From Lake Rotoiti and after some days of mainly climbing we were glad to face a day with more downhill than uphill parts (almost 1400m down and 700m up). Still some meters up, but right now we feel more trained than in the beginning, it's not that bad anymore. In the end it was our longest day and we hit the 100km for the first time and we arrived at our hosts in Lower Moutere and were pretty exhausted.

Nonetheless, next morning we climbed over Takaka Hill (791m high, starting from close to sea level). We started early to have the climb in the morning and be in the shade for some time. We were scared but the hill was not as bad as expected and we could pedal up in a low gear. The deserved downhill part was amazing and we took a long lunch break at the bottom of the hill, close to a river. After 2 hours of break, there were still 30km to ride until we would reach our next hosts in Collingwood. We were warmly welcomed from Erhard and Christine with a self-made Pizza in their pizza oven - just awesome! After a really nice chat in the evening we decided to join them for fishing in the morning.

In the early morning we left and had our first ever fishing experience. We tried to catch Snappers, but weren't lucky with them. We ended up catching four Kahawais, of which Jonas caught two. I had some bites but they broke free before we got them into the boat. At around 11am they dropped us off at the road to Farewell Spit. From there we hitchhiked to Puponga, first on the back of a pickup truck and then with an Asian couple. There we did the Hill Top Track over the sheep paddocks along the coast. At the end of the walk we arrived at Wharariki Beach, a vast and beautiful beach. There the most amazing thing was a little pool with some seal puppies playing in it. You could stand next to it and enjoy their show - so cool! After that we hichhiked back to our hosts. For dinner we had the fish we caught in the morning.

On the next day we cycled back over Takaka Hill to our former hosts in Lower Moutere, we stayed one night before heading off to Nelson next morning. For that way we could cycle one the Great Taste Trail again which even included taking a little Ferry over the river to Rabbit Island. We arrived at our friend Calum's place where we could stay for a couple of days. On the first day we did a hike over some mountains around the city, visited the Center of New Zealand and ended in a „Biergarten“ having some beers and cider. Cheers.

All the best from New Zealand,

Keep cycling and may the tailwind be with you,

Vroni, Droni & Joni