This was my favourite leg of the entire trip – with the day from Wanaka to Queenstown via the Cardrona Road being my #1 favourite and the other days of this stretch being in the top five too!  The weather was fine; the daily distances  covered were moderate and the views were often stupendous.  Some of the following pix  will hopefully illustrate this!

Day Eight: Haast Junction to Makarora – 78 km

Bird’s-eye View of the Bike Route from Haast to Makarora

All images expand with a click!

looking down the Haast River from SH6 a few km east of Haast Township

looking up the Haast River

As the satellite map and the pix above show, the day began with a ride up the floodplain of the Haast River, with a sharp turn to the south just as I passed a collection of peaks on the north side of the Haast River.  Here is a shot looking back at the turn and the most visible of these peaks, Mount Macfarlane.

looking back at Mt. MacFarlane on the Haast River flood plain

stream flowing from Thunder Creek Falls – the end of short trail from SH6

trailhead for Thunder Creek Falls

The Kiwi cyclist in the teal shirt i first met on the day from Hari Hari to Fox Glacier. He was on his way from Blenheim to Wanaka to visit a friend – but his friend, after parking his vehicle at the bottom of Haast Pass,  has cycled up to Haast Pass and then down to Thunder Creek Falls to surprise his Blenheim pal!  Now all they had to do was cycle down to the car, where the guy from Blenheim would deposit his panniers so that he could finish the ride free of baggage.

SH6 just east of Thunder Creek Falls – sometimes not much paved shoulder!

Haast Pass Lookout trailhead on the side of SH6 at the top of the pass

As I sat at the trailhead sign at the Haast Pass parking lot, a couple pulled up and asked me for some information about  the trail and the view from the lookout.  After informing them that I had only just arrived and hadn’t walked the trail, we got to talking about where we were from.  Well, it turned out that our homes were within twenty kilometres from each other in the urban sprawl that is Toronto, Canada.

a stretch of SH6 a few kilometers west of Makarora – note the slight downhill

rollin’ down SH6 to Makarora

After Haast Pass it was a blast of a ride down the along the Makarora River to a small service-oriented community where I have booked a room at the Makarora Tourist Center. It is just across from an airstrip which serves the region and is used for fly overs of nearby Mount Aspiring Park.  The privately-owned complex includes a gas station, a convenience store, a restaurant, an area for camper vans and tents, and a number of cabins. A separate building served as a cooking and eating area and there was also a building dedicated to toilets and showers.  Here is what it looks like from up above -

Makarora Tourist Center satellite view

interior of Makarora Tourist Center A-frame chalet or cabin

Just as I walked out of the shower room, there was the Aussie named Perry.  I had last seen him at the Ivory Towers hostel at Fox Glacier Village. The morning we had both set off for Haast he  had first made the pilgrimage to Lake Matheson to experience  ”the view”. He was in the camping area – a $12. charge – while I was splurging on a $70. A-frame chalet.

Day Nine: Makarora to Wanaka – 63 km

The Ride from Makarora to Wanaka along SH6

abandoned farmhouse on the side of SH6 just east of Makarora

The day begin with an easy ride down the Makarora Valley to the top of Lake Wanaka and then along the lake itself to the first climb of the day, up to a section of road  called The Neck at km 25 or so.

looking east towards Wanaka from The Neck on SH6

looking south over Lake Wanaka towards Mount Albert from The Neck on SH6

Lake Wanaka:the Neck:Lake Hawea

the Neck as it makes its way from Lake Wanaka to Lake Hawea

The neck between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea

looking back at The Neck from the Lake Hawea side

The rest of the ride into Wanaka included a number of ups and downs and even more stunning scenery.  Just before the longest climb of the day the cycling couple from Utah passed me by. We had compared road notes back at the restaurant at the  Makarora Tourist Center the afternoon before; they were in the care of a Kiwi  bike touring agency so all their gear rode along in the vehicle. I felt a tinge of envy as I saw them on the top of the climb while I still churned away. The so-called “granny gear” of my Cannondale Touring 2 bike was getting a good workout!

