Sunday, February 26

A bike ride of only about 2 miles to attend church here in Christ Church. A very welcoming community and a thought provoking and honest message.

Out for a delightful breakfast just 2 blocks away from our hotel. First time Manny has had pancakes here! Back to the hotel to disassemble the tandem. All packed in the bike boxes in 3 hours. Not too shabby.

While packing up our bike ,we met 6 individuals for Bike New Zealand’s next tour. Two tandems on his next tour. One exceptionally long tandem as they were both 6ft. tall. Manny was excellent at being honest about the different types of off road trails they would be doing as well as relaying we did have a good time on our tour. No hairpin turns for that long tandem on the Dunsten trail!

Last night and this evening we partaked of grilled meats with savory sauces which were not spicy,and kumara( sweet potatoes) at an Argentina restaurant. Delightful change of food to the typical New Zealand meat pie or fish and chips.

All packed for tomorrow’s return to USA. Book reading time!

Monday morning now. Breakfast at the hotel, taxi to Christ Church airport. Our taxi driver very nice. He has lived in Christ Church for 9 years. He grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was able to come to New Zealand through a government program mostly because of his age which was 24 at that time. His family, parents, remains in Kabul. He took the risk of returning for 2 weeks to see his parents. By doing so he had to stay in their home the entire time as he was at risk of being arrested. He was a large sized man and he said the Taliban would see his size and say he must be working for the government as all large people would be doing so. It was difficult to understand what government he would be accused of working for. He was glad to take the risk as it meant so much for him to see his parents. To get his parents out of Kabul, he said he would need to pay 5 million dollars for each one. Again difficult to understand who he would pay the 5 million to- New Zealand? The Taliban? Certainly an interesting conversation.

We did fly from Christ Church to Auckland and then Auckland to San Francisco! But in San Fran there was not enough time to pick up our bags, get thru customs and then back through security. In fact the staff here would not allow us to proceed onto security as it takes 45 minutes to do so and we only had 30 minutes. The only flight available was this evening at 10:30 taking the red eye directly into Philly ,arriving Tuesday morning. So we spent the day here as our daughter in law Kelly says “getting airport appreciation time”!

Time to wrap this story up! It was a real pleasure to see the beautiful countryside and beaches of the South Island of New Zealand! The Kiwi ‘s are a friendly welcoming people with a good sense of pride for their country. The bike riding was excellent although challenging on the “gravel” parts. As one biker rider we met from Oregon offered unsolicited- “Their bike trails here really require a full suspension mountain bike” We agree!

Total miles biked was 1130 with 46,000 ft of climb. Not bad considering it is only the end of February and and we have 10 more months to ride this year.

Friday, February 24,2023

Our water taxi was at 10:30 that morning,just a 20 minute walk away. We relaxed at breakfast and got our day bag ready. Some of our group took an earlier tour from a different company. As it was a day to use as you wished,some people stayed around the resort, had a massage and used the sauna. We had no difficulty getting on our boat. The norm on this body of water was for the water to be calm like glass, so we were told. Today the wind was quite high and the water was rough. The boat captain was amazing maneuvering the boat expertly. We had no trouble with feeling squeamish and enjoyed the views. The captain was gracious in taking us to see the fur seals sleeping on a rock at shore part way to our destination of Torry Quarry. The seals feed all night, mostly on squid, diving to depths of 1200 ft. Their excellent eyesight gives them the ability to find food. They can stay underwater for at least 20 minutes without difficulty. On the return trip, about 3:30 pm , the captain again took us to this same rock. The fur seals were awake and active as were their pups. I don’t believe I took a picture but you can see seal pictures on my earlier blog about Doubtful Sound.

We exited the boat at Tonga Quarry a 2 hour boat ride from Kaiteriteri. A took a video of that landing from the beach. We heard later that after we had been dropped off that no other boats went up to Tonga Quarry due to the rough water.

