Logistically it was too far to get to Oamaru so today would be a short ride, mostly along the Waitaki River. Leaving Kurow we immediately came to the winery which of course required a stop. The trail then led through the vineyard, which was nice. This was part purpose made bike track and part repurposed gravel road.
There would be 3 dry riverbed crossings today, which were pretty rough to ride. I walked most of it. The biggest was quite wide. We had a hard time finding the path through it and on the other side. We it wasn't crossing river beds it was a smooth gravel path trough farm fields and long the river. Although we were close to the river we could never get down to it, or even get a good view.
One thing that disturbed me on this ride was the amount of invasive weeds. Thistles, mullen, and most other common weeds were in abundance here. None of thee things are native here but once here they thrive.
Approaching Duntroon you got the feeling you were in for a treat. Much care had gone into building the path through the Duntroon Wetlands. There were lots of interpretive signs along the way. It was really nice to approach and enter a town on a trail rather than the highway. When we got to town there were direction signs pointing to the Flying Pig Cafe, the hotel, tavern, etc. How disappointed we were to find that they were all closed down. With the exception of the Museum/Visitor center it was a ghost town. Why was this town not able to thrive on the tourist economy of the A2O trail as other towns had? Hopefully this is a temporary setback and the town will bounce back. There was at least a domain campground where we settled in for the night.