Day 15
Crack 2 and Cracking
Hanmer Springs to Glentunnel
180km.
Hanmer Springs to Glentunnel
180km.
Day 15 started with the spectacularly crap realisation that I had a crack in my frame. Same dropout, disc brake side, just beyond the chewing gum weld acquired in Wellington. I was firmly told by dear machinist-guru brother that tarmac only was my option for getting to Queenstown. To say that I was unhappy would be an understatement, but I didn't have the luxury of moping this day. My brother and I had a fair distance to travel and weather conditions we shaping up to be rather helpful; full sun, nary a cloud and a rather brisk tail wind.
"Turbines to power...
Mmmmmm Culverden pies!
We scarpered along past the impressively eroded Weka rocks and stated our mid morning hunger at the superb bakery at Culverden. The cracker tailwind shoved us into Rangiora by mostly side roads and an extremely short stint on the main highway.
They were back roads and tedious roads. Straight for kilometres and only palatable with the saucy assistance and much needed distraction of headphones, the backroads were delightfully vacant of cars. We arrived at the tiny town of Glentunnel before nightfall and pitched our tents under the seemingly peaceful bows of a willow free. We were to learn what a mistake that was in the early hours of tomorrow.
That %$@@#!!! crack!
Day 16
The straight and narrow
Glentunnel to Geraldine: 111km
This day would be remembered for its grey skies, straight roads and light brisk showers that careened through the country side pushed by our dear friend tailwind. Oh, and the misadventure of the early morning neighbours. An unwanted immigrant, the territorial brushtail possum decided to grumble its territorial discordant song at 2am. Argh! The country side is even more uneventful closer to the east coast, so we were happy to have scenic mythic Rakaia Gorge and the cloud draped Mount Hutt to entertain and distract.
As in the North Isle, there was the public place Moa sculptures memorialising megafauna lost for locals and providing photo opportunities for the inevitable snaphappy tourists. The small town of Mount Somers provided a nice lunch stop and reasonably stocked general store and was certainly worth the slight detour off the main road. Thankfully tailwind assisted we reached Geraldine mid afternoon and broke the days tedium by resupplying at the local supermarket, availing ourselves of a fine feed of local interpretation of Chinese takeaway and a haphazard game of campsite giant chess.
Day 17
A Fairlie Windy AND Crack 3
Geraldine to Lake Tekapo: 92km.
Day 17 was supposed to be a gentle easy 77km doddle up to the highland plateau to where all of the South Islands Lakes reside. We dawdled leaving Geraldine thinking all was well. Little did we know that just 'round the corner' was our payback for all the tailwind assistance that we had enjoyed thus far. The gusty and at times gale force headwind battered us and sent the fields writhing all along the straight and increasingly upward roads all the way to our lunchtime diversion of Fairlie. Just before Fairlie our third equipment failure of the trip occurred. The seat pack rack on my brothers bike snapped. Not a catastrophic failure as the pack could be easily attached to his seat and we continue onwards. The relocation of the pack would mean the he would be unable to use his dropper post, a device that we both had and that enabled both of us to manoeuvre our loaded rigs with great aplomb when on dirt descents. What this failure did cement was our acceptance of the 'no dirt' policy for the rest of trip. It was now time to scoot frantically onward to our end destination: Queenstown. From Fairlie and its tourist invasion we soldiered onwards past wallaby road kill (yes! Wallabies in the South Island!) to the wind beaten alpine flowers of Burkes Pass. Had it not been for out semi fat tyres (26+ and 29+) and moderate bikepacking load we would certainly have been unceremoniously dumped into the off shoulder gravel by the bulling headwind.
"Are we there yet? I'm over this wind."
As we neared Lake Tekapo we noted a wall of tremulous cloud that hovered
menacingly in the mountains above the lake. Spurred on by the frantic
need to pitch the tents before the weather turned to custard we
scarpered into Lake Tekapo just before 8.30pm. Our average speed for the
day: 13.5km/hr. Applying some previously acquired camping experience we
pitched our tents under the lowest limbs of pine trees to limit the
amount of actual rain and wind buffeting that would reach us. Hunkering
down in our largest tent we devoured our meagre dinner as the hovering
malevolent front descended from Mount Cook to deliver its gift of cold
squally rain. Lessons learned from this day; lightweight tents that you
can sit up in kick the ass of bivy style tents when the weather turns
ugly.
Day 18
The Big Blue
Lake Tekapo to Omarama: 89km
As we knew that the evil headwind would not be an issue and that we had hardly any elevation gain this day we backtracked into Lake Tekapo village for an indulgent breakfast at the local bakery.
