Biking in New Zealand, November 2005
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Wide Valleys of the South Island
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Trip Overview
I have several personal criteria for choosing a long-distance biking route, and on an overall scale New Zealand ranks very high on the list, for the following reasons:

Note that there are two books that serve as the premier road biking guides for New Zealand - called "Pedaller's Paradise" (one book for the north island and one for the south island).  I also looked at Lonely Planet's "Biking New Zealand" book, but found it far inferior (and much heavier) than Pedaller's Paradise. 

Overall New Zealand proved to be an excellent choice for biking, and served as a wonderful host during our two-week trip from north to south in November 2005.  The following is a brief log of our trip. 

Friday to Sunday, November 18-20
Cecilia and I set off with our French friends Philippe and Rachel from Houston on a Friday in late-November, flying Continental from Houston to Los Angeles, then Qantas Airlines from LA directly to Auckland.  We had packed our bikes in typical cardboard shipping boxes, and as usual the airline ticketing agent was not sure of the exact fees and regulations that should apply to a bicycle.  I knew from my previous web research that Continental’s policy was $80 per flight per bike, which is quite expensive.  After some discussion between our ticketing agent and her colleagues, she concluded that this fee would indeed apply.  At least we would be able to avoid any additional charges by Qantas Airlines on the second leg from LA to Auckland, as we were checking our luggage all the way through to our final destination.  I always have a funny feeling in my stomach as I watch the big cardboard boxes being rolled away on the “overweight luggage” cart (never on the standard conveyor belt), fearing that we will never see them again, or that they would be destroyed along the way.  There is no way around this risk except to buy a hard shipping case, which is not feasible when doing a one-way trip as there is no way to get it from the start to the finish, as was our case for New Zealand.  This leaves no option but to use a box that can be discarded at the start, and then to find another box at the return destination.  Rachel had done her research well, and had found a bicycle shop in Outside Sports in Queenstown that assured us that many extra bike boxes would be available when we got there.  This turned out to be perfectly true. 

Our flight to LA was on time, and we even had a spare few hours in LA to have dinner before the long-haul over the Pacific.  It felt like an omen of good things to come when each of us was able to find an entire empty row for sleeping during the 13 hour trip on the Qantas Boeing 747.  I have never before had a full 4-seat row to myself, let alone for my three other friends on the same flight!  It was my most enjoyable 13 hour flight to date, but our good fortune was quickly offset when we arrived in Auckland and discovered that my bike had never made it off the ground in Houston – it had not even been on our flight to LA!  It was re-scheduled to arrive in Auckland on the following day (on the same flight #).  We had arranged for a private shuttle to meet us at the Auckland airport and drive us to Tauranga that morning, and the shuttle driver luckily agreed to delay the trip by one day - he planned to meet us at the same time on the following morning.  Why did we choose to start in Tauranga, and not ride directly out of the Auckland airport?  First, it allowed us to skip about 100km of difficult riding to get away from the congestion of Auckland’s largest city, and second, since we would not be able to cover the entire 1600km between Auckland and Queenstown over our two-week trip, we decided to wisely choose “car-assisted” distances through the less scenic portions of the route.  Tauranga sits on the north coast of New Zealand, and is at the start of the volcanic section of our route (from Tauranga south through Tongariro National Park).  Tongariro was the first highlight of our trip, and was expected to be the best part of the northern island. 

We took this one-day delay in stride, as it afforded us an opportunity to walk through much of metropolitan Auckland, which we would have otherwise skipped in our efforts to get biking as quickly as possible.  Auckland is a quiet but pleasant city, and we were easily able to walk between the interesting parts of town. 

