Kurow to Duntroon 28km

 Today could almost be classed as a rest day, only 28km over a well formed track with very little elevation. We all appeared from our rooms about 8 and set about a leisurely breakfast of cereals, toast and poached eggs, excellently cooked by Craig. 

Craig had a new tyre delivered yesterday so we set about changing it. No drama and good as new. We hung around until nearly 10 as we knew the winery we were at yesterday was opening for coffee. The day was once again fine but the breeze was decidedly cool. 

We enjoyed out coffee alfresco and played a couple of games of cornhole. Not sure exactly who won the honours but I think they were female. Craig and Gillian then decided on a friendly (sort of) game of Jenga. They both did extremely well but Gillian prevailed on the day. 

So off we went on our arduous journey, the only stops of note were to remove clothing layers, make a minor adjustment to Gillians bike and to give way to family of Paradise ducks. 

The main point of interest though was the Maori rock art and whilst it is badly weathered and fragile it is always cool to see what people have left from such a long time ago. Much of this art was removed in 1916 and now is scattered in various museums aroind the country, much of it in Dunedin. Well intentioned I’m sure but it seems a shame. 

So onto Duntroon and lunch at the Flying pig cafe. We actually made pigs of ourselves, most of us with eyes bigger than our bellies. 

After lunch we checked into our hotel which is an old kiwi pub that has been renovated and is very nice. 

We then set out explore the town which boasts a working forge, a fossil display a very nice church which is only used now and again for special occasions. There is a garage and an old police cell complete with stocks and thats about it for Duntroon. 

There are a couple of statues to early settlers a man a woman and it just reminded me of the song /rhyme “a wee wee woman and a wee wee man”  Robyn and I did a little dance and I think think the others thought we’d gone mad as they’d never heard of it!  Oh the younger generation😂

We headed back to the bar for drinks, reacquainted ourselves with two Australian couples who have been shadowing us from the start, we have become quite friendly through this shared experience and will have dinner with them tonight. We tried to coax some tunes out of the jukebox but it didn’t want to cooperate. We settled on some keenly contested games of pool which produced quite a bit of laughter. 

We had a really good night with our Australian friends, lots of lively conversations and laughs, travel stories, and Andrew and I finished our evening talking motorbikes, perfect.