New Zealand - Nov 28

Mt Cook to Twizel

Wow what a difference a day makes.  From yesterday with clouds and rain and snow and high winds with bone chill temps to....  an amazing day today.  We got up and the sun was shining!  The SUN!

It was only 37 degrees at the start but just having the sun shining made all the difference.  It made for a fabulous ride.  We headed out with a great tailwind.  It was like a kind hand pushing us up the road.  😊

It was great to see things from the perspective of clear blue skies and sun.  It made everything look so much better...

The snow of the last couple of days remains as a topping on the mountains all along the route today.

The early sun shone on the lake and created quite an effect.

The road played a part with the tailwind.  There were a good amount of sloping downhills that made the first half of the day race by.

As we got to the rolling plains the vegetation changed.  It was green and went on for miles.  It also did not slow the wind as it picked up speed and shifted around to a crossing headwind aspect.

We took a diversion to go out on a logging road to a cabin in the hills.  But luckily one of our group scouted it out and told us "not worth it".  That saved us a good bit of cycling.  

One of our group let me try his full suspension bike on the trail...  Wow, what a difference it makes!  I do believe it is time to make the leap. 

The day ended with a jaunt onto the A2O, Alps to Ocean trail.  We rode out for a good distance and came to the lake, Lake Putaki.  It is a beautiful alpine lake that is colored with the ground silt of the rocks from the glacier.  It made for a magical blue green color to the water.

On the turn on the way back a couple of us took the pace up to the next level.  We flew over the loose gravel road into a crossing headwind yet hit 30 kph.  It was fabulous...  Made for a great end of the day.

New Zealand - Nov 26 & 27

Mount Cook

We headed out of Wanaka to Mount Cook.  We went by bus up to Mount Cook to do hiking and biking on the mountain.  Then we are going to ride back down the on the 28th.

This was the picture as we left Wanaka.  It was 38 degrees, raining and windy.  Glad we were not cycling out today.

The road wound through some stunning valleys in a rather serpentine fashion.  It will be a great ride back down!

The closer we got to mount cook the more peaks tipped with snow began to appear.  That and the wind started picking up.

There were gorgeous fields of flowers blossoming along the river.  Afterall, it is summer here...

Once we got to mount cook the temps had dropped, the winds had picked up to gale force level and the rain came pounding down again.

Overnight snow moved in and painted the hills around our cabin white.  What did I say about it being summer earlier?! 😳

Snow stopped at about the 800 meter mark on the mountains.  The rain drenched the rest of the landscape.

It made for a pretty "summer" vista...

The snow kept up for most of the day on Mount Cook.  The hiking and biking was not undertaken given the snowy, sleety mix and the strong winds.  It was just a day for hunkering down, resting and staying warm.

Tomorrow for the ride back down is supposed to be sunny but cold.  Oh well, the ride will be great!  😄

New Zealand - Nov 24 & 25

Wanaka 

We stayed in Wanaka for two days and rode out of the town for day rides.  Wanaka is a quaint little resort town on the tail end of Lake Wanaka.  It is a ski resort in the winter and a boating, hiking and mountain biking destination in the summer...

This is where we are, Wanaka...

We rode the Glendhu Bay trail the first day.  It was listed as "easy".  It was just that at the start, easy.  Then it turned more "technical" as we went along.  You can see in the picture above the trail winding its way up and through the hills and along the lake.  You lose perspective though and can't see the steep grades, gravely conditions.  Later we learned it was rated as "intermediate" for the later parts of it.  That made more sense as I was wishing for front suspension and disc brakes... 😳

The ride took us through the grandeur of Lake Wanaka and its nature preserve.

Beautiful vistas and curvy rocky trail.

We came around a corner and saw a hole in the clouds that revealed huge snow capped mountain peaks that had been obscured from view by the layer of clouds.

Then there was the second day's ride out on Dean's Bench.  It was listed as an intermediary mountain bike trail with the emphasis on the mountain bike part of the description... 😊

First, had to climb up from the river level to the top of the bluff on an intricate switchback trail.  That alone should have told me to turn around.  But Nooooo, I kept going.  

