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

8. Manapouri /Doubtful sound

I've been looking forward to seeing the Manapouri power station since it was made so we paid up and joined the tour. 

By launch across lake Manapouri , bus across to Doubtless sound,another boat around the sound and that in itself was beautiful !

And then 200 meters underground to this amazing power station. 

The water flows from here 10km through a tunnel to come out in Doubtful sound. 

 At the end of the tour we topped up with water and headed for Fairlight, a freedom camp at the bottom of lake Wakatipu. The tour costs $400 but it's a once in a lifetime thing and well worth it. Over half the tourists we saw were Chinese !

7. The Rail trail

Central Otago and we're off to bike a bit of the rail trail. We start at Ranfurly and the first thing we notice is a statue by Donald Paterson!  Honestly !

  Christine is going to bike the first leg to Wedderborn, about 14kms

The next leg I do, up and over the highest point on the trail. 12kms to Oturahua, the oldest grocers shop in NZ and home of the Hayes museum. This is one of the best museums I've ever seen and for us in the national trust, it was FREE ! Worth joining !

It made innovative farm products including windmills and fence strainers. All machinery is as it was left . It was powered by a 20ft windmill and then a water driven wheel , housed in that concrete shed. 

Christine rode to Ida valley and I took over to Auripo. We camped the night here ,incredible spot with views over the valley.

The next stage to Lauder was 12kms through the Poolburn gorge so we did this together going there and back. Certainly the prettiest part of the trail. We retrieved our van then drove around to Lauder via Ophir. From there we took turns all the way to Alexandra . Our weather was lovely but I wouldn't like to be on the trail in a strong wing.

After a night in a Roxburgh beside the river, we head for Manapouri , stopping at Gore to post our blog and buy some grog