We also spent several hours of the day re-assembling our bikes from shipping, and we discovered that a key part of Philippe’s front shock had fallen out and been lost somewhere in the packing process back in Houston.  This missing part left a 5mm gap in the shock, which resulted in a hard metal-to-metal contact when riding over any slight bump.  We decided that it would be best to find a bike shop at the start of our route in Tauranga on the following morning, and we hoped that the part was standard and easily replaceable.  It seemed that Philippe was having a string of bad luck, as he had also caught a virus just before leaving Houston, and was still a bit feverish during our first day in Auckland.  A few images from the day:

Cruising the Auckland airport
Feverish Philippe
Monday, November 21 – Tauranga to Rotorua, 65.7km, 935m total ascent (3:52 riding time, 6:25 including stops), See route profile
We were back at the Auckland airport by 7am to greet the incoming Qantas flight, which indeed did successfully carry my bike without any problems.  We loaded all of our equipment into the shuttle bus (my bike still unpacked and condition still unknown), and enjoyed the two-hour ride from Auckland to Tauranga.  Our driver was a very cheery man from the Tauranga area, and he was able to provide many insights and tips on biking and general travel throughout New Zealand.  He even helped us to find a bicycle store in Tauranga, where he dropped us off directly.  The bike shop was successfully able to repair Philippe’s front shock (using several replacement parts), and I re-assembled my bicycle with no significant problems (it did not suffer any damage from the trip).  We started riding by noon, and traveled south out of the city.  We quickly found ourselves among rolling green pastures and our trip was happily underway.  The temperature was good but a light rain began falling at lunch, and we were able to make good use of our rain gear by the end of the first day.  We rolled into Rotorua in the late afternoon, and considered continuing onward, but decided otherwise after examining the dark ominous storm clouds ahead.  We found a pleasant camping park just outside of town, and realized that our decision to stop was a good one when it began to torrentiously pour rain just after our arrival.  The campsite was surrounded by various thermal springs, which stank of sulfur and forced us to choose our site according to its distance from the springs.  Within minutes of the downpour we realized that the site we had chosen (sheltered under a big tree) was actually a drainage from a hill above, and we quickly moved the tents out into the open (and wet) area of the campground.  The campsite included its own hot pools and steaming spa, which we enjoyed despite the rain falling at the same time – the temperature of the pool was more than enough to make up for the cold air and light rain.  We enjoyed a good dinner in the campsite restaurant, and the rain subsided to a light sprinkle for the remainder of the night.
Tuesday November 22 – Rotorua to Lake Taopo, 105.2km, 975m total ascent (6:04 riding time, 10:44 including stops), See route profile
We woke up to no rain and blue skies, and had an excellent breakfast (eggs benedict for Philippe and I) at the campsite restaurant.  Philippe’s health was now quickly improving, thanks to a few days’ worth of Tylenol cold medication from the first aid kit.  This was the beginning of what would be record use of the first aid kit for any trip I have taken (biking or otherwise).

We were off and riding by mid-morning, and continued to head south towards Lake Taopo.  Instead of taking the standard highway 5 route, we had decided to take smaller roads to the west of highway 5 which appeared to be slightly shorter and less trafficked.  We had been passed by several large trucks on the first day between Auckland and Rotorua, and looked forward to riding off the beaten track.  Unfortunately all of the small roads were not on our map, and we somehow managed to get lost in the late-morning.  The terrain was scenic but also very hilly, and our detour managed to put us on the wrong side of a super-steep hill, just adjacent to a huge thermal springs tourist area.  After conquering the hill we were finally able to identify our location (after several previous failures), and made it back to the main road.  We stopped for lunch at the Waiotapu hot springs, where we spent an hour walking among the colorful thermal pools, bubbling mud pits, and steaming hot springs.  The bright neon and red colors were an impressive sight and may have been the #1 single highlight of the entire north island.  We were back on the road again after lunch, continuing south towards Taopo. 