We had ordered brown bag lunches from the water taxi company. As it was noon we found a good rock and enjoyed our sandwiches and chocolate bar. We started our hike south for 3 miles along the trail to reach Medlands Bay where we would be picked up by another water taxi to be taken back to Kaiteriteri. It was a fabulous walk into the forest and back out at times to the water with many views. The walk was super. No rush, no pressure. We meet many hikers, some just out for the day and some with serious backpacks for the camping they would be doing within the National Park. We came into Bark Bay just about 30 minutes away from Medlands Bay and saw the campground as well as a hut there. These huts are much bigger, better supplies for cooking than ones along the Appalachian Trail. We were very surprised to find flush toilets at the campground and it appeared at the hut as well. The activity around the hut was hopping with hikers of all ages.

We decided to hike the last bit of trail into Medlands Bay. We knew there was a 3:15 water taxi pickup there. Even though we were scheduled for the 5:15 water taxi we thought it best to see if the 3:15 taxi could take us back. If not we would relax on the beach and read the books we had brought along for the day. We made it 5 minutes early and in talking to the staff of the water taxi they were glad to take us back in early. They relayed it was a help to them as the wind was increasing and the water was getting significantly rougher!

They weren’t kidding! The boat was really swaying, alot of spray,a good bit of drop over each wave. Since we really were never far from shore, I think that is why I never felt nauseous. I even ate an apple on the way back . Very surprised as I had felt pretty nauseous when we did a boat ride one year in Cape May for a dolphin watch.

The next water taxi pickup on the way back to Kaiteriteri was in Anchorage Bay and 2 water taxis from our company and a third taxi from another company all arrived within minutes of each other. Good thing as there were a lot of people waiting to board! Maybe that was always the schedule or did they really want to get as many people back early as possible. The sky was clear with no pending storm but the water sure was rough! I certainly was covered with spray when we arrived in Kaiteriteri and couldn’t see out my glasses.

As Kimi Ora is a whole health resort, they only serve vegetarian meals. No soda, no microwaves at this site,not health conscious you know. So before walking up the hill we stopped in town and shared a beer burger. Last night we had salad and margarita pizza and tonight the only difference would be a side of roasted potatoes we had failed to see on the menu the previous night. Even our fellow riders who liked vegetarian food did not think the menu options were anything great. We were thrilled they had pizza and salad!

But food notwithstanding, the rest of the resort was nice with our bedroom view directly at the water!

We now have 1 happy hour,1 dinner and 1 breakfast to complete before our van transfer back to Christ Church. After our breakfast on Saturday, some of our group went in the other van to the close by Nelson Airport and 7 of us took the other van back to Christ Church, a 6 hour journey. Manny and I spent most of the time reading our books. A big help to pass the time. Manny reading Peace Like a River by Leif Enger given to us at Christmas by Laura and Troy. I already completed it and knew Manny would enjoy it as well! I am reading “The Little Book Seller at the End of the World” an auto biography by Ruth Shaw. We had the pleasure of meeting her at her bookshop The Wee Little Book Shop in Manipori when we rode past her store which is located on the grounds of where she lives!

Back in Christ Church,we just breathed a sigh of relief to be on our own again. I took an hour to soak up the sun. Tomorrow we will disassemble the bike and pack it up.

Thursday, February 23,2023

We cycled directly out of our hotel this morning in Richmond,back across the soccer field directly onto The Great Taste Trail again.First effort is to reach the Rabbit Island ferry by 10:10. We arrived at the ferry landing at 10:15 just in time to see it unloading some of our fellow riders who had arrived in time, on the opposite shore.

Oh well! It was obvious we were going to miss the ferry as suddenly we had a good bit of bike traffic coming towards us. Obviously they had just gotten off the ferry onto Rabbit Island. We had an hour wait for the ferry to return. Eventually 8 others of our group joined us in our wait. It was no big deal as we did have the whole day to ride to our destination in Kaiteriteri.

We landed in Mapua which had some stores but we wanted to get riding. Finding The Great Taste Trail again was a bit confusing with many of our group searching. Bob and Charlene stuck with us and between the four of us found the trail!

