Mt. Cook -> Christchurch

Christchurch would be my end station on South Island and from there I would fly to Wellington and continue forward to East Coast towards Gisborne where my plan was to celebrate new year.

Stages from Mt. Cook:

20.12 Mt. Cook - Lake Alexandrina 112km

21.12 Lake Alexandrina - Waihi Gorge 112km

22.12 Waihi Gorge - Rakaia Gorge 93km

23.12 Rakaia Gorge - Christchurch 97km

On my way I suffered again several flat tyres because I found out that all of my tyres had a manufacturing fauld and they cracked slowly from the inner circle. Plenty of stops, patches and nerves. In Mt. Somers I fixed my trailers fork which had been broken since Invercargill. Thanks for Hendrik from Mt. Somers Service Centre for helping me with the fork! Also I had two broken spokes which made the last 100km a bit tricky, since the rear wheel was getting more and more unstable. 

I spent my Christmas in Christchurch in Vagabong hostel, together with very nice people. On xmas eve we rented a car with two Swedish girls, Maja&Julia, and went to check out the Akaroa Peninsula, which lies south east from Christchurch. Nice and different xmas eve in a nice company with hot wearher.

Lake Pukaki B Power Station

Dinner trout from Waihi Gorge

Fixing my trailers fork in Mt. Somers Service Centre

Christmas Eve in Akaroa, Christchurch

Maybe not the most traditional Christmas dish, but it was fine!

Time to prepare bicycle for the flight

Leaving Christchurch 25th December

From Ocean to Alps

After staying one day in Dunedin, I took a bus to Oamaru. By this trick I saved 110km of cycling on a busy highway, and so I started the Alps2Ocean (http://www.alps2ocean.com/)bicycle track from Oamaru. This trail is designed to cycle from Mt. Cook to Oamaru, but my plan was to do the opposite, and to continue from Mt. Cook to Christchurch, which is also one cycling track.

The Alps2Ocean follows mostly Waitaki river which is an important source of energy for New Zealand. On my way to Mt. Cook I passed several hydro power plants, dams and channels.

16.12. Oamaru - Duntroon, 76km
17.12. Duntroon - Ahuriri River Campsite, 84km
18.12. Ahuriri River Campsite - Lake Pukaki (Southern Campsite), 99km
19.12. Lake Pukaki - Mt. Cook, 78km

From Dunedin to Oamaru by bus

Easy to proceed by following these signs

Elephant Rocks

Waitaki Power Station

My first catch from Deep Stream!

The best dinner I've had during my trip

Lake Ohau

In Twizel there was a packet waiting. New poles for my tent, because the original poles started cracking mysteriously. Thanks for Poppies Cafe for receiving the parcel!

Lake Pukaki

Time for freshup!

Mt. Cook in the other end of Lake Pukaki

Mt. Cook lower summit in the middle

Tasman Glacier and Lake Tasman

Staying overnight under the bridge. I dodged h the heavy wind and rain that night.

Lake Pukaki and Power Station B of Lake Tekapo channels

Around Central Otago

Central Otago became famous when people found gold from there on the 19th century. Nowadays the towns are still alive, but mostly because of tourism or agriculture. The Otago cycling trail is consisted of three different trails:

• Clutha Gold Trail, from Lawrence to Roxburgh Dam
  http://www.nzcycletrail.com/clutha-gold-trail

• Roxburgh Gorge Trail, from Roxburgh Dam to Alexandra
  http://www.nzcycletrail.com/roxburgh-gorge-trail

• Central Otago Rail, Trail from Clyde (through Alexandra) to Middlemarch
  http://www.nzcycletrail.com/otago-central-rail-trail

I started from Balclutha and stayed overnight somewhere after passing Lawrence. The next day I cycled to Alexandra, but skipped the Roxburgh Gorge trail by using Highway 8, because the trail had a short, but expensive boat trip of $95. The third day I went to Clyde and from there to Middlemarch and just a bit further to Pukerangi from where I took the scenic Taieri Gorge train to Dunedin.

This trip was just awesome, like all the others as well so far. If you want to cycle in New Zealand, this is maybe the best option. Beautiful scenery and plenty of nice little towns.

So at the moment I am in Dunedin, but tomorrow I will continue to Oamaru, where the next bicycle trail is waiting. The route from Mt. Cook to Oamaru is called Alps2Ocean (http://www.alps2ocean.com/trail-map), but I will cycle it to the opposite direction. Once I arrive to Mt. Cook, my next target is Christchruch where I'm plannig to spend my Christmas. How religious is that?

At the moment I have done 1900km and the route to Christchurch via Mt. Cook is 600km, so it will be around 2500km in just 6 weeks. A bit more than I scheduled!

 

One of the several tunnels

Roxburgh Dam, 320 MW

Alexandra and Clutha River

All the stations listed from Otago Central Rail Trail

No fish here

Southern Scenic Route

On Sunday December 7th I continued from Te Anau, and my destination was Balclutha on the East Coast. Unfortunately I didn't visit Stewart Island, because lack of time and money.

Here is a brief summary about my progress:

Day 1: Te Anau - Clifden (Suspension Bridge Campground), 88km
Day 2: Clifden - Invercargill 110km
Day 3: Invercargill - Waikawa 95km
Day 4: Waikawa - Balclutha (via Nugget Point) 118km

http://www.southernscenicroute.co.nz/

From Te Anau to Balclutha

Staying overnight at Clifden Bridge

What are those clouds?

Nugget Point Lighthouse