Sunday 16th February - Cromwell to Queenstown

Just 35 miles today, all uphill.  Just glorious gorge views. We had a rest at the Gorge bungy jump but I couldn't pursued Tony to partake.  

We stopped here for a break in the sunshine

No it wasn't Tony nor me.

Saturday 15th February - A second day in Cromwell

It's quiet on the camp site today as all the campers have gone of to the music festival between here and Queenstown at Gibbston.  There are 10000 people expected there to see 10cc and Lynyrd Skynyrd and a few other performers.  We will cycle through Gibbston tomorrow when the road is less busy.

We had a ride out to the Highland Motorsport Park and stopped at a cafe for a bite to eat on the way. Very leisurely, it felt like a Sunday. Tomorrow the pop concert is over so things will be less crowded and we will move on towards Frankton and Queenstown.

Catherine nose a good photograph when she sees one. 

Well it is a rest day after all. Relaxing at the cafe with the Saturday papers.

Interesting bit off artwork at the Highlands Motorsport Park. They had Go-Karts and they would wiss you round the race track in a hi performance car but it was not really our thing and very very expensive.

Another interesting bike rack

Friday 14th February - Valentines Day - Rest day at Cromwell

We decided that we needed to start sorting out the rest or our trip in some detail so decided to stay here for another couple of days.  Today, the bikes had a rest and we walked into town and along to the Cromwell's Historic Precinct.  Later the washing was completed by machine, thank goodness!  The evening was enjoyed as you can see from our photo.

Cromwell . Know for its fruit growing ! Hence the plastic fruit.

The reconstructed old town. This was the Main Street years ago but they built a dam for Hydro Electricity and most of the rest of the old town disappeared below the water!

A nice way to finish the day.

Thursday 13th February - Wanaka to Cromwell

We had a good day cycling rolling countryside which was downhill a lot of the way. The winds were very low and if anything on our backs. The road out was unexciting but had a really interesting puzzle museum. We did not go in but just the outside was interesting and their toilets quite an experience. You walk through the toilet door and find yourself in a roman toilet! We celebrated our 1000 mile today and called in at the Lazy Dog Winery ( http://www.lazydog.co.nz/ ) to celebrate with coffee and cake- well it was a bit early for wine as we had some miles to do.

In a cabin tonight but the bad news is that there is a pop festival on up the road on Saturday and 10,000 people are going to arrive! If we continue we would cycle past the venue which would seem daft. Accomodation is going to be really booked up, so we may have to just camp here for two more nights! Real bad luck but these things happen I guess.

People often ask why we do this cycling....well

Catherine does a good job outside the puzzle museum 

Roman style artwork when you visit the toilet area

Catherine makes a new friend!

We are making progress on our tour.

The lazy Dog winery

http://www.lazydog.co.nz/

Working our way South!

Wednesday 12th February - A day in Wanaka

The forecast said rain at 2 p.m. and they were right. We had a cabin this morning and when we woke we could tell there was a change in the weather. It had been rather hot when we arrived two days ago, but today the high was 15c and this morning it was a good deal less than that. So yesterday we sat here with the sun belting down on the cabin and the windows open and now I have the heater on. It must have dropped 10 degrees!

We went out this morning along the valley road that is a dead end. It was traffic free, we had no weight on board and the gradients were reasonable. A good job as we were both still really tired. Listening to the rain belting down on the cabin now I am so glad we are not in the tent. The bikes are in the dry as well which makes me happy. Catherine has gone into town to get her hair done as she felt it looked in need of sorting when she viewed the photos. I just hope she is still in the salon at the moment!  It's pelting down! 

I have had a day at sorting out what happens next. We are going to go to Queenstown and that will probably be the furthest south we get (although we may go on a few sightseeing trips from there, so these may take us further South). We reckon a week to see Queenstown and then we will start heading East and then North. So Queenstown will be our turnaround point in effect.

I used my jasmine speciality selected soap this morning, yummy! And I even managed a proper shave and Catherine has attacked my "Dennis Healy" eye brows with her nail scissors. What with Catherine's hair being done Kiwi style you will not recognise us on the next photo.

We found a cafe on our ride along the valley. It was cold and overcast and the campsite that this was attached to was closing up as the kids are back at school now. Suddenly that autumn end of season feeling was creeping in.

Not what you call light weight camping!

But you could always have this luxury lodge we saw

It was so peaceful, few road and few people

Tuesday 11th February - We're knackered in Wanaka

Time for a rest day! Lots of jobs to sort. First off we booked a cabin for two days so that we could have a real rest. It's hot and sunny but showers are predicted this afternoon and tomorrow.

The second job of the day was to catch up with everyone back home as we now have good wifi.

The bikes have done 900 miles now and needed a look over so that was Tony's job of the morning. This included:-

1) My Brooke's saddle looks more like a deck chair as the leather has stretched making the saddle uncomfortable. I borrowed a grip from our neighbouring camper and was able to tighten the saddle nut satisfactorily.

