Today I had a very hilly ride, almost 1km total ascent. The path along the coast in the morning was full of shorter 5-20% grade hills and then Mount Cargill had to be passed to get into Dunedin. The later being 9km spent going uphill, climbing a total of 400m. To top it off wind was gusting occasionally so I took a handful of rest stops to read by shelter of a tree while I waited for it to calm down.

After a long and painful morning I made it to Dunedin. Even though I'm more comfortable touring than I was in Christchurch, I still don't really know what to do in big cities. With so many people I don't want to leave my bike unlocked anywhere and I don't feel comfortable leaving my panniers sit on my bike while I'm in a shop or eating. Because of that I spent a little while riding around town then headed towards camp and got dinner at a pub further from the main part of town where I could feel safe about my stuff. Dunedin is also home of the worlds steepest road.

I've been surprised at how friendly and helpful people are to me due to my bike making my goals pretty obvious. During a morning stop to avoid the rain that had started, I was at a cafe getting a lovely long black. The owner came out to talk to me about my trip and if I needed anything. Filled my bottles with water and some carb drink mix and offered (repeatedly) to let me use their shower. Made me question if he asked for a reason but I was at a motor camp the night before so had actually been properly cleaned at this point. Later, shortly after I had rolled into Dunedin, I was standing around looking lost in front of the information center trying to figure out what to do with my bike so I could go in and ask where to head for camping. A cyclist going the other way turned around and asked if I needed help and gave me directions to the one most convenient for the direction I'd be leaving in the morning.