Day 14, rest day in Fairlie

Despite not doing a lot of kilometres every day I decided it was time for a rest day. I had been going for a week without a break.

I had arranged for Mum to send a new tyre to the campsite so my plan was to eat a lot, sleep a lot, and change the old torn tyre.

The plan was going very well until I managed to damage the innertube valve when changing the tyre. I always carry a second innertube so I got it out but it almost fell apart in my hands due to age and perishing. Oh no! Stranded in Fairlie without a functioning bicycle!

That will teach me to inspect my gear more carefully before starting.

Tomorrow morning I will hitchhike to Timaru, buy two new innertubes, a new water filter, and some healthy food. Then hitchhike back to Fairlie.

Day 13, Tekapo to Fairlie, 52km

Wallaby. One of four. Dead.

Another scorching day in Canterbury, with the temperature reaching 30° today. I drank a lot of water and even stopped to ask some nice people in a campervan if I could have some water.

Of course they said yes, and we spent the next 30 minutes chatting about cycling in California in the 1980s and now in New Zealand.

Onwards, and I met a cyclist coming from Christchurch. We got chatting and it turns out he has prostate cancer which has metastasized, so he is enjoying seeing the world from his bicycle in the year or so he has left.

Wow. He got pretty bitter about the health system but I steered the conversation to what he's enjoying about the trip, so that was better.

Over Burkes Pass and then a nice decent to the plains. The land is far more green and obviously fertile. The Mackenzie Country by contrast is sere and brown, incredibly dry, and not producing much of anything except pretty views and electricity.

The last 8 kilometres into Fairlie was on an unexpected cycleway beside the highway. A very nice surprise. Who built that and why is it not on any map?

I saw 4 dead wallabies. One dead ferret/stoat. Two dead possums, one dead hawk, and a hedgehog. Dead of course.

Day 12, Lake Pukaki to Lake Tekapo, 60km.

The rain cleared overnight and I was woken by the sunrise at 6.30am. The smell of my coffee mingled with the stench of my neighbour's night poos. The campers on both sides of my tent had shit in the open and just left it there when they departed at dawn.

There was a toilet about 100m away, so I don't understand why. So weird and disgusting.

Anyway, I got on the road and saw Mt Cook clear and cold in the distance. 

I took drinking water from the canal and added a chemical purification tablet because my water filter is broken. I need to buy a new filter, hopefully in Christchurch.

It was a hot day and I drank about 5 litres. Got sunburned despite putting on sunblock two or three times.

Lake Pukaki was a most shocking blue from the suspended rock dust.

I found a bluetooth speaker on the side of the road, still in working order although the case was cracked. I tested it and enjoyed some K-pop for a while.

Not sure what I'll do with a free bluetooth speaker; I do not need more weight to drag around.

The Alps To Ocean cycle trail I am following is very good riding. Smooth packed gravel winding through the landscape, and most importantly away from cars.

Alongside the canal the road is closed to cars, so it is NZ's largest cycleway. Marvelous! It's glorious to have two lanes of tarseal and absolutely no cars.

The canal was not flowing because they were doing some maintenance on the Tekapo B station intake. So the water level was really high in the canal, even submerging tussock and grass on the banks.

A coffee break beside the canal.

I passed the Tekapo A power station and it was all silent, no water flowing. It was strange to see it all shut down.

Then I checked into the Tekapo campground, a most horrible dusty place with no shade and tents crammed together. The kitchens were overcrowded and the shower had a timer for 6 minutes of hot water before it went cold. Do not stay there.

But they had a lot of wild rabbits which were cute and almost tame.

Sunset from the campsite.

I used earplugs to sleep because it was a noisy campground.

Day 11, Omarama to near Lake Pukaki. 63km.

Highway riding sucks. Traffic is scary. I had to ride on the main road for 17km and there wasn't even a lot of traffic, but it was stressful nonetheless.

But it did mean my brother saw me as he was driving past! He stopped his Wild Kiwi tour bus, and we had big hugs and I said hello to his enthusiastic passengers.

So nice and unexpected!

Ben's photos.

Just a few kilometres further on from where I met Ben, I turned off the main road onto the wonderful quiet Lake Ohau road. It was great riding on the flat but interesting road. There are "kettle holes" which are filled with small lakes in glacial moraine holes, from the last ice age. There are no outlets from these little lakes so i guess they have weird chemistry and life by now.

Then around the lake and alongside the canal, which was beautiful riding again. I love smooth tarseal roads with no traffic. ♥️♥️

I pushed hard and fast to beat the rain, which began within minutes of putting up my tent. Great timing!

