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Showing posts from January, 2021

Plan B enacted – 28 January 2021

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After much research and consideration we came to the conclusion that if we could rent a car and drive to Nelson we could still do the   Great Taste Cycle Trail. It would mean, though that we would have to return to Queenstown to pick up the car. I checked with VW to see where they were with the car and was told that at the earliest I would have the car was on Friday.   Given that news, we decided to rent a car for a week or so and travel up to Nelson to do our ride.   We found that a Toyota RAV4 would enable us to put the bikes in the back of it and the cost was not too prohibitive even though all my instincts were saying from an environmental point of view it was a bad move.   I had worked out that as we were able to take the bikes it meant a significant saving on hiring bikes for the The Great Taste Cycle Trail which more than compensated for the additional rental car cost.  VW were somewhat relieved that the pressure had come off them so ...

Waiting for a car……….. 27 January 2021

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  We were hoping the car might be finished today.   I had been told that the car was ok but when idling it apparently sounded like a tractor which had them worried.   All the fault lights were out so that at least was good.   They said they were doing more investigations and that they would let us know what would be happening.   The hotel gave us a late checkout, so we packed ready to go then wandered off to the boulanger in the shopping centre to have a snack and a coffee.   We had brought our books   to read so did that sitting in the shade (it was about 28 degrees).   Finally at 2:30pm we realised we wouldn’t be able to proceed with our travel plans for the day.   We wandered back to the hotel and informed them we were staying.   There was no problem booking an extra night.     The weather then decided to change as predicted and the temperature plummeted.   The rain came in but we were warm an...

A puncture, a bike ride and a disappointment – 26 January 2021

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Today was the day we were due to get the car back.   As the work was going to be done during the day we decided to ride the Frankton trail to Queenstown.   It was a perfect day for it and we wandered down to grab our bikes.   As I rode out of the garage it became apparent that I had a puncture.   Not a biggie and in no time I had the wheel off and the tube taken out.   I carefully checked the tyre for a nail or other sharp object but nothing was apparent.   I could not find the hole in the tyre either.   When I went to put in the replacement spare tube and pumped it up, it was apparent it had a hole in it too. Fortunately, there was a bike shop in the nearby Remarkables Shopping Centre, so we wandered off there with the wheel. A young man carefully inspected the tyre and found a piece of glass that neither Bev or I had spotted.   In no time at all he had the new tube in and we were wandering back to the hotel to put the bike...

Arrowtown – 25 January 2021

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Main street Arrowtown We took the bus to Arrowtown.   They have quite a good system in Queenstown where a journey only costs $2 and compared to Wellington you can be going quite good distances.   It does require you to buy a “Bee” card like the Snapper or Opal(for those in Australia) which provides the subsidy. It seems they want to encourage bus use but here everyone appears to drive and SUVs and Utes outnumber small cars like ours by about 4 to 1, I would think.   I have been to Arrowtown several times and it is certainly a pretty little village seemingly unchanged from a century ago.   However, the house prices we were told were astronomical with modest houses going for a million dollars or more.   We had a pleasant lunch of Blue Cod and chips at a delightful old cottage and then Bev went looking at the shops while I found a nice place to sit and read my book.   We then looked at a wine shop before going for a walk alongsid...

Frankton to Gibbston - 24 January 2021

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  Chard Farm Vineyard After a coffee and pastry treat at the nearby Boulangerie we decided to ride the Queenstown Trail to the Gibbston Valley.   The ride is classified as a Grade 2 to Grade 3 with a couple of rather steep hills to climb making it Grade 3.   On the Old Shotover Bridge Looking up the Shotover Shotover Delta The ride took us from the Kawarau Falls to the Old Shotover Bridge.   It was lovely ride along the river bank which was well used by walkers and cyclists (of all ages). There was a bit of a climb onto the old bridge and then we stopped for a little while to admire the views .   Next it was on what they call the Twin Rivers Trail which would take us to Gibbston.   The first hill was quite steep and I found I had to stop once as I ran out of steam.   It was seriously irritating.   However the climb was relatively short and I was soon at the top.   Of course Bev cycled up it seemingly effortlessly. ...

