Fleeing the storm

31/1

On this day, I got up a bit earlier and made myself an Aeropress coffee. I had resupplied with some 'Havana' beans from New World. We didn't quite make it on the road as early as I had hoped, but it was still a good start. Pulling into Bealey Hotel, we had breakfast there.

Bealey Hotel pancake, bacon, banana... something else breakfast

The sky is angry behind us

But not angry where we are going

We had a brief stop at Castle Hill, where part of Lord of the Rings was allegedly filmed. To me it was a bunch of rocks.

Rocks

People admiring rocks

I also catch up on some messages and the remaining 2/5 of my ciabatta.

We make good time to Porters Pass. Here is the descent. Brakes were applied to remain stationary at the top of the pass.

We roll into Springfield and have a chat with David. I won't mention his nationality, but there does seem to be a trend with almost every young traveller we meet! David has a pretty well beaten bike with the front rack broken and a few spokes missing in the back wheel. He was hoping to make it up Arthur's Pass, even hitchhiking, but with the storm coming in, I suggested ice cream at Darfield instead. He's done just about every significant road in NZ. He also mentioned some ridiculous scheme where the place that he bought his bike will refund him half the purchase price upon return of the bike in any condition.

People off their bicycles at the Springfield Donut

At this point James wanted to book accommodation at Oxford and for once I was the one saying to hold off. We bash our way with a kind of cross-tail wind until we get to Oxford and refuel at the supermarket. It was only 4PM at that time and I wanted to push onto Rangiora, for my own selfish reasons. But maybe I can be a Randian hero today.

So James then books some motel on his phone and we push 30km/h to Rangiora. The motel is quite reasonable but the room is hot. We go to Monteith's for dinner under advice from the motel operator.

$20 mains night

I decide to stay in Rangiora for another night and book the same motel for about $25 cheaper, because that's what I do.

Feijoa yoghurt

Cheat Day

30/1

Impeccably timed, this day bought us time in getting us from Fox Glacier to Arthur's Pass without encountering any of the storm/Cyclone Fehi.

Impressive:

About 90 people are stuck in cars between slips near Fox Glacier, and are set to stay there overnight, according the Westland District Council.

Approximately 800 people are stuck in Haast as the town is cut off due to the weather.

Police say they are safe and well and that Civil Defence is the lead.

SH6 between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier is also closed due to slips and downed power lines.

There are reports of people trapped in the middle of the slips and work is underway to clear the road at both ends.

James did mention that I'm some sort of cycletouring weather good luck charm for him.


The bus driver taking us to Greymouth on Intercity/GreatSights didn't want the bike surcharge payment as long as he didn't have to touch the bicycles. However, he was adamant that the wheels had to come off. It was a bit sketchy loading the bicycles onto the coach luggage area on the traffic side.

SH6 switchbacks between glaciers

The highway between glaciers is only 24km but very lumpy and many fellow bicycle riders complained that the segment cost them half a day.

Franz Joseph glacier was a bit of a mess for the journey; the coach driver visited pretty much every single accommodation in town instead of going to a central point. I don't think it was the best path either.

The coach service was very generous with the number and duration of breaks. There was an extended break at Hokatika which was declared as lunch. The bus driver did a lap of the town. I took the opportunity to buy supplies for dinner, as Arthur's Pass doesn't have much in terms of groceries nor restaurants. I also managed to eat 3/5 of a Hawaiian ciabatta.

I didn't feel all that well on the coach ride, possibly due to the ventilation.

Greymouth coach terminal was a complete clusterf-. There's not much space between coach parks and the coaches need to reverse into the spot. The driver did warn everyone not to get up until the coach engine was switched off and sounded his horn several times during the manoeuvre.

Our connecting shuttle was waiting for us a few metres away, but the luggage was inaccessible. I explained the situation to the shuttle driver and he was understanding. We were only five minutes late in getting underway and had a bike rack on the back of the vehicle. Still, the bikes were a bit squashed from other people's luggage under the coach and my mudguards were a bit off.

The bikes were held in place with elastic cord, which I felt was a bit suss... but they held in the end. I still wasn't feeling great and missed seeing the Otira viaduct.

Accommodation at Arthur's Pass was pretty good. We shared a cottage with an NZ-Canadian family. I let James deal with the social stuff as I had even less social energy than usual.

We did some walks in the evening and bumped into them.

Ice Climbing

Doing ice, at great expense, with arms flailing and a lot of kicking. Getting high and coming back down again. Being cold and hot at the same time!

Not much to say about food on this day - didn't eat out at all.
It was an exhausting day and my knees were sore afterwards. I hope I didn't damage my foot either from all the kicking - it was a bit tingly. There was a bit of sunburn on the back of my neck as I transitioned from wearing a jacket to taking it off after overheating, but not applying sunscreen on  the extra exposed skin immediately.

Haast To Fox Glacier (and mobile reception)

28/1

Since my last sighting of Lake Wanaka, I had been outside of mobile phone coverage. I also didn't find the value in paying for a small amount of internet access. How awful!

Leaving Haast we competed with Belgian cycle tourists for patches of warm ground to dry our tents (not really - there was heaps). One of them had a Rohloff hub.

When retrieving my drink bottles, I noticed that the leftover frozen veg I had marked as free and placed in the freezer was already gone! High value food item.

Better views of the sea than at the highway monument

More generic fantastic scenery

The lunch stop was at Paringa's Salmon Shop - a few kilometres east of Paringa as marked on Google Maps.

Extra value buying the 1.25l bottle at a $1 premium over the 600ml

Later on there was also a little shack on the roadside.

Low dangly clouds near Fox Glacier

Pulling into Fox Glacier I get a call from a friend who hoped to meet up around here, but hadn't yet acknowledged geographical reality and travel times. It had been a long day on the saddle so I didn't have the motivation to explain right then and there.

Dinner was steak at the restaurant under the accommodation. It was mediocre. The rooms lacked ventilation and windows were kept open, with sandflies etc coming in.

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.