David's Tour Aotearoa

The last day! Today's objective was to get to the finish line at Bluff, which I did relatively easily by about 3.00pm. I started early at 6.45am while it was well and truly dark. I was mindful that I had 140km to ride and the forecast was a tad average, although this was to be the first and only day with no climbs. After 15km my back tyre was a tad soft. I had a go at pumping it up, but that only lasted 2km so I replaced the tube. I've not had a lot of fun fixing punctures with this bike. I've done a quite a few over the years but I've struggled to get these tyres both off and back on and today was no exception - and it did take quite a while today to fix. I was really grateful for the tail wind today as it would have been a long hard day otherwise. However, the large number of Sounds 2 Sounds riders I stayed with last night and also passed in the early morning going in the opposite direction were less enthusiastic about what was a head wind for them. Today's ride w...

Fantastic to see the fundraising go past $6,000, a huge thanks! I snuck out early this morning while still dark and biked down to the wharf in order to catch the early staff boat across to Walter Peak Station. The boat ride and the first 50km of today's ride through to the Mavora Lakes were again quite spectacular. The ride took us around the lake before the last noteworthy climb of the Tour up Von Hill, a decent 250m elevation gain grinding climb. From Mavora, the ride was into a south westerly through farmland before migrating to a cycle trail through farmland loosely following the Oreti River through to Mossburn. I'm staying tonight at the Mossburn Railway Hotel. There's a lot of other riders here, mainly doing the Sounds 2 Sounds event from Marlborough Sounds to Milford Sound. Mossburn is one of two small bits where the routes intersect. Tomorrow should be the last day! It will be a big ...

A big thank you to everyone as the Breast Cancer Foundation fundraising is nearing $6,000, currently at $5,793. Today I rode from Wanaka to Queenstown over the Crown Range, passing "Bradrona" on the way, NZ's dedicated bra fence. This fence is being used to also raise valuable funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation. I had earlier left Wanaka in a chilly 6 degrees and farewelled my two friends who were off to chase trout in the McKenzie basin. It had been good to see them - thanks. The climb up the Cardrona Valley is fairly long and for the most part pretty flat with 600m being climbed relatively easily. The last 200m of elevation is a whole lot steeper up to the Pass at 1,076m being the highest Point of the whole Tour Aotearoa. I had to concentrate on the way down the steep descent with the motor vehicle traffic keen to get down a whole quicker than I was prepared to ride. The route veers off towards Arrowtown near the bottom and I was ...

Yesterday started with a fairly flat 50km ride up to the start of the Haast Pass climb.This was going to be a bigger day at approx 150km to Wanaka. It's now noticeably darker in the mornings with sunrise after 7.30am vs 7am st Cape Reinga. It's also noticeably colder in the mornings. After a misty start the weather was spectacularly good and the scenery remains outstanding. I saw a couple of other TA riders for the first time in a few days. I had last seen this couple at the start of the Timber Trail in the middle of the North Island where we had shared accommodation. The Haast Pass is a fantasticly scenic ride and a decent climb. However I was soon wheeling it down the other side to Makarora for coffee. From Makarora I rode alongside Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. I finished the day off with 30kms along the Hawea River and Wanaka Outlet trails to Wanaka arriving about 7pm. Wanaka was buzzing with life, prob boosted by the A...

Today was a glorious day of biking from Haast to Wanaka up the Haast Pass and past Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. Tomorrow's plan is to bike over the Crown Range to Queenstown.

Today was one of those glorious sunny days on the west coast with the bike riding scenic the whole way. I suspect I would be saying something completely different were it wet.... It was a tad chilly when I set off. First task of the day was to bike the 5km up to the glacier lookout for the control photo. True to form the glacier was hidden under cloud. While sure that the cloud would lift, I needed to get moving. Fox Glacier under there somewhere  Apparently what Fox Glacier looks like although probably a bit smaller now Riding was pretty flat today aside from some hill riding around Knights Point, but is pretty much one continuous scenic postcard. Bruce Bay Knights Point  The bike is showing some wear and tear. The drive train is a tad tired so if I do find an open bike shop I'll look to fully replace. My back tyre had also developed a slow leak which I pumped up peroodically. When I got to Haast I decided to press on to reduce ...