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Rainbow Cyclists Tour New Zealandby Philip J. Erdelsky |
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Left to right: Michael Madison, Kathryn Bouic, Charles Van Beveren,
Philip Erdelsky, Patrick Thompson (PedalTours guide), James Bishop,
Patti Brown, Scott Borden, Nancy Kemper, Richard Kasakaitis. Not shown:
Debbie Chaddock.
The following ten members of Rainbow Cyclists took a ten-day bicycle tour of the Southern Alps on New Zealand's South Island just after Christmas 2001:
The trip was arranged and hosted by New Zealand Pedaltours, which has a number of bicycle tours in New Zealand, Australia and Vietnam.
Chuck Van Beveren was our unofficial photographer -- he took more pictures than anyone else.
Most of us were on Qantas flight 26, which left Los Angeles on the evening of December 25 and arrived in New Zealand the next morning, which was December 27. December 26 disappeared when the plane crossed the International Date Line. That happened to be Kathy's birthday. She was glad it disappeared, because she avoided a whole year's aging. ;-)
As with any east-west travel, there was some jet lag. However, the time difference was only three hours, the same as the difference between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States.
Riding a bicycle in New Zealand requires some adjustments. New Zealanders drive -- and ride bicycles -- on the left side of the road. The left brake lever operates the rear brake. The sun passes through the northern sky.
New Zealand has many more sheep than people. We saw lots of sheep every day. We also saw cattle and horses, but only in a few places.
Upon arrival in Christchurch, we were met at the airport by Patrick Thompson, our Pedaltours Guide.
That same afternoon, we rode a few kilometers up and down the Avon River, mostly to get accustomed to riding our rented bicycles on the left side of the road.
The Pedaltours van carried the bicycles and us up to Porters Pass, where we unloaded and cycled mostly downhill to the lunch stop at Craigieburn Forest Picnic Area.
The scenery was magnificent, with lots of waterfalls and snow-capped mountains visible in some places. It was hard to believe that this was the beginning of summer!
Cycling to Arthur's Pass Village was more difficult. There was a rather stiff headwind in some places, and it started to rain just as most of us approached Arthur's Pass Village.
The total cycling mileage was roughly 65 kilometers. Everyone cycled all, or almost all, of that distance.
The next morning we took a short hike to one of the more spectacular waterfalls near Arthur's Pass Village.
A few of us elected to cycle from the hotel over Arthur's Pass, but most of us rode in the van. The road over Arthur's Pass is narrow and hilly. In one place, where the hillside is too steep for a regular road cut, the road is built on pilings. A large spout diverts one of the numerous waterfalls over the road, and a nearby portion of the road is roofed over for protection from landslides (and probably avalanches in the winter).
On the other side of the pass, the rest of us got out and cycled. However, the rain got worse. By the time we stopped for lunch at Jackson's Tavern, it was pretty bad. Most of us returned to the van.
Only Kathy and Debbie cycled all the way from Arthur's Pass Village to Hokitika.
It was in Hokitika that we saw a live Kiwi, a flightless bird that is New Zealand's national symbol. They have one in a cage at the Kiwi Center, a sort of museum.
There was some rain today, but not enough to interfere with our ride. We cycled from Ross to Harihari and then from Whataroa to Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is a village apparently devoted entirely to the tourist trade. The big attraction is the Franz Josef Glacier, which was discovered by an Austrian explorer and named after his Emperor.
In the morning, most of us hiked up a trail to the Tatare Tunnel. In the afternoon, the entire group hiked up the Waiho River to the face of the Franz Josef Glacier.
There was no rain during the day, but there was quite a downpour the following night, with thunder and lightning.
Today, we were supposed to cycle from Fox Glacier to Lake Moeraki, but nobody got any farther than the Salmon Farm restaurant where we had lunch. There was a light rain when set out, but it got much heavier and lightning started to strike too close for comfort.
