Monday January 20, 2014

This morning was very foggy and 4.5 degrees.  A very chilly and damp morning, but I could see that the sun would burn the fog off and we would be in for a good day of sunshine.  This is summer in New Zealand in an area that records the highest and coldest temperatures throughout the year.

We had decided last night to make the side trip to Ophir to check out this small historic village.  Like so many towns and villages in New Zealand in the 1800’s the villages relied on the rail way being built and going through their Town or Village.  If the railway didn’t go through the village, then more often than not the village died.  Not this one, it is still going strong with a post office, small village school, church, a tavern and a café and a small butcher shop.

We asked the camp site manager for directions as we knew there were two entrances to the village and we needed to return to the rail trail.  He directed us about 2 ks outside of the village so that we could see the historic bridge, which we didn’t know about.

The bridge was well worth the extra two kms.  This route would then bring us back in a circle to Omakau and the rail trail.

We started the rail trail with more cyclists than we have seen on this trip in one single day.  There was a family of 6, (Mom, Dad 2 kids and grand parents).  There was another family of 4 mom, dad and 2 teenage daughters.   The first part of the trail was crushed gravel, similar to yesterday, and had some great bridges and interesting features to look at.

By the time we got to our lunchtime stop, which had an historic general store, it was getting a little boring, – straight, flat so we decided to come off the trail and take the road.  The road was a little hillier but at least we got the reward of the down-hills as well.

My first accident of the trip – Usually when I come up to a cattle grid I clip out and scoot across, well I negotiated a cattle grid successfully without un-clipping and thought this is easy, so when I came across another grid I thought no problem, well I miscalculated and my front right pannier rubbed against the side of the gate and down I went or actually not down more stuck in the cattle grid/gate.  What an idiot, I managed to un-clip and get out from the cattle gate and wiped my bloody leg and scraped arm.  No major harm done but hurt pride.

We got to Ranfurly and found another nice little camp site, with a fully equipped kitchen, very clean place and not too far from the downtown.  After dinner we went for a little wander around the town and stopped in the local hotel for a glass of wine.

Ranfurly is the second Town in New Zealand with an Art Deco history.

This is the guy we can blame for the zig-zag roads, we have been following.  Roads as crooked as a dogs hind-leg.  He was the fella that surveyed these lands in the 1800\’s.

We met a lovely Danish couple with 2 little girls.  They had cycled New Zealand pre-children and looked on a little wistfully as we discussed our route and talked about the Grand Adventure.  Lise said it is different travelling with children, you have to get used to stopping and visiting every playground in New Zealand.

Sunday January 19, 2014

The sun was out when we got up, it had been a relatively warm evening and it looked as if it was going to be a good day.  The forecast was for rain or showers and then sunny in the afternoon.  The forecast was correct for a change.

We had a great ride from Cromwell to Clyde, the start of the Central Otaga rail trail.  From Cromwell to Clyde we followed Lake Dunstan and the Clutha River.  We were in the valley for the most part and it was ruggedly beautiful.

We did have some minor climbs but with the wind at our backs I managed to do most of them in my big gear and only dropped down to my middle gear once.

We decided to follow the Central Otaga Rail Trail today, just to change it up a bit.  We have been on roads for a while now and knowing that this trail has a good base to cycle on we thought it might make a change.  There is usually plenty of information boards as you cycle along to keep it interesting.

This bridge was called Muttontown because a local farmer would sell his sheep to goldminers in the area.

You always know what the time it is in Alexandra, there is a giant clock in the hillside.  We had a lovely lunch in this Town.

A kiss in Galloway.  The hut was a waiting room for ladies at the Galloway station.

We managed to keep a steady pace of about 17 kph for the first 17 kms on the trail and then once again the wind picked up and was blowing us all over the trail.  At least on the trail there were no cars to be blown into.

This Irish Blessing was on a bench where you could look over the stunning scenery in the photo above.

We got into Omakau at about 2:30 and found a nice domain camp site with cheap cabins, so tonight we are staying in a cabin – they are basic rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds.  We still use the communal kitchen and communal showers, but it keeps us out of the wind for a night and it is actually cheaper than the campsite at Queenstown.

We walked to the village to get some supplies and decided to have dinner in the local eatery.  A wonderful pumpkin lasagna with salad for $15.00 each, great price. Lovely dinner.

Tomorrow we are heading for Ranfurly, again on the rail trail and then on to Palmerston.

Saturday January 18, 2014

The day started cold (4.9 degrees), but not windy, the sun was out and we anticipated it to get warmer as the day progressed – it didn’t!

