Queenstown and Arrowtown

 Queenstown to Arrowtown via Coronet Race: 31.1 miles, 3465’ climbing, in the clouds

Gibbston Valley: 23 miles, 1713’ climbing

Arrowtown to Queenstown, soggy version: 17.5, 1070’ climbing

Lodging: Blue Peaks Motels, Queenstown tiny home in the Hampshire Holiday Park, Arrowtown

Having finished the TA brevet, we decided to do some shorter rides around Queenstown for a more relaxing experience on the local cycling trails which are largely separate from traffic. 

First we rode to Arrowtown via Arthur’s Point. Once we got out of town we were on a separated bike path. We detoured up towards the Coronet Loop with rain threatening. Our gpx route wasn’t accurate, and we chatted with a visiting Aussie about the local paths. We climbed up steep switchbacks to the Coronet Race, an old flume trail where water was carried to mines back in the day. We were up in the clouds with some drop offs, very glad it wasn’t actually raining since the narrow trails looked like they could be slippery. After a long traverse, we descended through a creekside canyon to the Arrowtown trails. Our tiny house in the holiday park was cute and comfortable, and we made it without getting rained on.

The next day, under threatening clouds, we rode up the Gibbston Valley, a popular route for wine tasting tours via e-bike. Several miles up the trails, we crossed a long swing bridge. A few miles later was a large bridge with a bungy jumping setup in the middle. We watched a couple of people jump towards the beautiful blue-green river below: one who screamed and one who was calm. Continuing up the valley, we saw rafters below on the river which had beautiful pools and cliffs, very inviting on a warm day. Finally we stopped for lunch and went for a wine tasting at Peregrine winery, known for their Pinot noirs, and we chose a bottle to take back to our holiday park. Apparently the Otago region has more Pinot noirs compared to the more productive Marlborough region which produces a lot of Sauvignon blanc. Trivia: all wine bottles in New Zealand have twist off caps. 

On day 3 we packed up early in the rain to head back to Queenstown. Every hotel in NZ seems to have an electric kettle and tea and coffee fixings, including fresh milk if you like, but we got good coffees at a kiosk by the holiday park entrance. It rained all day. We attempted to return to Queenstownnvia a route we hadn’t fully followed already, but closures forced us back onto the TA route. It was a short but damp ride, the last of our explorations around Queenstown on this trip.

We located a couple bike boxes at a bike shop, not plentiful at the end of the season, and carried them back to our hotel where we washed off our bikes. This is the end of our trip. We packed up bikes and are headed for home. We will post some reflections next week about reflections on the TA and our time here.

Three days on Stewart Island (Rakiura)

 Lodging: Kowhai Guest Lodge

After completing the TA we decided to take a few days off of our bikes to visit Stewart Island, just south off the coast of South Island. Lodging there books up in advance, and we couldn’t plan dates far ahead due to the uncertain nature of bike travel, so we were excited to find a room in a guest house where you book a bedroom and share the kitchen and living areas with other guests. In the end we were the only ones staying, so we had the place to ourselves including a deck with views of the town harbor. Only a few hundred people live here, so it’s small and peaceful. We could have brought our bikes and used them to explore, but we wanted time off and left them at our hotel in Bluff.

Just after our ferry docked, there was an 7.4 richter earthquake ~100km away, and we all got tsunami warnings on our cell phones. No tsunami materialized. Our hosts, Peter and Iris, showed us around our guest house which was only ~0.3 miles from the ferry dock, shops, and restaurants and had a beautiful garden. Peter and Iris pretty much treated us like family friends rather than lodgers during our stay — very generous with their knowledge of plants, birds, wildlife, and local history.

The next day after arrival Peter took us on a private tour of nearby Ulva island, an island unique in that it has no predators. As a ranger in the late sixties, Peter was part of removing predators and restoring natural habitat on the island. New Zealand had no mammals except a couple bats. All mammals were introduced, and many wreaked havoc with bird populations. Native birds aren’t fearful of people since they evolved with no predators which makes them extra vulnerable to predation, but it’s great for bird watching.

