Who wants a Choc Monty?

The package of Choc Montys was great to see in the grocery store in Te Anau because it's basically selling chocolate mini-me's, or at least what we think are creme-filled cookies, but it's hard to tell just by molesting the package.After a breezy, but easy 40 kms, Brian and I have arrived in Invercargill - we made it to the bottom of the South Island and to the Tasman Sea! Woo-hoo! We'll be sure to celebrate with a cocktail of some sort later. For now, I have to say that Invercargill has got a few great things going for it. First of all, the main hub of the town centre is called Dee Street. Can't go wrong with a name like that. Then there's the first traffic light we've gone through since......... um........ gosh, could it be Nelson? Wow, no traffic lights for almost two months. Sweet. Another good thing is that the theatre here is playing the new Spiderman movie. We saw that last night. The grocery store had chocolate covered almonds in bulk. The internet place was playing one of my favourite Tom Petty tunes when we walked in. It's all good. What else is good? Well, it only took us three days to get from Te Anau to Invercargill. The first day was super windy (sweet tail wind), and we clocked almost 90 kms in the most beautiful, rolling country side. A break for peanut butter and Nuttela on a One Square Meal (a NZ version of the Clif Bar) got an audience of cows eager to join in on the delicacy: While riding, I got stung in the neck by a bee or a wasp in a high speed collision. I saw a faze of black and yellow, and then suddenly a sharp pain in my neck caused me to yell "Owe, Owe, Owe, Owe!!!" I stopped my bike and Brian gently picked the huge stinger out of my neck. I may be exaggerating slightly, but that must be what it feels like to have a needle jammed into your neck next to the jugular. Yeeeouch. Good thing I am not allergic to stings because there was virtually no help nearby and no traffic on those roads (which was great for riding). There were a few minor complaints leaking from me about the stinging for maybe an hour, and then I totally forgot that the whole ordeal had occurred until Brian asked me, "How's your neck?" I had to think for a while to figure out what he was talking about. Must not have been that traumatic then...... Later on, we camped by a suspension bridge and were visited by a cocky rooster. Day two, the wind was still blowing, and hard. The severe tailwind let us ride in my highest gear for a few hours, but then the direction of our road changed and the wind was wacking us sideways. We eventually pulled into Riverton, I took a three-hour nap, and we spent four hours listening to and watching eighties music videos until we retired for the evening. The third, and shortest day of riding left us with a new friend: And, now here we are, about to leave town and the rain is relentless. The forecast is for hail and the snow level will be down to 600m. Do you think it's possible we could stay in the hostel one more night and go to the movie theatre again instead of riding in this messy day? Suck it up, Dee. Use your gore-tex rain gear for once. SHeesh.