We had travelled by bus from Cromwell to Queenstown and knew the road was hilly and in parts narrow.  We also knew that there were going to be areas where we would want to stop and take photos and possibly do a bungy jump at the original site of bungy at Kawarau gorge.  We were late starting 9:15 and started by walking up a 1:15 incline out of Queenstown.  We were soon on the bikes and going, the wind such as it was, was behind us. The hills that I remembered on the bus trip were now mostly in our favour and it seemed as if the whole day was downhill with only a few smaller climbs.  I only went into my granny gear once.  The area around Queenstown has alot of small vineyards, it is a lovely area.

The Kawarau gorge where the bungy is beautiful, even without the added excitement of the bungy site.

At the bungy site, Ralf took photos and decided he was going to do it.  I decided not to, I am not sure why – I wasn’t afraid, just not really interested in doing it.  Ralf on the other hand was really excited about doing it.

Over to Ralf: Up until the time I stepped onto the platform, everything seemed perfectly normal then they ask you to put your toes over the edge, you have a few seconds to look down into the fast flowing river, when you are told “give us a big jump 3, 2, 1 jump” it is at that moment when you can feel a spike in your heart-rate.  Then of course you jump – flying through the air at the 32 feet per second feels absolutely awesome.  But 43 metres is a short distance and it is over relatively quickly and you are left with nothing but a huge grin and an adrenaline rush. \”Fear inducing. Gravity defying, awesome\”.

The best swan dive of the day.

If you want to check out the video of Ralf’s bungy jump email me and I will give you the website and access code.  It is stunning.

We met up with Bernard the Welshman, we had first met him in Geraldine and again in Lake Tekapo – when Ralf told him he had bungied, he said \”How old are you man? you are crazy\”

We stopped at the site of an old gold mining area.  You could pan for gold, or just buy jewellery in the shop.

Amazing rock formations in this area.

This week-end in Cromwell is a Classic Car event, which just happened to be next to the camp site we stayed at.  It was a very busy camp site.  After we had made our very simple meal of fusili and plain sauce we watched a group of Italians (who were working in the area as fruit pickers) making homemade Gnocchi.

Friday January 17, 2014

Ralf woke up at the crack of dawn this morning, even though we were supposed to be having a nice lie-in.  He got up and took photos of the camp-site.  Normally camp-sites are not very photogenic, but this one has some very quirky buildings, which makes it very interesting.

It is another windy, cool day, the sun is out and it would be lovely if the wind would die down.

After breakfast (I managed to make poached eggs without breaking them) we had a relaxing day and a little bit of retail therapy.  I treated myself to a merino wool top. It has been getting a little chilly at night but not cold enough to wear my puffy jacket, but cool enough to slip a light-weight but warm merino wool top.  Lovely.  We also treated ourselves to a couple of extra bits of camping stuff.

Tomorrow we are on the road again, we have decided to go back up the east coast.  The weather on the west coast has been awful, (rainy, windy and cold), and we want to enjoy the rest of the time on the South Island not endure it.  We may miss some spectacular scenery, but we have already seen a lot of spectacular scenery.

We may even do a bungey jump on the way.  It is expensive, but you only do it once.  We are heading out to Cromwell tomorrow and then we will pick up the Otago Rail Trail, before heading up the east coast back to Christchurch.

It has been a great relaxing day.

Thursday January 16, 2014

We knew we had a really big climb today after Omarama, (Lindis Pass).  The forecast was not good, possible rain and strong north westerly winds – again.  We got to Omarama in good time with no rain and a little bit of a side wind nothing too bad.  It was a nice route.

Did you know?  Waters from the three lakes, Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau, in the MacKenzie Basin, pass through a system of power stations and canals downt to the Waitaki power station.  All 8 power stations are operated from a control centre in Twizel, which ensures that as much electricity as possible is generated from the water flowing from the Southern Alps out to the sea.

We stopped at Lake Ruataniwha spillway and took these photos.  On the plaque on this turbine it said it was a spare turbine.  Does this mean that it is similar to when you build something from IKEA, I have a spare (nut) turbine, do you think it is important?

I lost it today.

We had decided last night that we should eat more regularly as both of us are losing weight, which means we are not eating enough for the riding we are doing.  Anyway we stopped in Omarama at 30 ks and had a sandwich.

