Day 8 - Riding the Queen

Sunday 

The Tourers regroup a the bottom of the hill on a beautiful sunny day for the long climb back out of Portage

It's up, up, up again

Quick stop at the monument for a photo

And up, up,up and some more up

We are rewarded with views again

A stop to work on Andrew brakes, his brake pads were described by Kees as being the perfect cheese cutters - they were worn to a sharp point. Brake pads that almost fitted were convinced by Phil to fit and work.

Morning tea stop today was pretty hard to bear. We were very happy to get to morning tea as we had taken a wrong turn at the top and went flying down hill (some further and faster than others) only to find we had to climb back up and turn left instead of right at the top

More climbing and more views

They don't call John a gentleman for no reason

A nice bit of down, down, down

Julian showing how not to ride onto a bridge

Jane show Julian how to ride the bridge

Back down a sea level, at this stop I managed to get bitten by a bee on the back of my neck

Anakiwa

Kees delivering the bags that have arrived by water taxi

Pig is the seven weeks old pet piglet at the accommodation some of us stayed at in Anakiwa - Anakiwa 401 is fabulous backpackers run by Shayne and Tayna that I would highly recommend

Pig loves her bottle, a tummy rub and comes when her 'Dad' calls her, Sue and I may have fallen in love with her

 Andrew and I had the Library, it's amazing how much of a mess we can make in a room in a couple of hours

Andrew and I took a little time before dinner to explore the coastline of Anakiwa

A number of the group stayed with Julie and Kees friends Lucy and Rob.

Julian is kept occupied and out of trouble for a few minutes 

Lucy prepared us a delicious dinner and desert

Jane receives the Tiki for allegedly  pushing Phil up the hill

Jan receives the crown and is very disappointed to find it is totally munted.

We celebrate Johns birthday - 17 Again!

 Bike balancing practice 

Desert is served 

If you don't want to be the center of attention don't get trapped in the corner seat when you get a cramp.

NB: If you come to the end of a page but not the end of the trip Blog you can click on 'Older Posts' to move to the next page