Our time of camping in Don's garden was over after three nights and our new route was set to bring us to the very touristy Queenstown within two days. The weather forecast predicted some heavy rain in the afternoon, so we decided to get up early and finish before we get too wet. In that way we got out of our tent at 6am, had breakfast, said goodbye to Don and were on our bikes by 7.30am already. By then the streets were still rather quiet and for some short time we even had some slight tail wind that pushed us into the mountains. After about 30km along the highway we turned left towards Lake Mavora which meant 37km of gravel road to reach our campsite. Our plan to arrive before the nasty weather started did not work out perfectly and after about 50km we were cycling uphill and with a rainy head wind. On almost even ground we still had to use our very low gears as the wind was that strong. We decided it did not make sense to keep going so we asked a guy working on a field whether he had a shelter spot for us to pitch our tent. He allowed us to camp close to some trees nearby and that meant that we finished our biking at 1pm already. We spent the rest of the day in the tent reading, cooking and watching movies on my laptop while the weather got worse and worse outside. At night we went to bed early as there was pretty much nothing better to do.

After a very long and restful night we were pleasantly surprised to find perfect weather for biking: Blue sky, some clouds and not too warm weather. Our first stop was Lake Mavora which we did not reach the night before. It is a beautiful and very quiet lake with only few people around but we only stayed for some quick pictures. From there on the landscape was just stunning with a wide valley, rough mountains on the side and nothing but some few cattle and this one gravel road in between. We followed this valley for a long time and I felt right there I understood why they decided to film Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. It was so peaceful and undisturbed there, it could have been somewhere in Mongolia as well. In the early afternoon we arrived at the shore of Lake Wakatipu and were lucky that the ferry to Queenstown was just about to arrive. Even though the tickets were $35 per person (24€) for a 30 minute transfer, we had no other choice as you can only cover this distance by boat. When we arrived in Queenstown the contrast to our morning could not have been any more extreme. The city center was packed with people, gift shops and even more people. We did not bother spending any time within in the city but made our way to the shopping area outside the city straight away to stock up our groceries. In a small suburb we were lucky to ask at a house where we were welcomed by a young girl at the door. Her mom and dad turned out to be Megan and Yukin who live there with their four year old girl Chlarize and their 18 month old son Bronson. They did not only allow us to pitch our tent but offered us to stay in their guest room. We spent a wonderful evening with the kids and their parents and had a really nice talk.

Our next day was planned to be the most ambitious in respect of elevation to cover. We decided to cross over the Crown Range to Wanaka which has its highest point at 1076m and we started at about 300m. After a steep hiking track which forced us to push our bikes for quite a while we had the first 300m of elevation covered. During our break after this first climb we got into a conversation with a middle-aged couple from Perth, Australia, who invited us to stay at their place when we get to Perth at some point – sweet. From there on it was pretty steep but we finally reached the Crown Range Summit after 3h. By then we had 25km done and almost 900m of a climb. From there on we had a relaxed afternoon rolling down to Wanaka for the last 40km. In Wanaka we were hosted by Sam who we got in touch with over WarmShowers. Together we went for a refreshing swim in Lake Wanaka and at night we enjoyed some vegetable curry with rice, some wine and a really nice conversation.

Next morning we went on an early-morning walk up onto Mt Iron from which you have a great 360° view over Wanaka, the lake, the mountains and the surrounding area. The rest of the day we spent on a nice biking tour along the lake to reach a nice hill which was said to be great for a short hike. The bike route turned out to be a bit more rough than we would have liked but we improved our mountain biking skills and still arrived at our destination unharmed. The two hours of the hike took us up on the Rocky Mountain which gave us an amazing view over the whole area. In the evening we made some even better Käsespätzle than last time to thank Sam for hosting us.

Even though we loved Sam's place a lot, we had to get back on the road next day to get closer to our next destination: The West Coast. The day was sunny but we had some rather strong head wind all the way along Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka before getting to a campsite some 20km South of Haast Pass which separates us from the West Coast.

All the best from New Zealand,

Keep cycling and may you have tail wind at all times,

Vroni, Droni & Joni