Once again I awoke to the sound of rain falling, but quickly packed up and went looking for breakfast. The only store open in Owaka at 8 am was the 4 Square supermarket, so I was forced to resort to pastries and (undrinkable) vending machine coffee.

Leaving Owaka in light rain and wet weather gear I was cold, but then the road began to rise steeply and I was soon steaming hot. Once over Tunnel Hill the road gradually leveled out, and I reached Balclutha by midday, stopping for lunch.

Leaving Balclutha, for the first time I joined SH1, which immediately began a series of nasty roller coaster undulations lasting for almost 10 kms. I was alternately grinding uphill in low gear then plunging downward, buffeted by the wind blast of innumerable heavy vehicles as they overtook me.

On one of these wild descents, my rack bag came adrift and tumbled to the road.  Retrieving it, I realized that somewhere I had lost my fishing rod, but there was no way I would ride back along the roller coaster in the hope of finding it intact.

I called it quits at Milton. With only 60 kms remaining to Dunedin tomorrow, I was happy enough to stop there.