Heading home

Friday 11 Feb - just about to fly back to Wellington from Queenstown. I delayed travel by a day to hang out with Bill and family, Trevor and Hulio, and suffer some incredible hospitality. Stayed at Jagged Edge (photo) and chilled, and also enjoyed a jet boat ride up the Shotover. I bet the commercial passengers don't get the bonus experience of getting out and pushing a beached boat through mud and silt for half an hour.

Job Done

Arrived at Bluff at about 7:30pm. 17 days 7.5 hours. What to do now? Cycle back to Wellington?

Queenstown and beyond

Great ride through Wanaka (breakfast) and the Crown Range, and then the Queenstown cycle trails. Sunny and warm but with a headwind most of the way. Just made the 4 pm SV Earnslaw sailing. Didn't have time time shop first so we cleaned out the cafe. Southland here we come.

Monday 7th - Lake Poringa - Hasst - Hawea

It is a pity I was Maths teacher not and English teacher as I may have had more chance of describing the subtleties of West Coast rain. It had poured down overnight but wasn't raining when we left. But wasn't dry either. For the next six hours we experienced heavy rain, very heavy rain, and rain that hurt due to weight of drops.
I Was A bit lacking in energy, probably because Bill has started to out eat me. He has learned from the the master!
Haast - you wouldn't go there for the food but better than springs junction cafe

At Haast I noticed a couple of loose spokes but hopefully fixed in time to prevent damage.

The climb over Haast Pass was short and sharp with resurfaced road making it harder. The weather slowly improved as we got nearer Lake Hawea. An after dark sprint toAlbert Townhas us setup to push on through Queenstown tomorrow. Not far now! Only about 400 to go.

Photo has Bill resting in Haast

Wet aviary - Part Deux

Lake Paringa: Sunday evening. I am now cleaner than I have been for a while, as is my bike and all my gear. Got thoroughly drenched with pure West Coast rain across the course of the day as we toured the glaciers and other sights. I looked very jealously at a tourist carrying a slab of beer back to his warm dry campervan as we squelched back on to bikes and ride off towards Lake Paringa.

We have a big day tomorrow to get across Haast Pass to Hawea or Wanaka, which will let Bill visit a bike shop and get some TLC on his gears. Not being able to change gear has been a feature of today (and the last day into Wellington) which adds stress and slows progress. I will be using the bike shop time to rest over coffee.

West Coast - now it is raining

Well we had a good start to the day. But then the rain started. Not cold but doesn't add much to the enjoyment or the views. Coffee at Franz and probably the same at Fox. Time to go biking.

West Cost travels - Sunday

Enjoyable day yesterday doing the West Coast trail from Greymouth to Ross. Dinner in pub and then another couple of hours to Lake Ianthe and a great nights sleep in the DoC Camp site. Just had breakfast in Harihari and no time to push on. There are big gaps between towns down here when you are on a bike