After our 2 hour long brunch in Groove Kitchen Espresso in Napier, we took off again. This time towards Lake Waikaremoana.

Only picture of this day – to much rain.

Our brunch had included checking emails, voice mails and general stuff…one big damper happened but I am sure Flo will write about it at some point. On the bright side, my red rain jacket was finally found and will most likely be posted to Auckland by Brendan so that I can have it again. I dearly miss my fleece gloves at the moment which are in the pockets.

Back to riding in rain. The landscape is still beautiful, even with clouds hanging around hilltops and fog drifting in and out of street-level. I didn’t get the camera out much as I’m scared that the rain will damage it.

There was quite a bit of life stock around us including an escaped sheep that panicked when we got closer, tried to run up a steep bank and then slid back down because it was too steep. Luckily, by that point we had already passed it and it was able to relax again.

Wild or at least escaped goats also roamed the streets. One was especially sneaky and hid its great coat on a grey surface so we saw it quite late.

Wairoa was the last ‘bigger town’ so we shopped for dinner and breakfast tomorrow before going towards Lake Waikaremoana. The last 28km of the road are unsealed and with all the rain lately, it was quite a mess to ride it. The bike and Flo are covered in finely sprayed dirt.

We arrived at the DOC campsite (this time with hot showers, WOOT!) just before dusk, put the tent up in a hurry and hid in the warmer kitchen for a cooked dinner.