When we came out of the cafe the wind had picked up and it was blowing a very stiff wind.  We cycled about 2 ks out of Town and I lost it.  Because I broke my mirror in Kikoura I have been in the lead all the time, we haven’t switched up because I need Ralf behind me telling me what traffic is coming, especially the transports and some of the cars with boats or trailers who often come too close.  Well I was finding it difficult to keep my bike in a straight line with the wind blowing me into the gravel.  Eventually I stopped and screamed at Ralf that this was crazy and I wasn’t going to do it.  This is supposed to be fun not suicidal.  Ralf’s response “Well what happens if it is the same tomorrow”.  We had a bit of an “animated discussion” about what to do next.  We circled back to the campsite and then Ralf suggested to see if we could hitch a ride over the Pass.  We went back to the café and found out there was a bus that would leave in about 30 minutes if it had room it could take us all the way into Queenstown or to Cromwell.

We hate to cheat, after all this is supposed to be a bike ride around the world not a bus ride.  We know we are taking the train a couple of times, but catching the bus over a hill should not be part of the trip.  However, saving ourselves from being blown into a transport truck or off the road, maybe?  We took the bus and are now sitting in the Holiday Park in Queenstown.

We were hoping to meet up with Adonica (she was on an exchange with Meridian a few years ago) but she is going to see her family in Auckland so we will miss her.

Queenstown is a sprawling mess of a Town which is very touristy, with lots of adventurous things to do in and around Town such as bungey jumping, jet boating, trips to Milford Sound etc.

We have decided we need a couple of days to regroup, replan the route and then carry on either Saturday or Sunday.

Wednesday January 15, 2014

We woke up this morning and the temperature was 5 degrees, another cold morning, but the sun was out and it looked as though it was going to be a nice day.  However, at 7:00 it was cold, I had my leggings on, had found my ear warmers and my gloves.  It is supposed to be summer.  During the ride we were peeling of layers so that by 10:30 we were back to our normal cycling gear of shorts and top and sandals.

Today we were planning on getting to Omarama (85ks).  There was a short-cut we could take that would take of a couple of 2.5 ks and a few hills.  In the book Peddlars Paradise it indicated that road works had been undertaken, even though the barriers may still be in place.  Use at your own risk.  Well we decided to use at our own risk.  We cycled the 8kms down to the gate and discovered that the road works were newly started and this was major road works, we could not use this road. We had to turn back.  A 2.5 km shorter route turned out to be a 16 kms add on.  Oh well, it would have been a lovely route.

Todays route was mainly undulating, no major hills and with magnificent views of Mount Cook and then along Lake Pukaki a lovely day.

We arrived in Twizel at about 2:00 pm, I suggested stopping for something to eat and then carrying on to Omarama, but Ralf said we should stop.  That was a good idea, as it was getting really hot 30 degrees.  Amazing how we can go from 5 degrees to 30 degrees in one day.

We like to stop at about 2:00, it is a good time to stop, we get time to put up the tent, shower, shop or visit the area, do any washing that needs doing and relax.  Sometimes I even get time to update the blog before supper, if I get free wi-fi.

Tuesday January 14, 2014

This morning started very cold, Ralf wore his long pants and I had my leggings on brr.  It was only about 7 degrees!

The route was a steady uphill climb with a slight head wind.   The road was good with wide enough shoulders and most of the cars gave us enough room.

We stopped in Burkes Pass Village which had a lovely little church which we were able to go inside.  It also had a little antique store, and fabulous wooden garden furniture for sale.  Would look great in cottage country.

Then we started the real climbing of the Burkes Pass 709 metres.

The climb up Burkes Pass was hard with the wind but we managed it.  From there it was primarily downhill, with a few undulations.  As we rounded Dog Kennel corner the vista opened up and it was an “Oh My God” this is incredible, then –

“oh My god this is more incredible”.

It was awesome.

Ralf’s comment: Another windy day in paradise with hills great! –

oh my god this is incredible.

We stayed overnight in a campsite on the Lake that we thought would cost $50.00, it only costs $30.00 for this view.

Lovely campsite.

Monday January 13, 2014

Another day, another wind this time not in our favour and this time with added hills.  A tough day of cycling.  Yesterday we cycled 50 ks in 2hrs 18 mins, today was 45 ks in 2hrs 58 mins.  You win some you lose some.  The scenery was still stunning and the hills were manageable.

We had planned to try and get to Lake Tekapo (90 kms) but had the contingency plans of Fairlie and Kimbell.  Fairlie has a campsite, Kimbell doesn’t.  Fairlie it is.  Again very clean facilities and great people in the kitchen.  Tomorrow we will get to Lake Tekapo, hoping the winds are in our favour again.

