Day 13: The Further South You Go, The Colder It Gets

After typing the blog entries for the past two days last night, then staying up and reading “Where Men Win Glory” for a while, it was 11:15 p.m. before I went to bed. It seemed like it took a while for me to fall asleep (I normally am one of those people who is asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow), but I didn’t awaken until the alarm went off at 7:30 a.m. I felt good, and looked out the window at what was shaping up to be a frosty but fine morning. (It isn’t “sunny” or “clear” in New Zealand forecasts: it’s “fine”.)

I showered and dressed, and was able to get a WiFi connection, so I called my daughter to wish her a Happy Birthday – even though it was already July 4^th here, it was only 2:00 in the afternoon on July 3^rd – her birthday – back in Denver. (Trick question: Do they have a Fourth of July in New Zealand? Answer: Of course; there’s a fourth of July everywhere.) I also called home to check in. My wife and youngest daughter were finishing preparations for the traditional July 4^th party at our house, which is the big event for the year on the Kings Mill calendar. It will be a bit smaller than usual this year, as my sister-in-law Janice, who passed away from cancer this past year, my nephew Alex, who is on holiday in Maine, and I will be absent this year.

After a breakfast of tea and Harraway’s Plain Oat Cereal (I’ve been misspelling the brand name in previous posts; hope it doesn’t jeopardize my contract with them as a sponsor of the Two-Wheeling New Zealand tour), I packed and went out to start loading the bike.

Obviously, it was a frosty start to the day (-1 C on the bike thermometer). This is what Kiwis mean by “frost”; it’s a thick, substantial thing that wipes up like about 3/16 ths of an inch of substantial snow. But I was only riding about 5 km to drop off the bike, so I dressed in my windproof jacket, leather jacket and pants, and retroreflective vest. The wheels were turning at 10:15 a.m., and the temperature had risen to 3 C.

The motorcycle rental agency was near the city center, so as I was somewhat familiar with the route, I arrived around 10:30, and was met by John, one of the owners and the gent who had launched me on my adventure in Auckland 10 days earlier. We visited for a few minutes, then I went out and began unpacking the bike while John removed my electric vest connection and evaluated the condition of the bike.

I had mentioned the scratched tip-over cover to him, and he pointed out some paint chips on the mirror pod and some scratches on the clutch handle- a very fair assessment of the damages from my 1 MPH parking lot tip-over on Friday. He made a VERY fair accommodation to my early return of the bike, and the charges for the damage were also fair. After completing the necessary paperwork, John called a taxi for me, and I headed for Backpacker Sleepervan Rentals, near the airport.

(Side note: If anyone is considering renting a bike in New Zealand, I STRONGLY recommend Te Waipounamu rentals. They have a good Web presence, and can be found by Googling the name of the company. Everyone I worked with was friendly, responsive, and fair.)

I arrived at the van rental agency around 11:30 a.m. I quickly completed the necessary paperwork, but they were still cleaning and preparing the van when I arrived, so I didn’t get on the road until 12:45 noon. Throughout the trip, I have had almost no difficulty remembering to stay on the LEFT side of the road. (When I disembarked the ferry in Picton last Thursday night, I was the only vehicle on the road as I rode into the deserted town – and found myself riding on the right (i.e., “wrong”) side of the road for a 100 yards or so before I caught myself.) In a four-wheeled vehicle, it’s even easier to stay left as the driver’s seat is on the wrong side.

On John’s recommendation, I headed west on SH 73 toward Darfield, rather than heading more directly south on SH 1 with its heavier truck traffic and less scenery. Good choice; there was little traffic and in Darfield, I stopped to pick up some groceries as I now have a cooler and enough room to carry some provisions. In Darfield, I also picked up SH 72/77 toward Mount Hutt. (I need to find out who or what “Hutt” is; back on the North Island, I passed through Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt on my way into Wellington.) The road skirts the east and south sides of the mountain range, and I took the following photo of Mount Hutt just outside of the town of Windwhistle.

Five kilometers south of Mount Hutt, I turned to stay on SH 72 toward Geraldine. I had planned to stop for fuel in Geraldine, but the only station in town was getting fuel delivered, so I decided to press on to Fairlie on SH 79. I made my contribution to Mike and Maddy’s retirement funds at the BP in Fairlie, and also stopped at the iSite to get information on campgrounds at Lake Tekapo, my destination for the day.

State Highway 8 west out of Fairlie started out mostly straight with some gentle sweepers, became quite snaky near Burkes Pass,and then straightened out nicely again. The hills roll gently for as far as the eye can see.

As I climbed toward Lake Tekapo, the snow in the mountains moved closer to me. By the time I made my campground for the night on the shore of Lake Tekapo, the snow was in my campsite.

Lake Tekapo is noted for its magnificently clear skies, and there is an observatory just outside of town that offers night tours. But the tour cost was excessive, so I chose to stand outside and marvel at the sky for free. I’ve never seen the Milky Way so brilliant before, and the Southern Cross was initially difficult to locate as there were just SO MANY stars. But I was getting cold, so I retired to type this missive. And now it’s time for bed.

Tomorrow, I head over to see Mount Cook (the highest peak in New Zealand), then back to the east coast and south toward Dunedin. Stay warm.

Motorcycle mileage: 6 km for the day

Camper mileage: 256 km for the day