Peter is a colorful character with an interesting background as sailor and also served as a Ranger of Ulva island for a year when he was younger.  He was super knowledgeable about all of Stewart Island and its surrounding islands.  We saw a sea lion resting on the beach meters away as well as a number of local birds including the saddleback, tui (which make strange sounds — whirring, clicking, and R2D2 sounds), kaka, parakeets, yellow heads, fantails, Stewart island pigeons, and others…  The robin is particularly curious and approaches you to dine on the insects you stir up. We learned about the many ways that the population of invasive pests such as rats and possums are controlled and about many of the plants, native and otherwise.  It was a great tour.

At our guest house, every evening a kaka flew in for apple slices. The kakas large parrots are similar in size to the keas we saw in Fox Glacier. Iris and Peter left apples to feed them (no cores or seeds). The bird would eat the fruit except the peel. It felt strange to feed the wild parrots here when there were explicit signs not to feed the others in Fox Glacier, but Peter and Iris assured us it was fine to do. The kaka visited us multiple times in our evenings there.

The next day Peter came by and invited us to their home for coffee and a visit.  They were both so nice and welcoming, and their house was lovely with views of both the town harbor and their expansive garden.  After our coffee we went on a hike up Fern Gully and around Ryan’s Track.  It rained for a bit of the walk but later cleared.

In the evening we headed out for a kiwi sighting on a tour we had booked before heading to Stewart island.  Kiwi are usually only active at night, so we headed out at dusk.  We took a boat to surrounding islands seeing several albatrosses, fauveau shags, fur seals, sea lions. We spotted a rare yellow eyed penguin on Bench Island, then we split into two groups to silently creep through the rain forest in search of kiwis. The stars and Milky Way were bright above us with distant sounds of crashing waves.  We spotted one kiwi in the forest, apparently dining on worms, pecking its long beak into the forest floor. Later we also saw a juvenile on the beach, easier to see its large oval body and dinosaur-ish feet.

After coffee on our last morning, we took the hour long, bumpy ferry ride across the swells back to Bluff. We walked to our last hotel where we had stashed our bikes, packed up, and rode the ~22 miles back to the town of Invercargill. It was a bit windy and open, all on cycle trails but partly near the noisy road. It felt good to be back on the bikes but at an easy pace. Tomorrow we will transfer to Queenstown with Catch-a-Bus-South for a little more exploration. 

TA Day 30 - Mossburn to Bluff

 84.5 miles, 577’ climbing — easiest riding day?

Lodging: Lands End Boutique Hotel

The Mossburn Railway Hotel was fabulous — full of character and excellent food. It was also full of TA cyclists. Today was the last day to finish (30 days from starting) and make the “Tour Aotearoa Hall of Fame” for the brevet. All the cyclists on a similar pace, many of whom we have have barely seen for a couple of weeks, were congregated at this hotel since lodging is scarce and this was the best place to stage for the finish.

By 5am, we could hear people rising, packing their bikes outside by headlamp. We held on until after 6am, then had coffee and toast and packed our bikes. We headed out at 7:15 with predawn light and headlights. We were on a roadside gravel trail for several miles, then fast, quiet paved roads with barely any climbing and no headwind. We made it to Winton, our half way mark, in good time, navigating a detour and stopping at a cafe for coffee and full breakfast. For some reason our service was very slow (25 minutes for coffee, longer for our meals) , but it was tasty and worth the wait. We saw a lot of fellow brevet riders there and sat with Mark “hyphenator” from Wellington.

Our ride continued on pavement and gravel, all good with low traffic. We snapped pictures of a southland character for our checkpoints and turned onto a long gravel cycle path, a little more exposed to the wind. 

The last several miles were into a headwind with a few climbs, but we felt a drive to the finish. This part of the route was shared with Te Aroha hikers, the equivalent route for those on foot, some of whom have taken months to walk the length of New Zealand. 