The hills of the morning route had taken their toll on us, and a cold headwind continued all through the afternoon.  We found ourselves just 10km outside Taopo as the sun was beginning to set, and the girls decided to ride ahead of Philippe and I - we had delayed due to Philippe taking an excessive number of photos of grazing sheep alongside the road.  This separation turned out to be a very bad idea – Philippe and I rode hard in our attempt to catch the girls, and rode through a 3-way junction just as we entered the Taopo city area.  I was surprised that the girls had not chosen to stop and wait at the intersection, but I figured that they had ridden straight ahead to finish the day and get out of the cold (the slightly left choice of the intersection was up a small hill and marked with a sign pointing to the industrial section of town).  Philippe and I stopped and briefly pondered our situation at the intersection, then rode straight through into town.  We arrived at the campsite, and to our surprise the girls were nowhere in sight.  After some debate we rode 3km back to the intersection as the sun was setting, arriving there just as it was getting dark.  The temperature was now in the 40’s (F), and Philippe looked purple from the cold and long day of riding.  We decided to split, with him going back to the campground where he could phone around to other campgrounds (to see if the girls had appeared there), and I would ride around the city looking for the girls.  I rode up and over the other leg of the intersection, around the industrial area, and back into the main town.  Taopo was not a small town, and probably covered 12 square kilometers in total (3km x 4km).  After 10 minutes of doing loops (at which point I was also lost), I saw the girls riding about 400 meters in front of me.  I caught them, and found them in a mild panic also doing loops around town looking for us!  Evidently they had ridden up to the top of the small hill on the left leg of the junction, had gone just out of sight of the junction, and Philippe and I had passed just as they were turning around to get back within sight of the junction.  This is the exact set of circumstances required for us to get lost.  In any case we quickly rode back to the campsite together, where we found Philippe warming up in the TV room.  We then rode just up the road to an Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed a warm dinner of pasta (lasagna for me), wine, and explained how it was nobody's fault for getting lost.  We setup camp in the darkness, and were quickly asleep after a long day.  A few images from the last two days:

The shuttle from Auckland to Tauranga
Waiotapu thermal springs
Don't touch the water!

 Just before losing the girls

Wednesday November 23 - Lake Taopo to Elvin’s Lodge, 78.1km, 910m total ascent (5:02 riding time, 8:12 including stops), See route profile
We woke up and examined our campsite surroundings, as we were not able to see much while making camp during the night previous.  Rachel happily fed the ducks and birds that stalked our site, and we were off and riding by the mid-morning.  The skies were again clear, and we were able to see across Lake Taopo and into the mountains of Tongariro National Park, which was used as the setting of “Mordor” in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.  Philippe had fully recovered from his sickness, but it was today that another problem began to develop - Philippe’s knees had started to hurt the previous day, and we started to realize that stretching might not be able to sufficiently cure the pain.  We rode up and over ~200m "Hatepe Hill" to start the day, then rode up and into the start of the mountains, going first over the Te Ponanga Saddle and then up further towards National Park.  The view back over Lake Taopo from the Te Ponanga Saddle was certainly worth our effort.  The weather held up well throughout what became one of our best days of riding, and we finished at a remote campsite called “Elvin’s Lodge” near the junction of roads 47 and 46 (before reaching National Park).  We had dinner in the small campsite restaurant, and tried out the campsite hottub which turned out to be luke-warm and somewhat dirty (and there was cat hair floating around).  The campsite was also equipped with a small game room including air hockey table, which refused to powerup despite our putting several coins in the slot.  So much for enjoying the amenities of the campsite!  But we were afforded a full sky of stars to admire before going to bed.  A few images from the day:

Stretching is the key to success
Long uphill into Mordor
Blue skies over Lake Taopo
 Tongariro National Park

Thursday November 24 – Elvin’s Lodge to Kakatahi, 95.8km, 865m total ascent (5:15 riding time, 8:50 including stops), See route profile
We woke up to cloudy skies and sprinkles, and I tried to dry the tent under the cover of the campsite cooking room’s porch.  We made hot oatmeal in the cooking room, the started off west through Tongariro National Park.  Unfortunately the volcanos and mountains that we had admired from afar the day previous were no longer visible, as a cloudy mist hung over the entire area.  It did add to the ominous mystic of “Mordor”, and fulfilled its legendary reputation from the film.  Mist fell throughout most of the day, as we biked through and out of the west side of the park.  We arrived in the town of National Park just in time for lunch, where we found a great restaurant at the local train station.  We warmed up while enjoying another eggs benedict, and debated our strategy for the coming days.  We discovered that one train per day passed through town and finished at Wanganui, our final biking destination on the north island.  With the cold temperatures, headwind, and mist it was very tempting to take the train, and we certainly debated it for several minutes.  But we were also at the highest altitude point of the trip at over 800 meters, and would drop all the way down to sea-level at the coast if we continued biking along our planned route.  We had done all that work to gain altitude, so how could we forfeit the ride downhill by taking the train?  This fact allowed us to make the final decision, and we were again off and riding south from National Park.  The weather also cooperated with our decision, as the rain stopped and the skies cleared. 