The view from the top of the bluff was stunning.  The sunlight played tricks on the river below.  It seemed to paint a rainbow in the water along the bank.

The vast open River valley could be seen for miles from the bluff.

Once I hit the end of the bluff and the beginning of the woods, all focus was needed to navigate the trail.  It was an exhilarating and a bit scary ride.  The trail weaved and banked through the woods. At times the drop off at the trails edge was dramatic.  One little miscalculation of the trail and you would go careening over and drop to the river below.  One such little mistake I made was repealed by a tree.  I corrected a sliding back wheel on gravel and ended up heading right towards the edge.  But I ran the front wheel into a tree and the forward motion over the edge was stopped... Whew, disaster averted.  

Pictures were not possible until the end of the ride.

Ahhhh, back down to river level after the safe completion of the mountain bike trail on a non mountain bike!  😅

New Zealand - Nov 23

Makarora to Wanaka

Wow!  Two great days tied together!

This day could only be categorized as spectacular.  I would call this day the day of the rainbow.  We were greeted right at the start by a wonderful show by Mother Nature.  There was a rainbow the reached from peak to peak of the mountains right in front of the cafe.  It wasn't one of those rainbows that had some yellows and faint hints of green.  This one was a full spectrum show of color; yellows, greens, red, orange, blues, magenta, purples.  It was magnificent...

The view and display only got better as we set out on the bikes for the day.  We rode along Lake Wanaka as clouds rolled through treating the waters to intermittent splashes of sunlight and shadows.  

This played well and delighted us with  the water showing greens and blues and aquas with flashes of white caps upon it.  This was only enhanced by Mother Nature pulling out all the stops and lighting up the hills with so many rainbows that I stopped counting.  

And ohhhh the size of them.  One rainbow splashed color across the entire hillside.  I have never seen a rainbow that big and wide before in my life.  As a matter of fact I think if I added all the rainbows I have ever seen together, they would not equal the size, scope and magnitude of this one.

And then there was my favorite...  a rainbow hung low over a small valley reaching from side to side.  It filled the valley with color.  It had yellows and gold and orange and a smattering of red.  It truly spoke of the presence of the little people.  It seemed as if it was calling out that this was the valley of the leprechauns and here you would find the pot 'o gold!  It was a fleeting sight that sunlight brought to life and just as easily sent away only to be remembered in the warmth of my memory.  Truly a magical sight.  🍀

The sights of the day made it a day that could only be described as spectacular.  

The road we came into town on...

New Zealand - Nov 22

Haast to Makarora

It was a beautiful day!  Yes, a beautiful day!  We were greeted with a bright big gorgeous sun.  Only a couple of clouds whisped about but no rain!

It was still cool as we set out but the chill was brushed aside by the exhilaration of sunbeams.  ☀️ 

What a difference the sun makes.  We have been pedaling through cold and rain and today was such a difference.  

We stopped on the side of the rode for a break along an alpine stream with majestic snow capped mountains as a backdrop.  

It was such a picture perfect moment.  We sat with the warm sun on our faces and the sound of the water rushing by.  It was one of those moments captured in time...  Perfect!  😊

The sites of the day were breathtaking.  Mountains and valleys, waterfalls and rapids made for a photo stop kind of day.  Such natural beauty that kept you saying wow I've got to get that! 

Our last stop before descending into Makarora was the Blue Pools.  A beautiful pristine set of rapids ended in a vivid blue green set of pools.  There were many young people swimming in the very cold water.  

After the stop at the pools we flew down to town the the help of a good tailwind.  A good way to end the day...

New Zealand - Nov 21

Fox Glacier to Haast

It was a tough day...

Rain started pouring down about 2 am which added hope to the prospective day.  After all, how much moisture could there be in the air.  I was thinking positively and aiming for a dry day since the rain started so early.  