We rounded the corner to Stirling Point, the waypost for the southern end of New Zealand. Fellow brevet riders who had recently arrived cheered us in, and we congratulated each other. We took pictures of each other, for hikers at the end of their journey, and even for some tourists. Our lovely hotel was just meters away with a sea view room. After cleaning up, we greeted a few more brevet riders as they completed their journeys, then had dinner and picked up finisher medals at the restaurant overlooking the tip of the bluff. Views of the cliffs and the sea are amazing.

It felt odd to have finished with the easiest riding day at the end and the hardest probably being the first day on the beach. We will add reflections on our journey soon. First we are rearranging our gear to do some non-bike travel, starting with a few days on Stewart Island.

TA Day 29 - Queenstown to Mossburn

 72.9 miles, 8 of that on a boat, 2657’ climbing

Lodging: Mossburn Railway Lodge

Rain

It was raining as we readied ourselves in the morning. After a croissant and instant coffee in our room, we rode down to the O’Regan’s wharf in full rain gear to meet our boat with skipper Neville from Queenstown boat charters. Tony, Andy, Graham, and Peter, fellow TA riders we’ve been seeing most days, met us there to share the cost of the boat which could ferry 6 bikes. We loaded our bikes for our 30 minute cruise across the lake to Walter Peak. Neville said that the lake is natural and is 1500m deep. We were dropped at a dock in front of what appeared to be an upscale lodge. Another boat unloaded some cyclists at the same time. There are a bunch of us with a 30 day finish goal on about the same pace.

For a couple of hours the rain would lift and come down harder as we contoured around low, grassy and scrubby hills. There was one longer climb, but mostly it was easy riding until we reached a grassy plateau. There the wind was in our faces with some rain mixed in, requiring effort although the road was flat. We passed a lot of cows and sheep, some beautiful large trees, and we braved a couple of creek crossings. The rain finally relented, but it was a bit of a grind across a road with a lot of loose gravel and some washboard. We had hoped to take it easier today, but it wasn’t working out that way.

Finally we turned off onto a cycle track that was mostly a slight downhill. It followed a river somewhat, traversing around the boundaries of a number of farms. After 25km, we arrived to more rain and a double rainbow in Mossburn. The old railway hotel is a charming old brick hotel, and all our fellow cyclists on our pace are here. It has a bar and a good restaurant and a host with a lot of character.

Tomorrow will be our big day to the end of the TA though there are options if we are tired to stop early. It feels strange to be coming to the end, but we look forward to some days off the bikes.

TA Day 28 - Albert Town to Queenstown

 60.3 miles, 4268’ climbing

Lodging: Blue Peaks Lodge

Zula Backpackers in Albert Town turned out to be an awesome place to stay — close to a decent restaurant and grocery store, a comfy room, a huge lounge and kitchen. We loaded our bikes outside and had coffee while we waited for it to get light out, then we hopped on the cycle trail to Wanaka. The trail curved along the river, a narrow path with ups and downs, views of the river with light on the opposite hills. It was a beautiful start to the day.

We rolled into the upscale part of Wanaka and stopped for coffee and a pastry at a lively coffee house. While we ate, we confirmed our ferry from Queenstown that we booked last night and will be sharing with 4 fellow TA cyclists. All four are in, so we will meet at the wharf tomorrow at 8am.

After coffee, our climb to the highest point in the Tour Aotearoa began. We were on a 2 lane road with limited to nonexistent shoulder and a lot of cars. After some gentle climbing we arrived at the historic town of Cardrona. We were amused to pass a sign for “Bradrona” on the way into town, set along a fence with a multitude of bras hanging on it. Apparently it has been in existence since 1998, and now it raises money for breast cancer awareness. 

