We left our cozy cabin at the Reefton motor camp ground and crossed our fingers as we looked to the overcast and grey clouds in the sky.


Reefton was an interesting town founded on gold and now scratching a living out on tourism. The local museum has a replica gold mine shaft and displays of mining routes and photos.

As we rode we could see a vibrant rainbow. The thing about rainbows is that there had to be rain. Right?


We did meet up with some rain. Rain coat on. But with 25 degree temperatures, I opted for getting wet rather than sweltering with my raincoat. Rain coat off.

My bike started to feel a bit wobbly and I stopped to check. Even thinking that maybe one of the welds had broken. I looked at my bike welds and shook my bike. Seemed ok then continued. I looked down at the back tire. It was a flat.


I swung my leg off the bike and started to walk. Bob was well ahead. Maybe 2 km. He says it was like Cue "the good, the bad and the ugly" theme song. He saw me walking thru the humid heat haze on the hwy. After 2 minutes he thought, she's not getting any bigger. He knew something was up when he saw me walking my bike DOWN the hill.

And Bob managed to remove the tire, patch, replace and pump up the repaired tire in record time.

Thank you Bob.

We made it to Greymouth. Approximately 80km, one repair and some rain showers.