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