Well not so good on the hope side of things.  The rain wasn't pouring down when we set out on our bikes it was only coming down in sheets, so that was the good side.  The bad side was that it rained pretty much all day.  We rode 123 kilometers in the cold rain.  It was 42 degrees when we started and it did not feel like it warmed up much til closer to the end of the day.

The day was pretty much a heads down and pedal hard to scoot through the kilometers as fast and best as we could.  As some of the riders said, they had on pretty much every piece of warm clothing they had with them.  And that was barely enough to keep the chill at bay. 😳

The day ended at a pub, The Big Antler.  They had a fireplace/wood burning stove that had a roaring fire in it.  I have never welcomed something as much as taking off all the wet clothes, well maybe not "all" of them, and sitting within searing distance of that stove.  It felt sooo good to feel the warmth of that.  Oh the simple things of life...  😊

New Zealand - Nov 15 supplement

Cowboy Paradise

I mentioned in my posting for the day, the 15th, about getting to Cowboy Paradise and having a photo taken of us starving cyclists in cowboy hats.  Due to overwhelming requests... here it is:

I am the one in the sombrero.  It is apropos for the wall that will be...

New Zealand - Nov 19 & 20

2 Rest days in Fox Glacier

The little town of Fox Valley Glaciers is surrounded by mountains, nature walks and pristine woods...

This is the valley that leads to the Lake Matheson nature walk.

The walk took us through woods with ferns and plants that seem to have come from the dinosaur age.  

This fern tree appears to be dead except for the one curly growth that is springing to life.  When you are up close to the growth it looks as if it is a cocoon holding a number of caterpillars awaiting their day.  It is surrounded by little brown hair like growths that are as soft as puppy fur.

 

This was a sign along the nature trail that sums up the thoughts as we sat among the beauty that nature served up...

The beautiful lake where we sat silently and listened to the sounds of nature.  You could hear the wind and see it as it rippled the water gently with its hand.  You could see it in the movement of the trees.  Each moving differently as the wind touched them creating as someone said... a scene as graceful as the trees dancing to a soulful tune.

The moss and ferns grew on everything.  One of our group mentioned that we should keep moving or we might start gathering growths.  😊

We took several walks along trails that were so beautiful.

This is the Fox Glacier...

It is in fast retreat with the warming of the earth.  They had pictures of 2008 compared to today... a dramatic difference.

This is the valley that over time the Fox Glacier carved out of the mountains.

And lastly, the river that is fed by the melting glacier.

On one of the walls there was this bridge over a creek which held a dark hollow underneath it.  You could almost imagine a troll living just inside the hole there.  I went to check it out just in case...  😉

New Zealand- Nov 18

Hari Hari to Fox Glacier

It was another beautiful summer day in New Zealand.  Can't quite figure out when the summer part is going to kick in as it was 5C or 39 degrees F this morning.  

This is the group as they started the ride. Several said... they had on every piece of cycle clothing to stay warm.  I drove the van again today as the cold had given me just that... a really good cold and cough.

So I drove support and had to do the grocery shopping for the group.  For those that know me well, know that I'm the last person you want doing the shopping if you want a really good meal that consists of something greater than meat and potatoes.  Chick peas?  Beetroot?  Feta cheese?  Really?!  Well I did the best that a meatatarian could do. 😊

The day took us through some awesome scenery as we drove through the Franz Joseph glacier valley.

A perfect little farm house nestled in a green valley surrounded by majestic mountains.

This was our accommodations the night before.  A converted outhouse to sleep 10.  Just kidding, our accommodations have been good.  This scene just captured my eye and I had to take it.

Snow capped mountains rose above the rest as we neared Franz Joseph Glacier.

This is the town of Franz Joseph Glacier.  It is a quaint little village tucked in a sliver of a valley leading to the gourge of the glacier.

Our lunch stop with an alpine view...

The Franz Joseph Glacier.  You can see it up between the peaks.  It used to extend all the way down to the valley floor.  But since Al Gore invented global warming, it has retreated significantly. 

And lastly a pristine alpine lake...