1st Feb

What a difference a day makes! We awoke refreshed and had a great day's cycling. The route was quite hilly - at one point cycling along mile after mile in a beautiful valley sorrounded by hills but you know as a cyclist that this cannot last, that there is only one way through these hills and that is over them! As we puffed our way up one monster a young German on a scooter wheezed past, giving us the thumbs-up sign; he waited for us at the top[ that is why we knew he was German!], taking a photo as we approached. He had been in NZ for 6 months doing seasonal work and was now touring on his scooter.
The area we are cycling through is called the Catlins. It was  first settled by European whalers in the mid-19th century. The hillsides are covered in podocarp forests and these fringe the beaches at Tahakopa Bay where we are staying and have tall Kahihatea, Totara, Rimn and Miro trees and right on the beach low trees like Rata, Kamahi, and Five-finger.
We stopped for coffee at Owaka[ in Maori meaning 'the place of the canoes] where there was a sign saying ' please remove sandy boots, dirty boots and smelly socks'. Like most settlements Owaka the principal town in the Catlins with a population of 395 has a museum .We enjoy wandering around these places which usually celebrate the early pioneer days from the mid 19th century. By and large the standards are good and we enjoy our pottering although we drew a line in Milton yesterday which has a Butchery Museum' celebrating 50 years of the butchery trade in the area'.. Then over a one track bridge over the Tahakopa River and onto Papatowai [Maori ' where the forest meets the sea'].We had a short walk from our motel onto  the beach beside the river and then on to the Tahakopa Bay. Glorious weather and very hot weather. We ferreted amongst the rock pools and found a Paua shell plus several pieces of near-fossilised wood; how on earth we  will fit them in the bike and get them home is another matter!
We rely a lot on info given out by the NZ Tourist Boards and their local counterparts but in their enthusiasm they sometimes go a bit too far; for example the leaflet promoting Clutha Country 'Did you know? There are only 2 sets of traffic lights in Clutha Country' Please!