bus trips went well and we arrived at Ashburton on time at 7.00 pm. The bus driver asked where we were headed now, a backpackers? (this is similar to a UK Youth Hostel) I said no, a Best Western. We stayed at the Best Western in Ashburton which is considerably cheaper than a UK Best Western. Cost was 100 NZ$ (about 40 pounds for the 2 of us in a 2 room suite)

Miles for the day were 3.1.