Friday, October 21, 2011

Cycling Wanaka Queenstown


October 20th Wanaka - Queenstown 80km

The hardest day yet!  We left around 9am and after a short sharp climb out of town the road climbed steadily with a slight headwind to Cadrona.  At this point we had covered about 25km so we stopped for a hot chocolate at the bar which was an old wooden building full of old curiosities.  Things were going well although the cloud was building and the road steepening.  We leap frogged a crew fixing potholes in the road for a little while then we hit the last 3km of the climb.  The road was killer steep and I needed to stop every few hundred metres to catch my breath.  Thw weight of all the gear was seriously paying it’s toll.  Several cyclists passed travelling to Wanaka, even a tandem came past but none were carrying gear, I was wishing I wasn’t.  That said we eventually made it to the top of the highest sealed road in NZ at nearly 1100m.  We spoke to a guy from Bruni who was visiting his son, drank soup and then pushed off to Queenstown.

Once round the corner the wind hit us hard, going much faster than 30kph felt unsafe so by the time we reached the bottom my hands were killing me from hanging on the brakes so hard.  I think we had the easiest climb as the road on this side seemed really steep although it always feels steeper going down than up for some reason.

When the road flattened out we could either go straight to Queenstown or gi via Arrowtown on quieter roads.  So we did the latter and stopped there, ate our packed lunch and an ice cream.   A quick walk around the shops saw Maria buying more greenstone.  Finally we left for Queenstown.

This is where I guess I ran out of steam!  The headwind was very strong and the road undulating, each hill was kicking my butt.  I even got Maria to ride in front to block the wind for a change but she just went too fast for me to keep up so it made no difference.  The last couple of km to Queenstown had steepish climbs and I really had to dig deep.

Anyway I made it without dying which is a bonus and we decided to get a proper bed so we went to the YHA.  Shopped ate and then bed.  Enjoyable? you bet, but maybe more in hindsight :-)





October 21st Queenstown

Got up at 7am and got ready to leave, it was a little damp outside but nothing bad.  At breakfast it was clear we were worn out from the previous day so we decided to have another day off! 

We spent the day just cruising around Queenstown and Maria tried to sort out the Milford trip.  The town is full of youngsters looking for a thrill.  All the activities are expensive and to be honest we haven’t really got the energy today.  The only thing to catch my eye were the downhill centre but you could spectate and hiring a bike and gear would be $100 before you started on lift tickets etc or the off road motorbike tours.  Now we didn’t check the price for them but I might treat myself when we come across another one, I am sure it will be expensive but it would be very cool.

Now we are just chilling in the hostel, going to watch a dvd and then an early night.  Oh I forgot the Cookie Time shop.  Cookie Time cookies are a large part of our diet and they had a shop devoted to them.  Not as good as the M&M shop in Las Vegas but still well worth a visit.
Just spoke to the guy on the front desk and said the heli biking company were looking for guides and also the jetboat company looking for drivers.  Man how badly would I like to do either of those!!!!  Queenstown is a place where you can scare yourself in hundreds of different ways if you have the cash.
Got my Oz visa through today, looking forward to seeing Ade and Grace.
Half the team in the Cookie Time shop

One big Kiwi

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