Later that evening there were many humorous stories of our fellow riders trying to find the route. Jeff and Stephen had the best story. They came to private property where the man came out in his bathrobe obviously not wanting the bike traffic as he was in such a rush to stop them he did not bother to close the robe over his birthday suit. The wife comes out attempting to close the robe and the male is just annoyed telling them to turn around. They find another way across the sand but a different woman approaches( fully clothed) and again insists they turn around. They begged forgiveness but she was unrelenting! Our effort to find the trail paled in comparison!

We did have a switch back path to climb out of Mapua but it was paved, well signed and room to manage the switchbacks! We continued on easy trail and road till we were 3 miles outside the town of Motueka. There the route took you 8 miles out of your way and added another 1000 ft of climb in an effort to avoid this busy road section. We reneged and took the road into town. There was a decent shoulder for Manny to steer on. We put the pedal to the metal and took off. Totally focused, I managed the traffic from behind,Manny steered flawlessly and we were in town in 10 minutes! Despite the traffic we had no trouble.

Our first stop in Moteuka was the Wilson ‘s ticket office. Tomorrow, we would have the day to explore the Abel Tasman National Park. There are no roads into this National Park so a water taxi is necessary. We bought our tickets for Abel Tasman and went 2 blocks on to get a delightful lunch at Muse’s Cafe . Manny had chicken cordon blue and salad and I had seafood chowder with garlic bread! Scrumptious!

We left Moteuka with only 10 miles to get to Kaiteriteri our destination. There was a fair bit of climb but all on paved roads. On reaching Kaiteriteri,we rode around town to see the beach and then headed up the climb to Kimi Ora Resort. On reaching their driveway, it was a 20 percent climb for a quarter mile to the resort. In keeping with this off road trip, Manny had to walk the bike this last bit! One of our fellow bike riders passed us at the entrance to Kimi Ora. She was on an e bike and she put on that motor to the max to get up that hill. She said,”I have nothing left to save the battery for! ” Well said!

Wednesday, February 22

We had to transfer out of Murchison by van to reach The Flat Rock Cafe in Kohatu where we had lunch and then could begin riding on The Great Taste Trail, which truly was an old rail trail. The first trail to be appropriately described. At 5 miles on the trail we did enter The Spooner’s Tunnel. A mile long pedestrian and cycle tunnel,which is the longest pedestrian and cycle tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere.

We cycled through countryside with cattle and sheep again! In the town of Wakefield we had chicken and cranberry pies for lunch. The restaurant brings the food out to the park directly across the street where we were sitting. We met a young guy there from Oakland,Ca who was biking the South Island. He agreed that the surface of some of the bike trails was more like mountain bike trails in The States. He asked if we liked the cities of Dunedin or Christ Church. We explained that they were quite different but preferred Christ Church. He was going to head to one of them and pick up a job before he continued cycling.

I believe I mentioned that they have a work/ holiday visa here for ages 18 to 30,(I believe) . It is for a year and it is good for UK and any of the countries that were the British Empire and includes the US. I think I will see how this really works for the US as certainly I have not met people in the US doing this work / holiday visa. But here over the past 6 weeks we have met many people with this sort of visa on the trails,biking or working usually in the restaurant business as there is such a need for help.

We rode on thru the fields, past the town of Bright water,where we did not stop, We rode from the trail directly across the soccer field into the back gate of our hotel, The Parkside. Seamless! A nice way to end the day! Another late dinner at The Stables Restaurant here in Richmond.

Upon arriving in Richmond we did ride to the local Catholic Church to try to attend a mass.,since it was Ash Wednesday It was at 9:30 am so no success. We looked into just attending any church service for Ash Wednesday but no success! Certainly a disappointment. But Lent begins in any event and we set our hearts on growing closer to God and Jesus again this Year.

One day left of riding. While it is fun and always different,I am mentally ready to be finished. As our grandson Peter ,once said when coming home from a long scooter ride in his neighborhood,”I’m done. I’m stuck”. My feelings exactly!

