Jan 27th

Left at 6.50am and had the road to ourselves for the first couple of hours as its a sunday. Conditions very benign with the wind behind us, cool first thing and gradually becoming warmer. Open country - mainly sheep.  After a couple of hours we stopped and had a coffee and a delicious pecan pie. The lady who served us said ' I had an offer of marriage yesterday - this customer ate my rhubarb pie and said who ever cooked this pie I want to marry!' We had the usual compliment of driving idiots today; the most tricky is when we cycle over a river bridge and the cycle path/ hard-shoulder disappears so there are only 2 lanes and some cars and lorries are reluctant to slow down and wait until it is safe before overtaking. Linda's job is to stick out her right arm and encourage them to slow down - not always successfully! However road flat and we zoomed along and got to Timaru by midday, slightly put out that it is full of hills.
Booked into the Grosvenor Hotel which has a large notice in reception announcing ' where the Prince of Wales was conceived' - in Linda's opinion that in itself would be reason enough to stay somwhere else! The Queen has stayed here twice, obviously on the first occasion some time ago. So from Coronation Park yesterday to our hotel today NZ is still keen on the monarchy, unlike her Ozzie neighbours.
Wandered around Timaru and visited the South Canterbury Museum which is very well laid out and contains the original 'aeroplane' of a local farmer Richard Pearce whose invention preceded that of the Wright brothers but he ran out of money and his contraption could do no more than lift off the ground. We then got lost. We asked directions from a couple of men who turned out to be farmers who very kindly took us back to our hotel in their beaten up and very smelly 4x4. As we got out one of them said 'remember to wipe your shoes as they're probably covered in sheep shit!'