Day 9 Ride Day 5 Kerow to Omaru


This is the last ride and honestly, we'll be happy when it's over. Today the weather calls for rain intermittently. It's not raining now, but the clouds are pretty.


We made it to our first 28k with no rain.
 


We went through a botanical garden. We stopped for a coffee at The Flying Pig pastry shop.
 

The path is mostly dirt, crossing some riverbeds that were very, very rocky and difficult to cross. We have passed cattle and farms.
 



We made it to elephant rocks with no rain and 35 km. At about 50k it started sprinkling. We had to go through a long, dark abandoned railway tunnel, the Rakis Tunnel.



The rain got a little heavier at 60k, but it stopped by the time we got to 70k. The supposed end at 77k was a lie. It was actually 84 km when we finally got to the trail's end. Complicated navigating through the town of Omaru to find the ending point. So glad Gary was with us. We got our requisite pictures at the end.



My behind is done, but my legs are fine. My back is a bit sore, too. It's just not the position we're used to riding in. We finished our lunch and waited for the rest of our group to arrive.


Now off to check in to the hotel, wash clothes, and get to pizza (from Paul: And Beer)!
It was a half-mile walk back to the harbor and we were tired. The pizza place was busy. We had to use a qr code to order. We muddled our way through.


We didn't order first, but our food came first. A couple of others got their food. We waited about an hour after we got our food and we're falling asleep. We tried to buy Gary a beer to say thank you for all his help navigating where we were going, but Kathy had already done so, and he didn't want a third. It is poor manners to tip here. So we couldn't do that. We said our goodnights and walked back half a mile to the hotel. We totaled 15k steps.

The hotel has the most unique elevator we've ever seen. Two of the sides of the elevator are open to the walls. I don't know how else to describe it. There's a door that opens outward in different directions on different floors from the two sides that have no walls.

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