Party time!

New Zealand is a truly stunning country , both the North Island and the South Island have beautiful and breathtaking places to see and visit.  I will attach a photo of the Rakaia Gorge I cycled  through today , from the photo taken before I descended you can see the enormous rift the river had carved out. Quite a hard pull back up the other  side though!  I have seen so much on this trip on my bike , areas I have travelled through before in a car and this time have seen through fresh eyes.
The beauty of the natural world in NZ is matched and exceeded many  times by the real down to earth people that the Kiwis are. They are so friendly . I have experienced so many examples in my travels of how really nice they are to strangers. One guy stopped his ute ( pick up truck ) while I was sitting by the roadside quietly having lunch and asked if  I was ok and would I like a lift with the bike to the next town. He seemed quite bemused when I explained I was biking down the country. Also the 2 people who gave me lifts when I was hitching a ride with my bike wheel after getting it fixed in Blenheim. One actually turned around and came back specially to pick me up.

But last night exceeded all these.  I was on the camp ground at Glentunnell, it was fairly quiet. As its just over an hours drive in a car there are a few people who spend as much time as  they can there in there caravans and campers to escape the constant after shocks which keep happening. Anyway I got talking to a lady by the kitchen , we had a good old chat , she asked me about my bike trip etc.  It turned out it was her birthday and she was being taken out for tea ( dinner ) to the local Speights Ale house in the next village, about 4 km away. I mentioned that the camp ground owner had recommended it to me if I didn't fancy cooking and I would probably bike down later. She immediately insisted that they would give me a lift. In fact she said why didn't I join them at there table as  two more friends were joining them.
So that's how I ended up at a birthday party. Judy and her husband David picked.me up at 5.30, they don't eat late in NZ, and we met up with Owen and Brent at the pub. We had a great evening   had good food and talked about all sorts. Owen was driving a new CR-V and when I told him I ran a Honda dealership in England, we were firm friends. It was the tenth CR-V he had owned! His friend Brett was  into classic cars and had a Jaguar XJ6 LWB back at the camp. He was interested in pictures of my Stag .  We ended up back in Owens palatial camper having more drinks and birthday cake and ice cream.
Quite an evening , I wonder if that would have happened in England? They insisted on giving me there addresses in Christchurch and said to call in next time I'm going that way.
I came for the cycling but have appreciated so much more in this trip so far , and a few more days to go.
Todays cycling went well a good day   warm and sunny no wind.
Heading for Geraldine at last tomorrow then really on the last leg to Queenstown, albeit quite a long leg!
Cheers for now.