Photos now available

The trip is over and I am back in the rainy San Francisco Bay area. I have posted a large number of my photos from the trip at www.flickr.com/photos/guyhc. Please enjoy them.

The Grand Finale

Today was the last day of riding for most of us. (A few hardy souls are continuing further South on an additional tour, or going to the North Island for a different tour.) After a good breakfast we pedaled down to the lake for group pictures, and then began the 50 or so mile ride to Queenstown.

We started off with a long gradual rise from about 250 meters to 800 meters and then a final steep climb from 800 to 1100 meters. This last climb of about 1000 feet was comparable to the Haast Pass climb of a few days ago -- about 3 km of steep ascent, averaging about 10% grade. From the top we could see Queenstown, about 20 km further (by road, probably shorter as the crow flies).

The descent was an experience all by itself. There were 10 to 12 switchbacks and a fair amount of traffic to watch out for. Lots of braking required.

From the bottom it was a short ride to Arrowtown where we had a pleasant outdoor lunch at the New Orleans restaurant. Like a great many of the town on the West side of the South Island, this one had its beginnings in the gold rush of the 1860s, not long after the American gold rush.

We had the option of getting in the van about 3 miles out of town (to avoid the city traffic) or brining it home by bike. Three of us biked the finale. I managed to miss the key last turn and did a few extra blocks on the main street of Queenstown.

The tour is not officially over since we have a group dinner tonight and a group breakfast tomorrow. I leave here at 3:15 tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) and arrive back home midmorning the same day, about six hours before I leave here! I bet that sleeping on the airplane will be easier than ever before.

This will probably be the last blog posting for several days. After I get my pictures sorted out and posted on Flickr, I will do a wrap up post with a link to the photos. Meanwhile, I have just under 24 hours to check out Queenstown.

A Great Day!

They've all been great days, but this one was really enjoyable all the way, with great weather, beautiful lake shores to ride along, and several gentle climbs. It was a short day, only about 40 miles, and I arrived at our destination, Wanaka in time for lunch. Although we had good directions for finding the lodge where we are staying tonight, a key sign post had been turned amking it a little tricky. But in a town this size, you can't go too far wrong and I found it soon enough. It is a very pleasant lodge with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore.

Yesterday's scenery included a number of magnificent waterfalls. Today's was entirely different with the lake views. For the first 15 miles or so, I rode along the shores of Lake Wanaka. (Top photo.) I made three picture stops in the first six miles. The there was a short trip across "the Neck" to the shores of Lake Hawea (Second photo) for the next 10 or 15 miles. Then some gently rolling hills led us into the town of Wanaka. This is a modest sized town with several shops, cafes, and a beautfiul lakefront location. Quite a change from our wildereness and near-wilderness locations of the last two nights. I am looking forward to an afternoon of more picture taking.

Tomorrow will be our last day of riding, taking us all the way to Queenstown. If the weather holds, it will be a great way to end the trip.

Lake Moeraki to Makarora -- 70 miles

After last night's post, I walked to Munro beach, about 45 minutes each way from the lodge. There I got my first real taste of the infamous NZ sand flies. They were biting like crazy at the beach. Nonetheless, I took off my shoes and went wading in the Tasman sea. It was delightful.

Today was our longest ride of the tour and had a large hill at the end, which I will describe shortly. The build up was worse than the reality.

It was overcast when we started, and stayed that way until after we climbed the hill over Haast Pass. The ride started out with three small climbs in the first six miles. We called them the three little sisters, not to be confused with the three big sisters that we climbed after leaving Franz Josef a few days ago. At the top of the first there is a view point at Knight's Point, overlooking the sea. Despite the overcast day, the view was worth a stop. Unfortunately, the sand flies thought so too. They were as bad as they had been at the beach. So it was a short picture stop.

We then had a long relatively flat stretch until our picnic lunch at Pleasant Flats. We had been forewarned that this was to be a picnic for the sand flies with us being the main course. We had ridden something over 40 miles by that point, so lunch seemed like a good idea. John loaned me a set of rain pants to keep the flies from my legs, and I spread insect repellant on my arms and neck. Strangely, the sand flies are only interested in people, not our food. After a hasty repast, which was quite tasty, it was back on the bike for the Haast Pass climb.

The tough part was the first 3 kilometers where the average grade (we were told) is 10%. Some pitches were considerably steeper. I saw readings of 15 and 16% on my GPS. After that it was about another 7 km of gradual easy climbing to an altitude of 562 meters (about 1700 feet). At the top, the sun became dominant and the descent was the best of the trip because it was fairly straight and I could really let the bike go.

