Wednesday, 17 January to Friday, 19 January, 2024
We flew into Queenstown on Wednesday afternoon and checked in to Blue Peaks Lodge. By the time we had settled in and went for a walk around town it was 6pm as you add 3 hours going over to NZ. Town was busy with lots of tourists and bike shops.
The next morning we met our guides, Rob and Sam from Adventure South, and the 8 others in our group (6 Americans, 1 other Australian and one Kiwi). We boarded the bus and headed towards Glenorchy to start our adventure with some kayaking on Lake Wakatipu. It was a beautiful calm morning that wasn’t spoiled by the cloud giving way to some light rain.
We paddled across to Pigeon Island, a predator free island on the lake that has given birds a safe haven away from rats and stoats (a small ferret like animal).
Next it was off to Arrowtown for our first cycling of the trip. After getting our bikes sorted, we headed off on the busy Queenstown Trails.
Very pretty tracks but unfortunately, I had a fall just before the end. Luckily nothing was broken but I did have quite a few cuts and grazes to remind me to be more careful for the rest of the trip.
On Friday it was onto the bus to drive to Kingston to cycle the start of the Around the Mountains cycle trail.
With a strong tailwind the 30 km to Athol was pretty easy and I was happy to make it without difficulty. Lunch was at the Five Rivers Station Cafe where the bikes were loaded and we drove to Rainbow Reach for a hike on the lower section of the Kepler Track.
Light rain did not stop us all enjoying the hike to the Control Gates, a distance of about 10 kms through rainforest beside the Waiau River. This is one of NZ’s great walks.
The bus met us at the end of the hike just as the rain increased so we were glad to arrive at our accommodation in Te Anau.