More Dramatic at Every Turn

We've been riding down the West Coast of the South Island for a couple of days, sometimes winding through twisties in the mountains and lush rain forests, other times popping out onto dramatic coastline of the Tasman Sea. My speeds through the turns are getting faster and smoother by the day, and I'm not as scared of the technical bits as I was when I got here.

On the way to the place in the above picture, we were all rolling happily along down a beautiful country road, when everyone came to a dead stop. Hundreds of white sheep filled the way in front of us, and a skilled dog worked hard at getting a stray out of a culvert into which it had strayed. Thousands more sheep crowded the meadows on either side. Unfortunately, no one had a camera handy, and it wasn't really safe to stop.

Last night found us in Punakaiki, at a modern resort set amongst the Pancake Rocks. One can walk miles along the Maine-like beach at low tide, and even find millions of mussel beds. The rock formations are easy to climb, and the surf loud and constant. We had our windows wide open all night (no screens, no bugs, no crime) and I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to the sound of howling wind and sheet-pouring rain. There was no way I could stop thinking about what it would be like to ride in those conditions. Fortunately by 4:30, the wind machine turned off and the rain tapered to a drizzle, but much of the day today was in fog. Far from being unpleasant, it only made the rain forest more lush and the coast more dramatic.

Do we really have to return to the land of ice and snow?