Feilding to Palmerston North

Well as expected the Malaysian and Indonesian workers must have left in a frenzy this morning as the kitchen was a right state. Oh well.

The ride from Feilding to Palmerston North is a flat, easy 22km. On the way I got my first view of the local windfarm - apparently the Southern hemisphere's largest. But with little wind most of the turbines stood idle.

I opted for a hostel in town rather than camping. For an extra $NZD8 the Peppertree Hostel is fantastic with an incredible kitchen and super hot showers.

I spent over two hours on the blog today mostly trying to get mapmyride to do one long route but as the route gets longer it seems to get slower and slower. I may just have to wait until I've got all day and then do the whole route in one hit. It'll be worth it though - it'll look good.

I went to the Rugby Museum late in the afternoon. There's some amazing stuff there including the coin used for the toss in all the Rugby World Cups so far. New Zealand has only won once, having been (in my opinion) the best team at all bar the '91 tournament. Hopefully 2011 will be our year again.....

Here's David Kirk holding aloft the Webb Ellis cup in 1987 after we'd won the inaugural RWC.

PS. The South Africans don't recognise winners prior to 1995 when they first played in the RWC.

After dinner I ventured out to the Icons Bar in town to watch the Otago Highlanders (my team) play the Auckland Blues in the Super 14. We lost. Deservedly. Auckland came out all guns blazing and quickly posted 14 points. Otago looked rattled and never got back in the game. it didn't help (me at least) that my least favourite ref, now that 'Whistling' Ed Morrison's retired, Stuart Dickinson was in charge. Final score 26-6. Pathetic.

When I returned to the hostel there were many more people than when I'd left and my dorm room which had had only two of us in it was swelled to six or seven. No need to worry about my snoring either; one guy was out to it and sawing a few cords of wood already!!

I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this morning. Karo's friend Jenny is right - Gilderoy Lockhart is hilarious, but Hagrid's still my favourite. Roll on book three, if there's space in the panniers.....