We continued the afternoon riding downhill on route 4 through the Mangawhero Valley – although I must say that there seemed to be an awful lot of uphill riding dispersed among the general downhill trend.  We decided not to take the longer but likely more scenic Whanganui River Road (starting at Pipiriki), as it was still unpaved and much longer.  The Mangawhero Valley turned out to be quite scenic in any case.  I managed to break my chain during a steep ascent, and twist several unbroken links in the process.  I had been having trouble shifting all morning, as my right shifting lever had moved on my handlebar so that I could only shift halfway into any gear, which resulted in skipping of the chain before I could manage to finish any given shift.  The chain break had therefore really been due to my own laziness to correctly re-adjust my shifter, and I paid the price by having to spend 45 minutes on the roadside trying to get the broken and twisted links back into perfect shape, which I fortunately did.  I had repaired a chain only once in the past, so I felt very lucky to have fixed it without any serious issues. 

We finished the day just before Kakatahi, at a YMCA camp for children that also had a small campsite by a nearby river.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to cross the river to access a small waterfall on the opposite side, which we succeeded at doing, and preparing dinner on the sandy riverside.  After dinner Philippe and I were even able to play a short game of basketball on the YMCA camp court – we had several teenage girls watching, one whom asked Philippe if he was American.  My Tony Parker jumpshot was not enough to beat Philippe, but I managed to keep the game close.  A few images from the day:

At the top of a hill
Fighting bulls on the roadside, with onlooking sheep
Friday November 25 – Kakatahi to Wanganui, Bus to Wellington, 61.7km, 720m total ascent (3:40 riding time, 6:10 including stops)
We continued the downhill ride towards the coast, and the weather again cleared for arrival in Wanganui.  The terrain slowly changed from the volcanos and rocky valleys of the past several days to rolling hills of farmland - similar to what we had seen in Ireland.  The number of sheep on the roadside increased even more from the days previous, accompanied by the strong smell of the cow pastures.  We had to go up and over one last hill before the coast (250m Bennyfield Hill), and got into town just in time to find the bus station and book a reservation on the late-afternoon bus down to Wellington.  We had planned to bus this portion of the trip, as it passed mainly through flat farmland with no major highlights to miss.  We arrived in Wellington in the early evening, and biked around to find a hotel – after checking at one or two B&B’s (which were full) we finally found rooms at a larger commercial hotel (a Best Western?), which was more than adequate.  We showered and went into town to enjoy dinner and a few pints.
Saturday November 26 – Ferry to Picton, then drive from Picton to Marahau, 4.0km, 5m total ascent (0:18 riding time, 0:18 including stops)
Saturday morning the weather again was misty, and we rode a short 2km down to the ferry terminal.  We had no problems catching the large ferry destined for Picton, and spent much of the four-hour trip icing Philippe’s knees, eating, and discussing our strategy for the south island.  It was clearly evident that Philippe could not continue to ride, despite his protests that he could manage the pain.  Both his knees had now swollen significantly, and he could not even bend down to 90 degrees.  We therefore decided to take a 2-day break and head up to Able Tasman National Park, which was one of the most highly recommended places to visit in all New Zealand.  I was already feeling guilty for skipping Able Tasman, and this gave us the excuse and chance to see the park.