SH6 along the shores of Lake Hawea to Wanaka

nearing the settlement at the south end of Lake Hawea on SH6

another hill to climb just before the south end of Lake Hawea

fellow bikers on SH6 – two guys from England

While I munched on my energy bar on the side of SH6,  two English guys (Paul and Pat) passed me by.  I had seen them at the Fox Glacier hostel a few days ago – and here they were again.  This kept happening again and again with a number of fellow cyclists I had first seen at the top of the West Coast road; we would keep bumping into each other. Later I would see Paul and Pat again at the scenic lockout at  top of the Crown Ridge Road and then, after not seeing them for a few days, we’d pedal the last few kilometres into Tuatapere together before getting units next to each other at  the Last Light Lodge. If the thought of setting off on a New Zealand bicycle tour on your own seems intimidating,  just know that you will meet all the people you want to meet – from friendly Kiwis to more touring cyclists than you will see almost anywhere else.  And look at what you get to see when you get off the saddle for a moment -

another wow moment on the way to Wanaka on SH6

I rode  into Wanaka at about 1:30, too early to check into my  already-booked room at  the YHA hostel on Brownston Street.  The person at the check-in counter was kind enough to activate my wifi card so while I waited I sifted through emails and more on my iPod Touch.  It had been an exhilarating ride with great views.

The Wanaka YHA hostel overlooks Pembroke Park and Roy’s  Bay

Wanaka (it rhymes with Monica!)  is described as a smaller and more laid-back  Queenstown.  However,  given its popularity both with retirees and with the same summer and winter outdoor adventure crowd as its big sister to the south, its population has seen a dramatic increase over the past few years. (The 2011 census put it in the 7000 range. Queenstown’s is about 30,000.) I spent the late afternoon sitting at an outdoor cafe watching the traffic go by.  IStroling along the lakefront, I met  a couple of fellow cyclists  who were on their way to a campground in Albert’s Town.  I had been drawn to their bikes by the creative rear panniers on the bike belonging to the woman from California – they had “Humboldt Country” written on them.

Humboldt Country panniers on a touring bike in Wanaka

The Italian guy  had been on the road for the past six months, having done parts of Asia and Australia before arriving on South Island. He had a bike  with a bit more of a load than California Girl’s!  It made my 23 kg. seem not so bad.

two touring bikes at rest on the beach at Wanaka

I spent the night at Wanaka YHA in one of the mini-cottages  behind the main building; it had two private rooms and a shared kitchen, bathroom, and living room and I got to chat with a couple from Melbourne who had the other room in our house. For supper I wandered back to the main drag (a couple of blocks of Ardmore Street) and found an Indian restaurant, my usual solution in my quest for a decent vegetarian meal when choices are slim.  I’d already sampled veg curries in Christchurch and Greymouth – and would be doing so again in Queenstown and Invercargill.  The cost of a veg curry with a bowl of basmati rice and a plain naan came out to about NZ$20. at the Bombay Palace that night, just about what it cost in most of the Indian restaurants I sampled.

an Indian restaurant just down the lane from The Bombay Palace in Wanaka

father and son on the shore of Lake Wanaka across from Ardmore Street

Day Ten: Wanaka to Queenstown via Arrowtown – 76 km

The Road from Wanaka to Queenstown via Arrowtown

There are a couple of ways to get to Queenstown from Wanaka.  Taking SH6  via Cromwell  is the easier one but it is longer by 30 kilometers and has much more traffic than the second way.  The Cardrona Road is shorter but more of a challenge because of the big climb to the top of   the Crown Range  indicated on the map above.  This fellow blogger makes a compelling case for a bit of pain and some fantastic views.  See how he puts it here. Given that I’d be taking a break from cycling the next day, I chose the Cardrona Road and am so glad I did.  It may have been the single best day of cycling I had on my bike trip, though the circuit of the Otago Peninsula east of Dunedin was worthy of sharing first place with the Cardrona/Crown Range Road ride.

heading south on the Cardrona Road from Wanaka

Something which I haven’t mentioned at all yet is the surprising number of possum and rabbit and other small animal carcasses that I got to cycle by every day.  Some stretches were worse than others.  The road from Haast up to the pass was one of the worst for bodies in various states of decomposition; so too was the morning’s ride up the Cardrona Road, when I counted 23.  I was given (but by whom and for what purpose?!)  many opportunities to think about the deaths of living beings and contemplate anew  possible answers to the great existential questions. It’s difficult to reconcile a good and caring Supreme Being with a universe with built-in (and, in fact,  required) suffering and death.  Somehow “it is what it is” is cold comfort as a response.

