Murchison is a small place but something of an adventure centre with white water rafting, kayaking, jet boating and the like. None of which interested me. In any case all I wanted to do was give my legs a rest, so I spent yesterday looking around a few historical displays and that's about all.

It was cloudy and overcast when I resumed my trek up the Buller River this morning. With only 40km to go I wasn't in any rush to leave, or any rush to arrive, so I just rode at an easy pace. The road was flat for the first half of the ride, then began to roll gently as I approached the Hope Saddle. 

Nearing Glenhope, I was surprised to see a road maintenance worker trudging along the road, carrying a bucket. I stopped to chat, and discovered that his task was to wash the white guide posts along the highway. He seemed quite happy in his work - a wiser man than most perhaps.

The Hu Ha Bikepackers are a godsend for touring cyclists. It breaks up what would be a 125km day into bite sized chunks. It's about 4km from the Hope Saddle, which can be seen from one of the windows.

Tomorrow I've just got to crest the saddle and then it's a gradual downhill ride all the way to Golden Bay.

I'm not sure what is going on with my tracker, but it shut down again today. It's not indicating low charge, but I'll change the batteries tonight and see if that fixes it.

Click here for a Doarama visualisation of the route.