An overview of the road covered during our fifth week of cycling.

2017.12.02 – [NZ] Queenstown ==> Cromwell (65 kms | Total: 1414 kms) – Cromwell (NZ) – We opted to by-pass Queenstown downtown center by continuing on the same local road that brought us to our holiday park. After 15kms of gentle downhill, we rejoined the main road towards Cromwell. We stopped at the birth place of organized commercial bungy jumping activity which started from at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge. We observed a few brave souls bungy jumping and zip lining down. Back in late October, when we checked our tandem at the Ottawa airport, the security agent had inquired whether we were planning to go bungy jumping in Queenstown. At the time, we had no idea the town was a well known place for high adrenaline activities such as tandem para-gliding, jet boating, zip lining and bungy jumping. All theses activities were fairly costly and we had not much interest for them. The road brought us through a series winery and later followed a river snaking between mountain ranges. Although the road continued down a gentle slope, the heat from the sun made us seek shaded rest areas. After leaving the mountain passage way, we arrived in an orchard region some 10 kms before our final stop for the day. After our usual shower, clothes washing and resting, we walked 1.5km to town center for some basic groceries and for our evening meal at a tex-mex restaurant.

2017.12.03 – [NZ] Cromwell ==> Lake Hawea (63 kms | Total: 1477 kms) – We started our day cycling along lake Hawea under an increasing headwind. After some 40kms of cycling, we were quite relieved when we rolled into Luggate and we discovered that the small town offered a nice café at its local hotel. After a good light meal and lattes, we pushed on to lake Hawea using a secondary sealed road which offered a more direct route to our holiday park. Although we encountered a few kms of gravel road, we knew that we were close to our destination. We had a good laugh, when we tried to leave one of our last rest area, where Jenny was complaining that she could not reach her pedal… until she discovered that she was trying to put her foot on one of my free pedal… that was sure sign that we were a bit tired. We had a great evening meal at a local hotel’s restaurant.

2017.12.04 – [NZ] Lake Hawea ==> Makarora (49 kms | Total: 1526 kms) – We expected our 50kms ride to be reasonably easy today with the firs half marked by some noticeable ups and downs. Unfortunately, we had not banked on the steady medium headwind as we cycled along the extensive lake Hawea and then later lake Wanaka. We met three cyclists, a couple from the Netherlands and a German, on the short stretch of road that connected lakes Hawea and Wanaka. Every hills we came across appeared longer and steeper than usual because of the strong headwind. Arriving at a café some 5kms before our final destination was like reaching an oasis in the dessert. We had a light meal and lattes. We had some good conversation with a couple from the UK. We also got plenty of encouraging words, from one of the café staffs, to help us finish our day and she also reassured us not to worry about tomorrow’s climb over the Haast pass – as she had cycled it before. Our cabin was part of a small tourist center, in the middle of no where, marking the beginning of 100kms area where no cell service reached. We did get a free 50mb internet service which was provisioned by satellite – unfortunately it was not available from our nice A-frame cabin but only from the main building. We had our evening meal at the tourist center which had a sign at the bar warning patrons to be nice as the next tavern was 52kms away! The tourist center also acted as the last petrol stop for the next 80kms going towards the west coast – unfortunately it closed at 6:00pm which made some motorists panic a bit.

2017.12.05 – [NZ] Makarora ==> Haast (80 kms | Total: 1606 kms) – We were both concerned about the wind intensity this morning as we had 80kms (or so) to cycle to the next town on the shore of the west coast. To get there we also needed to climb over the Haast pass. The advantage for us, as opposed to cyclists going in the other direction was that the climb was a much more modest one. We had a large breakfast at the tourist center’s restaurant before leaving for our cycling day. We were thankful when we realized the road was sheltered from the wind as it passed through forest. We managed to reach the Haast pass with a combination of cycling and walking. There were quite a few photo opportunity rest areas along the way. Descending on the other side of the Haast pass was quite demanding on the tandem brakes. At the bottom of the descent, we met a German/Swiss cycling couple who were pulling a trailer with their toddler daughter – very courageous. We appreciated that the road leveled off until the town of Haast. We stayed at a backpacker facility. The sand flies appears particularly prevalent in Haast as Jenny was continually being targeted by them. We had our evening meal at the local tavern – nice ribs! With the rather strenuous day yesterday and the completion of our long cycling day, our bums were a bit sore.