possum on the road to Cardrona- one of many

I picked the possum  up and put the corpse on the side of the road in the tall grass where he would at least be spared the indignity of being run over by a dozen cars and flattened into the pavement.

the Cardrona Hotel and a vintage car

The twenty-five kilometer ride to Cardrona (altitude 550m) from Wanaka (altitude 275m) was an easy one – the road is moderately uphill.  The café was not yet open when I arrived so I decided to forego the caffeine fix and push on. Coming up almost immediately was the beginning of a long but fairly gradual climb that would take me to the highest point on a New Zealand highway.  The Crown Range saddle at 1080m. is 135m higher than Porter’s Pass, the second highest point of my route. Somehow Porter’s Pass seemed more difficult – perhaps the fact that I was doing it on my second day out instead of the ninth had something to do with it.

heading up into the hills south of Cardrona

The Two English chaps – Paul and Pat- at the top of the Crown Range Road – I’d next see thea few days later on the road just before we entered Tuatapere

one last look back to the Cardrona Road from the Crown Range lookout

And now the fun began – the downhill blast which would take me all the way to Arrowtown in a jiffy!  I made a point of stopping to frame some views in my camera viewfinder instead of taking them in through tearing eyes as I sped downhill at ridiculously fast speeds.

the road south from the Crown Range lookout with the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu visible

a view of the valley below the crown Range on the way to Arrowtown on SH6

coming down SH6 to the Kawarau River and the road to Arrowtown

mandatory “NZ sheep shot” on the way to Arrowdown – Lake Hayes in the distance

the swtichbacks (“The Zig Zags”) mark the end of the descent from the top of the Crown Range Road

a panoramic view of the valley approaching Arrowtown

There is not  a lot to Arrowtown  (populstion 2200) but what is there is quite charming. The big attraction is the preserved 1930′s look of the town’s main street, Buckingham Street. Given that it is a one-way street and i was coming at it from the wrong direction, I went up the street above it in the map below and then cycled back until I spotted a kiosk on the corner of what turned out to be Buckingham Green. It had a veggie falafel burger on offer; I would make an classic all-American  lunch out of an order of fries, the burger, and a can of Coke! I shared a picnic table with two young couples from Malaysia who shook their heads in amazement when I told them I had cycled down from Christchurch. They weren’t having any of it when I told them it really wasn’t that big a deal – but then again they did not seem like they did much in the way of exercise or sports.  After taking a group photo with me in it, they say goodbye and I was left to chat with a Queenstown painter who told me he often paints at this location. See the results down below!

satellite view of Arrowtown downtown area – Buckingham is the second horizontal street from the top – Buckingham Green is clearly visible and is #22

quaint Buckingham Street in Arrowtown – a real tourist draw

Buckingham Green in Arrowtown – the view from my picnic table

waiting for my falafel burger in Buckingham Green in Arrowtown

looking over the artist’s shoulder forhis “take” of Buckingham Green

the artist – a retired Queenstown guy who paints at this Buckingham Green spot occasionally

While we were chatting another tourist came up and wanted to know if she could grab a photo of the painter.  She thought that he could be an extra from a Lord of the Rings movie set – and he said he had heard that before.  I made sure to get my spandex and polyester out of the way before she snapped the picture!

looking down Arrowtown’s Buckingham Street from the corner of Wiltshire

fields off Malaghan’s Road on the way to Queenstown via Arthur’s Point

The next day I’d take the gondola up to Bob’s Peak and see the Gorge Road and valley that I cycled down from Arthur’s Point to get to Queenstown.  Also in the image at the top right, but quite faint,  is the Crown Range where I had taken in the magnificent view 24 hours earlier!

the view the next day from Bob’s Peak of my ride down Gorge Road from Arthur’s Point

Queenstown – from downtown to the Lakefront YHA

Given the town’s reputation as  ”party central”,  I figured a bit of distance wouldn’t be a bad thing. As it turned out, downtown Queenstown seemed pretty quiet after nine in the evening. Perhaps the  8°C temperature had something to do with that!