Upon arrival to the ferry terminal in Picton we rented a mini-bus which was just big enough to fit us and all our bags and bikes.  We were certainly fortunate to find a vehicle that afforded us this luxury.  We drove several hours northwest up the coast to Marahau, passing through an area of vineyards along the coast.  The weather had cleared, and it was quite a pleasant drive.  We arrived in Marahau in the late afternoon and reserved kayaks for a 2-day trip northwest along the park coast.  The park also contained hiking trails along the coast, but the true highlights are the white beaches and seal-enhabited islands that are only accessible by boat.  The park service also offers water taxis to carry hikers and kayakers (and their kayaks) from several meeting points along the coast.  This allowed us to plan a 2-day trip in one direction, with the return booked by water taxi.  Meanwhile Philippe had started a strict regimen of ibuprofen (from the first aid kit), ice, and stretching, which we hoped would cure his knee swelling problem.  We had dinner at a small restaurant in town, and looked forward to the new upper-body-only sport that we would be doing the next day.
Sunday November 27 – Able Tasman National Park, Kayaking Day 1
We woke up early and went through a mandatory 90-minute kayaking lesson with the equipment rental agency, who then released us to fend for ourselves along the coasts of the park.  We spent the morning kayaking northwest up the coast under blue skies and calm winds, and stopped for lunch on a gorgeous white beach.  We lounged around after lunch on the beach, enjoying the hot sand and blue skies.  We started kayaking again in the early afternoon, and immediately found that the water/wind conditions had changed drastically since the calm morning.  The waves now rose one or more meters above our kayak, and there was a stiff wind blowing against us.  It was difficult to even make it out of the harbor where we had lunched, and I was not sure if we would even make it around the next bend in the coast! 

We paddled hard, got wet, and slowly made progress against the waves as we proceeded up the coast.  Fortunately we had done a majority of the day’s required distance before lunch, and we could even see our final destination (although far off) shortly after leaving the bay from lunch.  We wanted to make it out to a small island that was populated with seals, and we paddled hard against the ever-increasing waves and wind.  We made it to the island, which afforded cover from the wind and waves, and we were rewarded by being able to get within meters of a seal colony which was relaxing on the rocks of the island.  After succeeding in talking to the seals with out own guttural noises, we headed out of the shelter of the island and cruised towards the coast – the wind and waves were now at our back and we were literally surfing our way in.  We landed within 30 minutes of leaving the cover of the island, on a long white beach that also held the campsite.  Cecilia and I just managed to land safely on the beach.  We hauled the kayaks high up on the beach, and walked into the campsite to find a good spot.  There were a dozen or so other people already at the site, most having arrived by foot on the hiking trails.  We setup camp, relaxed for a while on the beach, then made dinner and a huge fire for entertainment.  The highlight of the night was chopping wood with Philippe – we were both very poor wood choppers, which served to make an exciting sport to pass the time.   A few images from the day:
On the coast of Able Tasman
 Cecilia in the front of my kayak
Cooking at the beach campsite
The alpha male seal is woken by our noises

Monday November 28 – Able Tasman National Park, Kayaking Day 2
We woke up under clear skies and immediately inspected the sea conditions, as we were worried that the water would continue to be choppy like the previous afternoon.  But it turned out to be much calmer, though not as calm as the previous morning.  Our goal was to arrive at the water taxi meeting point early, so that we would be able to do a short day-hike to another white-beach bay, and return before the arrival of the water taxi.  The overall kayaking distance was much shorter than the previous day, and we had no problem making it in time for the hike.  After a 45 minute hike over a densely vegetated mountain we had a late lunch in the abandoned white-sand bay, then returned to catch the water taxi which had just arrived.  The waves and wind had again risen in the late-afternoon, and the taxi ride turned into a back-crunching affair as the pilot boldly drove against the biggest of waves, often launching the boat high into the air and landing with a huge impact on the next wave.  We sat down very little during the 45 minute trip.

We returned to the car in the late afternoon and started the drive back inland onto our original biking route.  We finished the day in the town of Murchison, which was where the road split and continued down the west coast of the south island.  We booked a room at a B&B in town, which also had a good restaurant where we ate dinner.  Philippe’s knees had recovered significantly during the two days of kayaking, but were still not 100%.  We discussed possible biking strategies, and decided to day-bike the following day through the Buller gorge, an anticipated highlight before reaching the west coast.  We decided that we would all bike the gorge one-way without our panniers or Bob trailers, and then would hitchhike back to Murchison at the end of the day to recover the car.  It seemed like a risky but feasible plan, but we did not have a better option.  After dinner Philippe and I played pool in the B&B bar, which was the highlight of the night in the quiet town of Murchison.  A few images from the day:

Lunch with the driftwood
Long White Beaches of Able Tasman

Tuesday November 29 – Murchison to Westport, 101.1km, 810m total ascent (5:09 riding time, 8:00 including stops), then drive from Westport to Punakaki, see route profile
We left Murchison early, with only food for the day and a few extra clothes for any bad weather, and proceeded into the Buller gorge.  We reached the heart of the gorge just after lunch, and spent the day admiring the high walls of the deep and narrow valley.  The weather was good, the winds were low, and the trend was more-or-less downhill, which made for a pleasant day of riding.  This was probably the first and only day that we did not have a significant headwind at any point during the day!  With about 10km to go until Westport we decided to split – Rachel and Philippe would lock their bikes and hitchhike back to the car, and Cecilia and I would continue into town.  After several failed attempts they were finally able to get a ride halfway back to Murchison (to Inangahua Junction), and spent another hour waiting at a small store until someone gave them a ride for the remainder of the journey back to Murchison just as the sun was setting.  For a moment they thought they would be stuck in Inangahua Junction for the night, but in the end it worked out OK.  In the meantime Cecilia and I biked the remaining 10km into Westport, had dinner at a local café, and played some pool at a local bar.  After 3 hours we began to worry that something had happened, but Philippe and Rachel appeared just as we started to consider emergency actions.

We loaded the van and drove together down the coast from Westport to Punakaiki, where we camped for the night.  Philippe’s knees had survived the day but were still hurting, although it appeared that he would be able to continue.  There was still significant distance to cover to Queenstown – far more than we could do on bike over the final three days.  We decided that we would cover enough distance in the car on the following day to put us within two full riding days (about 170km) from Queenstown – this would also afford another day of rest for Philippe’s knees, and would allow us to day-hike around the famous Franz Joseph and Haast glaciers along the road.  A few images from the day:

Watch out for slumps!  What is a slump?
Stranded in Inangahua Junction

Wednesday November 30 – Drive from Punakaki to Haast, visit Franz Josef Glacier
We had breakfast alongside the Punakaki pancake rocks, where we watched the surf pound the bizarre looking rock formations and throwing jets of water far into the air.  Other tourists laughed at the cereal and milk buffet that we had created at the main lookout point of the walking trail, but nobody really seemed to mind.  After breakfast we strolled through the rest of the pancake rocks trail, and followed with a large cappuccino back at the visitor’s center.  It was the start to what would be a relaxing day of touring.  We drove south down the coast for several hours, stopping in the town of Hokitika, known as the jade capital of New Zealand.  We had lunch in town, and bought several gifts at the rock and polished jewel stores.  My favorite was the small jade kiwi that Rachel and Philippe bought for the Briquets back in Houston. 

We continued our drive down the coast and arrived at the Franz Joseph Glacier visitor center in the mid-afternoon.  We decided to do the 2-mile round trip day-hike from the visitor’s center to the face of the glacier and back.  The skies had clouded over but there was no rain (yet).  The glacier terminal was impressive – ending abruptly with a 50-meter wall of ice in the middle of the wide valley.  Small chunks of the glacier continuously calved off from the steeper sections, which were well avoided and marked off as danger zones.  We also found 100’s of tourists geared up to do the “glacier hike”, which followed a series of kicked steps up the glacier face and around a patch of flat ice just beyond sight form the bottom.  We happily made fun of these tourist adventurers who had paid $100 for a controlled walk on the ice.  As we approached the glacier Rachel asked me if she could walk up to the face, and I said “sure it should be no problem”, which I then qualified with “although careful of that one area which is making that funny noise and where ice pieces are falling”.  Seconds after I said those words, and just as Rachel was walking towards the face, a huge series of chunks calved off the face and tumbled directly towards us.  I can say that I have never seen Rachel run so fast in my life, and she was easily clear of the ice boulders that landed only feet from where she was standing.  I felt a bit guilty for not having been more conscious of the risk, and even worse because a guide had warned us just minutes before the event.  We walked back to the car and re-lived Rachel’s close call with death, which provided plenty of entertainment for days to come (of how I almost got Rachel killed).  We drove south towards Haast Pass, and finally stopped at a campsite in Haast after dark.  There were several shotgun blasts near the campsite just after we had crawled inside our tents to go to sleep, which made me wonder exactly what was being hunted (and how close it might get to the campground) as I went to sleep.  A few images from the day:

Philippe ignoring all warnings!
Rachel almost crushed by glacier calving!