At one point we watched the wind blowing through a barley or oat field, the patterns it was making up the hill was stunning.  You can’t get the full effect from the photo, but it still looks pretty good.

MacKenzie District – was named after a Scottish sheep rustler who found a way over the mountain pass with stolen sheep and then set up his own station. He was caught and put in jail.

Today we met a very impressive couple.  We had seen them cycling through Town on a tandem with a large trailer on the back.  We thought it was a bit over the top for two young people to be carrying so much.  Until we got into the camp site and saw two extra little helmets on the trailer.

This young couple were travelling with their 17 month old twin girls.  That is impressive.  They were a really nice couple, English and Australian travelling for a month in the South Island.  They had heard the North Island roads were bad so decided to do the South Island.  We had a long chat with them and they told us how they travelled with the girls – allowing time for them to play in the morning and then by the time they start cycling at 10:00 ish the girls are ready for their first nap.  They stop when they wake up and let them play again and then cycle again a couple of hours later.

There was also a very inquisitive blackbird.

Sunday January 12, 2014

We woke up this morning with the wind battering our tent.  Wonderful, another windy day in paradise.  While I was in the shower block one of the other campers said her awning had blown away in the night.  We managed to get the tent down and had our breakfast then headed out into a very windy day.  We passed this hedge as we left the Village of Mt Somers, no idea what it was supposed to represent.

The wind was in our favour yippee.  There were some scary moments when we crossed an intersection and the wind was blowing from the side and blew me down the side-road, but for the most part we had a 60 km tail-wind.  Ralf stopped pedaling for 1 km and still managed to do 25.5 kph.

Next math question, how fast does the wind have to be blowing to move something that weighs 137 kgs (Ralf on the bike with loaded panniers) down the flat road at 25.5 kph?

We saw 7 separate groups of road cyclists that were coming from the opposite direction – they were struggling against the wind.  We however, finished 51.26 kms in 2 hrs 18mins, awesome.  Today was also the first time since Auckland that I have been in my big gears:)

We stayed the night in Geraldine, a lovely little town.  Of course there are some people in Geraldine who have way too much time on their hands.  Like the woman who has knitted the largest sweater in the world (Guinness World Book of Records).  Her husband and daughter spent years recreating the 1066 Bayeaux Tapestry (sp?) out of 4,500,000 pieces of steel and then hand-painting them to match the original tapestry in France!!  The woman at the iSite was very impressed with it and was telling everyone about it!!..

Ralf and I did not feel the need to go and visit this, even though it was in the down town area.

We met up with one of the groups of cyclists at a coffee shop, one of the ladies had been blown of her bike, so they cut their ride short.  They were training for a 3 day, 320 km charity ride in February – 3 days fully supported, with food and accommodation included for $200.00 and however much you raise for the local charities.

Saturday January 11, 2014

A lovely ride today with one big climb and a small climb.

The two climbs came after Rakaia Gorge at about 25 kms into the ride.  The big climb came directly after the gorge and basically went straight up from the gorge a 14% grade, then leveled off and then went up again at a 10% grade.

It was pretty much downhill from there and will continue downhill until Geraldine tomorrow.

We stopped at the gorge for about half an hour, it was stunning.  We took loads of photos but I have only chosen a couple to go on the blog.

We carried on cycling through a mix of sheep, cattle and deer farming areas with the mountains to the right of us.  The scenery in this country is amazing.  Somewhere in the middle of nowhere (Alford) we spotted these sculptures of Moa.

This old farmer came and chatted to us, what a lovely man.  His farm has been in his family for about 5 generations and has recently changed from cattle/sheep to deer.  He had 2 dead possums on his car – he traps them and then sells the pelts.  He gets about $150 for a kilo of possum fur.  Chris has a Possum and merino wool sweater which is so light and warm I was looking at treating myself to something with possum and merino mix, but you have to hand-wash it very carefully and dry flat – not going to happen on this trip.

From Ralf: My deer wife, the vegetarian, is thinking about having some venison for dinner tomorrow night!! – There is hope for me yet.

We stopped at Stavely for a late lunch a little Village.  The church was built by the Methodists in 1903, they sold it to the Presbyterians in 1905 and now it is shared by the Anglicans and the Presbyterians.

Today’s camp site is a domain site.  This generally is a limited service camp, usually toilets and maybe a shower.  However, this has a kitchen, showers and a great price $15.00.

My first migraine in over 2 months.  As we left the camp-site I felt it come on, I quickly took some pills and kept it in abeyance.  The first 15 kms were a bit slow because of it, but we picked up the pace after the gorge.