Day Fifteen : Dec 15 Picton to St Arnauds 131km
We awoke to the sound of rain on the roof of the backpackers - this set the scene for the next week or so which was to turn out to be very very VERY moist. After a quick scoot to Blenheim and a visit to the local bike shop for some new gloves for Simon (he thought he had lost the others) and to a jeweller to fix his watch which was damaged in "The Fall", we headed west up the Wairau River valley. We rode all morning up a constant incline into the wind and rain. Morale was low. We stopped for lunch at a random country pub and tried in vain to dry our clothes in front of a heater. After accidentally setting chair on fire we made a hasty exit and re-mounted Tanya. More of the same...yada yada yada....St Arnaud. Had dinner and beers with a Pohm called Mark. Top bloke.
Day Sixteen : Dec 16 St Arnaud to Reefton 145km
Still raining. F**k. Kept on - this time a little more downhill towards what we thought was Westport. Had got a flat at about midday and pulled over to peform what was now a 5-minute pit stop style tyre change. It was here that we met some of the local wildlife. Sandflies. They truly are the douchebag of the insect kingdom. They bite with absolutely no provocation and for now benefit that we could see. Even the freaking massive bumblebees that seemed so interested in our fluoro hi-vis vest didn't sting. We had aimed to make it to a place on the coast called Charleston but we took a wrong turn and ended up in a random old gold-mining town called Reefton ('Town of Light'), which as it happens was the first town in NZ to get electric lights. Wow. Camped out under some tree to avoid the night's rains. It only worked to a point.....moist.....Joe discovered, much to his astonishment, that his bivvy was STILL not waterproof.
Day Seventeen : Dec 17 Reefton to Hokitika 116km
Instead of rain, today our natural enemy was wind. We spent the entire day pedalling into seemingly gale-force Southerly winds. Turns out wind is more crushing to the spirit than rain could ever be. At least with hills you get to go down the other side...with wind there is no relief. Simon did not think it was a good way to spend his birthday, but the various text messages did help to elevate the spirits. After arriving on the coast at Greymouth by about 4pm - we headed south and the wind restricted us to only 40km in 3 hours. Bloody wind. We camped out at a holiday park in the rain after having a nice bite to eat and some drinks at the only place open in town for Simon's birthday.
Day Eighteen : Dec 18 Hokitika to Franz Josef 134km
Today was the first day without any rain on the South Island. We followed the coast road south through some pretty sweet scenery. We climbed a hill called Mount Hercules at about 1pm, then just as we were about to start the descent a tour bus came up behind us. We let him past, then Joe managed to tail the bus most of the way down the other side. Fun stuff, if a little scary. We put in a hard afternoon's pedalling and made it to Franz Josef, with the FJ Glacier in sight, at about 7. We chose our backpackers wisely, as they had free vegie soup on the stove which we inhaled a few bowls of. We thought we could eat a large pizza each at the bar across the street but only managed less than half. Fridge pizza for the next 2 days it was.
Day Nineteen : Dec 19 Rest Day Franz Josef
Our second day off of the trip. Funnily enough - it was raining. A lot. We booked in for a half-day glacier trek for the afternoon. Luckily they provided waterproof gear. The hike was amazing - had about 2 hours on the ice with crampons the whole works...but it was absolutely bucketing down the whole time. Kinda frustrating because we couldn't take any photos so we set our minds to committing the amazing scenery to memory (like they did in the old days).
