Left Glentunnel and headed south on the inland scenic route . Fast mostly flat roads so the speed was nice . Weekend traffic was busy with a field day at Mayfield , but not too many trucks thankfully.

The first days destination was Geraldine , a very pleasant tourist town these days packed with motorhomers. Near mayfield it was my good fortune to stop and talk to 2 steam traction engine enthusiasts. They solved a puzzle for me with local knowledge about my route ahead and a possible contact for charging batteries at a Hereford Stud Farm called Waratah . Having no logical campground options for my route I was looking for the owners of a lovely spot enroute with the hope they would help

The guys came thru with a promise to provide the contact detail I needed and this enabled me to contact the farm direct .

I contacted the Waratah Farm owned by the Girvan Family , Karen and Wayne and got the green light to rock on up and have a “ Farmstay visit “ a lovely comfortable room with a great big bed and meals too . With building strong Northwesterlies for the afternoon , I arrived in the early afternoon to avoid the battle of the headwinds .

Experienced some genuine old fashioned country hospitality , with Karen showing me around the property with a grand tour on the ATV.

On our ATV drive we spotted several groups of Fallow deer on the property . Wallabies have also spread widely into this general area and need periodic control efforts ( ie culling ) The big friendly steer is in excess of 1000 kg. A severe summer drought has left thus station and many others in fairly dire straits with a critical shortage of grass. Everyone prays for good rains to turn this situation around . Not an easy game .

Had a late start today following a late night and a late breakfast where our involved interesting discussions rolled on . It was shortly after 10 am when I said my final farewells to this lovely couple and proceeded on towards McKenzie Pass , made famous by the sheep thief who was finally apprehended on this route and Pass that has his name . If you look carefully you might notice that a mob of Marino sheep were being driven past the monument at I took the photo .

My route then took a sharp turn south up and over the Hakataramea Pass . Not too steep a climb and the day was interesting with a wind forecast that predicted a 180 degree wind shift about midday or 1 pm ish . The gods were smiling as I had tail winds over the McKenzie then a period of no wind on the “ Haka “ followed by the wind shift which got in behind and was mostly a tail wind .

Had a worrisome rear brake total failure that forced me into a very nervous descent from the Haka Pass , but I managed on the front brake all the way down from the pass till I eventually arrived at a station where I was able to strip down the bike and fit brand new brake pads .

I needed the ability to use rope to suspend the bike from a tree branch to do this job effectively.

Arrived at Kurow at about 4 pm after a furiously fast descent of the Hakataramea valley .

Camped at Kurow .