I had been watching the rain get closer and closer for an hour as i cycled faster and faster to try to beat it to the campsite. 

Your can see in this photo the rain sweeping in from the mountains.

Tonight I'm camping at Lake Poaka campsite, and even with two toilets available people have pooed in the open and not even dug a hole or covered it. Who does this? Tourists? I guess this is why freedom camping was banned. ☹️

Day 10, Boundary Hut to Omarama, 43km.

I'm really enjoying these short kilometer days. Just soaking up the scenery and arriving at camp with plenty of energy left to enjoy reading books and explore.

The rain cleared overnight and it is another glorious warm sunny day. The landscape is all golden tussock and steep mountains on both sides, with a swift cold river between.

Today I have at least 20 river crossings, on top of the 8 yesterday. The river is pretty swift and almost too deep for my bike.

I walk it across because of the rocky uneven bottom, and the bouyant panniers catch the swift water. The whole fully loaded bike floats up and tries to escape by swimming downriver! I have to grab it, brace my legs, and haul it across.

I must be careful to be upstream, otherwise the bike will be pushed down on me, and both me and it will fall, with not great consequences.

I have triple bagged the panniers so nothing gets wet, despite the water coming almost over the top of the panniers.

The rough four-wheel drive road continues past Top Hut and then a ridiculously steep climb to Omarama Saddle.

There is no chance of cycling the uphill. Pushing all the way! It is almost 400 vertical metres in less than 2 kilometres of track. 

The view from the top is stunning with the Southern Alps wreathed in rain and the rest of the Mackenzie Country baking in hot norwestly winds.

That's lake Ohau on the left, and Pukaki on the right.

Then a colossal downhill of almost a vertical kilometre, with my brakes hot and fading. I ride through deep puddles to cool the brakes, and small side streams.

Finally on the flat, I am pushed by a welcome wind to Omarama.

I eat two delicious pies from the 4Square, YUM and check into the campground.

Day 9, Oturehua to Boundary Hut, 42km

A glorious morning in Oturehua. It is so silent and still at the dawn, very peaceful.

The whole town has a hangover from last night: it was Burns Night, with kilts and haggis and piping at Waipiata. Apparently it's a big thing up here.

I go into New Zealand's oldest shop and buy a toothbrush to replace the one which has mysteriously disappeared.

Then I cycle in the morning sun, first on a good gravel road, then it gets rougher and worse, then worse again, until my speed has dropped to 7kph, down from the 20kph on the rail trail. 

Tussock replaces the farmland as I slowly gain altitude.

It's really a 4x4 track now, rocky and muddy, and I push my bike through at least 8 fords. The water is almost knee deep, and I am glad I triple bagged everything in my panniers. The panniers float up and try to escape from the bike.

I pass a family who has stopped their 4WD because the water is too deep. They say they're going to walk the few remaining kilometres to the hut instead of risking the ute getting flooded.

SNAP, suddenly one of my front panniers falls off. The cable ties attaching the crossbar have worn through and failed. Fortunately I have a lot of spare cable ties.

It takes only 10 minutes to fix, but while fixing I notice my front tyre has been torn deeply by a rock. Oh dear! It is rideable but that will be something to watch for sure.

30 minutes later I'm at the hut , a humble DOC hut which smells strongly of mouse. It's not a bad smell.

The family of 4 joins me at the hut after an hour. Friendly kiwis not accustomed to the great outdoors. They have a dog, I love dogs at huts, they're so enthusiastic.

I'm happy to be inside tonight because heavy rain is forecast overnight, clearing in the morning.

Rain while tenting is dreadful, mostly because it's difficult to go for a pee in the night.

Day 8, Daisybank to Oturehua. 53km.

We woke after a freezing cold night. In Oturehua it was minus 5 degrees on the grass!

Three very noisy young harrier hawks encouraged us out of bed. They were raucous and noisy, playing in the trees and squawking at each other.

We packed up and Mum headed back towards Dunedin and I continued on towards Ranfurly.

The trees in the distance is where we camped last night.

Dramatic skies in this over-processed photo. But that's what it looked like to my eyes.

The scale model of the solar system near Ranfurly. This is Earth.

Beautiful weather with no wind. 

I said hello to maybe 20 bikers all day, mostly families. I met one loaded cycle tourist like me, and we stopped and had a yarn. It's interesting to meet other long distance cyclists.

Then after crossing the 45th parallel twice I rolled into Oturehua after just four hours-ish.

Tonight I'm staying at the Crows Nest which is really a fantastic and interesting place. There's all sorts of Earth brick buildings and things made of driftwood and sculptures and a dog. A woman staying here just gave me apricots and cherries, so it's a very Central Otago feel.