Day Twenty : Dec 20 Franz Josef to Haast 145km
This was a big day. Even by our standards (cause we're awesome). The rain had seemed to actually get heavier, which meant that we were a little tardy off the mark in the morning. We taped shopping bags to our shoes in a vain attempt to keep our socks dry. It worked for a while, but by the end of the day the inevitable happened. Squelchy. We made short work of the three big hills between Franz Josef and Fox glaciers and arrived in Fox by about 1pm. After lunch we endured what some say was the most demoralising and cold afternoon of cycling ever experienced by mankind. We had, however, set our goal as Haast and we were not to fail. So we didn't. Pulled into Haast wet and freezing (it was about 3 degrees and blowing a gale) at about 8.30pm. The tavern was still serving hot food so we got a steak and each ate about 15 potatoes from the salad bar. They are high in carbohydrates, you see. There was no way we were going to camp out in that weather so we checked into the local backpackers for the night. The manager was a little odd. All our clothes had gotten wet despite the garbage bagging but we weren't allowed to use the dryers. Oh the inhumanity!
Day Twenty-One : Dec 21 Haast to Lake Wanaka (Boundary Creek campsite) 93km
We set off up the Haast river valled towards the Haast Pass : the only road over the mountains to the east. The sun was finally out after many long, long days of rain and we were very happy for it. We arrived at the base of the pass proper at about 1pm and started climbing. After about 20km of steady climb we got to the top and stopped for a bit of a photo op. Getting over the Haast pass, which we had been looking forward to with some trepidation for weeks, turned out to be not nearly as difficult as we had expected. Cruising down the other side was fantastic and we started cruising along the bank of lake Wanaka. We decided to camp at a Dept of Conservation campsite on the bank of the lake at Boundary Creek. The scenery was fantastic - not a cloud in the sky. We met an American couple Graham and Pam who were travelling in a camper van, and shared a few beers. We built a HUGE campfire on the beach after going for a swim in the frigid waters purely in the interest of hygiene. It was so cold it gave us an instant cold headache as soon as we put our heads under. Now thats cold. Pam and Graham were going to Queenstown the next day so they offered to carry our gear for us which was great. The stars were amazing too.
Day Twenty-Two : Dec 22 Lake Wanaka to Queenstown 117km
With Tanya having lost a lot weight thanks to Graham and Pam, we set off at pace along the banks of Lake Wanaka and then Lake Hawea. We arrived in Wanaka at about 1pm then set off up the Crown Range road, a 'short-cut' from Wanaka to Queenstown. We climbed steadily for about 30km then the incline increased when the road gods decided that they were making it too easy for us. The last 10km from Cardrona to the summit of the Crown Range was pure bitumen evil . We were stuck in 1st gear and did not dare stop for fear that we would not be able to start again due to the incline. Mounting the summit was certainly an extremely satisfying mounting. The view was fantastic from the highest sealed road in New Zealand at 1078m above sea level. After finally getting up, going down on Tanya was truly the climax that we had worked so hard for (ahem.....maybe I should re-word that....nah). The next 20km was the steepest downhill run we'd had by far and we gave the disc brakes a real workout. After navigating the hairpins, we had another 20 or so k's to Queenstown - rolling in at a very respectable 6pm to Pinewood backpackers, our home for the next four nights. We headed out to find Graham and Pam and headed to Fergburger for what is by far the best burger place we have ever been to. Bar none. The oldies went home and we headed to the World Bar to drink cocktails from teapots. Ran into a couple of chicks we met on the glacier walk on Franz Josef and ended up burning up the DF until 4am. God it felt good.
Day 23 : Dec 23 Queenstown
We slept until midday. Got another burger, got coffee on the lake, booked in for a skydive, rode the Gondola up to the top of a mountain for some spectacular views, had some beers, rode the mountain luge on the summit a few times (got ripped off in the process), Joe cooked a great dinner of steak and pesto pasta, drank some CabSav and wrote up the blog. It's late, we're going to bed. Tomorrow we are jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet. It's the highest skydive you can do anywhere in the world. Yeahhhhh...adrenaline here we come. Tell Tiny Tim we won't be coming home this Christmas...
Ok that's about enough for this instalment. We are staying in QT until boxing day - then we've got 2 more days of riding to get to Bluff and we fly home from Invercargill on the 29th. Can't believe the trip's nearly over! We've had a great time. We sincerely hope that by reading this you don't think we are too wierd (or wired?)....
Goodnight and good luck.