Tuesday, February 21st

We woke after a good night’s rest but the day started off difficult. We all drove out by van but then pulled over just before Reefton Pass. So our ride leader from BAC( Bicycle Adventure Club) could do a ride over Reefton Pass. He and his friend,Brody started off by bike to get over the pass. The rest of us were driven into Reefton where we were instructed to visit the local history on display at the information building and get something to eat. This did not settle very well with Manny and I, as the ride each day is not supposed to be for special privileges or accommodate a specific individual. Of course, these guys did not have enough time to complete the ride over the pass as the van had already passed them on the road. Unfortunately, the ride leader asked if anybody minded if we waited for these guys to finish the mountain pass. Manny politely said that he preferred to get riding ourselves so they were picked up anyway.We never heard what the other van voted. Of course, Grant and Brody were not happy. Manny and I were annoyed at the entire turn of events that morning. We finally get to Maruia Saddle to begin the day’s ride at 12:30. Lunch made by our tour guides, and the bees showed up by the droves. You had to eat quickly and stay on the mouth while eating so as not to be stung.

We finally got on the bike to ride the Matakitaki gravel road which after ascending a steep hill just came back to the paved road. Then right off the road again to a trail that was long dusty and piled high with gravel that was next to impossible to ride. We made it into our hotel that day but it was a frustrating day from beginning to end. The only plus was we had our pizza and salad dinner that night at The Lazy Cow Shed and it came within 30 minutes! What a beautiful thing!We were happy to drop asleep that night and hoped for a better plan for the next day!

We kept our mouths shut about our frustration but it just was another reason that made for a lousy day! Oh well. Sleep helps all things.

Monday, February 20th

On Monday,we biked directly from our hotel at Hokitika heading towards the town of Kumara and then onto Greymouth at the Coleraine Motel. We were fortified with sandwiches, cookies and hot cross buns at the start of the ride from our ride leaders .

The first 12 miles were on nice paved roads with very little traffic. It was a good beginning to the day. A good thing,as we knew we were heading for rough trail on the Westland Wilderness trail which we were to take over Cowboys Paradise pass! We had already been told there would be several switch backs which were too tight for a tandem to make. When this happens ,Manny pushes the bike until we get to safer ridable terrain. We are definitely not into hiking with our bike. This may be fun for some but we definitely do not enjoy it!

Manny did in fact push the bike several times that day. However there were some exceptionally beautiful locations. The pond we had our lunch at was one of them!

“Little Rock Pond” of New Zealand

Some of the other gravel roads were tough as they had new rocks which had not yet been packed down. Certainly a bit tricky for us! We did take a paved road into Kumara that saved us a bit of time but more importantly less jostling along the gravel path

From Kumara into Greymouth we actually did stay on the Westland Wilderness trail. It ‘s surface had greatly improved with fine hard packed gravel. What a relief! We did get off the trail at the location we thought would lead us rather quickly to our hotel but we goofed by going one block too far and headed past our hotel. We did correct our error but it was tiring as the traffic was significant. We made it to our hotel, The Coleraine. Had dinner directly across the street at Buccleighs but again very late and a difficult group for conversation. We were glad to go to bed! Tomorrow would be a new day!

Sunday, February 19th.

We left Fox Glacier by van this morning to get over the pass at The Fox Hills leading into the town of Franz Joseph. Yesterday a group of cyclists on a different tour had been following Manny and I heading into Fox Glacier. I would see bicyclists from time to time in my rearview mirror but never could make them out plainly. With just a mile to go they caught us at a one lane bridge when we reached the town of Fox Glacier. We asked them if they wanted to cross the bridge first since they were a group of about 10. They said no as they had been following us for some time and were pushing to keep up with our flashing red tail light. Quickly we realized we were staying at the same hotel. They said,”Lead us in we trust your directions.” Only 2 turns and we were at the hotel. Compliments all around to each other as we got off the bike to conclude our day. Certainly a nice group!