2017.12.06 – [NZ] Haast ==> Lake Paringa (55 kms | Total: 1661 kms) – Our initial plan called for an even longer cycling day of 88kms. We opted to drop by a hotel’s restaurant for a hearty breakfast as we did not expect to encounter any cafés for the next 60kms. As we were paying our restaurant bill, the front desk attendant inquired about our plan for the day. After indicating that the first accommodation we could find was over 85kms away, she informed us about a backpacker lodge some 55 kms away at Lake Paringa. She was nice enough to call and inquire about the price and availability. We left Haast with the conform that we had an alternate accommodation option. The road was quite pleasant for the first 15kms but then the road started to climb over a few coastal hills that somehow surprised us by their length and relative grade. Following those climbs we were now determined to stop at Lake Paringa. The lodge was fairly remote as no cell service nor Internet were available – for the first time during our trip. Surprisingly a number of cabins were occupied by fishermen and hunters and other remote workers. As Jenny did some clothes washing by hand, I checked the tandem brake pads for wear. I had started to notice some braking noise during our descents. I realized the brake pads needed replacement for both the front and back. At the same time, I noticed that we had a broken spoke on the back wheel. I recalled hearing earlier in the afternoon a metal popping sound which sounded like a spoke breakage. I was a bit concerned about replacing the spoke as I had never done this task on this tandem, nonetheless with some patience I managed to complete all the maintenance work, including the spoke and brake pad replacement. We met a young couple from the Netherlands who had been traveling for the past five months in Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. They minimized their travel expenses by favoring freedom camping which for them involved sleeping in their small car along the way. Jenny prepared our evening meal made up of noodles, veggies and some cured meat which we had purchased in Haast the previous day. We had a relaxing evening without any Internet access.

2017.12.07 – [NZ] Lake Paringa ==> Fox Glacier (72 kms | Total: 1733 kms) – Fox Glacier (NZ) – As we opted for a shorter cycling day yesterday, we further benefited by this decision as we were able to have breakfast at the Salmon Farm café only 7kms away. Although our distance was longer, our cycling day was easier as the road was mostly level. We rejoiced upon arriving in the small town of Fox Glacier. We stopped at the General store for some ice cream and refreshments before making our way to the holiday park. After settling into our cabin, showering, washing clothes and resting, we walked into town for our evening meal. Several companies were offering helicopter tours to the nearby glaciers as we noticed the heli-pads were quite busy.

2017.12.08 – [NZ] Fox Glacier ==> Franz Josef Glacier (27 kms | Total: 1759 kms) – Franz Josef Glacier (NZ) – Only 25 kms separated us from the town of Franz Josef Glacier but the road in between was referred to by the locals as the “triple by-pass” for cyclists. The name came from the fact that there were three consecutive fairly steep climbs and downhills on this short stretch of road. We ended walking a fair bit of the first two hills while we managed to cycle most of the third hill. We were glad that we were riding with new disk brake pads for the downhills! We arrived in town around lunch time – well ahead of the forecast rain. We had some lattes and toasts/bagels at a local café. We opted to buy some groceries before heading to our holiday park which was located a few kms away from the town center. We were glad that we had planned to rest for a few days in town namely because the weather forecast now called for some heavy rain. We later returned to town center with the tandem and trailer to buy more food/drink supplies as we wanted to avoid going out in the rain later on. Our small cabin included a small convenient kitchen facility.

2017.12.09 – [NZ] Franz Josef Glacier ==> Franz Josef Glacier (0 kms | Total: 1759 kms) – Well … the rain did fall as expected … some 78mm worth. We were glad we were not cycling on the road. We spent most of the day in our cabin doing some trip planning, expenditure tracking, reading, eating, drinking… and even watching a bit of tv. As the rain fizzled out around 6:00pm, we had reserved a 30 mins time slot in the holiday park’s hot tub at 7:00pm. Being a Top 10 member has its privileges… if was free for us!

2017.12.10 – [NZ] Franz Josef Glacier ==> Franz Josef Glacier (0 kms | Total: 1759 kms) – According to Jenny, the rain fell down quite heavily at times during the night. In the morning, the rain had stopped and the sun had started to peek through the clouds. After our breakfast, we checked the weather forecast with the holiday park’s office and we opted to cycle the 6 kms to the car park at the head of a trail leading to the glacier look out (some 750m away of the glacier edge). The 1h30 (return) path to the glacier had a steady flow of visitors going and returning from the look out. It offered plenty of great photo opportunity. We were surprised how all the rain that fell yesterday appeared to be fully drained/absorbed by the landscape. After returning to the town center, we stopped for some lattes and shared a chicken wrap. Given the rain was still holding off, we decided to do other 1h20 trail leading to old mining tunnel. The path was quite enjoyable with much fewer visitors. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring a flashlight (or mobile phone) along with us, hence we were unable to visit much of the tunnel that apparently offered an opportunity to view glow worms during the day. On our return, we stopped for some snacks at the grocery store and headed to our holiday park just before the rain started to fall again for a short time.