Day 21: 121 kilometres and 1500 metres of climbing. A big day with big climbs and lots of gravel, though the surface was a nice fine stuff that is not too hard to ride. Beautiful trees and lots of birdlife. Two saddles — Maruia and Rahu — not overly steep but long. Great rollers coming down into Reefton helped the tired legs. Lunch scoffed at one of the summits: a boiled egg, salami and cheese shoved in a wrap. I will eat almost anything these days. Reefton is beautiful. Clean cabins at the campground; Erica bunking with me so nowhere for her to escape my snoring tonight. Dinner at the local wood-fired pizza place — very authentic and very yummy. Rinse, reset, repeat.

Day 22: Team Thompson left in the wee hours to tackle Big River — cycling legends, the pair of them. Not suitable for gravel bikes, so the rest of us kept to the road. A stop at the Pike 29 Memorial, which is gut-wrenchingly sad. We paid our respects with a lump in my throat — a reminder of how precious life is and how important it is to live every day. A visit to the wee village of Blackball; ice blocks as the day had warmed up. One truck and trailer made me swear on the second-to-last bridge into Greymouth — it was a little close and did not ease off the accelerator, so I stopped. Made it in safely. Rinse, reset, repeat.

Day 21: great day — over two saddles and 1300 metres of climbing through some amazing beech forests in awesome weather. Wicked. The highlight was the Maruia Saddle, which had to be celebrated with some interpretive dance to fully encapsulate the moment. Have decided not to do the Big River Trail tomorrow. A mix of fatigue and the prospect of hike-a-bike through kilometres of riverbed does not appeal. Two of the team are going; the rest of us are bypassing. Had a close call with a truck today that was completely my own fault — not looking behind me when passing Gavin on a descent and suddenly there was a truck wheel beside me. Scared the life out of me. Silly mistake. Otherwise, another great day. Toodle pip.

Day 21: my favourite day yet. The 7-kilometre climb to the Maruia Saddle was stunning, accompanied by the trills of the birds, a few stream crossings and gorgeous forest vistas. The gravel track was in brilliant condition for a lovely ride. The 8-kilometre climb to the Rahu Saddle was also lovely, but on road. This was then followed by a nearly 36-kilometre downhill run into Reefton which was a lot of fun. No regretting my life decisions today. Another TA rider who we saw at Springs Junction and then in Reefton was loving his life too. We are three weeks in now, which seems a tad unreal.

Day 22: had the best evening last night catching up with a friend I haven't seen for 40 years — felt like it was only yesterday. A stop-start day on the road to Greymouth. A stop at the Pike 29 Memorial — gut-wrenchingly sad. We paid our respects. Erica had completely worn through her rear brake pads — visit to the bike shop sorted.

Loving life.

Big River. Did it. Would do it again.

The Kennet Brothers said five to seven hours. We did not disagree with them. Helena had the full report — I had the legs.

Bushwacker 1 and 2 calling Mission Control. We are out of Big River. All alive and still married.

We were woken by Willie, as we were every morning on the TA, belting out 'On The Road Again'.

It was pitch black dark out, even though Reefton was the first town in New Zealand to be lit by electricity in 1888.

Gav and I fortified ourselves with a hearty breakfast of oats, nuts and fruit, then headed out of the campground to the café two minutes down the main road of Reefton, where we stuffed every last corner of our stomachs and purchased filled rolls and sweet treats to carry on our bikes for lunch.

We rode out of town with all lights blazing, rugged up from head to toe — only to disrobe as soon as we turned off Grey Road and onto Soldiers-Big River Road, which almost immediately became a gravel road and then a 4WD track, but was mostly rideable.

We knew there was a treat bucket supplied by Merrijigs Hotel and I for one never pass up the opportunity of a lollie. This turned out to be the only disappointment of the trip — it was empty. Well, empty of lollies but full of the wrappers of everything I missed out on: Fruit Bursts, mini Flake Bars, delicious little Perky Nannas. Oh, the misery. Luckily I seldom ride without an easily accessible source of sugar, so we comforted ourselves with some RJ's Raspberry Chocolate Logs and carried on.

At about the 25km mark we reached a tricky fence and gate arrangement that stops 4WDs going any further. We wrangled our bikes through the gate and left them on the side of the track while we walked up to Big River Hut. Had a snoop around and availed ourselves of the facilities, then walked back down to the bikes.

The track from here is almost immediately unrideable — rocks, ruts, roots, dry river bed, fallen trees, steep ravines. Of course we gave it a go. Eventually we realised we would make faster progress pushing than getting on and off constantly. We had to remove our handlebar and tail bags twice — once to get through the gate below Big River Hut, and once to get over a large fallen tree.

At 37.8km we reached a gravel road, and it is exactly as the Kennett Brothers describe it — dreamlike. Downhill through beautiful green bush with a gentle stream on the right-hand side.

We cruised into Ikamatua Village for ice creams and L&P, where everyone who called into the dairy was up for a chat in the sunshine.

Then it was just a matter of grinding out the final 54km to Greymouth.