The boys having a pre-breaky before Jane cooked up a feed of bacon and eggs. Gimme giga-cals for the day!

Our lovely lounge in the Croft.

Was there a day that Mag's didn't do dishes?

The bikes all securely locked

Ready to go.

Enjoying the sunshine.

After crossing the suspension bridge the trail to Punga Cove was a blast. It was all single track, windy, rocky, big drops, obstacles, the whole gamet. It was a great trail. I think it was this section that Jane bailed over the edge of the track and was close to landing in the drink. Thank god for bushes to grab onto.

Arrival at Punga Cove.

Good sales on ice cream.

Nice of them to put chairs out for us to relax.

If you've ever wondered if your brakes can wear right through your rim, the answer is yes.

Roy rode his bike with the rim blown out and the tube bulging for about 45 min over some pretty tricky terrain. How it held together, I don't know. Inattentive bugger.

Roy sadly gives us a smile and wave goodbye.

We bid Roy fairwell at Punga Cove (sniff sniff) and continued on the Queen Charlotte track. After waiting for about 3 hours Roy caught a water taxi to another port in hopes of hiring a rear wheel. That didn't pan out so he just managed to phone the bike store in Blenheim before they closed and ordered a new rim. They  promised to have it delivered to our lodge by 10am the next morning. I think Roy was a little nervous about it arriving in time, but the story had a happy ending.

Everyone takes 5 while Roy susses out what he's going to do.

This is the view after climbing only a short distance from Punga Cove. We still had a big climb ahead of us.

From here we can see the ridge line along the left of the sound where we are heading.

This shot looks back to the head of the valley and the place where we were standing in the previous picture.

The scene of the accident. A few of the guys had already climbed the next hill when they heard a blood curdling screech....

...they made a quick about face and shot back to see what had happened. Here they are assessing the damage. Lucky for all of us there were no broken bones, but some great visuals.

Truly deserved nicknames: Di Hard or Bad Ass. And a swolen ankle too.

Bay of Many Coves.

Topping up with water.

You just can't beat the views we had this day. In some places the trail was really quite exposed, but we were too busy riding (or concentrating) to stop for pictures.

Picton in the far distance.

Rex having a gander at where we had riden from.

After a long hard day we were sure happy to arrive at Te Mahia. The accommodation was beautiful and we had the whole bottom of this building to ourselves. After the saggy bunks at Furneaux, 3 kitchens, private rooms, nice lounges and great showers were a real treat.

Skoda, Roy and Paul did the honors on the BBQ in the dark, under headlamps, while everyone else chipped in with the rest of the meal. Skoda also gets high praise for his amazing homemade bread. And of course hat's of to Di who directed the whole production from the chef's throne. Do we dare mention how proficient Gordie was in the kitchen both cooking and cleaning? Word may get out and he'll be expected to perform on a regular basis.