14/11/2014 Makarora to Wanaka

2014-11-14 click for more photo's

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14/11/2014 Makarora to Wanaka

Another beautiful day riding and yet again we had wonderful sunshine. The views were truly breathtaking and thankfully there were not quite so many camper vans on the road. It wasn't a difficult ride but it took us forever because we kept stopping to take in the views. Miles and miles of lakeside riding with snowcapped mountains all around.
Unfortunately we missed the beginning of the off road track in Lake Hawea but managed to pick it up later on. It was a lovely single track trail which took us all the way round the lake before heading for the centre of town. Well worth the detour. Once we were settled in the hostel we paid a visit to the local supermarket. We were spoiled for choice after quite a few sparse shopping days and had ourselves a real feast.

Saw some sheep today. Where are they all? I thought NZ was full of them. We have seen field after field with young calves instead. Another thing we noted is that you see more little planes and helicopters than buses on the west coast and it has been days since I last saw a lorry.

The lupins smelt gloreous.

13/11/2014 Haast Township to Makarora

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13/11/2014 Haast Township to Makarora

We awoke to blue skies and a cold wind which despite a complete change of direction for the day was once again head-on. The expected prevailing wind would have been on our backs so we felt sightly cheated but most people do today’s route in cloud and rain and we had perfect sunshine all day so we didn't mind the wind too much.

The first 45 kms were a gentle ride along the valley floor but when the gradient changed it was brutal and sustained. We had agreed to break the climb up into a 300m and 200m section with a drink stop at the side of the road in between and in this way the climb wasn't too bad. In the Kennett book the ride from the summit to Makarora is described as 20 kms of freewheeling downhill. Unfortunately for us the headwind turned this into a slog. All in all it was a beautiful day riding with not too much traffic either. I wonder what it would be like in high season though since the traffic nearly solely consists of hire camper vans.

We did stop to look at the roadside maps of the Gillespie track which we may well do later as a tramp with Janneke and Simon. The river crossing we would have to make to start the route looked pretty wide and deep,hopefully the river level will fall in the next 2 weeks.

Makarora was pretty small with one garage with a shop and cafe attached and we regretted not having stocked up in Haast. Having said that, we had an amazing meal sitting outside in the sun in the café. Served by a very helpful and friendly barmaid.

Worth repeating.

Tutunmarjet in her Pyramid

12/11/2014 Fox Glacier to Haast Township

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12/11/2014 Fox Glacier – Haast Township

We woke up to freshly fallen snow on the mountain. The sky was blue and the sun was out. A helicopter whirring overhead was taking people up for a very scenic flight I guess. Unfortunately the Department of Conservation had not reopened the glacier viewpoint because of swollen rivers. We will have to save the glaciers for another time! The photo's really don't seem to do the scenery justice. We made very good progress and after some 40 km's came upon a gorgeous beach (Bruce Bay) where we ate some lunch. It is quite amazing that you can sit on the beach and have snowcapped mountains just behind you. We were rewarded with more stunning views and another lovely beach at Ships Cove. All in all an excellent day in which we ticked off another 120 odd km's with only one brief shower. Even more so since the forecast had not been good and everyone appears so pessimistic about the We(s)t coast. You have to admit 5m of rainfall per year does seem quite a lot but the optimists claim it falls mostly at night and today they appeared to be right.

Gave the whitebait patty another go tonight but still not very impressed. I prefer the way they are cooked in the UK. I do however really really like the greenshell mussels. They are huge and in many places you can buy them fresh by the kilo or failing that you can always buy them ready shelled in a vinaigrette au naturel, wood smoked or in garlic. Delicious you just have to remember not to look at what you are eating.

1111/2014 Franz Josef Glacier to Fox Glacier

2014-11-11 click for more photo's

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11/11/2014 Franz Josef - Fox township
Well it worked out differently than planned. We woke up late to blue skies and bright sunshine. Unheard of on the Wet coast ( no spelling mistake, this is how the locals seem to refer to it) and when the guys in the office suggested strongly that we should go while the going was good we quickly decamped. It had been nice thinking we we where going to stay in the same place for two nights and setting up home! But off we went into the sunshine. It lasted for about 20 minutes before the clouds came down and soon we were drenched in a hailstorm with loud thunder all around us. Oh joy. I was all for going back, I'm not much of a fan of thunder but Malc wisely said we were wet anyway and might as well carry on. To be honest it wasn't far and we managed to find a hostel that was prepared to let us leave our 

belongings while we set off on our bikes to find the perfect reflection of Mount Cook   and Tasman in Matheson lake as celebrated on every calendar and chocolate box in NZ. Of course it wasn't quite like that in reality. We found lots of clouds and rain on and of. Having said that, it was still a beautiful walk and well worth it. As a cyclist you get a bit obsessed with the weather and you know what it doesn't matter too much. You just make the most of what's on offer and in NZ that's pretty good.