Day 7, Middlemarch to Daisybank campsite, 39km

Mum and I drove from Dunedin to Middlemarch and set off for a nice short ride along the rail trail to the campsite on the banks of the Taieri River. It's nice, you can't get there except by bike or walking.

The night was rather cold, with mum wearing all her clothes inside the sleeping bag, and in the middle of the night she woke up and covered herself with a blue tarpaulin for extra warmth inside the tent.

Thankyou so much mother for coming with me, and for being the taxi and support! Love ya.

Day 6, Lawrence to Waihola and home ♥️ 64km

Today was a lot of downhill from Lawrence down to sea level at the Taieri plains.

Cruising down the Manuka gorge was lovely. A lot of Sycamore trees and long cruisy downhill stretches where I didn't have to pedal it all.

The cycle path follows the old railway so it was straight and smooth and there were two interesting old tunnels.

It was blessedly cool and overcast, in contrast to the heat and sun of yesterday. 

When I got near Milton I found this strange sculpture or art piece of what looks like somebody's bottom? It was quite heavy, cast from coloured concrete or ceramic.

There is another identical one at the other end of the road. I've asked around on the local internet groups but nobody in the area seems to know what it is. Maybe a piece of outsider art.

I continued past Milton on the cycleway which is beside the railway. Today I met 10 or 11 other cyclists out for day rides. Strangely all of them were men; I didn't meet a single woman cyclist.

Finally I rolled into Lake Waihola domain, where mum was waiting to bring me home, thankyou dear mother! I took her to a Japanese restaurant as thanks.

At Lake Waihola we met quite a few Muslim people who were having a huge barbecue. It looked like five or six families, and they were very happy when I rode past and said a cheery "As-salamu alaikum".

I don't know any other Arabic but that one phrase is very useful.

Mum went and said hello to them too, and then they gifted us delicious barbecued chicken and flat bread.

Then mum kindly ferried me the remaining few kilometers into Dunedin. I was glad to miss this final section because there is a lot of traffic and it is not very interesting.

I had a bath and finally collapsed into bed. Another terrible night followed, full of night sweating and fever again. I do not know what that is caused by, but I will monitor it closely over the coming days.

Tomorrow I do laundry and fiddle with my bicycle. I need to raise the handlebars a little to make riding more comfortable.

And the next few days will be wonderful to give my bum and legs a rest. 

Day 5, Merino Downs to Lawrence, 78km

The night was incredibly cold. It was snowing with my brother in the hills, and under the bridge I was wearing every warm piece of clothing I had: a thermal, two jerseys, my down jacket and hat, and sleeping bag, and I was still cold. Brrrr! I kept on waking up with cold but I did get a good night sleep after all.

I was thinking of getting a warmer sleeping bag or taking more clothes but I believe that will be by far the coldest night I'll encounter.

The day was a nice sunny trip through very green Otago countryside, having crossed the border out of evil Southland.

More cows, sheep, and crops.

It was hot, about 26 degrees, and I stopped in at two farm houses to ask for drinking water. I drank 6 litres of water.

Both farmers were surprised but very happy to give me water. Most people are nice in person I guess.

There was a wonderful descent to Raes Junction, then to Beaumont where I crossed the ancient bridge, made of wood and iron... so tiny and rickety beside the huge sleek new concrete bridge.

It's amazing we still used the old bridge until last year.

I should have stopped here because I was feeling tired but I had arranged with friends to meet them in Lawrence and stay the night. Not a good move.

This is where I stopped having fun for the day.

It was a real grind down the Clutha cycle path. Hot and tired and sore bum.

Usually I cycle in silence listening to the birds and wind, but that afternoon I put on my music and ate lots of lollies and let the combination power me through the final hours. It was a bit grim.

Through a tunnel, which was cool and dark, so cool and delicious out of the sun.

Finally I rolled into Lawrence and staggered into my friend's house feeling like my legs were swollen and enormous, despite my legs looking the same as usual. My bum was so sore. 

Despite my fatigue and aches I had a wonderful evening with friends.

However during my sleep that night I had terrible night sweats and fever, and went to the toilet to pee 6 or 7 times.

Perhaps it was something to do with not enough electrolytes? Or just not enough food?

I had a terrible sleep.

Day 4, Lumsden to... some place called Merino Downs about 20km from Gore. 76km.

What happened today?

I saw a burned out harvester machine. Expensive.

A sign left over from the last election I guess. Charming.

Lots of empty backroads, wheat, barley, cows and sheep.

Tonight I'm sleeping under a bridge in my hammock. Well hidden from the National voter farmers who hate both cyclists and freedom campers.