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.