Day 7: Lyell to Westport

Cycling along the Buller Gorge, we came around a turn and saw this:

“Really?! Is that safe?!”

Maybe. Looks alright in this photo:

But what if you run into one of these guys?!

/**SQUASH!**/

We couldn’t see cars coming round the bend on the far side, but we could see them across the gorge, about a kilometre away. A few cars and a semi-truck were coming, followed by a break in traffic. We waited by the side of the road for those vehicles to drive through before making a run for it.

The last vehicle, the semi, came out from under the overhang and we started biking, but as the semi approached, it slowed down and I saw the driver roll down his window. I stopped to hear what he had to say.

“When you get into that tunnel, you’d better pedal like all hell because they CAN’T SEE YOU from the other side.”

*gulp*

There was a break in traffic right? But for how long? We hammered through, my heart raced and…

…everything was fine. I quietly thanked the semi-driver for injection us with a little fear, making it all the more exhilarating.