Well, to begin at the beginning we woke in our little hobbit holes to the sound of some most extraordinary bird calls, what a great way to start the day.
It was chilly, during the night there'd been some rain (as we found out during our middle of the night calls of nature-no loos in the A-frames!) But up on the mountain tops this had fallen as snow so we were greeted with the most fantastic views as we set off along wonderful Highway 6.
I wasn't prepared for how spectacular it would be today and the wow-ometer was almost off the scale as I chopped along.
It was another ride where I had to stop every half a mile to try to capture the journey on film.
After about 10miles we started to skirt some of Lake Wanaka and the contrast of the blue water, green hillside and snowy peaks was a bit mind blowing to be honest. I think I resembled an owl on a bike, twisting my head this way and that, trying to take it all in.
It was a short day mileage wise, 40miles of absolute quality!
So, arriving at our Wanaka motel (right near the lake) in good time, I unpacked as usual then meandered off to find some tasty fuel. It was windy by the lake and the snowy peaks unexpected according to the locals I chatted to.
Bought a few souvenirs, procrastinated a bit, then it was time to get in my trainers. Jan and Phil went off for a long walk to Mount Iron (powered up by the carvery he'd sneaked in at Hawea and Jan fuelled up on a record 5 cups of tea, in one sitting). I think she'd also coaxed him along with the promise of me having nothing to do with the route, hehe😄
I'd asked in the i-site about where I could run out and back without getting lost and the lovely girl phoned her boyfriend, a runner, who then came in and talked me through the route!
It was actually impossible to get lost as the track followed the shore line mostly and what a route! 9 miles out, then back. The wind had dropped and the temperature risen rather a lot so I was over-dressed. Had to strip off somewhat, leaving myself at the mercy of the blood-suckers!
The track wound its way along beaches, mountain bike trails, through trees that you only get in hot countries (!) and then I ran out of Lake and it became a very blue river. I got to Albert Town then turned back. By now the sun was going down and the shimmer on the water was magical, I'd already had to impose a limit on photo stops to every mile:
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