The next morning that group took off to head further on their journey biking in a northerly direction up the West coast of the South Island. We were going the same way but by van as our ride leader did not like the road going over the Fox Hills. We stopped in Franz Joseph briefly and saw the bike group had made it into Franz Joseph. They relayed they were cold and wet as it had rained coming over the hill. They were all drinking coffee to warm up before heading on.

We continued on by van to Ross where we got out of the van and rode just 20 miles to the town of Hokitika. A town right on the shore and our hotel with beautiful ocean view directly from our room balcony. We scrambled for something to eat as it was Sunday and most places were closed. We did find the traditional New Zealand meat pies at a cafe that was closing but happy to sell some of the last remaining chicken and cranberry pies. We are at a picnic table close by and returned our plates at the front door of the now closed cafe.

Dinner would be at 7, a good 3 hours later, and of course not really served till 8:30 due to the inevitable short staffed kitchen.

I am not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post but New Zealand has 1200 restaurant positions unfilled. The attitude here about this is to be patient and just have a stiff upper lip with no complaints. Very British- you know! While we certainly understood this dilemma it really did get very old and wear very thin when we never got served dinner till 8:30 pm at the earliest. It made no difference if we had pre-ordered our meals or not- (which we often did!) It was a long wait for food after biking on most days a long way over difficult terrain!

Sunday, February 19,2023

Yesterday we rode 75 miles from Haast to Fox Glacier! It was from hotel to hotel which is our preferred way to ride. The van transfers are necessary here because in places there are very few roads and/ or mountain passes to get over.

We had 2 periods of rain ,one only 5 minutes the other more like 30 minutes but both not too bad. We were thrilled to do the entire ride without any difficulty. Some ocean and some forest and some farms when the road veered inland. A good number of rivers coming down to the ocean as well.

We stayed at Sunset Motel in Fox Glacier. Several of our group went to Fox Glacier by helicopter to land on the glacier. They all thought it was a great experience even though it is only 35 minutes in duration. They helicopter you in fast to the glacier, land on the glacier get out for a picture and 10 minutes one ice and fly fast back to this town ,very close to our hotel.

Since we had been to Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska we were not as interested to fly in the helicopter.

The stars that night were fantastic seeing the Milky Way clearly. An enjoyable day.

Friday, February 17,2023.

From Lake Ohau on Sunday, February 12 the we left directly from our hotel and rode to the town of Omarama. The rest of the bike group took a very challenging single track route with many climbs and hairpin turns. We took the very quiet road to lunch at The Wrinkly Ram restaurant.

We enjoyed a great muffin and snack but did not waste much time before getting back on the bike. There was an additional 20 mile ride continuing past The Wrinkly Ram Restaurant. This ride was optional as our hotel that night was right next door to the Wrinkly Ram. We did have plenty of time to ride since we were ahead of everyone else by taking the road not single track to lunch. We got about 10 miles on this single track after our snack at The Wrinkly Ram and decided to stop and not complete that portion nof the ride. Our tandem was not made for this type of trail nor is that the type of riding we do.

Having brought along sandwiches from The Wrinkly Ram we rode a short distance back to a very pretty bay on Lake Be more on the single track trail and had a great lunch. Picture below

We then rode back 3 km. to a campsite on the trail which allowed us to get on the road back to Omarama. It was a safe easy ride back to our hotel next to The Wrinkly Ram. A very good decision as we heard from the other group riders what a difficult and steep section of the single track trail had laid ahead of us when we turned around. Manny and I decided that day that we would be very knowledgeable about what the trail difficulty was each day and be sure to do an alternate route.if we were not comfortable with the trail

On Monday, February 13, the group all did a van transfer to the town of Crumwell. Again it was a difficult section of technical single track. We instead got dropped off about 30 minutes away in the town of Clyde. We rode from there on nice roads until we picked up The Otago Rail Trail.

We took the Otago Rail Trail to Lauder Station but then needed to turn around about 4 miles on the rail trail to the town of Ophir where we stayed that night. The ride to Lauder Station was mostly a steady slight grade uphill but more difficult was the very significant head wind. In turning around to head back the few miles to Ophir was easy as we had a tail wind for those miles. We only did about 23 miles today but it was very enjoyable.