Day Eleven: Chillin’ in Queenstown.

Queenstown pix still being processed!

See the next post for  the final leg of my ride, including a great day circuit of the Otago Peninsula, which rivalled some of the best days in this Haast to Queenstown leg for single best day of the trip.

Lake Matheson’s “the view of views” – this is the one I was given

Click here for the Google map of the ride down the West Coast from Greymouth. There aren’t many route choices! It is State Highway #6 all the way…

Here is what I wrote in my pre-trip post on this stretch -

The stretch of road from Greymouth to Haast promises to be a great ride, right up there with last year’s ride on the south coast of Cuba from Santiago de Cuba all the way to Pilon. The price of the stunning scenery will be a better than average chance of rain and wind going in the wrong direction, as well as the exquisite torture provided by the lowly sand fly.

(These same insects are at work in the Canadian north country; they made our campsite at the south end of Best Island on Whitewater Lake on our 2011 Wabakimi canoe trip the worst in thirty years of canoe tripping! . We wore our rain gear to cover up most of our bodies and slathered on the DEET but my cheeks were still numb the next day from the dozens of sand fly bites. These guys would have no problem getting a job in Hell!)

Well, I had obviously taken the guide-book descriptions too much to heart on this one! Yes, there was occasionally a south wind to deal with but just as often it came from the northwest. As for the bugs – I had always thought the little black things were black flies – they were a bit of a nuisance whenever I went down to the beach, having gotten off my bike. After a couple of beach visits I just ended up slipping on a pair of long pants and from that point – “no worries”.  When I got to Queenstown I finally bought some DEET – and then ended up using it only once for the rest of the trip.

The peaks of Mount Tasman and Cook in the mid-morning fog

The predicted rain that puts the “wet” in Westland?  Well, given that it only rained for half a day during my 24-day visit to South Island  (and that was the morning I went over Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth),  clearly rain was not an issue!  Except for that bit of precipitation, my rain gear stayed in one of the front panniers for the entire 1,400-km ride.

The moral of the story?  By all means, prepare for the worst. But don’t be surprised when it turns out better than predicted. As for the stunning scenery? Maybe the reverse is true here – do expect the best, but don’t be surprised if it is not quite as spectacular as the guide-book says it is.   As picturesque as my ride down the West Coast to Haast was, this leg of the journey takes second place to the next one, the ride from Haast to Queenstown. Still, second place on South Island beats first place in most other places!

view from Knight’s Point just north of Haast on SH6

Day Four:  Greymouth to Hari Hari – 112 km

Breakfast at a McKay Street restaurant gave me a chance to talk to  my second and third fellow bike tourists of the trip. These  Kiwis and were travelling very light.  Their trajectory? They were doing a ride from Bluff, the southern end of SH6  back up to Picton on the north end of the island, knocking off about 160 km a day!  The caffeine ritual taken care of, we headed in the opposite direction.  The day’s first aim was the town of Hokitika, some forty-five kilometers to the south along a road that the two Kiwis had described as pretty flat  with occasional long  straight stretches of  five kilometers or more.  Also included were  a couple of single-lane bridges but as I noted in the post on the previous leg of the trip, this was a non-issue.

a view from SH6 to the south of Greymouth – the road was mostly flat and straight

The beach was sometimes visible but mostly separated from the road by a strip of private property.  Occasionally I would pass by signs obviously posted by annoyed landowners.  They essentially told folks to stay out of what was called a private beach.  That ride along Cuba’s south coast mentioned above actually has you right at the water’s edge with kilometer after kilometer of dramatic hurricane-ravaged road. So – in this case at least, no contest.