- J & S
We awoke to the sound of rain on the roof of the backpackers - this set the scene for the next week or so which was to turn out to be very very VERY moist. After a quick scoot to Blenheim and a visit to the local bike shop for some new gloves for Simon (he thought he had lost the others) and to a jeweller to fix his watch which was damaged in "The Fall", we headed west up the Wairau River valley. We rode all morning up a constant incline into the wind and rain. Morale was low. We stopped for lunch at a random country pub and tried in vain to dry our clothes in front of a heater. After accidentally setting chair on fire we made a hasty exit and re-mounted Tanya. More of the same...yada yada yada....St Arnaud. Had dinner and beers with a Pohm called Mark. Top bloke.
Day Sixteen : Dec 16 St Arnaud to Reefton 145km
Still raining. F**k. Kept on - this time a little more downhill towards what we thought was Westport. Had got a flat at about midday and pulled over to peform what was now a 5-minute pit stop style tyre change. It was here that we met some of the local wildlife. Sandflies. They truly are the douchebag of the insect kingdom. They bite with absolutely no provocation and for now benefit that we could see. Even the freaking massive bumblebees that seemed so interested in our fluoro hi-vis vest didn't sting. We had aimed to make it to a place on the coast called Charleston but we took a wrong turn and ended up in a random old gold-mining town called Reefton ('Town of Light'), which as it happens was the first town in NZ to get electric lights. Wow. Camped out under some tree to avoid the night's rains. It only worked to a point.....moist.....Joe discovered, much to his astonishment, that his bivvy was STILL not waterproof.
Day Seventeen : Dec 17 Reefton to Hokitika 116km
Instead of rain, today our natural enemy was wind. We spent the entire day pedalling into seemingly gale-force Southerly winds. Turns out wind is more crushing to the spirit than rain could ever be. At least with hills you get to go down the other side...with wind there is no relief. Simon did not think it was a good way to spend his birthday, but the various text messages did help to elevate the spirits. After arriving on the coast at Greymouth by about 4pm - we headed south and the wind restricted us to only 40km in 3 hours. Bloody wind. We camped out at a holiday park in the rain after having a nice bite to eat and some drinks at the only place open in town for Simon's birthday.
Day Eighteen : Dec 18 Hokitika to Franz Josef 134km
Today was the first day without any rain on the South Island. We followed the coast road south through some pretty sweet scenery. We climbed a hill called Mount Hercules at about 1pm, then just as we were about to start the descent a tour bus came up behind us. We let him past, then Joe managed to tail the bus most of the way down the other side. Fun stuff, if a little scary. We put in a hard afternoon's pedalling and made it to Franz Josef, with the FJ Glacier in sight, at about 7. We chose our backpackers wisely, as they had free vegie soup on the stove which we inhaled a few bowls of. We thought we could eat a large pizza each at the bar across the street but only managed less than half. Fridge pizza for the next 2 days it was.
Day Nineteen : Dec 19 Rest Day Franz Josef
Our second day off of the trip. Funnily enough - it was raining. A lot. We booked in for a half-day glacier trek for the afternoon. Luckily they provided waterproof gear. The hike was amazing - had about 2 hours on the ice with crampons the whole works...but it was absolutely bucketing down the whole time. Kinda frustrating because we couldn't take any photos so we set our minds to committing the amazing scenery to memory (like they did in the old days).
Day Twenty : Dec 20 Franz Josef to Haast 145km
This was a big day. Even by our standards (cause we're awesome). The rain had seemed to actually get heavier, which meant that we were a little tardy off the mark in the morning. We taped shopping bags to our shoes in a vain attempt to keep our socks dry. It worked for a while, but by the end of the day the inevitable happened. Squelchy. We made short work of the three big hills between Franz Josef and Fox glaciers and arrived in Fox by about 1pm. After lunch we endured what some say was the most demoralising and cold afternoon of cycling ever experienced by mankind. We had, however, set our goal as Haast and we were not to fail. So we didn't. Pulled into Haast wet and freezing (it was about 3 degrees and blowing a gale) at about 8.30pm. The tavern was still serving hot food so we got a steak and each ate about 15 potatoes from the salad bar. They are high in carbohydrates, you see. There was no way we were going to camp out in that weather so we checked into the local backpackers for the night. The manager was a little odd. All our clothes had gotten wet despite the garbage bagging but we weren't allowed to use the dryers. Oh the inhumanity!
