Day 3, Accomplished: Tekapo to Dunedin – 526km (redux)

Apologies, this is a long post – it was a long day!

My day started with a great coffee and a breakfast burger that was absolutely what I needed to get moving. Yes, it was from Our Dog Friday downstairs.

Do you want to see an absolutely cringeworthy clip of me acting like some sort of Instagram influencer wannabe? 🤦‍♀️

The coffee is fantastic, the food is delicious and… let’s just leave it at that.

Once breakfast was done (I ate it standing in my room whilst shoving clothes and gear into the side panniers), I checked out, then took one last look around.

Did you notice how I said ‘thermals’ in that clip? I Just had a single long sleeved thermal top on.

I had all the liners in my riding gear as well, but it’s just not the same.

I stopped briefly at a lookout near Lake Pukaki, which was just another blue lake, as I predicted 😉

To Aoraki or not to Aoraki

Long story short, I Aoraki’d and I’m extremely glad that I did.

The ride in was wet and windy, but the end result was a prize I couldn’t possibly have imagined in my wildest dreams.

My reaction after riding past the turnoff was actually far more dramatic. ‘You’re in NZ. You’ve hired a bike for the ride, not the destination. You’re seriously going to skip this opportunity? Turn around and go up that road, son!’

I spent an hour and a half up there, at least.

It started with a coffee at the beautiful little cafe that was made up to look like a chalet. There was a signed letter to the establishment from sir Edmund Hillary. It’s sitting over the fireplace in this next photo:

I took photos of rocks and grass and of yet more mountains.

After my coffee, I took a quite ride to the Hooker Valley hiking area.

I didn’t go far in my full riding gear, but I felt as though I was walking in the Scottish highlands.

I found a spot slightly off the gravel walking track, sat down in the grass and stared in awe at the sheer majesty of the scene. The rain came and went in a moment, as so often seems to be the way here.

And… that’s it.

Well, it’s not. Not in real time and not by a long shot.

I stopped for a bagel and a hot chocolate in Twizel (again, tWHYzel, not Twizzel or Tweezel)…

Sorry, it’s a terrible photo. It was taken for a message to family 🤷‍♀️

By this stage I was cold and concerned that I wouldn’t make it to Dunedin in time to check in by 8pm. I was right about that.

Lindis Pass

Utterly determined to witness the majesty that is Lindis Pass, I rushed (at the speed limit, mind) to Omarama, fuelled up again and headed for the pass.

Unfortunately, the pass was completely fogged up and I couldn’t see much at all.

Fortunately, what I could see was still utterly stunning.

I don’t have any pics or footage from my phone, because at no point along the trip from Omarama to Dunedin did I feel like stopping.

I should have amazing 4K footage on the Sony action cam that I’ll process once I’m able to.

Time pressure

I pulled over by the side of the road in Tarras, some 3 hours away yet, from Dunedin. I called the office of the accommodation I had booked earlier in the day, to let them know I’d be running much later than stated. It was already past 5pm.

I ended up calling a few times after that, with updates.

In the end, they kindly agreed to leave the key under the front doormat as the office was closing at 8pm.

I stopped once again for fuel which is when I put on the second layer.

When I got off the bike, I was shivering like mad. I filled Ruby, then pulled into a parking spot to throw on the spare thermal top. It was a tiny improvement, but enough to stop the shivering.

It took me 50 more minutes to roll into Dunedin and then find the accommodation. Once again, I was shivering uncontrollably when I stopped.

I felt utterly brutalised by the end of the day, which is what caused me to post version 1 of this day’s events. Still, I’m glad I took the time to revise, because I wouldn’t trade any moment of the day for anything.

It was Ruby and I against the the world as the rain, fog and cold closed in… and we loved it.