Day 37 - February 16, 2023

Day 37:  Wanaka - Queenstown

The Crown Range road is the highest main road in NZ at 1076m and today we ride over it!  We finish the day on the cycle trail into Queenstown.

Another beautiful day in paradise!  A few clouds in the sky as we left Wanaka, but perfect cool temperatures.  View from our hotel room this morning.


Leaving downtown.............


The first little climb out of town.


Some views during the first 11 km.






And the next 15 km to a coffee stop at about 25 km.  When I wasn't the last one in, Tom seemed puzzled.  I told him I didn't follow the instructions to go on a gravel road while the others did.  Then I offered him the use of my bike to go and catch them where the gravel road rejoins the main road since they were all looking forward to coffee.  Turns out the gravel road was a private road and they had to turn back anyway.  I would think that they might have checked out the instructions since apparently the last tour had the same problem.  Oh well......



   





Then we headed off to "the climb" du jour.  The Crown Range Summit.  "Highest sealed road in NZ."  We had been on a bit of an uphill grade most of the day thus far, and it continued modestly for about another 10 km.  Then a big push for about the last 5 km to the top.  Not my favourite section - no shoulder and lots of traffic, much of it not too interested in giving us sufficient room.  Glad we did it, though.






And then an awesome downhill ensued.  Wheeeee......


We could already see Queenstown in the distance.



Looking back up the hill.


Great views all the way down.





I was enjoying the wind in my ears so much that I missed the audio cue to turn off the main road.  Also - since the cue sheet and RWGPS route did not start at our hotel and it also had the gravel road before the coffee stop included, the mileage was off for the c(l)ue sheet.  So - I missed the turnoff by about a km.  The good news (for me) was that by the time I got back there, Kerry (the sweep) was ahead of me and I didn't need to worry about holding her up until lunch.  But then I missed lunch since the "go through several car parks until you see the van" was not really on the route I was following and I didn't reference the additional note that gave instructions to go off-route.  In any case, I was "free" for a long time before I saw anyone again and enjoyed the freedom that that gave me to enjoy the ride probably more than any other section of the entire trip.  Not that it was the most scenic of the trip, but just that I could go my own speed, look at what I wanted, and not have to worry that I'm holding someone up.  Anyway - on gravel and trails from here until the end of the day.  Ahhhh.........



























The tree itself was too big to take a picture of.............

A rehydration stop on the way into town.  Too bad I don't like the stuff.......


Our accommodation at the Heartland Hotel.  Quick walk to downtown.  There might be some hills involved.


I set out with Colin & Jane to ride the gondola up to a restaurant overlooking the lake.  Couldn't justify the cost, though, so had a quick meal at ground level and then walked around the beautiful and "happening" downtown area.  A bit overrun with tourists.  But beautiful!





    
Stats for the day:

Distance:  87.7 km

Elevation (Garmin):  4153' up, 3942' down

Elevation (RWGPS):  4806' up, 4596' down

Weather:  7C - 25C.  Pretty darned nice.  It was only about 16C for the biggest climb.  Still plenty warm enough for me, but thankfully I wasn't dripping sweat.




Comments

  1. MervFebruary 16, 2023 at 9:24 PM

    Beautiful pics, great colors. I suspect you're last only because you stop so often to take thoughtfully composed pics.

    ReplyDelete

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