Tuesday was a day of sorting, blogging and washing. In the afternoon some of the guys invited me to join them to explore Dunedin, so we jumped in the car and took a drive and went for a walk through the trees and got lost...we chilled in the hostel that night, everyone was pretty tired! One girl called Sophie is travelling here and she managed to spend $30 over the past week! How insane is that. Oh and another girl shaved her head for $800! I met another English guy who was up for cycling a bit of the RailTrail so tomorrow we will plan the famous cycle!

Wednesday I went to visit to the steepest street in the world (Balwin Street) with Phillip, an English guy I met in the hostel the previous day. We walked up a hill to a good lookout of the town and the peninsular and then decided to walk back down the mountain as we didn't want to walk back the same way. I think we both discovered that the mountain bike track is well designed for bikes and not walkers, I was falling over everywhere and have even smashed my laptop screen from one fall L. We eventually got back to the hostel and chilled there for the rest of the evening with my hostel family. Several of the guys in the hostel are working so they are hanging around Dunedin for a while, so it's really nice going back and talking about our day.

Thursday 8 August, Philip drove us in his car to the start of the RailTrail in Middlemarch. It was a glorious day! We grabbed our bikes from Cycle Surgery and were on our way by 10am. The track we cycled along used to be a rail line so it wasn't up any mountains or hills (thank goodness). It was very scenic ride. We cycled through a few small villiages which were literally ghost towns, and the one cafe and bar we found were both closed! Gutting. Luckily we had prepared a packed lunch for the trip. We ended up cycling 60k that day to a town called Ranfurly, which was actually the biggest town we had come across that day. We were pleased to find a supermarket, butchers and pub that were all open! Incredible. We stayed in the Holiday Park in a cabin which literally was a box room that was big enough to fit a bunk-bed (double-bed on the bottom and a single on top) with 2 plastic chairs and a table. I was really happy because it was well insulated and had a heater too, so we managed to get the room nice and cosy for bed time J I enjoyed a few hot chocolates in the pub whilst Phillip was rather satisfied with the local beers.

Friday morning we were up at half past 8 excited to start the day with a full on FRY UP (although I must admit I found it hard to get out of bed, I was so warm and comfortable in a double bed with soft linen AND an electric blanket in our well insulated little cabin! I didn't want to leave! The previous evening we bought 6 rashes of bacon and 4 eggs from the butchers in the town and it cost just $5 - you can probably buy just 4 eggs for $5 in the supermarkets here, so this was a bargain. I can't remember the last time I had a full English breakfast...it was a great treat and I felt we will have deserved it after 2 full days of cycling J I was pretty full on 2 eggs, 2 big rashes of bacon, half a can of baked beans and 2 pieces of toast (fATTY, but delicious!) By 10am we were on the road back to Middlemarch. It was another gorgeous sunny day, and the views were still just as enjoyable as yesterday. We were much faster heading back as the track was always at a slight decline, so I was quite proud how we managed 60k yesterday at a constant incline! I must admit it was tough sitting back on the bike today as my bum felt like it was bruised and my knee was pretty battered too. But after a while of sitting down I managed to forget about the pain and enjoy the cycle. We didn't bump into any other travellers throughout the entire trip which I find was a little crazy because the weather was perfect. The trail is said to be really busy in the summer, and the holiday camp we stayed at was fully booked throughout April with railtrail travellers. Boy do I like travelling NZ in the winter J!

We arrived back at Middlemarch by 4pm, handed our bikes back and then decided to jog to a salt lake that was just down the road, as the man in the cycle shop said it was a must do. I must say, I wouldn't have known it was a salt lake, but it did look rather bizarre reflecting the rocks that surrounded it in various shapes and sizes. After the jog we were well and truly knackered, so jumped back in the car and headed back to OnTop Backpackers to check in for another night. We have our own hostel room to chill in tonight which is nice, and I have spent all night in the kitchen chatting to the guys who I met previously. It feels like a little family here already, they all asked how the cycle was and then told me about their days...I felt like I was back in University just chilling with house mates and catching up. I will be sad to leave them!

Tomorrow I'm heading South to The Catlins with Phillip to explore the area for a day or two. But now its midnight and I definitely need my beauty sleep...