The following day was day ten of the cycling, the start of the Catlins, as easy run at first to a place called Kaka Point on the coast, a tiny little place that had been evacuated the week previously along with a few others when the tsunami warning was in place from Tokyo. We went to check out the surfing but nothing was happening, they roll up the roads in some of these places after the Christmas hols are over. We cycled on to Nugget Point which was good, it had an all important lighthouse and the Nuggets - big lumps of rock out at sea, very picturesque and impressive, also more Fur Seals in the rock pools. The road out was OK, it was gravel and bouncy but we made good time, going back was hellish, a headwind had sprung up that blew dust in our faces and basically blew us backwards at times, no free wheeling here. We slogged it out for another 16km until we arrived at Owaka where we thankfully opted for a night in the YHA, a good plan as it turned out as the heavens opens minutes later and it didn't stop all night. The YHA is in an old hospital and is run by a guy from Manchester called Craig and his dog Jett, he said the place was just abandoned when he bought it, all the stuff in there just as if they'd walked out and not looked back. In fact we were sleeping in hospital beds, but warm and dry so bliss. Gary disappointed no bed baths offered by matron though!
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