Dansey's Pass

There was blue sky when we woke up in Alexandra.  Unfortunately that soon disappeared and the cold rain began.  It wasn't much fun cycling the gravelly Rail Trail in the rain.  We stopped after 30km to warm up in Omakau.  I had met a guy on the plane who has a property in Omakau. After a coffee, then a pot of tea, we left the warm cafe and found the guy, Tony, at his house down the road.  He invited us in to meet his brother, sister and mum - which soon turned into an invite to crash there the night; which we gratefully accepted!  We had a very pleasant afternoon sitting chatting in the lounge with the fire belting out heat.  When the weather cleared a little in the afternoon we could see fresh snow on the Old Man Range!  Dinner was Blue Cod and Chips.

The next day was hard to leave as it kept raining on and off and it was cold outside and very cosy inside.  Finally; at 1:30pm we left, between showers of rain.  The ride through Poolburn Gorge was lovely as usual; through the tunnels and over the bridges.  We arrived in Naseby after 6pm, hoping for a cabin in the campground but they were fully booked.  Compulsory tenting.  I wore 3 layers of thermals and slept OK!

The next day was magic.  One of the trip highlights.  The sky cleared.  We headed up over Dansey's Pass, stopping at the Dansey's pass Hotel for coffee and cake.  I had a delicious date cookie... then went back for an afghan.  We spent over an hour sitting happily in front of the fireplace.  The manager joked that he didn't believe we would get back on our bikes!  The Dansey's Pass ride was fantastic.  It was a gravel road but nicely packed and very little traffic.  The twists and turns made it even more interesting.  It certainly wasn't as hard as we thought it would be (the tail wind helped).  We stopped at a newly opened Lavendar Farm and Shop; the grandchildren of the shop owner asked us if we were racing each other on our bikes...

We stayed at the Dansey's Pass Holiday Park, which was by a river.  You could hear the sheep calling out from the hill on the other side.  

today was a long day - 94km from Dansey's Pass Holiday Park to Omarama.  It was all uphill and into a mild headwind.  It was so good to arrive.  Erin picked some wild apples and pears along the way; plus we bought 1kg of plums and 1kg of apricots and 500g of cherries, so we had crumble and custard for dinner!  We had stopped for a wine tasting earlier in the day and bought a Reisling, so that got demolished too.  A japanese guy at the campground couldn't believe we were having crumble for dinner.  We gave him some too.