That is what made Hokitika a very pleasant stop – I got to walk right down to the water and take in some the energy generated when waves meet beach.  And to think I was planning on just cycling by to save a bit of time before lunch at Ross!  Sometimes gobbling up road miles becomes too much of an obsession and you forget the reason you’re there.  The hour I spent chillin’ on the beach was one of my favourite little zen moments of the trip.

satellite shot of SH6 as it passes through Hokitika – definitely a town worth stopping for

Hokitika clock tower and the way to the beach

Hokitika sign on the beach

Hokitika driftwood on an overcast day

Hokitika beach. driftwood art on display

a Hokitika area farmer and her horse

One of the people I ended up chatting with was the woman in the image above; she was walking along the beach with her yearling to desensitize him to the sound of the crashing waves; not in the picture was her dog Tilley, busy chasing down the waves in crazy bursts of beach running.

major driftwood on Hokitika beach

leaving Hokitika – another reminder of the village’s claim to fame as the greenstone center

Had I not been locked in to getting to Harihari that night, I would have spent the rest of the day on the beach and walking around the town. It just had a nice vibe to it.  My immediate focus – to get to Ross for lunch and then to deal with the rest of the day’s 112 km.

farm building on the way to Ross from Hokitika

looking inland towards the Southern Alps

a stretch of road north of Ross on SH6 – notice the paved shoulder!

lunch choices at the diner in Ross

lunch time in Ross, Westland – a Flat White waits to be sipped

Coast To Coast Race article in a Westland Newspaper found at the Ross diner

SH6 on the way to Hari Hari from Ross

approaching Hari Hari from Ross on SH6 – on a relatively traffic-free afternoon

There isn’t a lot at Hari Hari but it does have the reputation of being a good place to crash! (This reputation is based on the fact that the Aussie who flew the first solo trans-Tasman Sea flight from Sydney to New Zealand crashed his plane not far from Hari Hari in 1931.)  I had booked a room for the night at the Hari Hari Motor Inn.

Day Five: Hari Hari to Fox Glacier Village – 85 km

Within the first half-hour after leaving Harihari I’ll have my first bump of the day to deal with – Mount Hercules, a climb of about 200 meters. The reward is fifty-five kilometers of gently rolling road with the Tasman Sea on my right and the rainforest and southern Alps to my left.

the breakfast room at the Hari Hari Motor Inn

a few kilomters south of Hari Hari on the way to Franz Josef Glacier

in the vicinity of the White Heron Lagoon

sheep in a meadow below Southern Alps peaks

looking up the Whataroa River towards the Southern Alps

the entrance to Whataroa from the north

coffee break time in Whataroa

the road from Whataroa to Franz Josef

Kiwi Greeters at Franz Josef Village Entrance

satellite view of Franz Josef Village Westland NZ

Franz Josef Village looking south towards the glacier (upvalley on the left)

The last twenty kilometers to Fox Glacier Village consists of three steep climbs and downhills in a row. I’ve booked a room at Ivory Towers in the Village so I won’t have to spend any time looking for accommodation when I roll in.

a warning of hills to come – SH6 just south of Franz Josef Village

a view of the Southern Alps from SH6 about 15 km north of Fox Glacier

rolling down to Fox Glacier Village on SH6

satellite shot showing SH6, Fox Glacier Village, and the Fox River tumbling down from the Fox Glacier

Ivory Towers – my hostel digs in Fox Glacier Village – includes four separate buildings

I would spend a couple of nights at Fox Glacier Village; after five days on the loaded bike I’d take the panniers off and tool around the neighbourhood. In particular, I cycled over to Lake Matheson as early as I could the next morning – 7:45 – to experience for myself “the view of views”, the reflection of Mounts Tasman and Cook on the still waters of the lake. First you need to get to the Lake Matheson Cafe; the view from there is already special.  Here is what I got from the parking lot -

Tasman and Cook peaks from the Lake Matheson Cafe parking lot

Walking about a kilometer along a well-groomed trail takes you to the lake.

the trail to the Lake Matheson scenic lookout

At a scenic lookout on the edge of  the lake itself  you line up with the other “pilgrims” to snap your take of “the view of views”.  The one I got is the first image in this post!  I will admit that it was my best view of the Southern Alps  since cycling over Arthur’s Pass down to the West Coast.  I had thought that I would feel the looming presence of the mountains as I cycled down SH6 but it was really only near Franz Josef that I did – and even then the rainforest between the mountains and the road prevent you from seeing much.  Bridge crossings over rivers were the exceptions – as one of my shots above shows.  

In the afternoon, after a lunch at the Cook Saddle Cafe (and Saloon), I cycled up the the rainforest trail to the glacier.