This is what is should look like

This is our version. What's wrong with a few clouds.

10/11/2014 Hari Hari to Franz Josef Glacier

2014-11-10 click for more photo's

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10/11/2014 Harhari to Franz Josef

We had a meal in the hotel bar last night and in my wisdom I choose the whitebait patties. It was after all the last week of the whitebait fishing season and I like whitebait. Mostly fish meals have been excellent even in takeaways with lovely fresh fish and huge portions. Not this time I got a very overcooked omelette with some crunchy bits in it. Those of you who know me know how much I like my food so this was a serious setback!

We were expecting wet weather so were quite relieved to see a bright sky. Neither of us was too keen to stay another night in the hotel and had expected to be sitting the day out due to the predicted bad weather and were surprised to have good weather for cycling and made the plan to aim for Whataroa or further if the weather held. Which it did fortunately and we made it to Franz Josef in the dry before the weather exploded from dry to monsoon.

Anyway the ride was very straight forward and not taxing at all. It was a bit of a shame that we didn't get good views because the mountain tops where all in cloud but hey ho we were dry and it was plenty warm enough to stop for some lunch along the way. As per usual we headed for the I site in Franz Josef to search out the best value place to stay. We were directed to the Glow Worm , a lovely friendly hostel with free hot tub, free popcorn, free evening soup and free breakfast. We delighted in listening to the absolute downpour throughout the rest of the afternoon and night. Fully intending to stay another day to let the bad weather pass and visit the local hot springs and wildlife centre where we would have the chance to finally see a kiwi (the bird varity). 

Power food

Reminded me of Chris and Sue

09/11/2014 Hokitika - Hari Hari

2014-11-09 click for more photo's

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09/11/2014 Hokitika to Hari Hari

After several long days today would be a  shorter one  as a spell of bad weather was due to roll in from the afternoon for 2-3 days. Another beautiful track to start the day along an old timber tramway added a few kms but kept us of the highway. The mostly hidden sleepers gave us plenty of bumps. Once in Ross we found ourselves with time to spare and stopped in a cafe for coffee and full breakfast. The owner seemed to take pity on us and served the one meal on two plates with enough for two. Sometimes cyclists do get preferential treatment it seems. We finally met and spoke to another cycle tourer who was doing a small loop of middle South Island. He was from Peru and we swapped stories of New Zealand and South America touring. It seemed odd to recommend where he should travel in Peru as he hadn't travelled through a lot of the areas we had been through.
The motel in Hari Hari was closed for refurbishing but fortunately there was a hotel but at £55 it was more than we would have normally spent,little choice though. There was only one shop in Hari Hari which was part of the cafe and inevitably prices were high and stock limited. Frozen bread again. 

Should be a good fire tonight

08/10/2014 Greymouth - Hokitika

2014-11-08 click for more photo's

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08/11/2014 Greymouth to Hokitika

How to fall off

It's always hard to make the journey longer when you're on a long distance route but today was a case in hand where it was worthwhile. Hokitika was 40 kms on the highway or 100kms via cycle and tramping tracks following the West Coast Wilderness Trail, which is what we chose. The trail was graded as easy and as it was a Saturday with sunshine we came upon several other cyclists for a change. So much time effort and money has been invested in developing these tracks which are so much fun and always very beautiful. The day started by hugging the coastline before heading inland and looping back to the coast at Hokitika. Lots of single track, lots of North Shore, lots of switchbacks and inevitably swing bridges. The highlight for Marjet was watching Malc tackle a steep in and steep out river crossing and then falling into the ferns on the way up in a too hard gear, 5 minutes later an almost identical river crossing presented itself, a quick change into the easiest gear, go for it, legs spinning madly, bugger, the chain comes off mid stream and Malc falls off in the middle, filling one pannier with water and getting a good soaking. One of us thought this was hilarious the other didn't.
A day we would definitely repeat given the chance except for the awful Thai Takeway in Hokitika. 

Too much coffee again