Tour Aotearoa Day 2 Murchison to Reefton

Left the lazy cow around 7:30 after having a nice chat with a doctor from Tasmania. Felt much better this morning, starting the day off with coffee. The road started off paved and we had it virtually to ourselves. After a while it turned to gravel and we saw only two logging trucks, and a car towing a cattle feed tray.

We entered a dense forest reserve on our way up the Maruia saddle. It was a good climb on a packed sandy road in a dense forest that offered a protected canopy, wall ferns and several small water crossings. We made it to the top and stopped for a snack, an older couple drove up from the other side, and we had a good chat. They were overlanders and said they once took a trip from England to Nepal. They were hard to hear in their diesel and I think they may have had trouble hearing. They sped off almost mid sentence and it ended very abruptly.

After a wonderful descent we then came across a long wet muddy road with livestock crossing signs. Ick. We stopped at the next possible place to rinse our bikes off and have a coffee.

Soon after leaving we were joined by Robin from Hamburg Germany. He just finished riding over 1000k across Patagonia. We had great conversations about both our travels and ended up riding together for several hours. After a few snack breaks, a nice climb followed by a long descent into Reefton we stopped for a quick sit down meal. Robin decided to carry on to a camp ground with a shower. Ashley and I decided to stop and call it a day early, we are touring after all.