To Haaaaast

The restaurant in Makarora started serving breakfast at a very normal and round 8AM. I had a sausage roll while I waited for the main stuff to come out. James wanted to wait a bit longer before leaving in case there were other sandwich flavours (for lunch). More sandwiches for sale didn't eventuate though.

Super meta rock art image

 The first part of the ride was through some shady rainforest. It was really nice. We had some side trips to see things like blue pools. I also had trouble getting through some uphill roadworks. All that nice gravelly stuff and one-way controlled flow.

Blue poolness

Snow capped mountains behind other cycle tourists

At our lunch stop we shared a picnic table with other cycle tourists. There was a couple from Wales and one bloke from Germany. I don't remember much of the conversation, apart from trying to get my sandwich away from James' DEET spray (there were many sandflies at this location).

The rest of the afternoon was more generic fantastic scenery which will be turned into a hyperlapse.

The campground was a bit awkward with tent sites pushed and squashed right to the front of the property, by the road. It was a hot evening in the tent and I woke to someone not more than 20 metres away not being able to decide whether they wanted to be in or out of their van. There was also water on the inside and outside of the tent fly. Some drying time was needed.

Dinner was cous cous, about half a kilogram of veg and tuna. The veg really helped get things moving inside!

Makarora

26/1

I woke up to the sound of sliding van doors, passing cars and their headlamps. Taking a gamble that I wouldn’t get back to sleep, I proceeded to devour half a tub of yoghurt, 200g of chicken caesar salad and made myself a coffee. I found James at the camp plot shortly after 7 and we set off.

There was the option to get to Albert Town by a path, rather than road. The route is incomplete on Google Maps. It turned out to be more of a mountain bike trail with sand and lots of ups and downs! It was rather scenic though and followed the river.

There was some stunning scenery as we rode up along Lake Hawea. It’s not quite like anything I’ve seen before. There’s dry slopes to the side and a massive body of clear water. The temperature was better for me to ride in.

At the Lake Wanaka lookout there was some Asian family where the mother mentioned to me ( after retrieving her snack from under the car bonnet) that she doesn’t eat Western food. She nearly lost her food to the car!

Heading into the non-tourist Makarora saw the scenery become more lush and there were even trees covering the hillsides. We stopped at a cafe for a very late lunch. I also overhead a conversation about a motorhome 20km away that had been immobilised due to transmission problems. It's a pretty bad place to get stuck with no mobile phone reception.

An extra 4.5km took us to Makarora Tourist Centre. We got the lowest tier A-frame cabin which may have been a mistake. It’s still hot and the upper tiers with more facilities actually have better ventilation.

Dinner was a ridiculous chicken parma.

There’s all these quirks to the place to do with excessively precise timings.

Rest Day

The camp plot we got is kinda near the main thoroughfare, so there's the noise of passing vehicles with the headlamps on (which bounces inside the tent). I'll be glad to go to a quieter place. A combination of eyecovers and earplugs helped mitigate some of those negative effects. Both items may have also been source from a Jack Spade airplane amenities kit.

I tried sleeping in the best I could anyway. It was an opportunity to get the Aeropress out again too.

Wanky breakfast in Wanaka

 We shared half a table at the cafe with a local-ish lady. She was worried that the meatballs were still raw/too pink. She has a daughter who goes to a school that focuses on outdoor activities, which is fitting for the area.

James also managed to get a replacement nut for his rack at the Torpedo 7 affiliated sports store.

Aspirations in Wanaka

Capsicums in Wanaka

Private Property in Wanaka

It's too hot in Wanaka and I didn't want to leave from cover, so I've been recovering sitting in the lounge at the campground. It has been said that Wanaka is very touristy and relaxed. I guess I won't dispute that.

I also got to catch up on eating foods that don't work well with cycling (mainly storage conditions). Like half a rockmelon, half a tub of yoghurt and sushi.

Tonight's dinner shall be cous cous, tuna and some beans.

Lindis near pass

I was a bit of a zombie on this day, having not slept well and also using up all my social interaction quota for the month.

Breakfast

James went to look for a replacement nut for his front rack, but was unsuccessful.

Lindis Pass was pretty brutal, but even more brutal for a Korean cycletourist couple who was camped next to us last night and also heading the same way.

At Lindis Pass itself, there was awkward stopping and pulling in by motorhome drivers, and some car horns were sounded to show displeasure.

Tourist coaches unloaded and everyone scrambled up the unofficial path. It was pretty bad.

It seemed like I was struggling a bit too much when trying to push my bike from its parking spot; an older Chinese lady asked me in Mandarin whether I needed any help. I thought it was safer for her not to try and declined while I mumbled something about the bike being too heavy at the back. One does not want 30kg of bike falling over - especially not onto a person.

My bike seems to roll down hills much faster than James.

Afternoon snack at Tarras

Man taking photos at Tarras

In Tarras there seemed to be a disagreement between a coach driver and a minibus driver. Many photos of number plates were taken and a door was opened aggressively. Nothing eventuated though. There was also some Asian girl with her luggage loitering and sniffing.

Kebab at Wanaka

Gelato in Wanaka

The next day is a rest day.

Part of the Alps2Ocean

A big breakfast in Tekapo with crap coffee

The surface was a bit sketchy on this trail with some places having too much depth of gravel to make for confident riding. In the brochure, the recommended start from Aoraki/Mt Cook was by helicopter. Pretty ridiculous.