Thursday December 1 – Haast Pass to Wanaka, 83.3km, 915m total ascent (4:24 riding time, 8:16 including stops)
This was by far our single best day of riding.  We woke up early in Haast, and drove the van up to Haast Pass, where we planned to park and leave it for the next two days.  The pass was not very high in altitude, and the surrounding forest was thickly vegetated.  The pass was deserted, and we had no trouble unpacking our bikes and getting back on the road - after spending a full day with the van we were happy to be biking again.  Shortly after leaving the pass we stopped at the “blue pools” national forest site, and after a one kilometer walk through thick forest we found views over two deep and turquoise blue depressions of a river.  After realizing that the river was also full of mosquitos, we quickly return to the bikes and continued to ride the descent from the pass.  The road continued to the floor of a wide valley surrounded by high peaks on both sides – and to make it even more enjoyable we were greeted with our first true strong tailwind of the trip.  We spent the next hour or so cruising through the valley, enjoying the panoramas and wind assistance.  We passed alongside Lake Wanaka, where we stopped for lunch and skipped rocks for at least an hour.  We climbed up and over another pass which descended alongside Lake Hawea, where we rode over an unfinished and recently tarred part of the road which left our trailers covered in asphalt gravel and black tar – yuck!  The weather remained good, and we arrived in Wanaka in the late-afternoon,  just in time to find a nice small hotel and do laundry before dinner.  The lake alongside Wanaka (not Lake Wanaka) provided incredible views of the glaciated peaks behind, and we were able to enjoy sunset over the lake from the patio of the restaurant where we had dinner.  Our spirits were high from a good day’s ride, we had clean clothes to spare, and we were ready for the challenge of our highest pass that we would face the following day.    

Panorama of Lake Wanaka

Friday December 2 – Wanaka to Queenstown, 71.0km, 1100m total ascent (4:11 riding time, 7:03 including stops), see route profile
It would be the final day of biking on our trip, but also the most difficult ascent – therefore my feelings were mixed between being sentimental about biking and being intimidated by the day’s work ahead.  We rolled out of Wanaka in the early morning, and spent the next hour riding gentle slopes into the valley that would eventually climb up to the Crown Saddle.  We stopped for a drink at an old hotel on the route, after which the road began to climb steeply.  We did not break for rest much after this point, but continued to climb as the road twisted and turned up the mountainside.  We finally emerged at the pass, which afforded broad views down to the valley below that eventually contained Queenstown, our final destination.  We had lunch at the pass, then cruised for an hour or so down into the valley below.  It was a descent that we had well-earned with the morning’s climb.  We quickly reached the valley bottom, then spent another hour riding around the lakeside to Queenstown.  The traffic increased as we reached the outskirts of town, and we were happy to reach the city center in the mid-afternoon.  We rode directly to an Avis car rental office, where we rented a small coupe for one day (only $35).  Cecilia and I then spent the remainder of the day retrieving the van from the Haast pass where we had left it two mornings previous, while Philippe and Rachel made camp and had dinner in town.  Cecilia and I were back in Queenstown by early evening, where we met Philippe and Rachel and had dinner.  We then walked around town and had a few beers at a local bar before returning to the campsite.  A few images from the day:

Leaving Wanaka towards the pass
Vic's twinkie-the-kid socks survive the trip intact

Saturday December 3 – Rafting, Day bike, Bungee, 8.5km, 455m total ascent
We woke up early in the Queenstown campground and walked the short distance to the rafting office in town.  The skies were partly cloudy – it was difficult to predict the weather ahead.  We were driven by shuttle up and over the mountain surrounding town, and up the valley to a drop point and start of the rafting trip.  The last 30 minutes of the shuttle were on a dirt road, with a steep cliff on one side and the cliff face on the other – it reminded me a bit of the roads in Bolivia.  After some instruction at the starting point we were off and rafting down the Shotover river.  The rafting was good – about a dozen rapids that were fun and exciting – about a class 4 from what I had experienced on previous trips.  We had two guides (one senior and one junior) who were both friendly and talkative.  We did not lose anyone from the boat, and I opted not to swim in the section where we were given the choice, as the water was pretty cold and I had opted not to wear the upper section of the wetsuit for fear of being too hot.  Philippe did decide to swim, and looked pretty cold once back in the boat :).

