Hi again,

Well we are not having much luck with the weather today so we have had to take another day off as what lies ahead off us is a big long steep hill down which we think could be quite dangerous cycling down in the horizontial rain. However since i last updated the site we have had a few cycle days and they have been very testing ones too!

So after having 3days off in Geraldine we finally woke up on the 8/4 to a beautiful morning so we got packed up and hit the road to bag the last to pass's that we want to do before we fly home. The road was long and quite boring as there was no bends in the road and no new scenery to look at. We did a cyclist who was out cycling for the day and he decided to ride along with us for a bit anoying all the drivers as he was taking up all the room whislt trying to have a conversation with us. hahah oh dear. 45.22miles after having those days off my legs really felt it today.

9 /4 - 43.79miles to castle hill. Really hard and testing day today. Lovely views and some great hills to climb but near the end of the day we were both really tired and getting a nippy with each other so we new we had to stop fairly soon. Found a picnic spot which i did not like the look of as there was a cross there with flowers and on the cross said "tragically found here here" how horrible!! told Jonny and we were out off there in a flash. We then looked for somewhere in the side of the road but no where look safe or tucked away. By now we were really on edge with each others and the whole situation. After attempting to cycle up a hill we struggled as our legs were sore so we pushed it up the hill and we seen that there was a village on the side of the road so we went in and asked if there was anywhere were we could put up a tent as we are in a horrid situation. "no problem you can put your tent up over here, its safe and here are the toilets and water" ARRRRHHH relief. I cried as i was sooo happy to find somewhere safe and the day had come to and end. tent up lots of pasta and went back to the house to thank them.

10/4 - really nice morning, sun shine. Again today was so testing, alreay tird and legs sore from the day before we had a head wind and all up hill. There was the odd down hill but even at that we had to peddel hard to get down it!!!! 32.71miles to Arthur's Pass Village where there was no space left in the backpackers. So it was another night in the tent with no shower!!

11/4 - it rained all night last night and continued on till this morning.......(in fact i am sat here now in the afternoon and it is still raining out there......freezing) so....... we know what the road is like ahead it is uphill for a bit and then it is really steep downhill. So we decided not to go down it today and lets keep fingers crossed for tomorrow. There is ment to be snow here tomorrow night so hopefully we could get down the hill and wake up to snow the day after tomorrow. If there worst comes to the worst then we will cycle back the way we came, wait out till it brightens up of last resort get the bus back to Christchurch (but we don't wanna do that)

So 19days to go after cycling for 6months in 4 different countries, we are looking forward to seeing our family and friends for two weeks and then sail over to France and explore Europe for 6months!!! sooooo exciting. I will be back for my 23rd birthday so it would be nice to have a night in the house and see everyone again. (hope thats ok mum and dad?hahaha) any excuse for a party a?

hope everyone is well, see ya xxxxxx

ps mum and dad hope you will be checking your emails when you are in Cyprus? have a great time xxxx