On The Otaga Rail Trail

Bridge on the Otaga Rail Trail

On Tuesday, February 14th we woke early about 5 am as I had heard the fire doors close in the hallway. I went to the bathroom and could not get the lights to turn on and there was no water pressure. I just thought it was me not finding the right switches in the dark. But at 7 am ,we were awake because of the need to get up to be ready in time. Sure enough there was no water and no power. It turned out that entire valley was without power and thus for them no water either as it is all pumped to that town. We did get a light breakfast of yogurt and cereal. They hotel had filled up 15 liter bottles of water the night before to be ready for breakfast. So we did fill our bike water bottles and got on the bike to ride the 23 miles back to Clyde .

Again there was a 16 percent grade gravel road that 11 of our group of 16 bikers rode that morning when we opted to take the rail trail back to Clyde. In Clyde,our 6 riders were picked up by one of the vans and then driven the 45 minutes to the location where the other 11 riders had come over the mountain pass

We then all drove to the town of Wanaka where we stayed that night and also the next night as we had a rest day in Wanaka on Thursday. We did ride the trail around Lake Wanaka bor about 6 miles on Thursday before it turned into single track. We stopped there at Beacon Point and relaxed on the beach and did some sleeping and reading. We headed back the 6 miles to town and returned to the hotel. We left the bike at the hotel,changes our bike clothes for street clothes. Then walked back into town and had an early dinner at 4pm at one of the restaurants there. Again over to the beach but this time in town to read and relax. No happy hour and no group dinner on our rest day These meetings and group dinners both get tiresome and always very late till 10 pm

A nice relief to have an early dinner and be back at the hotel early in the evening.

Jackson Bay

Today we left Wanaka by van and drove 2 hours here to Haast. We rode 30 miles from Haast to Jackson Bay where we had a delightful lunch and then rode the 30 miles back to Haast where we are staying tonight.

On the way back from Jackson Bay we stopped at Hannah ‘s Junction for a ice cream. Then rode the last 12 miles here to our hotel. A very relaxing and great ride today. Tomorrow onto Fox Glacier.

Good night all! Love,Marsha

Thursday, February 16,2023

I have expanded the last post so if you haven’t read it recently ,it has more thoughts there. On Friday, February 10th, we had the day to ourselves as the next tour attendees were arriving and getting their bikes together. Since we take our own tandem and we had just finished the previous weeks tour with them ,we were free till 6pm for the Happy hour with this new group.

We rode to the town of Pegasus from our B&B ,The Orari in Christ Church. A fabulous consistent bike path for the majority of the 21 miles out and then the same route back after a nice lunch in Pegasus.

This next tour is called the off road tour as it will be on many gravel routes. While we have done well riding at home and in many states on gravel roads,it turns out that many of the routes here are actually technically single track. While we had asked this before we actually came, there were many changes to the routes. The first day over Mackenzie Pass was really fine as it was a gravel road and we worked hard and made it over the pass without stopping.

It was a truly magnificent ride with gorgeous scenery!

Mackenzie Pass Gravel road

Mackenzie Pass view

After going over the pass we all regrouped for lunch at the support van. You could load your bike then or ride the next 10 miles on a very quiet road. We choose to ride the 10 miles but it was a real push as we had a very strong head wind. All of us who had attempted made it to the next van pick up. We were driven in the last 8 miles to Lake Tekapo.

View of church right next to Lake Tekapo

View of Lake Tekapo from our hotel window

The next day we rode directly from our hotel by bike onto a road next to the canal for the hydro electric plant with water from Lake Tekapo. A beautiful road, about 50 percent of the miles on gravel or a single track that occasionally we needed to walk because of tight turns or thick gravel.

Nice co-operation between the hydro electric company and the trail development

Hydro electric plant on The Tekapo canal

Part of the single tract that was boardwalk for a short distance.

Not so bad single track on our way to Lake Ohau.

We arrived at our hotel without any difficulty at Lake Ohau .