Last nights meagre dinner stomach demons banished we continued onwards. The snow capped mountain brethren of Mount Cook mesmerised and taunted us from afar as we swung southwards. More agony ensued as we passed the Lake Tekapo hydroelectric canal and its accompanying gravel service road that bicycles are allowed to use as a connector to spectacular Lake Pukaki, part of the 'dirt' that we now had to miss.
The high plains
Lake Tekapo in the morning light.
Tourists, the lifeblood of many a town of the South Island, thoughtfully gave us plenty of room on the roads and examined us curiously at the salmon farm attraction at azure Lake Pukaki's end.
Had 'dirt' not been off the menu we would have used the hydroelectric canals and Alps to the Ocean (A2O) trail sections to take us off road all the way to Omarama. Instead we enjoyed a gentle tailwind, copious alpine wildflowers on the roadside and a gentle decent into Omarama for a early check-in at the always welcoming Top 10 Holiday Camp. We splurged on a simple bunk cabin to make for a quick departure in the morn. Tomorrow: up and over the Lindis Pass and a scarper to Queenstown.
Day 19
Mountains!
Omarama to Frankton (Queenstown): 171km
The road out of Omarama is paved in the grippy gravel version of hot mix bitumen. With the snow and winter weather experienced here it's quite understandable, but gosh darnit!, it's slow going on a semi-fat bike. We pottered up Lindis Pass and stopped on the Pass to kit up for the descent. From my experience of riding the Pass last time it's always blinking colder on the downside, so we put our warmest stuff on and we were happy that we did. We looked like bandits. Bandits without a stage coach to hold up and horses of steel. Conscious of time we tore downwards toward Tarras and after a brief stop to observe a carpark collision, continued onward at a brisk pace past the 42nd parallel to Cromwell. 
In Cromwell we tap danced through the cobbled mall with our cleated and toe spiked mtb shoes from one side to other to find the post office. The Kiwi Post office held our package sent from Thames that we now needed for our eventual Queenstown departure. Of course Queenstown was now our destination, and there was no other way of getting there other than the serpentine road that follows Kawarau Gorge.
Its a scenic and historically interesting route, but the self important drivers motoring along the winding highway road are generally not that cyclist considerate. After the mad scurry to get to Cromwell, we were a bit frayed around the edges, so the almost nonexistent road shoulder and vapid drivers had us worn thin. Alot of the Nga Harenga trail that we had observed in the South Isle thus far was technically easy trail, with good, smooth surfaces. This observation and our automotively vexed state of mind pushed us to the "oh stuff it!" breaking point. If the Fargo frame was going to snap, let it snap on trail! So amongst the Gibbston Wineries we gleefully let our tyres kiss gravel trails again and rode across the Kawarau river bridge and along the section of the New Zealand Cycle trail that led into Queenstown. It was indeed smooth gravel and not really technical at all in comparison to the other trails that we had ridden thus far on this trip. The trails were immensely enjoyable and afforded fantastic views of the river and of the mountains.
It was a shame that our next day was to be spent cleaning all our gear thoroughly so that Mr. Customs at the airport would be happy, as there was kilometres of other trails between Arrowtown and Queenstown to be explored.
The Remarkables
Frankton, not Queenstown (just 8km away) was to be the finish of our day, as there is a quirky but reasonably appointed "Motor Camp" there that doesn't cost you an appendage or two as the rest of Queenstown does. Frankton is also the location of the Queenstown airport, so our lamented departure after tomorrows "Clean-a-thon" will be easy. Frankton is also at the bottom of Lake Wakatipu and at the base of the Remarkable Mountains, making every toddle out the front door a wondrous scenic overload. It was certainly a delicious place to finish our journey, but bittersweet that we had to depart New Zealand only a day from now.
Lake Wakatipu
In total we rode 2120 kilometres from Auckland to Queenstown in 19 days.
At an average of 112km per day. We also climbed a total of 24,525metres, that's 1291m per day.
There was so much more amazing trails that we could have ridden, and so much more epic scenery to experience. We so need more than a 21day leave pass from the Spouses next time!
In total we rode 2120 kilometres from Auckland to Queenstown in 19 days.
At an average of 112km per day. We also climbed a total of 24,525metres, that's 1291m per day.
There was so much more amazing trails that we could have ridden, and so much more epic scenery to experience. We so need more than a 21day leave pass from the Spouses next time!
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