Lake Moeraki to Makarora

Leaving Lake Moeraki, we were treated to another glorious, sunny day. Maybe it really is summer here! After a short jaunt down the lake we began to have views of the coast again.

Soon we dropped down closer to the shore and rode along it for a while. This is Ship's Creek just around the point you can see above and a beautiful place, but loaded with sandflies. Fortunately, they seem to like David more than they like me, and I escaped with only a couple of bites. David had a dozen or more. This incomplete panorama was taken from a viewing tower. It was meant to include more of the beach to the left, but evidently, I didn't leave enough overlap.

After the daily coffee stop in Haast, we turned inland again and started climbing up the Haast River valley. Fortunately, we had a nice strong tailwind and the grade was quite gentle, as by now the wheezing I had developed on Fox Glacier had turned into a hacking bronchitis cough. I wasn't sure how far I could make it, but the tailwind was so good and the views so glorious, I figured I'd ride as far as I could and then accept a lift up the steep part to Haast Pass. Because of the recent rains, we saw numerous waterfalls roaring down the steep slopes, including this one, Roaring Billy Falls, where we ate the picnic lunches packed for us by the Wilderness Lodge. 

Getting to the falls required a 20-minute (round-trip) bush walk with its own interesting sights. This tree had a cavity large enough to stand in, presumably from a lightening strike.  As we were coming out, Isabelle (our French Pedaltours companion) was just going in. This will become significant a little later.

Thundercreek Falls marked the start of the steep climb, so I stopped there and waited for the van to be ready to drive me up. 

And while we were waiting, I got a chance to photograph one of the enormous dragonflies we had been seeing for days. This one must have fallen off a car grill, so he was dead enough to pose well....

We figured Isabelle couldn't be that far behind.... After well over an hour, I managed to persuade Klaus (our guide who was driving that day) that we should drive back along the route, in case she had had a flat or something (she is not a very experienced rider). Sure enough, just as he predicted, as he put the key in the ignition, she showed up. And, just as I had predicted, she had had a flat only 10 km from lunch. Since our "sweep" had ridden ahead with most of the rest of the troupe, and Klaus had failed to keep an eye on her, she had had no other choice than to learn to change a flat. And managed, although her frustration was fairly evident. She accepted a lift up the steep part just to avoid being so far from the group.

We only had to drive about 5 km to get past the steep bit (and the road works), and Klaus set us down with more gently rolling hills to come. The tailwind persisted, so we were happy. About 6 km later, we were at Haast Pass, elevation 654 m, and the boundary between the Westland, through which we'd been cycling for most of the tour, and Otago.

The most striking boundary, though, was between the rainforest, sandfly-infested, heavy rainfall western environment and the much drier one east of the alps. Nothing could be more clear than why we got all the rain on the western side. The mountains are tall enough and steep enough that they wring out the clouds before they can cross over.

That night, we stayed at the Makarora Tourist Center, a rather more rustic accommodation than we have experienced thus far. It looks to be an ex-youth camp, or something, with A-frame cabins that can each sleep about 6 people, and the bathrooms very much an afterthought. Each couple (or single person) had an entire cabin to themselves. David was given a rather abrupt introduction to how rustic it all was as he opened the door. This was on the threshold, dead as a doornail, evidently crushed when he tried to rush out the door as the cleaners left.

In the night, we could clearly hear the morepork owls calling for ham -- at least when I wasn't drowning them out by coughing. The extra beds -- and rooms -- came in handy, as David was able to sleep a bit farther from my germs and hacking.

No internet either, hence the late post.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)