The normal cyclist route through the South Island is to go from Omarama, over Lindis Pass (a pretty crazy alpine climb) and towards Queenstown. This skips the entire east coast south of Christchurch. Well, I've got a ton of time and I really didn't have the legs to go over Lindis Pass without taking a day off so I started to head towards Oamaru instead. My first actual city since Christchurch. They even have penguins!

Skipping Lindis didn't give me a completely easy day, though. I made the climb over a less dreadful pass and as soon as I crossed over the top I found the wind hiding on the other side and fought it all the way to camp. It's apparently common enough to warrant a handful of wind signs on the side of the road. At least I assume this is a wind sock on a sign.

Seeing the world slowly change every few days has been one of the coolest things about bicycle touring. Getting into the Otago region has brought quite the change in scenery. Granted there are still a lot of lakes with mountains on the other side.