Due North

Current Location: Queenstown, Aotearoa

I honestly wasn’t too impressed with Dunedin, perhaps it was because I rolled in there on the day that St. Patrick’s day was going on so I rolled into frat boys sitting on their roofs drinking beers and throwing taunts left and right. Add to that the fact that the weather was miserable and I ended up leaving in a headwind (which lasted for 3 days.) Suffice to say my impression of the place wasn’t the fondest. But I’ve decided to give it another go now that I’ve hit Queenstown I’ll continue on and do the central Otago Rail Trail which will put me smack dab back into Dunedin when I’ve finished it. The other thing I really wanted to do while in Dunedin was go on the Speights brewery tour (I skipped it due to lack of funds,) thats something I’ve been looking forward to ever since trying their dark beer (in my mind it rivals Newcastle.)

I finally hit slope point yesterday, it was a great feeling to be there finally but i’m not sure I can fully explain why. It was a great ride through the Caitlins with lots of little stops here and there for short walks. Curio bay was kinda neat but I kinda wish I hadn’t stuck around for the 1.5hrs to see 1 little penguin make an appearance 100yards off. Other than that the days were filled with lots of gravel roads and wind again. Hopefully now that i’m heading north the wind will be in my favor but I am not counting on it. I think my total milage has rolled over somewhere in the neighborhood of 3400km (a little over 2000 miles)

I ran into 3 british cyclists who were just finishing their ride up in Invercargill (actually they were going to ride to Bluff the day I was leaving and then come back to Invercargill.) I wished them well as I left in the morning and felt a bit jealous that they were done, but I reminded myself that soon enough I’ll get to say I’m done as well. We traded books and I got a Lance Armstrong book which I then devoured that night in camp since it ended up being an easy ride. They also told me about a pizza place in Queenstown which I must try since I’ve been craving pizza for a solid 2 weeks.

I wrote the above 2 paragraphs while I was in Invercargill 3 days ago but couldn’t finish the post due to money constraints. It’s funny when I got down to my last $100 I went into a money save mode where the only thing I could spend money on was food and one night at a hostel because I really needed to take a shower. But I managed to make it to Queenstown in one piece and with a spare jar of peanut butter in tow.

The ride into Queenstown was amazing and something that most people don’t do when they come to New Zealand. The road was a 80km gravel road that dead ends into a lake which is where having a bike comes in handy because I could take the SS Earstlaw Steamer across the lake into Queenstown. A nice treat after a long day on gravel. Although the other benefit to it was I saw a total of 5 cars all day long until arriving into Queenstown so it was a very peaceful ride.

I’ve been seeing a lot of lakes for the past few days which I think will basically continue for the next few weeks, I apologize in advance for the amount of ’scenery’ pictures that will soon take up space in the gallery but some of them defy taking pictures of because I can’t fully capture what it looks like to be here riding with giants on either side of me.

Pictures tomorrow as I’ve forgotten the memory card today.

Slope Point Slope Point 

Edit: Pictures Added