Lattes and Routes

We spend a lot of time looking at maps and planning our routes and sight-seeing. This all makes for some very hard work and thus we must prepare ourselves for the task with a warm, frothy beverage... the latte. New Zealand has amazing dairy. I think the cows are just happy over here. Just like the people. Good air, good scenery, good milk. We make sure we get a latte each day. Kinda like taking your daily vitamin. :)

With so many things to do and places to go, we decided to cut out about 150 miles (two days of riding or so) and take a shuttle inland. It was a tough choice, but we knew we have lots of ground to cover and only so much time. Out shuttle driver was straight from the cast of hobbits from the film, Lord of the Rings. He couldn't have been over 5 feet tall, had curly hair and even had hobbit teeth. I thought about asking to see his feet, but didn't dare. He was an impish champ, teasing us from the first moment he laid eyes on us. Gotta love the friendly folk around here.

We drove along the Buller river gorge and it was gorgeous. We saw some river kayakers and people fishing along the way. It is beautiful country up here.