Day 5 Fairlie to Tekapo

As planned we were on the road before 7, but only went as far as the Bakehouse where we stopped to have another pie for breakfast. No queue now, but we were not the only customers, already they are busy.

We are on our way a little after 7. It's foggy, cool, no wind. I like riding in light fog, everything distant is gone and we ride in a private cocoon.

We cross the Opihi river and turn upstream. This is Google's recommended route, which our landlady agrees is a good choice. There is a cycleway beside the main road (SH8) but this road should be quieter and more pleasant.

Is it getting brighter? No, it's a rape seed paddock in the distance. It really seems to glow.

After 10 km, our sealed road turns to gravel. 2 km further on we turn, 1 km back to join SH8... WTF? "Ford closed" Again! What will this one be like?

For SauKeng, bad. It's another "raw" crossing - just a shallow place in the river bed. Road sign "SH8" points to the right. That cannot be correct, SH8 is across the river to our left. I check the map, there are no sensible options other than crossing the river.

The first steam seems okay and I ride across easily. The base here is hard :-) The second, and main, stream is much bigger. I get most of the way across but the water becomes knee deep and a larger rock stops me. Keeping shoes dry is no longer an option. I'm over but Sau Keng is not. Shoes off she walks across with my support, then I ferry the trike contents across and finally carry the trike over. It's is too deep to wheel it, the engine would have been underwater.

Now we are riding on SH8, the cycleway only went as far as Kimbell. The day seems to be improving, nice, there is a fair amount of traffic, not so nice. After a while we get to Burke's Pass historic village, and stop to re-sunscreen and have an ice cream. This is an quirky interesting place.

Cloud has returned, quite suddenly, is this the forecast bad weather? I hurry to finish the my ice cream and w start riding again. Burke's pass has me puffing, this is our first decent climb. It was not too bad, I'm happy to get to the top though.

A bit further on we came to this memorial... It seems out of place - no obvious reason why it's here. Very artistic though.

As we descend the landscape opens up, wide, largely brown and wild. Very desolate compared with the rich pastures and fields we have been riding through up to now. Mountains in the background too. This is the McKenzie basin.

We feel like we are close, but it takes quite a bit longer before the lake appears. The cloud has largely gone. It is warm. No sign of the rain and thunderstorms predicted with 90% probability. We check the forecast - now there is a snow warning!

We stop beside the lake to take a photo. Lupins! Beautiful. We identify ourselves as tourists and take many photos of, in, with and through the flowers. Locals see them as weeds.

Chatting with people we meet is one of the pleasures of our ride.

I like the sheep dog. He deserves a good statue. Matagouri is (viciously) impressive too

Our accommodation is around the lake, near the thermal pools. We have our own unit - barely just big enough to accommodate a queen bed. Shared toilets and showers outside. Communal lounge and kitchen. Essentially backpacker accommodation with a separate bedroom - and it's our most expensive to date! (Tekapo is expensive, and this is a holiday weekend in Christchurch)

Dinner in tonight. we use the kitchen and make our own meal. It's nice to have simple meals some of the time and restaurant meals seldom have enough green vegetable for our taste.

After dinner we go to buy milk for breakfast from the 4 Square. Cold! And windy now. Total change from when we arrived. The snow forecast is believable now. Despite the cold we ride and explore for a while, this is such a pretty place.

Statistics

Distance 51 km

Climb 622 m

Time 4:01