Day Twenty-One : Dec 21 Haast to Lake Wanaka (Boundary Creek campsite) 93km
We set off up the Haast river valled towards the Haast Pass : the only road over the mountains to the east. The sun was finally out after many long, long days of rain and we were very happy for it. We arrived at the base of the pass proper at about 1pm and started climbing. After about 20km of steady climb we got to the top and stopped for a bit of a photo op. Getting over the Haast pass, which we had been looking forward to with some trepidation for weeks, turned out to be not nearly as difficult as we had expected. Cruising down the other side was fantastic and we started cruising along the bank of lake Wanaka. We decided to camp at a Dept of Conservation campsite on the bank of the lake at Boundary Creek. The scenery was fantastic - not a cloud in the sky. We met an American couple Graham and Pam who were travelling in a camper van, and shared a few beers. We built a HUGE campfire on the beach after going for a swim in the frigid waters purely in the interest of hygiene. It was so cold it gave us an instant cold headache as soon as we put our heads under. Now thats cold. Pam and Graham were going to Queenstown the next day so they offered to carry our gear for us which was great. The stars were amazing too.
Day Twenty-Two : Dec 22 Lake Wanaka to Queenstown 117km
With Tanya having lost a lot weight thanks to Graham and Pam, we set off at pace along the banks of Lake Wanaka and then Lake Hawea. We arrived in Wanaka at about 1pm then set off up the Crown Range road, a 'short-cut' from Wanaka to Queenstown. We climbed steadily for about 30km then the incline increased when the road gods decided that they were making it too easy for us. The last 10km from Cardrona to the summit of the Crown Range was pure bitumen evil . We were stuck in 1st gear and did not dare stop for fear that we would not be able to start again due to the incline. Mounting the summit was certainly an extremely satisfying mounting. The view was fantastic from the highest sealed road in New Zealand at 1078m above sea level. After finally getting up, going down on Tanya was truly the climax that we had worked so hard for (ahem.....maybe I should re-word that....nah). The next 20km was the steepest downhill run we'd had by far and we gave the disc brakes a real workout. After navigating the hairpins, we had another 20 or so k's to Queenstown - rolling in at a very respectable 6pm to Pinewood backpackers, our home for the next four nights. We headed out to find Graham and Pam and headed to Fergburger for what is by far the best burger place we have ever been to. Bar none. The oldies went home and we headed to the World Bar to drink cocktails from teapots. Ran into a couple of chicks we met on the glacier walk on Franz Josef and ended up burning up the DF until 4am. God it felt good.
Day 23 : Dec 23 Queenstown
We slept until midday. Got another burger, got coffee on the lake, booked in for a skydive, rode the Gondola up to the top of a mountain for some spectacular views, had some beers, rode the mountain luge on the summit a few times (got ripped off in the process), Joe cooked a great dinner of steak and pesto pasta, drank some CabSav and wrote up the blog. It's late, we're going to bed. Tomorrow we are jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet. It's the highest skydive you can do anywhere in the world. Yeahhhhh...adrenaline here we come. Tell Tiny Tim we won't be coming home this Christmas...
Ok that's about enough for this instalment. We are staying in QT until boxing day - then we've got 2 more days of riding to get to Bluff and we fly home from Invercargill on the 29th. Can't believe the trip's nearly over! We've had a great time. We sincerely hope that by reading this you don't think we are too wierd (or wired?)....
Goodnight and good luck.
- J & S
No comments:
Post a Comment