West Coast Wilderness

Back in the real world again, after a week of slight westcoast wilderness. Highlights: glaciers, the Haast mountainpass and a Skydive! I jumped out of a plane today!! --> WATCH THE VIDEO!

First things first. Taylor (the Canadian cyclist I talked about in my last blog) and I took off early in the morning from the campsite at the old psychiatric hospital. We followed the Westcoast Wilderness Trail further on and got to a DOC campsite at lake Lanthe north of Hari Hari at lunchtime. Which meant: chilltime! A refreshing swim and lots of reading has been done that afternoon which was lovely, combined with some rewarding brownies we picked up at Hokitika the other day. As I sat on the pier in the evening, a jet boat arrived with about 5 men, asking if I wanted to come along. And this silly voice in my head said; why not? If anything’s wrong, you just swim back. So I hopped in. Best.Night.Ever. I got introduced to the very famous (uhu) World Jet Boat Club and even got to steer the jet around the dark lake. According to these retired kiwi sailors, my ‘’tractor driving skills’’ were noticeable. A compliment I guess?

We went on towards Franz Josef the other day, partly through some big valleys, gorges and bushbush. Beautiful divergent scenery, and Taylor and I both did it on our own pace which meant we did not cycle together, but found each other every now and then. After all there is no way you get lost somewhere, as there really is just one road. 80k further we made it, but it was still pretty early so we decided to add 3 pretty big hills (20k) up to Fox Glacier, to spare ourselves for the next day. Awesome climb, steep parts and many cheering people in cars along the way. As we camped next to a hostel there, we treated ourselves on a beer and some French Fries as I just reached a milestone: my first 1000km in NZ!

We went to the Fox Glacier the other day and got to see the ice, but further on it was very cloudy and sadly we did not get to see Mount Cook or some other highlights. Too bad but nothing to do about it; the road continues. At Bruce Bay we caught sight of the Ocean again and at Lake Paringa (77km from Fox) Taylor went to the campsite. But as my legs still felt really good and I wanted a shower and wifi, I decided to add another 55k to this little town, Haast.

A resting day there did me well and I got on the road towards the famous Haast Pass early on Sunday morning (6.30) and had the road to myself until 9! Great, because the highway was pretty narrow, windy and steep in some places. But the scenery was much more breathtaking. Take a look at the photos for an impression, but add 200% extra magicalness to get close to how I felt. Found myself a campspot in Makarora for the night and met some other cycling tourers again, great to exchange some experiences and most of all; sharing the feeling of a bottomless stomach ready to eat, eat, eat and repeat. I eat pretty much the same everyday: porch for breakfast, bread with jam/honey for lunch and Big Ben’s rice with Tuna and sometimes some veggies for supper. In between peanuts, oat bars and apples or mandarins. Easy and light to carry on all these hills.

Another early morning rise got me to witness the first sunshine on the impressive lake Wanaka and lake Hawea where I beat the traffic again. By lunchtime I made it back into civilization; Wanaka! I felt so tired and hungry and done with the cycling. But some good old chocolate at the beach was very helpful. A friend of the family in a near village Luggate, invited me to stay with her. I think this was the best timing ever for me to recharge my pretty low battery. Thanks again so much Arda! A cozy bed, a warm and delicious meal and some dutch talking was priceless to me. So I’m taking a few days here. Cleaning Kees, do some hikes and runs, explore Wanaka and surroundings and simply enjoy my holiday. Because that’s what it still is, a holiday. Eventhough that is probably the hardest thing for me to remind myself of all the time. But then again, cycling is just a lot of fun and so is pushing boundaries, that’s me!

Speaking of pushing boundaries.. I did a skydive today from 12000ft. Wow, wow, wow is all I can say. Watch the video online; simply epic! It even made me more proud and happy about this journey. From above you see all mountains, this enormous, beautiful country and I can honestly say: yup, I just cycled that. All the way. All by myself. And even typing that, cracks a big smile on my (very tanned) face again.