New Zealand -Day4

Quintessential New Zealand is probably the best way to describe today's ride. Rolling green hills and valleys and thousands of sheep and lots of Angus cattle plus birds. The forecast was for strong winds and possible afternoon showers so we decided to start a little bit earlier to get as much distance covered before lunch as possible.
We had breakfast in the lovely lounge of the St Andrews retreat overlooking their lake complete with ducks. Got away at about 8 and headed back into Havelock North and then Southwest on Middle Road.
The briefing paper for the day said it was ***Effort Alert  involving 586 metres of climbing. Generally just rolling hills but there were about 3 serious climbs involving small chain rings and big back cogs but not too bad - Elizabeth will tell you the truth when we get home!
Absolutely beautiful scenery though with the farms just a mass of green. NZ farmers seem to be doing very well at the moment judging by the size and grandeur of the homes which seem to occupy the top of every hill - a bit like Ireland in 2008 just before the crash so hope the same thing doesn't  happen again!
Middle Road with all its hills extended for about 30km and was obviously the favoured training ground for all the local cyclists who went past at a great rate of knots and also the motorcycle route for the speeedhounds who tried out the corners on the numerous hills. Entertaining.
Weather stayed beautiful with just an occasional hint of yesterday's wind until lunch time. We reached the roadside pub at Patangata right on lunch time so enjoyed a chowder (guess who) and a pie (guess who) and coffee in the back courtyard with some of the locals. More Aussie news. Over it.
A fairly easy ride for the remaining 15 k into Waipawa along the banks of a river - again just beautiful scenery, thousands of sheep including a herd of black ones and even some great sheepdog work to stop and watch as the shearing was under way. Fascinating.
Arrived at our accommodation Abbotsford Oaks which is a massive old children's home built in the 1920s and now restored into a beautiful B&B by our hosts Chris and Nicolette. We are the only guests - Nicolette told us that NO ONE does these rides in Winter! Only the insane apparently but today was just beautiful - the wind was starting to come up for the last 15k and the predicted rain has just started now at 5.30 so we made the right decision to set off early.
Won't leave until 9 in the morning as Jenny has to bring our lunch as there are no shops of cafes for the whole trip. Sounds like fun.
We are having dinner with Chris and Nicolette tonight as there is no restaurant in Waipawa apparently.
Forecast for the morning is good with no wind. Heaven.