Day 1 – CHCH to Ranfurly +/-418km
Not the best weather to start off in. It was cold, then wet, then a bit miserable really. Thank goodness for heated grips. Our riding gear was pretty soaked after the first couple of hours, but thankfully, the weather dried up after that and the sun tried to peek out through the clouds.
Todays route included wuite a bit of back roads through waimate, then up and over Danseys pass to our campsite in Ranfurly. If the weather had been nicer we would have been more inclined to take more pictures.
Day 2 – Ranfurly to Lake Hauroko +/-420km
Today was loong day. It was a full day of riding. Anything on gravel seems to take a long time and I am glad we did not plan anything longer than 400km/day as that seems to be the limit of what is comfortable.
Old Dunstan road was lovely and certainy quite a lot easier than we thought it was going to be.
The Gravel road between Lake Mahingerani and lawrence was not terribly fun. Quite thick gravel. We were pretty over gravel by the time we got to Lawrence. Laawrence was a bit of a surprise, not sure what we expected, but it was full of cafes, bikers and tourists. Quite nice. We stopped for lunch here at a cafe which is a rarity for us as lunches usually consist of a quick nibble of something we brought with us before moving on.
The Taupeka mouth Ferry was a hoot. Lovely little experience. Very glad we did this.
Then it was loads more gravel back roads to gore, then to Otautau. for fuel before wide open throttle to Lake Hauroko. The last couple of km of gravel to the campsite was not welcome, but we made it through and the campsite itself was a lovely little field.
Day 3 – Lake Hauroko to Mavora Lakes +/-437
Had an oopsie in Te Anau. Wasn’t concentrating in the slow moving traffic. Slammed brakes and swered and went over. No major damge, some bruises and scrapes but all ok.
The road to Milford Sound was lovely. Another long day.
Mavora lakes seems nice, but its a busy place, and you get bugger all facilities for the DOC fee.
Day 4 – Mavora lakes to Macetown +/- 142km
We really need to do the section between Mavora and Wakatipu again. It has stunning scenery, and if we weren’t hurrying to get the boat, we would have gotten the drone out.
The Earnslaw almost didn’t let us on, but relented in the end.
Skippers Canyon was BAKING hot. We need cooler gear.
Macetown was a hoot. After getting over the fear of the first water crossing, the rest were easy and fun.
Day 5 Macetown to Tekapo +/-327 km
Simon dislocated his thumb today. Yikes. Stupidly enough we carried on and did Carricktown Track followed by hawsburn Road. Simon was in a lot of pain by the end of it. We would have done some gravel roads near Pukaki, but by the time we were done with Hawksburn road, Simon was pretty sore and unhappy. So we headed straight for Tekapo as fast as we could. Well deserved pizza and beer at Tekapo.
Day 6 Tekapo to home +/- 274km
Pretty much straight for home really.
Most of our gear worked out pretty well. The spring on the rear suspension needs to be stiffer though. Might need a seat upgrade too to save the bums.Simon managed to get water in his dry bags, not sure how though. Mine were fine. Might need a smaller sleeping bag. The way we packed our gear seemed to work well, and the rock straps were much better than the bungee cords.
