Fietsers/ cyclists

After a stormy and hot day in Hanmer Springs, we decided to leave anyway. The wind had died down a bit, but it was still very windy. And of course, we still had a headwind.

We had to cross the Lewis Pass to get to the West Coast. It started very hilly and because of the rough roadsurface and the heat, it was a hard day. At the end of the day the sky turned cloudy and it started raining. Fortunately, we were almost at the camping spot we wanted to get to; a free spot where we had to get our drinkingwater from the river. A beautiful place, but infested with sandflies. All of our blood got sucked out of us by those little vampires!

We had only just pitched the tent when it really started pooring. It didn’t look like it was going to stop soon, so we had to cook inside the tent and simulanuously try to keep the sandflies out of the inner tent. It was an adventure… It kept raining during the night and the early morning, but eventually it stopped an we were able to pack everything and leave.

It was only another 3 kms (2 miles) to the top of the pass and then it went down for many kms. Great! The weather improved quickly and it wasn’t long before we could take the raingear off. After another hilly section, we arrived in the cute and quiet town of Reefton, where we camped. We had survived our first New Zealand pass! The next day we arrived in Greaymouth on the West Coast. We had cycled from coast to coast.

The prevailing wind over here is Northwest, that’s why we had a headwind all the way to Reefton. We were looking forward to getting to Reefton, because from there on we would have a tailwind. But no…. The wind changed and we still had a strong headwind!

During a hot restday in Greymouth, we prepared for the trip South along the coast. We bought food for many days because there are not a lot of stores along the route and the ones that are there are very expensive. So we loaded the panniers with pasta and rice.

The trip along the coast was pretty divers. There were long flat parts, but also parts with nasty and steep hills. The scenery changed from beach to farmland to forest to hills in no particular order. Going to Franz Jozef the view turned to snowy mountains and between Franz Jozef and Fox (2 tourist towns where you can walk on glaciers) we had 3 nasty hills to climbs before it turned mostly flat till Haast. Along the way another camping spot with so many sandflies we’re still enjoying them today; our legs are covered in small red bumps and it still itches like hell.

The weather stayed beautiful, it was warm (hot) and sunny. But still that headwind! It still hadn’t changed so we still had this headwind! It didn’t take long for us to figure out that when the weather is good over here, the wind is South and when it rains (which is a lot) the wind is North. So we weren’t complaining, we’d rather have good weather and a headwind than rain and a tailwind! But it wasn’t what we’d expected…

From Haast, we had to cross another pass; the Haast Pass. And that one was a bit different from the other one. Getting there was easy; the road was flat and we cycled through a valley. But after 50 kms (30 miles), the climb started; 2,5 kms (1,5 miles) of 12/13% grades. That was hard! After that followed a more gradual stretch and then we had also conquered this pass. Fortunately it was a bit cooler that day, so we were lucky.

After a short downhill, we arrived at the campground we wanted to stay that night. Another beautiful place with a beautiful view of the valley and the mountains surrounding it. We still had all afternoon to enjoy that view because we arrived early. The fact that we were sucked out of all our blood again by sandflies the next morning, didn’t spoil the joy of the view.

The next day was another hilly and hot one, but we managed to make it to touristtown Wanaka which is beautifully situated on the shores of Lake Wanaka. A big early-evening rainstorm caused it to cool off a bit, but it was just as hot again today. We thought we deserved a restday, so we stayed the day. And fortunately there are (almost) no sandflies over here anymore!

Lake Wanaka

Uitzicht/ view

Tomorrow we’ll climb to ski town Cardrona and then downhill to Queenstown. From there we’ll go to the other side of the lake by authentic steamboat and cycle on a gravel road to Te Anau. We hope the weather will stay good, it looks like it, but over here you never know.