Travelled: 207 kms

Despite gasps of disbelief that we were heading down to Kingston and through the Devil’s Staircase, we set off from Arrowtown with no more than the usual sense of unease at what we might face. Our experience to-date perhaps inspiring some confidence that we could actually do this.

There is so much development and building heading out of town past Frankton that the traffic seemed to consist mainly of Ford Ranger builder’s utes and truckloads of building supplies.

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Riding alongside Lake Wakatipu the day cleared, the Remarkables on one side and the Eyre mountains across the lake made the ride as beautiful as ever, and nowhere near as bad as the gasps indicated (although the Kingston township was a welcome sight when it finally came into view).

Lunch on the way was made entertaining by a lovely couple from Timaru who stopped for a chat and came bearing apricots for us! Keen tandem cyclists, they were used to travelling lighter than we are and with refreshing directness marvelled at what they considered our overloading sins.

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The Kingston campground had the best communal facilities that we had come across. And the Kingston Flyer Pub has the honour of supplying the largest bowl of chips to date – still gone in a flash though!

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Picking up a flyer for the Around the Mountain cycle trail, we decided to take the trail through to Mossburn.

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Our first stop on the trail, was the peaceful settlement of Athol.

Athol was another feature of our travels – small townships with cute homes with well cared for gardens. I am finding such warmth when looking at these gardens. There seems to be someone’s heart on display, warmth and love for all to see. Thank you to all the gardeners out there, for the delight you are sharing everyday.

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There was an amazing house opposite the campground. Seemingly quite out of character, but also at home with its surroundings.

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Athol provided a wonderful hunting ground for blackberries. The scratches received were worth the effort for fresh breakfast berries.

It was our coldest night to date, 4 degrees at 8am, and all available clothing clothing was required as the tent dried.

The trail continued through farming country and onto Lumsden.

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Another afternoon in the library provided a lovely peek at this small rural town – chatter about this one and that and the children coming in after school to get some more books, such care and delight for all.

Heading west to Mossburn found us riding into a headwind on the roadside trail. I find the headwinds with the gravelly trail quite hard work.

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Mossburn’s Railway Hotel was a beautiful old building and although it was enticing us to come back later for our beer and hot chips routine, our lovely campsite was 3kms out of town and just too far to make the return journey.

Reading the town’s history board, I felt saddened that such towns have had crucial businesses shutdown and the effects that such decisions have on small towns. SilverFern Farms in this case. Where is the care for the people and not just the profits? I know this may well be an oversimplification of the issues involved but we have ridden through a number of small towns with unused infrastructure and I can only imagine the benefits of having more local businesses at play in these towns. Spread the work and the resulting wealth and we will all be better off.

Although the Around the Mountain trail continued on from Mossburn we decided it would be easier to ride the road for the big 62km day into Te Anau. And it was apart from the head wind! But out of hardship comes the new. We swapped around with Greg taking the front and I learnt the “on” and “ease” of tucking in behind, as well as getting over myself and calling ease every time I fell off Greg’s back wheel.

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Te Anau is a lively town with its connection Milford and Doubtful Sounds. The lakeside looked across to the striking Kepler Mountains.

I had heard the Te Anau was really suffering from the effects of Covid but I thought it seemed plenty busy with NZ tourists making the most of these stay at home times. No shortage of campervans and motorhomes at every turn.

And it was Valentines Day, celebrated on the lake edge in our traditional fashion with the yellow food groups – proper crisps, cheese, crackers and a splash of colour with red wine!

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Our campsite proved a great spot for foraging. Blackberry bushes on the boundary and apple trees! Plenty of blackberries for breakfast with the delicious addition of stewed apples thanks to Greg and the free sugar in the kitchen.

We booked an overnight trip on Doubtful Sound for Tuesday giving us a rest day. Nice after 5 days riding.

While Auckland was moved to Level 3 restrictions, our library use was also affected with the Te Anau library not allowing computers to be used in level 2. Oh well, this week’s work was to be done on my phone.

Tuesday dawned beautiful and bode well for a good trip on the water. We took the bus connection to Manapouri and while waiting to board for the trip across Lake Manapouri, Greg spotted trout swimming around the wharf.

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Warning… photo overload on its way!

The still lake gave us a smooth trip across against a background of lush green mountains – the views amazing.

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As we came closer to West Arm, we could see the power lines coming from the Manapouri Power Station and over the hills. It was unfortunate that there were no tours into the power station at the moment due to maintenance, as I still remember it being a highlight when I did a similar trip back in 1977.

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A quick stopover at the West Arm Visitors Centre before boarding one of two buses (to ensure spaces between travelling bubbles) and up over the hill to Wilmot Pass.

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This most expensive road in NZ was created to truck supplies in to build the power station.

Waiting for us in Deep Cove was the Fiordland Navigator which can take up to 72 guests although there were less than 50 of us today.

All boarded and cabins assigned (a quad share for us, with only the 2 of us in), we were underway.

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We headed to Crooked Arm for an hour’s canoeing and then a swim before the soup course was served.

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We had a smooth trip as we cruised out to the Tasman Sea with a rare easterly wind.

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It was wonderful to watch the graceful mollymawks and sooty shearwaters (Titi or mutton bird) soaring and flying around at the entrance. The mollymawks can lock their wings in flight & actually expend more energy sitting on the water than they do flying.

Heading back into the sound we passed the sea lions on the Née Islets as we made our way back into First Arm to Snug Cove for dinner and our anchorage for the night.

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An early rise the next morning as we up-anchored to see the day dawn over the surrounding hills.

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Patea, te reo for Doubtful Sound, means “the place of silence.”

We cruised through to Hall Arm to experience this true silence. All engines and boat noises were turned off as we drifted for 10 minutes in this quiet bliss.

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We cruised back to Deep Cove thoroughly enjoying the sheer beauty of the Sound.

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We had experienced such luxury by doing this trip and seen another one of New Zealand’s jewels.