Date: Friday 1 March 2013
Route: Tokarahi to Ranfurly
Distance: 72km
Weather: Clear and warm in morning, clouding over with headwind in afternoon
Accommodation: Old Post Office Backpackers – recommended

Today was the toughest day so far. We knew Danseys Pass would present a challenge and it certainly did. Around 46km of the ride was on unsealed roads – from before the pass until just before Naseby.

We stopped at a lavender farm before the pass proper (after about 20km). One can smell the lavender from the gate. Evidently the climatic conditions are just right for lavender and they make award winning oil, on a small scale. We bought some lavender ice cream which tasted fragrant and tangy.

The pass proper was really steep on unpaved road with lots of loose stones and rocks. We ended up pushing the bikes up the main climb. By this time it was around midday and the sun was very hot overhead.
It was very quiet on the pass. We must have passed about 15 cars the whole time. It is a terrible road for cars as well – most were 4 wheel drive. In a lot of the places there is not enough space for two cars to pass each other. On the pass proper the cars were going so slowly they tended to stop and talk with us. No other bicycles.

Even when we got to the other side on the downhill, it was still slow going. This is because it was so steep and the road so bad we had to go down very carefully. We were lucky not to get any punctures or break spokes. Our average speed for the day on the odometer was 11km/hour – very slow.

There is a hotel and pub at the bottom of the pass, with nice garden, but we decided to push on. The road thankfully flattened out (around 40km into the ride) – however it remained a gravel road with many corrugations and loose rocks. There were also a few more climbs which were difficult as I was really worn out.

I sure was glad to see that tar at Naseby. We had a quick look at the (very cute) town and then flew into Ranfurly (14km) – against a headwind, but no gravel!

We love our accommodation at the Old Post Office Backpackers. On arriving I discovered I have worked with one of our hosts, Suzy de Louw, some years ago at HNZC in Wellington. She and her partner have had a radical change in lifestyle by moving down here. We are the only guests here tonight, so it was comfortable making a meal (steak) in the kitchen and sitting watching the news in the lounge.

Laurie found us here (we made enquiries at the campground earlier), and we accompanied him to the pub so he could get a meal and to watch some rugby. The pub had a real community feel to it. Ladies from the church were running a raffle for foodbanks, so we bought a couple of tickets. We were happy to win some home baking – date loaf and biscuits.
Kris and Laurie took advantage of the reasonably priced beer.