The Return

 

At one point during the night, I woke up and heard what I thought was a little critter scampering across the bedroom.  Then there was the crunching sound of something near my head.  By the time I woke for good this morning I was convinced that a rat had taken up lodgings in my cycling gear in the drawer beside my bed.  I was even sure I could smell the rat’s urine.  So it was with some trepidation that  I gathered the courage to open the drawer expecting a grey furry animal be either snarling at me or more likely leaping out of the comfort of my smelly cycling gear.  I took out each item slowly but fortunately no creature emerged and the urine smell was definitely a function of my overactive imagination.

The Hotel

 In contrast to the previous day it was overcast, windy and quite cool.  After breakfast we went for a ride through the village of Ophir and a little further along to the Ophir Bridge which is a suspension bridge built in the late 1800s.  The last time we were there it was raining quite hard. 

 

Suspension Bridge Ophir

We retraced our steps back to Omakau and then climbed back up what is known as Tiger Hill.  Again the easy 1:50 gradient made the climb a breeze despite the moderate side wind.  Then it was over the top and a fast descent.  On the way I started talking with a bloke who lived on the West Coast near the Wilderness Trail.  I told him a little about our experience with staying at Cowboy Paradise and Mike, our rather unfriendly host.  I also made the mistake of mentioning Trump. 

It's further than it looks

 “The Americans now have a useless President in Biden who can’t string together a sentence without a teleprompter.  The country is going backwards without Trump there!”, he said.

 

“From what I can see they are making good progress on vaccinations and he is dealing with  the economic problems caused by Trump favouring the rich,” I replied.

 

He responded “I suppose you only watch CNN.  The media are running the world and Fox is the only one that tells the truth. It’s the only one worth watching.”

 

I was getting a bit irritated by this exchange and commented that it seemed to me that the country was really polarised and there was a lack of co-operation. 

 

He was having none of that saying; “It’s only that way because the other media say it is like that.  If they did what Trump was wanting then there would be no problem.”   He went onto say, “Trump got rid of the corruption in the capital and did what he said he was doing to do such as building the wall and keeping out the immigrants.”

 

I demurred, “Actually Trump was the biggest crook in town who pardoned a bunch of liars and cheats who had been convicted. He enriched himself through the presidency and so on.” 

 

Then he got onto race and at about that point I could stand it no longer so I stopped and said I was going to wait for Bev.  He continued on and Bev finished talking with the man’s wife.  Apparently, she was very nice with views not altogether aligned with her husband’s.

 

We were going to stop at Chatto Creek for a coffee so I was relieved that he and his wife continued on past the pub allowing us to have our drink in peace and for Bev to make acquaintance with a hippo and donkey. 

 

Making friends at Chatto Creek

We met quite a number of riders heading toward Middlemarch.  About half were riding e-bikes.  One man we talked to had converted to an e-bike at the urging of is wife; a story we have often heard. 

 

At around Galloway we came across an apple tree that was grown from an apple core that would have been thrown out of the window of one of the trains many years ago.  It had lot of fruit on it so we picked some as they were ripe and very tasty. 

 

We arrived in Alexandra at lunchtime. The two cafés we had visited before did not have  the food we wanted and then Bev spied one that was in an old court house.  It seemed to have quite a few people there, with some sitting in the bright warm sun. The food was exactly what I wanted which was salad.  Bev decided to try a cheese roll which is a favourite of this area.   Her verdict was that it was not the nicest thing she had ever experienced.  We sat for quite a while in the sun reading and chatting. 

 

Our lunch place

Then it was time to head to Clyde.  The only part we had been previously seen was what I now believe was the old business area which is done up nicely, but many of the businesses have now shut up shop.  The wide main road is instead the business area and is a bit like a strip mall.  A pity as the old part could have been the centre and buzzing as it nice and quiet, free from the main road traffic. 

 

The return to Clyde was into a head wind that rivalled Wellington on a bad day.  It was hard work.

 

We stayed in the Postmaster’s House which is very cute and “olde world” and we had it to ourselves.  Associated with the accommodation is a café called the Post Office Café where we had dinner. 

 

It was such a contrast to the previous night where the welcome was warm and informative.  When we arrived, we were given a nice table near the open fire.  The food was good and we both had a Blue Cod which was beautifully cooked and the small of number chips I had were as I remembered them at Black’s Hotel all those years ago.  The service was really good and responsive.  Overall, we had a great experience. 

Former workers quarters on a station