Along the way, Patti got two flat tires, and the van got stuck in the mud. It took a lot of effort, and some branches under the wheels, to get it going again.
We stayed overnight in Haast, a small town with only limited services. The electricity went out during the night, and was restored about 7:00 AM when the hotel started its own generator.
We said "Haasta la vista" to Haast and rode in the van to Haast Pass. Most of us started cycling there, and ran into a little rain. A few started at Makarora and missed the rain.
The ride down Highway 6 runs along the shores two large glacial lakes, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. At a saddle point between the two lakes, called "The Neck" by the locals, we had a picnic lunch.
Poor Patti got a blowout, but fortunately it occurred only a kilometer or so from the lunch stop. She rode the spare bike from there to Wanaka.
Although the weather wasn't very good at first, it cleared up beautifully. By the time most of us reached Wanaka, it was a sunny Southern California day.
We left the hotel and cycled down Highway 6 to the lunch stop in Cromwell. The ride was scenic and apparently mostly downhill. The storm clouds were threatening, and we heard the sound of distant thunder, but the rain didn't reach us.
Near Cromwell, most of us stopped at a monument marking the 45th parallel. I don't know what's so special about the 45th parallel, but the monument was in a scenic area next to Lake Dunstan.
We had lunch in Cromwell next to a stunningly appropriate monument consisting of four large statues of fruit.
We packed up the bicycles and rode in the van to Arrow Junction. Along the way, we stopped to see some bungee jumping at the old Kawarau Bridge on Highway 6, which is said to be the original bungee jumping site.
We were supposed to cycle from Arrow Junction to Queenstown, but once again the rains came. Only a few of us cycled all the way to the hotel.
This marked the end of the cycling, but not the end of the tour.
We had dinner in Queenstown at a restaurant on a mountain overlooking the city and Lake Wakatipu. We reached the restaurant by riding gondolas up the side of the mountain. It's sort of like a ski lift, but the four-person gondolas are enclosed.
Unfortunately, the magnificent views from the restaurant were obscured by lingering clouds.
There are a lot of things to do in Queenstown. In the morning, most of us took a speedboat ride on Lake Wakatipu and up one of the nearby rivers. There were two additional seats in the boat, which by coincidence were occupied by a San Diego man and his wife!
The ride was wild, more like an amusement park ride than a boat cruise. The pilot executed a number of what he called 360's -- he turned the rudder hard and spun around.
Everyone enjoyed the boat ride except Philip, who got seasick at the end of the ride as we were pulling up to the dock.
In the afternoon, some of us walked around the beautiful Queenstown Gardens, a sort of park and flower garden next to the lake.
Fortunately, the weather was fairly good. There were showers here and there, but none in Queenstown on that day.
Southwestern New Zealand has fiords - long, narrow bays with steep banks just like those in Norway, Chile and the Alaska panhandle. Our tour included a short cruise up and down Milford Sound, which is the most accessible of the fiords.
It was a five-hour van ride from Queenstown to the head of Milford Sound.
The cruise itself was worthwhile, because there is really no other way to reach this area. The weather was fairly good, but it was quite windy on the upper deck.
The picture at the beginning of this review was taken at the dock just before the cruise began.
Debbie is not shown in the picture. She was back in Queenstown, doing some bungee jumping.
The tour ended for most of us the next morning. However, four of us (Scott, Jim, Philip and Kathy) had a five-hour layover in Auckland. Richard Oddy, the president of Pedaltours, picked us up and showed us around Auckland. Yes, we saw sheep grazing in Auckland.
Remember that San Diego couple that shared the speedboat with us in Queenstown? We saw them again in Downtown Auckland! They were leaving on the same flight to Los Angeles, so Richard Oddy very graciously gave them a ride back to the airport.
Remember the missing day, December 26? We got it back that night. We went to sleep on the plane after dinner on Sunday evening and woke up to breakfast on Sunday morning, thanks to the International Date Line.