New Zealand- Day 5

We both slept like logs in the lovely comfy bed at Abbotsford Lodge after a great dinner with the hosts Chris and Nicolette- we were the only guests as for most people this is not the tourist season! We could not leave until Jenny had delivered our lunch packs as the 65 km ride today passed no cafes or shops.
We set out at about 9.00 and the route took us back through the neat  little town of Waipawa and then back out to the undulating hills - this time with a backdrop of snow covered mountains to the West.
Still predominantly sheep and cattle with some turkeys and horses thrown in but the scenery kept changing throughout the day so it was a beautiful ride although quite hilly - we climbed about 524m today but the second half of the day was flat or downhill. It was a beautiful winters day - clear blue sky and NO WIND and max temp about 15 so just perfect for cycling.
Morning Tea stop at picturesque little Argyle East school next to a beautiful little stream. It was about 40km on to the next village hall so we stopped for a salad roll lunch on top of one of the hills.
We were passed by a convoy of old tractors escorted by an equally old LandRover apparently out for a rally. We passed them stopped for lunch a bit later.
On into the outskirts of Hastings where we stopped for a coffee at the Golf Club cafe and watched planes towing gliders taking off from the adjacent airport.
Got to our motel by 3.30 which was pretty good going for a hilly and fairly long day. But beautiful cycling weather.
Shorter flatter day tomorrow heading to Taradale with lots of wineries and good weather forecast. Even better news is that Maryborough had 15ml of rain today!