After a rest day at Hanmer Springs, which was nice and hot, we woke up to rain. We had a shuttle to catch so there was no time to try and dry the tents. The shuttle kept us from riding the busy highway which now had all of the traffic to Christchurch since the coast route was closed due to the recent earthquake. The driver was kind enough to take us all the way through Christchurch and let us off on the bike route heading out of town. It was still raining on and off but we got started.
We soon came upon the Bicycle Thief Cafe and decided that it would probably stop raining soon if we stopped for a coffee. Nice place, and they promised our bikes would be safe.
Sure enough the rain let up and we were off riding the Canterbury Plains, which we would be for the next 4 days. There were farms and fields but it was such a grey day that nothing stood out. The campground at Glentunnel was nice though.