We took our checkpoint photos at the historic Cardrona hotel, then started the long, steep climb to Crown pass. At the pass, it was windy and clouds were accumulating. We descended down the pavement for a couple of miles, then we turned off on a gravel road and away from all the cars. This took us down to a gravel trail that descended through the forest to the Arrowtown River path. With the clouds and fallen leaves in the forest, it was easy to feel that autumn is coming soon. We turned onto the Queenstown cycle trail which took us all the way to the city passing through farms, forest, riverside trail, lakeside parks and a few home developments. 

Queenstown is beautiful and charming, noted in our guidebook as the liveliest and most expensive tourist town in New Zealand. We had dinner to the sound of live music, had fun choosing pictures for our “Anything in Queenstown” picture, walked around the waterfront. We are preparing for some rain tomorrow, hoping it won’t be too wet.

TA Day 27 - Haast to Albert Town

 86.9 miles, 5344’ climbing

Lodging: Zula Backpackers, Albert Town

After croissants and coffee in our hotel room, we headed out alongside the Haast River which had a huge, wide bed. It must be wild in flood stage, but the flow was relatively tame this morning. The sun was coming up behind some peaks ahead of us. The sky above was clear, but there were low hanging clouds on the hillsides. We had intermittent views of the river through the forest, sometimes with a few clouds illuminated by the rising sun, sometimes with reflections on the river of the warm morning colors. The road climbed gradually into the Mount Aspiring National Park. It was absolutely beautiful. 

We wound our way up the Haast river for about 30 gently climbing miles. Traffic picked up mid morning. After 30ish miles, we crossed a bridge and had a very steep, humid mile to climb, rather brutal. Then the grade leveled off, and we rolled up through the pines to Haast pass for our checkpoint photos. A quick descent along another river took us to Makaroa where we stopped for lunch and saw a few other TA riders doing the same. 

It was 30 further miles to the holiday park at Lake Hawea, tough miles in the sun around large reservoirs surrounded by grass and scrubby bushes.

The Lake Hawea holiday park was our first possible camp site, but it was far from stores or restaurants. We continued to Albert Town, about 6 miles. We were really tired of cars and trucks passing us all day,  so we happily turned off onto a cycle trail. Local cyclists and dog walkers were using the path. We took checkpoint photos at the swinging bridge, then found a room at Zulu’s Backpackers in Albert Town, very convenient to groceries and dinner, and very comfortable.

TA Day 26 - Fox Glacier to Haast

 76.1 miles, 2854’ climbing

Lodging: Assure Aspiring Court Motel, Haast

Weather: Sunny

A notice board along the highway yesterday said that the road would be closed from Lake Maeraki to Haast between 12:30 and 3:00. To beat the closure, we packed up before sunrise. A local cafe was open, and we saw a Kea bird out the window as we waited for breakfast. They are known to be nuisance birds of the parrot family. Fortunately this one wasn’t up to mischief; perhaps he was begging food since there were signs not to feed the keas.

Unfortunately Sarah’s tracker stopped working overnight, so for a while she was not trackable. Garmin support said the issue was resolved, but it was not. It’s hard to get support with the time difference and hard to understand what suddenly changed.  Kinda frustrating but eventually she was able to get things working again.

We rode out just after sunup. It was cool, but there was little traffic for the first hour. Today was all a road ride, and again with little to no shoulder on the road. Some busses passed within an arms length, not fun.

Usually we take our time, stopping for coffee or to look around, but we kept it moving to beat the traffic closure. Lake Maeraki came and went with no sign of a closure, and the road moved to the coast. At around 60 miles we found our photo checkpoint of the day. A tour bus passenger stopped there and informed us that the closure was only a few minutes up the road by car. It was 12:35, so he suggested we wait there for 2.5 hours. We decided to go up the hill anyway to gauge the situation, and they were letting people through the construction area one direction at a time, so on we went.

Once through the construction zone, we came down the hill to a great looking beach and stopped for a look. Eventually we arrived to Haast at 2pm, had a good lunch, and checked into our hotel.