Day 26 - February 5, 2023

Day 26:  St. Arnaud - Murchison

We stretch our legs today clocking up some kilometres on quiet country roads.  We pass through Lake Rotoroa, some gorgeous native bush and lots of fords.  

No internet in Murchison, so posting this a day late.  

The forecast was not stellar today, but the rain wasn't supposed to start in earnest until later in the day.  So - off we went at the appointed hour.  This first picture is just coming out of the town of St. Arnaud.  Lake Rotoiti which I visited last evening is one of the lakes in the park.  The other major lake is Lake Rotoroa, which is the lunch destination for the day.  


This next photo is looking back at the town of St. Arnaud.  I think the clouds are covering some pretty big hills/mountains.


Yesterday the first 30 km were all flat and I was pretty excited about that.  Well - today the first 30 km were pretty much all downhill; yippee!  A few pics from this stretch................




After about 15 km what had started out as a very light drizzle started to come down a little harder.  Too warm for a jacket, though.  The camera went away for a while and just came out for a few shots.  




Still soooo much clear cutting, lots of cattle, some sheep, and even some goats.  

I was getting a bit discouraged in the rain and not feeling like doing the gravel section ahead since the guide had indicated the downhill part was a bit dicey and he wanted to keep the group close together.  I'm even relatively slower on that stuff going down than going up so didn't want to be a drag on his plans.  We had been on the highway for a bit and it was pretty quiet with not many trucks (Sunday of a long weekend).  So - when I saw a sign indicating that the highway went directly to Murchison I thought that sounded like a good option.  The rain had stopped by then, but it was the right choice for me today.   I bypassed lunch at the lake and was in to Murchison by about 11.  The route was quite flat through a very pretty valley; an easy day.....  Also missed the gravel road up and down on the Braeburn Track.  Awww.....  

Despite all the rain we've seen in the recent past, the brown hills seem to indicate that it can be pretty dry here.  The irrigation spigots were going full steam ahead.


One more pic and then Murchison by 11.  



Bart also took the highway shortcut today and we went for a restaurant lunch (world's biggest hamburger for me) and then put in time until the 2pm check-in at the Holiday Park.  We were safely in our cabins by the time the rain really started to come down.  It lasted the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.  Full moon and clear-ish sky during the night.  High hopes for tomorrow...........


Stats for the day:

Distance:  64.4 km

Elevation (Garmin):  606' up, 1956' down.  Likely understated due to cloud cover.

Elevation (RWGPS):  1837' up, 3362' down

Weather:  15C - 20C.  Low cloud cover all day.  Drizzle and rain to about 30 km.  Heavy rain after everyone was in.




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