Fox Glacier Map as you leave the village on the walkway:bicycleway

Then, after locking my bike to a post in the parking lot, I  walked as far as the trail went without going into “with guides only” territory. Low-hanging cloud did obscure the view of the upper reaches of the glacier but I did get to see the toe – and watched fellow tourists who have spent NZ$115. as they did their one-hour guided walk on the ice in the provided crampons.

the toe of the Fox Glacier from the walking trail

a close-up of the above shot – see the groups of tourists on a guided walk on Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier trail- looking back from the upper end

The toe of the Fox Glacier – and the trail that runs up alongside

On the way back to the village I tried to capture the incredible feeling of cycling along the rainforest trail. With one hand on the handlebar brake lever and the other holding the camera as stable as possible – i.e. not very – I came up with this bit of video. After you’ve taken your Gravol, take a peek!

Riding the Rainforest Trail From Fox Glacier to the village

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Day Seven: Fox Glacier Village to Haast Junction – 121 km

After an early morning visit to Lake Matheson, I’ll be heading south to Haast. With the wind blowing my way this could be a nice ride. The first eighty kilometers are mostly flat, after a bit of downhill leaving Fox Glacier Village.

the view of the Southern Alps from the bridge over the Cook River (southern Tributary)

Murray’s Bay view of the Tasman Sea shore

SH6 cuts through the rain forest on the way to Haast from Fox Glacier

It is with about thirty kilometers to go that  the day’s hills appeared; the high point was Knight’s Point.  At the  lookout there I wheeled over to the picnic table where I thought a couple of English cyclists I’d seen at the Ivory Towers’ Hostel the day before; it was a case of mistaken identity – these two guys were Belgians on their way up to Picton from Queenstown.

a view from Knight’s Point lookout

While they readied a lunch of macaroni and cheese, we exchanged typical biker road info.  One thing we  agreed on was that there were more bike tourists on the roads of South Island than anywhere any of us had been before.  After seeing three people on the first leg of my trip, I had counted about sixteen since Greymouth. In fact, there were so many that I was no longer feeling guilty about not stopping and chatting with each one that went by. In my trans-Canada and Cuba trips, fellow cyclists were a relative novelty and the situation demanded a stop-and-exchange-greetings-and-info.  Not on South Island NZ!  Had I been tenting all the way down the west coast road,  I would have met even more cyclists in the various campgrounds that the hard-core cycle tourists made use of instead of the plush motel option I embraced.

the view from Knight’s Point on the West Coast Road – working another angle

The day ended with about fifteen km of fairly flat terrain to the end point – Haast Township, four kilometres past  Haast Junction where the Haast Visitor Center is located. There is a secondary road, one which follows the coast all the way to Jackson’s Bay, which meets SH6 at the Junction.  I stayed on SH6 and fifteen minutes later found myself at the Heritage Park Lodge in beautiful downtown Haast (population 40!).  Near the motel are a convenience store and a restaurant and, I think, a laundromat.

As seems to the norm on South Island,  the room also included an equipped  kitchenette and like all the other rooms I rented, was very nicely maintained. All included wifi internet access (usually limited to 100 or 200 mb).  The typical charge ranged between $95. and $110. with prices being a bit higher (i.e. NZ$130.) in Christchurch. Having a cycling partner would have been reduced my accommodation costs almost by 50%; that is the price you pay for flying solo!  In the grand scheme of things, it really is not that big a deal – and it certainly is nice to have a bug-free, warm and dry place to stretch out after a day on the saddle.

SH 6 down the West Coast to Haast and the Haast River coming from the Pass of the same name

The next day I would start the next leg of my South Island ramble, heading over the Haast Pass to Queenstown over a three-day period.  Click here if you want to see some more stunning South Island vistas and the strips of pavement that seem to figure so prominently in my pix!

If it is more info on the West Coast Road you are looking for, an excellent post by a Canadian couple – actually, their entire travellingtwo blog is a goldmine of info – can be found here.  As noted in my Part One in this series of South Island posts, I also found the 2009 Lonely Planet Cycling New Zealand guide to be very useful in planning my route, not just down the West Coast Road, but also the stretch from Christchurch to Greymouth, and the rest of the trip.  The guide will hopefully be refreshed in 2013 and will  then present that much more recent information and planning guidance. The Pedallers’ Paradise set could also use a true updating that eliminates the glaring pieces of outdated info.