Travelled: 326 kms

Leaving Ross, we had an easy day riding through to Hari Hari and treated ourselves to a luxurious motel room for the evening. Our first private facilities in a month and a heater – very special.

Our walk around the township took us to the replica of Guy Menzies’ plane. He was the first person to fly from Australia to New Zealand in 1931 and landed his plane in the nearby La Fontaine swamp.

We left Hari Hari early this morning at 9:00am to beat the rain forecasted starting early afternoon.

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We climbed Mt Hercules and on the flat ride after we saw our first glimpse of snow through the clouds.

The rain didn’t come as expected, with a change to rain most of the day tomorrow. We stopped at Otto’s Corner a DOC camp on the edge of Lake Mapourika, to hunker down and let the rain pass tomorrow.

The lake is gorgeous with brown trout and salmon in it.

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The rain did arrive early morning and we managed to stay inside our tent until 1:00pm when food and toileting got the better of us. Scampering through the rain to the shelter with food provisions, we had a late breakfast. The rain cleared a couple of hours later and we enjoyed a swim in the lake and a surprise beer provided by Ian And Colleen from Auckland, who were stopping overnight at the lake to canoe around the next day.

A short ride into Franz Josef and unable to find a tent site without a base of stones, we took a room at the Rainforest Retreat, who had accommodation for all budgets and upgraded our modest payment for a cabin to a motel room. Very very comfortable indeed – kitchen, bathroom, heating and a Nespresso machine! We took the opportunity to do some washing – the joy of fresh clothes!

Franz Josef has a delightful church, St James, beside the river with an altar window that looked at the glacier in it’s early days.

The view was made famous in 1946 when it appeared on a stamp.

A lovely walk across the Waiho River and up though the bushes to the carpark and then another 30 minutes walk to the end of the track. We think the dirty white speck up the mountain was the edge of Franz Josef glacier.

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Amazing to know that the glacier was where we stood back in 1908 and soon would no longer be visible from the walk. A 10km return trip, so a good afternoon’s walk.

It was actually one month today since we started our adventure and convinced ourselves this was worthy of a proper restaurant meal in celebration. Alice May was the perfect choice. Our meals were stunning, mine monk fish and Greg’s salmon with a side of crunchy fries – never an opportunity missed for hot chips! I’m only sorry not to have a photo to share with you.

Raining the next morning, we donned out our wet weather jackets and booties, and headed off to conquer the 3 alpine passes into Fox Glacier. They were tough. We climbed 645m in total and a couple of times the speed was under 4km/hour – less than our walking pace the day before. It was one turn of the pedal and then another and we got there. Wet but there!

Finding a campsite in town with a shelter next to it was a godsend. By the time we had unpacked and showered, the sun was out and we wandered into town to pick up some replacement spares sent to Fox by OMS to fix our panniers and have a drink and surprise… some well deserved hot chips!

The Fox Glacier Injunction has been passed onto the statute books. There shall only ever be ONE basket, bowl or otherwise of hot chips per sitting.

No dinner that night, way too many hot chips had been had!!

The new day dawned with clear skies giving us great views of Fox Glacier as we left town.

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We had a lovely rolling ride to the Pine Grove Motel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

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The motel turned out to be a popular stop for travelling workers and tourists alike. A lovely rural setting with a grassy place out back for our tent and an afternoon in the sun reading and relaxing.

Before Bruce Bay the next day, we passed the beautifully simple Jacobs River Community Church – Our Lady of the River.

It was a lovely surprise to see the sign for a Salmon Farm on our way to Lake Paringa- salmon for dinner.

Lake Paringa was another beautiful lake,

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and the trees had some amazing coverings.

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We met a lovely couple from Alexandra who invited us in for a cuppa that evening. Greg was well cared for by having 3 of Rolf’s Homemade Swiss shortbread, with another 5 to take away.

The flood warning signs at the campsite turned out to have substance as the showers on arrival turned to heavy rain overnight. Our tent was surrounded by water when we got up during the night but in the morning most of those puddles had drained leaving the ground very wet though. There was a puddle under the tent but no water came through. A great test for the tent and reassurance that we would be fine in heavy rain again.

The sun was out for our ride into Haast. We stopped at Knight’s Point and Ship Creek and then pushing on through the 45kmph headwind down the Haast straight.

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A rest day was needed to save up some energy for the ride over the pass in the coming days. It was lovely to stop and enjoyed the DOC Conservation Centre

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and lunch from Okoto Expresso caravan of whitebait fritter and venison burger.

Hydrangeas have been a feature on our trip and this was a particularly fine example by the Hard Antler in Haast.

Leaving Haast the next day we passed a milestone – 1,000km done!

The ride through to Pleasant Flat was just superb – the mountains and the Haast River made a stunning combination. We stopped to chat with Wuzza, who was sitting at his gate looking out at the stunning mountains on his doorstep. He had an amazing oasis behind the hedgerow, being off grid and growing tamarillos, citrus and avocados in his orchard. I wish I had taken a photo of his his view – truly idyllic.

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Pleasant Flat was stunning. In a valley looking out to My Enderby and alongside the Haast River.

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Too cold to swim but great for keeping the milk cold.

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The morning mist in the Pleasant Flat valley took our breathe away.

No more talk or hearsay about the Haast Pass, today we we were out to ride it. The gentle start with a stop at Roaring Billy Falls belied what was to come.

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The road grew steep as we passed through some road works but passing over the Gates of Haast brought a whole new steepness to the journey. Travelling at less than 4kmph ( less than walking speed) the climb became arduous. I got overwhelmed with thinking I had another 10km of riding this steepness when stopping for a break the tears flowed. Settling myself we set off again and within a short time the steepness lessened and the road become rolling, the ride became manageable and even enjoyable.

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The views were continued to be amazing as we finally reached the Haast Pass at 564m. We did it!!

And the downhill was glorious, not only going down but the views turned from the verdant green rainforest of the West Coast to pasture and worn crushed velvet of the Otago mountains as we cycled into Makarora Country for the night.

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One of the things that has been making our trip so wonderful is that everywhere we stop, we are meeting lovely people on our journey. Sharing our story and listening to a story or two of their own.

Otago we are on our way…