October 22nd Queenstown – Mossburn 114km
Up and ready to go at fairly early, it was a little overcast
but no rain. The route out of Queenstown
had some really steep climbs but they were only a couple of hundred meters
long. Soon we were travelling along the
lake road which like all of the lake and coast roads undulates with short steep
climbs and descents. The views were
awesome, the roads quiet and the wind calm so we had a great ride to Kingston
which is right at the bottom of the lake and has a great café.
After we had refueled on quiche and scones we set off for
Atholl about 30km away. We must have had
a tailwind or the road must have been downhill as we flew along at 30kph+
hitting Atholl for lunch. We had been
riding through lush farmland since we left the lake and they day had turned
warm and sunny, we made a decision to ride to the next township 37km further
on. This turned the 77km ride into 114km
but make hay while the sun shines! With
only one long climb on route we arrived in Mossburn motor park after just over
6 hours in the saddle, it had been a great ride though and not that tiring.
The campsite itself was in a beautiful setting, peacocks and
chickens wandering around with sheep in the fields. The down side is the facility blocks which
were run down and a little dirty. As we
shared the whole place with only 2 motor homes we pretty much took over the
kitchen and watched a movie on the TV after dinner. When we went out to the tent the stars were
incredible I think mainly because you could see any artificial light in any
direction.
October 23rd Mossburn – Te Anau 65km
Off at 9am which seems to be the norm now we rode the 3 km
to Mossburn town. Not much there and the
supermarket was shut and it turns out it would have been closed if we had gone
there yesterday. Luckily we had passed a
small farm shop on the side of the road or we wouldn’t have had much dinner
last night.
Anyway what a good decision it was to ride the extra miles
yesterday as the wind was strong and in our face. We made slow progress but as we only had
65ish km to go we weren’t down at all.
We had lunch at the top of the hill surrounded in red tussocks. We hid however behind a few felled trees to
get out of the wind. Once going again
the wind eased and before long we cycled into Te Anau. A quick drop into the tourist information
gave us the heads upon the weather for tomorrow which looks bad so YHA it
is. Tomorrow we are off to Milford Sound
so it can rain as hard as it likes.
Bumped into Murray at the YHA the other cycle tourist we
keep seeing and there was another cyclist there. Seems a few more are getting about now.
Forgot to mention we got attacked by a magpie! It swooped down at me and nearly made me fall
off, Maria saw it happening then it turned and swooped at her! It did the same to Murray and the girl in the
tourist info!
Watched the world cup, I really thought France were going to
steal it in the last 20 mins but I was glad to see the All Blacks take the Cup.
October 24th Milford Sound
We got on the Kiwi Experience coach which included a cruise
and the underwater observatory. Several
scenic stops on the way along with a few cheeky Keas (alpine parrots). Maria was in her element as she had worked
here several years ago. On the cruise we
had a buffet lunch before heading out on deck to take in the views. It was so windy you could hardly stand up but
thee views were awesome. When we edged
up to the waterfall we decided to stay on the bow which turned out to be a bad
idea as we were soon soaked!
The observatory was next, this is where Maria actually
worked. I enjoyed it, it was smaller
than I had imagined and it had been damaged in a storm. Some of the trays that held the coral had
also been damaged and the coral died. Maria was a little upset but I am sure she
liked to see the place again.
We got back on the bus about 4pm and arrived back in Te Anau
about 5.30pm. The gusts we hitting
130kph and the rain hammered the building.
Not looking too good for the 100km tomorrow!
Black Coral is surprisingly white
Kea on the coach
Observatory
October 25th Te Anau – Tuatapere 107km
Bright sunshine and little wind, what a change from
yesterday. As we left the town the wind
picked up but blew on our backs and we flew along. A quick café stop after an hour, lunch in a
picnic spot and up to 40kph made this a great ride. 30km from Tuatapere the wind changed to a
headwind but we still managed 20kph so it couldn’t have been strong.
The ride was mainly through farmland with great views of
mountains in the distance, with only one big climb we averaged 20kph.
It is a little cold tonight so we opted for a cabin
again. Any excuse. The Last Light Lodge has nice rooms, kitchen
and showers for $56 for the night.
Tomorrow Invercargill with a bit of luck!
Lake Manapouri
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