Riding the Frankton trail – 23 January 2021

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  As we were unexpectedly staying a bit longer in Queenstown, we decided that we might as well experience the   cycle trails.   There is one that goes from where we are staying in Frankton to Kelvin Heights.   This required us to retrieve some of our cycling gear from the car as we had not taken it out, optimistically hoping the car repair would be simple.   On the way back from the garage we spotted a Farmers’ Market called the Remarkables Market.   Not surprising it would be located there, as the Remarkables rear up behind the market and we also have a view of it outside our window.   We both had a lovely time browsing the market purchasing vegetables, cherries and nectarines, chutneys, jams and cheese.   It is so good we have a small and almost adequate kitchen in our apartment room. We also lapped up the sun and enjoyed some Vietnamese cooking.   The track from Frankton to Kelvin Peninsular was quite differe...

Queenstown – 22 January 2021

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  I dropped the car off at VW so that they could have a look at it.   The Service Manager again reiterated that they would not be doing anything with it immediately saying that it would be repaired sometime next week but that they would do the diagnosis later in the day. It was not the most service friendly response!   We decided to take the bus into Queenstown central.   The bus stop is not far away and buses go every fifteen minutes so they are incredibly convenient.   They even go out to Arrowtown so I can use my gold card.     It was quite a nice day and to compensate for the disappointment of not going to Clyde and then onto Ophir we decided to find Bespoke Café, one which had been recommended by my sister and which we had enjoyed previously.   We took a little while to find it but eventually we did.   We had a lovely lunch in what was a popular place.     Since we were in Queenstown we thought we ...

Jackson Bay, a sick Golf and Queenstown – 21 January 2021

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  Most days you wake up knowing for the most part what is going to happen as you have it planned.  Not the details, just the broad strokes.  On this day the plan was go to Jackson Bay and then drive to Clyde via Wanaka and stay the night there before doing a ride the next day.  We had a surprise or two!   The day started cool but the clouds had gone away and the sun appeared.   We thought it would be a really good day to go as far as the road would permit on the West Coast.   It is 48 kilometres from Haast to Jackson Bay and it had been recommended earlier that it is very beautiful and that we should go.     It was an easy and relatively quick drive there.   At one point we drove through a long archway of trees making it feel like we were driving through a tunnel.     Jackson Bay is literally the end of the road.   There is a long wharf for ships to tie up to and a little café called the Craypot.   We had a pl...

Hokitika to Haast – 20 January 2021

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  The rain eased off as we began packing to go to Haast.   After a visit to where the old Seaview Hospital used to be (I thought it might be a motel where I stayed with my family as a child but I got it wrong as it must have been close to Greymouth) we went for a coffee to a rather nice place that had been recommended to us.   After coffee I went for a wander while Bev indulged herself looking   at the various shops in the town.     We decided to stay for lunch as stops on the way to Haast would be few and far between as we could see and experience heavy, thundery rain showers.   A vegan restaurant had been recommended called Gatherer.   We found it in the most unlikely of places and had this interesting, healthy and very tasty meal.   Outside the Gatherer   Bev drove to Franz Joseph Glacier village. There was hardly any traffic on the road.   It is a beautiful drive and would be even more magnificent if t...

Wilderness Trail – Kumara to Greymouth – 19 January 2021

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  The weather forecast was for rain and wind.   When we set off for our final leg it was overcast and threatening to rain.   The forecast wind was nowhere in sight.   The first ten kilometres of what was to be an easy flat ride were benign.   The rain started to fall after a couple of kilometres but it was nothing we had not experienced a couple of days previously.   The track took us through some regenerating bush making for a rather picturesque ride.   All ready to go The Chasm The wind is yet to hit us The strong   wind and rain then hit us as we got onto what we found was rather exposed track.   It felt like we were being water blasted.   The wind had us down to 6kph at times and the rain on our faces felt like needles being thrown into the skin.   For nearly two hours we battled the elements to get to our destination.   Rarely was there a let up from the wind.   In some places we were able to mo...

Wilderness Trail – Cowboy Paradise to Kumara – 18 January 2021

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  The Saloon at Cowboy Paradise There was no Wi-Fi or cell phone reception at Cowboy Paradise, so after our meal there were only two options; reading or writing the blog.   Bev took up the option of reading but promptly fell asleep, a state she stayed in for about 11 hours except for getting under the bed covers.   I wrote the blog until I succumbed to writing nonsense so decided to read but that didn’t help the sleepy eyes.     We both had a wonderful sleep which was punctuated by thunder at some time during the night.   Mike, our host,   was a relative bundle of joy that morning and even offered to make a lunch that we didn’t require.   Our fellow riders who had been accommodated similarly to us generously shared   one of their lunches as they claimed they had more than enough.   After leaving the Lodge after a brief flat bit we spent the next 6 kilometres climbing to Kawaka Pass.   After crossing ove...