2) Went round every allan key bolt checking they were fully tight. My bottle cage bolts on the front bottle rack needed several turns. Catherine's carrier bolts and mudguard bolt also took half a turn or so each. So always worth a check!

3) Cleaned the chains and jockey wheels and put a damp rag over the frame and wheels.

Catherine's jobs for the morning was to pack away the tent gear ready for the move to our cabin (we tried to get a cabin last night but they were all full) and to rest and read her kindle as well as do some of the blog.  Another job was to update the data record of mileage, finances, accomodation data and also to have a look at some of the options for routes to Queenstown and do a quick check on possible itineraries after Queenstown.  

Afternoon snooze time then. Then an afternoon cycle into town which was most successful . We managed to purchase the following:-

1) A new sleeping mat.T found that the lamination had failed early on in the tour and the cells in the mat had started to join together. This became a big ball at the top of his mat. So we waited to get to a big town with outdoor shops. It cost over £100 ouch! 

2) some new cycle gloves for T. The only problem cycling was that his left hand kept going numb after cycling for many hours. We are hoping the new gloves which have good padding will help.

3) Some shaving gel. T left his in the showers a week ago and has been managing with soap to shave with so this is a luxury.

4) a bar of soap. We had used most of ours . The supermarket sold lux and Palmolive.... In packs of six! We ended up with posh perfumed soap costing as much as six lux bars.

Monday 10th February - Makarora to Wanaka

Today we expected overall downhill and a little undulating with gorgeous views across the two lakes we were to cycle along.  Well it was all that but the downhill didn't seem it and the undulating road seemed much more, the views were excellent.  We generally cycled with Matthew who we met up with a few days ago and were also joined by Julie, a young lady from UK.  Julie and Matthew met up yesterday and cycled the Haast pass together.  They stayed at the same lodges as we did last night. So it was good to have 4 of us cycling together today.  We had a few good rest stops in the shade and chatted as well as posed for a few photo shots.  Tony and I found this a really hard day after the testing previous two days and decided that we need a rest at Wanaka for a day or two to rest ready for the transverse over from the west of NZ to the East via Queenstown. Queenstown is decision point with regard to route.  Do we continue south, or go east, or go north east. Decisions, decisions. 

There is a great difference in climate once over the Haast Pass and hence the other side of the Southern Alps. The West is all rain forest and greenery going all over the mountainside. Now we are in rain shadow of the Alps and everything is parched and yellow and when we set camp the ground was as hard as concrete. Such a massive climate difference in just a few miles. We are now in Central Otaga. Drier, hotter, more tourists and busier roads. We camped looking to find shade in the trees but as we arrived at the campsite later all the shade was occupied.

The windsock flops. Yesterday this was solid and showing the south wind that hit us hard on the pass.

Great Lake views and the lakes are thirty miles long so the scale is incredibly

Our fellow cyclists for the day, Matthew and Julie.

After three hard days in the saddle during which we have covered 165 miles with full camping gear and a major pass. Pizza and chips was a fast way of making a quick meal although not really healthy eating. Half a family sized cheesecake for afters too! We badly need a rest day now.

There is a anecdote about the pizza. As we heated it up in the camp kitchen oven the base of the oven must have been full of grease as thick smoke started to fill the kitchen until it got to choking point! Although we were very very tired we had to walk the meal across the site to the other kitchen. Luckily that oven worked it's magic and we enjoyed our meal before bedtime.

What I call lumpy! Lots of ups and downs a little like a roller coast but then again we had done a lot the previous days.

Sunday 9th February - Haast Village to Makarora

Today was the main slog uphill away from the coast and now moving East.  Unfortunately there were mountains in the way that created a serious barrier.  We were offered motorised assistance and to cut a very long story short lets just say due to logistics that never materialised.  So after 30 miles of gentle uphil from Haast Beach we started the real hill, past The Gates of Haast, and upwards and further upwards, past the roadworks trying to put the landslip right (there was a landslip last October which closed the road for a month and it is now open during the day only) and has only a single track carriageway for about a mile. The drivers behind us were very patient! The wind was against up and caused a few wobbles on some of the bends but we coped.  The route gradient leveled a bit and we could make some real progress and then before we knew it we were at and over the top.  Being nieve, I thought that was it, but the wind picked up and the last 10 miles downhill was the hardest.  We arrived in quite a good time overall to our pre booked A framed cabin, which was delightful.  Unfortunately few photos were taken today.  It we stopped to take a photo or two we would have had difficulty getting back on our bikes due to the wind, gradients, and luggage weight we are carrying. 

Yes I know 564 metres does not sound a lot but with a strong wind in our face and a very steep accent it was a hard climb and we walked pushing the bikes up the heavy incline for over two miles.

The view from Makarora that night. They had closed the road as usual overnight in fear of more rock falls.

As you can see, when the climb came it was a steep one!