Nat got up at 5am to make pancakes with berries and banana for everyone for breaky, which was a fantastic treat and a great way to start the day. The weather turned back to rain but at least there was not much wind. We rode along the Haast river for 50km before hitting the main climb which suddenly ramped towards the heavens!! The first 2.5km climbed 300m, averaging over 10%! Most of it was 15% which is a struggle to ride on a fully loaded bike, but everyone managed to finish the 10km climb and celebrate at the top with a photo with the summit sign and a chocolate bar!
Nick and Arnaud at a snack stop on the Haast Pass road
The descent was fantastic and we rode on to stay at a small alpine town called Makarora. Since it was raining and Nick's birthday we stayed in a 4 bed cabin which was a nice change from the tent and we went out to the bar for a few beers and some pool.
The next day we were meant to have an easy 65km ride into Wanaka, but we woke up to strong southerly winds (head wind) and driving rain. We had a slow morning, dreading getting out into the rain. But by check out at 10am we had put on the wet weather gear and headed off. IT WAS FREEZING. My thermometer on my computer said it was 5 degrees and the rain was ice cold. We managed to battle 25km before taking refuge in a corrugated iron bus shelter. We all huddled up and put on the camp stoves and boiled some Milo and Miso soup to heat us up. Tahlia and Arnaud, from brisbane were finding it very cold and were constantly shivering. After being in the shelter for one hour we changed our wet socks and lined our shoes with plastic bags then headed off. We had decided to stop at Lake Hawea only 23km instead of getting to Wanaka. It was just too cold. We arrived at Hawea after battling the wind, cold and rain it took us over 2hrs to ride 23km!! We again got a cabin and stood in the showers for a decent while to warm up our fingers and toes.
Soup and Milo in the bus shelter from the freezing weather
The next morning we got up and saw that there was snow on all the hills around us!! And the locals said it was in single digits all day. I would say it was near zero with the windchill!!! But now the weather is blue skies and the snow capped mountains are very pretty. We have ridden non stop the last 10 days, so are relaxing in Wanaka for a day before heading over the Crown range to Queenstown then Te Anau.
Lake Wanaka and Snow capped mountains
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