At the bottom we came into the small village of Makarora. Our lodging is in a complex of A frame chalets. Our guides describe them as rustic, and I would not disagree. But they are certainly adequate, with good hot showers, plenty of beds (mine has a double and two twins) and all the amenities including the ubiquitous kettle for making instant tea or coffee. (Some of our lodgings have even provided French press coffee makers and the coffee to go with them.)

No picture today because of the usual computer issues. Only two more days of riding, and tomorrow is a relatively short one.

Fox Glacier tgo Lake Moeraki

Another beautiful day. We got a late start because the cafe was understaffed and breakfast took quite a while. But since it was an easy ride of 50 miles, mostly downhill, it didn't matter. The scenery was beautiful, as we passed through rain forest, swamp, and rugged green hills. Lots of good photo opportunities. The photo today is of Marion and Alice, two members of the group, with whom I rode for part of the morning.

I was surprised to see lots of possum road kill. Until today I have only seen one or two. Possum products are a big industry here. They make socks, gloves and other knitted items out of a mixture of possum fur and merino wool. They also make possum pies which I have not tried, and probably will not try.

Several of us stopped at a small salmon farm en route. Not a lot to see, but in addition to the salmon in the pens, they had lots of large rainbow trout that were visible in the water surrounding the pens and in the streams nearby.

The lodge where we are staying tonight is very, very nice and quite far from anything else. They have several guided nature activities, including a star watch program tonight where we can see the stars of the souther hemisphere. The only problem is that it starts at 10:30 which is pretty late after cycling a good part of the day.

"Rest Day"

The concept of "rest day" can take on a whole new meaning in New Zealand. This is our second and last one, and it seems to mean only that you rest from cycling, but even that has to be qualified. But, I need to back up.

Last evening, after dinner, a few of us joined Bill and John, our guides, for a short van ride and then a short walk to Lake Matheson where we located the best spot for the taking the iconic NZ photo of the reflections of Mt. Tasman (left) and Mt. Cook (right) on the Lake. The best time for taking the picture (although we did take a few sunset shots) is early in the morning before the sun has crested the mountains and before the wind stirs the surface of the lake.

So, I was up at 5:30 this morning and on the bike by 5:50. I arrived at the beginning of the trail just after 6 and walked hurriedly to the viewpoint -- about twenty more minutes. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect day for the photo -- there was a cloud circling the top of Mt. Cook, and a gentle breeze was causing ripples on the lake surface. But I still got several pretty good shots, one of which is above. (the 6 mile round trip biking doesn't really qualify this as a cyling day).

We met for breakfast at around 8 and then three of us took a walk to the face of the Fox glacier. This was about a three hour round trip walk. The one big surprise to me was that we saw several large chunks of ice -- I would estimate 400 pounds or so each -- floating in the glacial river outflow. Although the glacier face has lots of dirt, the breakaway ice chunks were crystal clear.

We have four cycling days left, including our longest single day (a little over 70 miles). We should have some good climbing as well as some long easy stretches.

The little village of Fox Glacier, where we are staying, consists of helicopter services, guide services, motels, small cafes, a general store, and a gas station. The helicopter services apparently do a great business. For $190 you can get a 20 minute helicopter ride over the glacier which includes a snow landing so that you can step out "and experience the feeling of standing on snow." I wonder if they would let you shovel for an extra fee? I think that I have experienced enough snow to forego this thrill.

Glacier Country

Today was the best day of the trip so far. We woke up to bright sun and were on the road fairly early. The start was quite level and I stopped in a Maori craft shop in the first town, chatted with Lou the carver for a while, made a small purchase and continued on my way to the town of Franz Josef, starting point for exploration of the Franz Josef glacier. All along the way, the scenerey was magnificent, with lots of green pastureland and forest with snow capped peaks in the background.

At Franz Josef, most of us put the bikes on the trailers and rode up a short distance to the visitor center at the glacier. From there we hiked for about 45 minutes to the face of the glacier. With the perfect weather conditions, it was a great side excursion. We then hiked back, ate the small lunches that we had packed and hopped on the bikes. [Those who hadn't made this side excursion had already bicycled on to Fox, the center for exploring the Fox glacier. Fox is where we are staying tonight.]

The ride back down from the glacier led us back to the main road and then to the "three sisters," the three small peaks (about 1200 feet high) that we had to climb and descend in order to reach fox. They were not too difficult, but provided some fun climbing, good descents, and magnificent views. At the bottom of the third hill is the town of Fox.

Tomorrow is a rest day. We have lots of options, including helicopter flights ovr the glaciers, hiking in the glaciers, walking around lake Matheson, or setting off on our own on the bikes. Most of us felt that we got a our view of the glacier today and will do something more relaxing like taking the 90 minute walk around the lake. I'll do that and keep my options open for the rest of the day.