Sean and I just got back from our five day bike packing trip and we had a blast. After we got his bike rack patched up, the bikes performed perfectly and the trail was so smooth, safe and fun. I got to see so many cool towns that wouldn’t have been possible hiking and I can’t deny that the speed was fun. After our first night camping, we headed out onto a perfectly groomed trail ride through huge farms and around steep mountain ranges. We rode through Lumsden and had a great lunch at a coffee shop that caters to cyclists and tourists headed out to the Milford Sound. The bike trail is about ten years old but so many businesses have sprung up along the way to offer easy food and accommodation options. I’m not sure the sheep and cows are very excited about us racing through their pastures but it is wonderful that the farmers granted access to the trail.
After our second day, we rented a sweet little cabin at a holiday park. The best part about this place was all of the animals roaming around. We made friends with huge Hereford cow and her sheep friends grazing along the fence. We were greeted in the morning by two chickens waiting patiently outside our front door. I opened a package of oats for them and that attracted three peacocks that came by and got in on the treats. We had a lazy morning at the coffee shop in town and then headed back out onto the trail for our biggest day yet – it was over seventy miles to Te Anau. The trail wound along the river bed and through farmland until we got to a great little pop-up coffee shop and met another couple of bike packers that were headed in the opposite direction. We traded trail tips and then we headed down south a bit to Manapouri and to the Lake2Lake trail into Te Anau.
This was our favorite part of the tour. This trail was fast and swooping as it wound up steep and fun hills next to the lakes on the way to Te Anau. We put some pressure on the pedals and soared around the corners and over the hills. I completely forgot that I was carrying heavy panniers but I could feel the extra push they provided on the downhill sections. We rolled into Te Anau a day earlier than expected and headed to Rosie’s trail angel home stay. She didn’t have a room for us that night but her neighbor Paul was able to take us in for $30 NZD a night. It was such a great deal and Paul’s place was immaculately clean. We headed out for pizza and then checked the weather forecast again. Tomorrow was going to be a doozie if the forecast held. They were calling for harsh headwinds as we made our way back up north.
We headed out of town under a rainbow and followed a path through some farm roads that Google Maps said were public roads. About three hours into the ride, we got chased down by a farm worker and turned around. It turns out the roads are not all public and they have to turn many people around. It was not what we wanted to hear but we had to head back to the main road and back to the other side of the river. We stopped for lunch to re-group and then due north into the wind. We faced a stiff 20 MPH constant headwind with gusts nearly 40 MPH at times. It was tough going for about twenty miles and we took breaks about every five miles to catch our breath and check on our progress. It was slow but sure and we made it to Mavora Lakes by 3:30 PM.
We found a stunning campsite right on the water and I laid out on my pad in my sleeping bag for a few hours and dozed and read my book. The sandflies were confused by the wind and it was such a pleasant and quiet place to recover from the ride. As I stared up at the clouds whipping across the sky I thought – this is one of those great trail moments that I will remember. Leaning up against a tree and relaxing in the sun and cool breeze after a hard day of riding. I slept so well in the absolute silence of this place and we got up early for our final day of riding.
The final day was mostly downhill into Walter Peak Station to catch our ferry back. The valley was wide and cold in the early morning. We watched the sun come up over the mountains and it warmed our hands and bodies up to a comfortable riding temperature. The highlight of the day was coming across a group of cowboys herding thousands of sheep. We pulled our bikes off the trail to watch them work with their horses and their dogs. The dogs were simply amazing. They loved the work and raced around the herd of sheep until they got them headed in the right direction.
After the herding show, it was about an hour of fun and fast riding into Walter Peak Station. Again, we were early for the ferry boat but they were able to take us on the next boat across. The ferry is called the Earnslaw and it was originally launched in 1912 – the same year as the Titanic. The Earnslaw is the only remaining steam powered passenger vessel in the southern hemisphere. It has an open area on deck where you can watch them shovel coal into the steam engine and all of the thousands of pistons working together to move two huge propellers. I couldn’t believe that this ancient machine still worked so beautifully and the engine room workers seemed so happy to be a part of it.
We docked back in Queenstown and worked through our trail chores. Laundry, resupply, hike planning, returning our bikes and then a big dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant. We are heading out on the trail tomorrow and I can’t wait. I loved the bike trip but I’m looking forward to getting back to hiking and checking in with all of my trail buddies to see how they are getting a long. It’s a little fun family out there and I’ve missed them. Time to get back.
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