We finished the morning of rafting and headed back into town.  We did some shopping and picked up our bike boxes at Outside Sports, where Rachel had called and reserved four bike boxes before our trip had begun.  We hauled the boxes back to the campsite and debated how to spend the remainder of the afternoon.  Philippe and I had been discussing bungee-jumping throughout the trip, although I was not enthusiastic about standing in line behind 100’s of other jumpers in a production-line scenario.  This is how I imagined the bungee to be after seeing the level of tourism and promotions all around town.  The most accessible bungee jump was from the top of the large mountain overlooking town.  Even so, I was willing to go investigate, and suggested that we bike to the top of the mountain instead of taking the gondola.  This hard bike would at least make me feel better if I chose not to bungee. 

We spent about 90 minutes making it up 1200 meters to the top of the gondola, where there was a restaurant, café, tourist center, and the bungee jump.  To my surprise there was hardly anyone doing the bungee, in fact not a single person was there when I went to investigate.  This motivated me significantly, and I decided to register Philippe and I for the next possible jump.  Philippe was surprised by this, but also excited, and we nervously went down to the bungee platform.  Cecilia and Rachel did not want to spend the extra money, as they were not as enchanted as Philippe and I about the prospect of jumping.  Cecilia kept the videocamera, and would film both of our jumps.  Philippe and I registered then walked along a walkway that was suspended to the cliff, and out onto a platform that was suspended over the side of the mountain.  The bungee cord afforded a 45+ meter fall, but the total drop over the mountain was approximately 1200 meters, which provided a much greater sensation.  Philippe weighed less than me, and therefore he was required to go first.  They strapped him up, took a photo of him at the edge of the platform, then instructed Philippe to take a slight running start off the edge to avoid the heavy cord from pulling him in the wrong direction.  Philippe ran and jumped with arms and legs spread, like the position of a sky-diver, and let out a giant shriek which lasted for most of the 2-second freefall.  He then dropped another few times as the cord bounced, then was winched back to the platform to be congratulated by the bungee staff.  It was now my turn….I had the significant advantage of watching Philippe go first, and I knew not to scream as I jumped.  I originally intended to do a standing swan-dive from the edge of the platform, but the running requirement did not allow this idea.  I therefore decided to do a full dive, and to try and hold it for as long as possible.  I accelerated as hard as possible for the two-steps before the edge, and then dove for the horizon.  I had forgotten the feeling of freefall since the last time I skydived, and I felt as though I could not breath or even move for the next 2 seconds.  I did manage to hold the dive position, and went head over heels when the cord reached its limit.  After another fall or two due to the bounce I was also winched back to the platform, and congratulated by the bungee staff.

Philippe and I high-fived and congratulated our courageous jumps, then we all biked back down to town on the steep dirt road.  Once back in camp we dis-assembled and packed up the bikes, and went to town to enjoy our final dinner in New Zealand.  A few images from the day:

Philippe’s sky-dive jump position
My dive position


The true panoramic bungee view

Sunday December 4 – Queenstown back to Houston
We drove the rental van to the Queenstown airport where we had no problem returning it, and boarded the flight from Queenstown to Auckland.  We somehow avoided any charges for the bikes on the plane – the ticketing agent mentioned that we would be charged but forgot to do it in the last minute.  And, because we had checked the bags all the way through to Houston, we also avoided any charges on Continental airlines on the last leg of the return trip.  This continues to prove the inconsistency of the policy versus actual practice for the various airlines.

We connected in Auckland with no problem, and again in LA with no problem.  This time the flight was much more full for the 12-hour return trip and we were not afforded each a complete empty row.  But as it was a day flight we were happy to sit upright and watch movies for most of the trip.  We arrived back in Houston in the early evening along with all of the bikes – there was nothing missing this time.  I am usually tired and ready to rest following a trip like this, but for the first time I felt differently – maybe I was in better shape physically this time, or maybe it was the good company, or maybe it was both!  We certainly had our share of rain and hills and headwind and injuries and other hardships, but even so we were able to handle these conditions in stride.  I really could have and would have liked to continue biking with this group, and I look forward to our next trip somewhere new and exciting!

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