10. The west coast

As we head into the Haast pass we came across the blue pools. It gives us a chance to stretch our legs and it was a very pretty place.

This coast is well known for its one way bridges, whitebait, bush ,and bloody sandflys. Before the road , whitebait was flown out by the plane load. To signal the plane a large piece of cloth was laid out. Red for a half load, silver for a full load. 

 If only ?

This is a DOC camp at lake Paringa. The fishermen waiting for the fog to lift were from Te Puke

Fox glacier was another thing on our bucket list and it was everything we'd imagined .

The club own a site at Franz Josef so we dump our waste and top up with fresh water

The next stop was at Ross beside the beach. Not that nice but the bull seal made biking on the beach interesting

Hokatika is a pretty town in an otherwise boring coast where trees grow sideways?  This one way bridge is shared with the train

At Greymouth we take the inland route, past this graveyard for old Morris and Austin's at the coal ghost town of Brunner

Through the Buller gorge and finally reach this amazing free camp just out of Motueka.

the place is called rankers.co.nz and it's not only free but we were invited to help ourselves  to their veges and fruit. Swimming hole,toilets,.. bludgers HEAVEN

9. Queenstown /Wanaka

The traffic jams of Otago! Sheep ,ducks and camper vans. We stayed in Fairlight where the Kingston Flyer used to finish

I had a cold swim in Queenstown before visiting our friends Bob and Britta. They do extensive cycling in Europe and we sat around with their books and a wine ,and planned this years cycle trip.

The next day we biked a bit of a local route to Arrowtown. Great trails down here, toilets everywhere and even compressed air for our tyres

No , not this one, it's the Chinese loo in Arrowtown. On the way out we went up and over the Pisa pass and through Cardrona. At over 1000 meters it's the highest sealed road in NZ and reminded us of the French alps with its cyclists.

Christine made a small contribution to the Cardrona bra fence (when I say small)  before the decent into the lovely Wanaka