Much gravel

Such vehicle restriction

The descent on Tekapo Canal Road to Lake Pukaki.

 

 At the salmon shop, we had a chat with a couple on Bike Fridays. We later join them in Twizel, which was the end of their day. They were wearing DaBrim helmet hat attachments and only complained about it flopping up in the wind. I gave up on my Treadley helmet hat as it really does keep the heat in.

Feijoa flavour icy poles

Bike parking at the salmon shop

Cables from the famous/only hardware store in the immediate region

The famous/only hardware store in the immediate region

Setting up in Omarama

This Omarama campground had pretty decent facilities. The campsite neighbours did keep chatting past midnight though.

Vegetarian pasta at the Wrinkly Rams

 We also went for a quick dash to the Clay Cliffs which I'll make a hyperlapse of. The winds were pretty epic. James also lost the nut to part of his front rack this day - it's being held in by cable tie.

Day 3 Tekapo

A person from the cabin next door decided it was fine to smoke outside their cabin, in front of the no smoking sign. We had a bit of a late start as we were trying to line up times with the opening of the local adventure hire shop (in case they had a spare derailleur cable). It turned out that they don't have any of that kind of stuff and I ended up using James' tandem-length spare.

Fairlie bakehouse

At breakfast there was a gentleman waiting for his wife with his fancy light bike. He gave a few suggestions about different destinations.

The person at the adventure store had a go with the frayed derailleur cable, but didn't achieve much except get his fingers bloody. I wheeled the bike around the corner and looked up the exploded diagram for my brifters. The frayed part was stopping the lever from going into the highest setting, and so the end of the cable didn't reveal itself until I cut off the offending bits.

It was good to have gears again as we went up the hill. We had a quick lunch stop at a place with lots of antique furniture. It wasn't quite Burke's Pass, but at least it had cold drinks.

with Tomatoe!

Here's an extremely sketchy feeling overtake:

Rolling into Tekapo at 2PM, we had time to do some laundry and organise some stargazing tour. There were clouds, some rain and then clear sky.

The supermarket has done well for itself, moving into a much bigger building.

I had spicy fish for dinner. It was super spicy and tasty, but I ordered extra rice to enjoy it as the ratio was all wrong. One of the waitresses sympathised with me saying she was half Asian herself and likes to have a lot of rice with her dishes.

Stargazing went ahead at 10:40PM. The lady at reception strongly recommended that I wear pants, so I tried appeasing her by bringing some along. It kind of reminded me of family members feeling cold and instructing me to wear extra clothes.

It was a sketchy final leg of the bus ride to Cowan Observatory. The bus driver put out the headlights due to light pollution, but that was also the bumpiest part of the ride, on gravel.

The actual stargazing was fine, but I'll probably have forgotten it all in a few days!

Oh no... mechanical

This was my first time on the sleeping mat properly and my back felt a bit awful in the morning. I woke up a bit too early and started packing up. This meant that we were on the road just after 7AM!

It was an awful hill getting out of Rakaia Gorge and I'm glad that it was cooling mist instead of bright sunshine falling from the sky. We made good time and beat the opening of the cafe in Staveley.

Mushroom, spinach and cheese I think...

Outside there seemed to be a 4WD club, with ritual letting out air from tyres. Or maybe everyone goes to church in that type of vehicle. o.O

James and I took turns at being at the front. I like to think that I went faster when I was at the front, but maybe spent less time there. We do have very different hill climbing processes where I just fall behind. I'm very good at rolling down hills quickly though.

Half pound gunslinger and choconut milkshake

Lunch was a bit heavy but I was famished! I was bonking towards the end of that segment rolling into Geraldine.

There was a ridiculous $65 option on the menu that formed part of a challenge.

We were originally only anticipating getting into Geraldine, but with the early start, we had an opportunity to get to Fairlie. I don't remember much apart from the hills on the next part. I managed to break my rear derailleur cable too - at the head. I'll find out tomorrow whether there's a place I can buy/beg for a replacement. Otherwise I've been looking at repair hacks online.

Fish ad chips dinner.

No escape from the heat

The day started lazily with an Aeropressed and hand ground coffee. We went over to the mall and exchanged my non ring pull can of salmon for something more sensible.

After leaving Northlands, we blindly followed Google Maps out of Christchurch. It was a bit awkward at times but there was a nice rail trail for a good portion, with automatic crossing sensors.

No cruising in Christchurch (some roads).

The humidity was nice and cycling past a field of purple flowers was pretty awesome. My feet were overheating though. I had brought my cycling boots in anticipation for wet weather. Maybe it'll still happen. I thought I was escaping from the Australian heat!

Lunch was in West Melton. A delicious steak.

We passed a man who was with a ridiculous truck. He suggested that we get an ice cream. So we did. This is $5.5 worth. James fell victim to the ‘middle option’ and I followed suit. It took me 25 minutes to eat it.

When the truck passed us, the driver gave a toot and spray of water. The truck had signs saying skid testing was underway.

Rakaia Gorge

Deflate tent equipment from bicycle bags.

Dinner (tuna, cous cous, baby corn)

 The day wrapped up in Rakaia Gorge campground. It was new to me in going to a campground with actual facilities. It does make things nicer (as well as a lack of bogans running generators all night).