Lakes and Mountains – Through the MacKenzie Country

The run of good weather came to a very soggy end on Sunday morning as we were loading up our trusty steeds for the ride through to Fairlie.

Howard is very positive and was sure the rain would ease by our delayed departure time of 9:30am, the forecast indicated it would ease around 2pm. The forecast was correct and after about an hour we were pretty cold and miserable, the tarmac had been replaced by a combination of soft sodden gravel or just mud, and progress was slowed even further by a couple of seriously nasty hills. Given the circumstances, one had the very inappropriate name of Mt Gay. There was no rainbow at the end of that climb or the even bigger climb after it.

However, as with all hills, going down the other side is fun but it never lasts long enough. The piles of tricky gravel and the dramatic drop off also called for a little more caution.

Howard had been spurred on by the thought of a Sunday Roast dinner at the local pub. I tried to keep a lid on his enthusiasm just in case there was no Sunday Roast. After a hard ride I was concerned about his mental state if the roast meal did not materialise. We found the pub and the roast so that story has a happy ending.

Fairlie was an 8km detour off our route so we had to retrace those 8km to get back on yet another metal road that took us over McKenzie Pass. Everything seems to have McKenzie (or MacKenzie) in its name. For being a thief, he certainly gained a lot of fame.

The weather was a total contrast to the previous day and as we came over the pass the views of the Alps were stunning. The only slight detraction was the occasional stench coming from the local ‘road kill’, large wallabies. Something would have to be very unlucky or stupid to get killed on the tracks we were on so we assumed that it was poison, later confirmed by notices on a rather derelict fence.

Tekapo was packed with International tourists and completely lacking in adequate services such as eateries. We concluded that whoever designed the town did so after a bender one Friday night. We rather foolishly decided to have a cooked breakfast in town the next morning as our ride through to Twizel was going to be a doddle. We had sussed out a couple of 7 day a week cafes but on arrived the next morning both were closed. Howard had been doing that dreaming of a meal thing all night so we unhooked him from his bike and sent him off to sniff out some breakfast. In desperation he had popped into a rather plush looking hotel and asked if there was anywhere we could get breakfast. They pointed to the dining room and hey presto, we had two happy cyclists.

Fantastic ride to Twizel, short, downhill, mostly a tailwind and amazing scenery. When I say that it was mostly a tailwind, there were a couple of section where it was a challenging cross wind. Wellingtonians would call it a zephyr but we wimpish northerners considered it to be cyclonic. We reached a very exposed section where we were informed that in high winds you should take the ‘low route’. We briefly debated the status of our particular wind, took into account the fact that the low route has a steep climb to get out of it and gambled that we wouldn’t get swept into the valley by a violent gust. Howard went first and was riding on a 45 degree angle, the bike leaning into the wind. My lighter bike required me to lean so far over that I was nearly scraping my shoulders on the gravel. We made it and we’re rewarded when we met a poor chap from Oxford heading uphill into the wind. After giving him the rather gloomy report on conditions where he was headed, we picked up the fantastic downhill to Lake Pukaki and over lunch marvelled at the engineering feats involved in the massive hydro scheme between the lakes.

We needed a cold beer and some fuel when we arrived in Twizel and after our usual post ride chores I quickly checked the location of the shops on my phone, plugged it into the charger and dragged Howard out to find the town centre. I didn’t look hard enough and led poor Howard on a mini marathon around Twizel. We eventually found the shopping centre and could spot our digs just across the reserve. Howard has been dining out on that little navigation hiccup.

We made an early start for the ride to Omarama. There was a lot of trail, 80km of riding and a 900m hill to get over. The weather looked threatening but the rain limited itself to a few drops, not enough to bother with the wet weather gear. As we headed up towards Lake Ohau lodge, I spotted a memorial on a bridge and suspected that it was someone that I knew. It was a single lane bridge and as I was photographing the memorial a car came along. We backed off the bridge and when I put my left foot down it found fresh air and I was suddenly down the bank with the bike on top of me. A quick check of vitals, there was a pulse, arms and legs still worked, brain – mmmm – not sure. I hauled myself from under the bike and dragged it back onto the road.

The next 17 km up and down the hill (mountain) we’re in places very challenging. Very rough rocky single track, an unsurvivable drop off, and as you would expect, views to die for. I was photographing and videoing the ride which necessitated regular stops, it was far too dangerous to even taken a hand off the handle bar to briefly turn the camera on or off. Howard had got well ahead of me and when I came off the track onto a road there was no sign of him. I cruised down the road at top speed and after a period where I would normally have expected to catch up with him, still no sign of the lad. I had seen a sign pointing at a historic building and assumed that, based on his form so far, he had probably ridden down to look at that. I didn’t want him thinking that I had tumbled off the bike somewhere up the hill and go back looking for me. I checked the phone and had reception so tried ringing him. He carries his phone in a fanny bag and is reluctant to fiddle around trying to get it out. I kept getting voice mail but decided that if I kept ringing the noise would eventually drive him to retrieving his phone. Sure enough, I was now well ahead of him and just needed to wait. Another happy ending.

The rain got a little more persistent about 10km from Omarama and we were starting to get a little soggy by the time we slushed our way into the camp. A beer and some food and we are ready to rock and ride, hopefully with out the rock part tomorrow.

Today dawned clear and warm and our spirits were lifted further by a coffee before we hit the trail.

We didn’t have high expectations for todays ride down the Waitāki Valley but the new section of trail along Lake Benmore was spectacular. It was advisable to keep you eye on the track in places as there were plenty of opportunities to come to a very messy ending if you miscalculated.

The day was deteriorating as we pedalled into Kurow. I jumped in the shower but there was only cold water. The owner of the accommodation responded to our SOS but was unable to sort the issue out so she drove us to her 89 year old mothers house. Mum looked a bit stunned when we bowled up with our towels but seemed to enjoy the company of a couple of strapping young lads.

To cap the evening off we popped into the local for some of their famous blue cod. It was pretty tasty but during the meal it started to rain and of course we did not have our coats. The rain had eased by the time we left the pub but once we were well away from any shelter – you guessed it – it set in with some intensity, including hail. An interesting day.

Well we leave the Mackenzie / Waitaki region tomorrow and head over Danseys Pass into Central Otago for the last leg of the trip. I was going over the route and realised that our Nav App was trying to take us over a bridle path. When I replanned it we suddenly had an extra 20km of uphill peddling. Our doddle has turned into something involving a little more perspiration.