Saturday October 27, 2012, 34 miles (55 km) – Total so far: 411 miles (661 km)

We had our earliest start yet at 7am because the weather forecast called for rain. It was a quiet Saturday morning ride out of Tapawera on the quiet Motueka Valley Hwy. This lead to State Hwy (SH) 6 for a few miles before we rejoined the Moteuka Hwy to St Arnoud. We heard that this was a much quieter road than SH6 plus we would avoid the Hope Saddle which has a steep elevation climb of 1500 feet. The route we took was much higher at a lower rise though. Plus we were only passed by about a dozen cars today – a very nice road.

We only traveled 34 miles today but topped off at 2400 feet. It was a steady climb for all of the 34 miles and we didn’t arrive in St Arnaud until 1:30pm. 34 miles at 6 hours seems pretty slow but we were exhausted at that. We had reservations at the Alpine Lodge in this ski resort area. It’s nice to be in a comfortable motel room for a change. We were tired of being cold and sleeping on slim mattresses for the past week. If the weather holds we are on to Murchison tomorrow.