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| Quintessential New Zealand - Inland Scenic Route, Kaikoura to Waiau |
I made it to Hanmer Springs and had a nice soak in the hot pools to soothe my tired muscles. It wasn't easy all the way though!
It started off a beautiful day, sunny and almost no wind. The route was a peaceful, quiet back road - no trucks at all and very few cars. The first part was quite hilly, climbing to 1600ft from sea level with quite a few steep drops and climbs for river valleys. Actually, the first 10 miles, which seemed flat but was actually rising imperceptibly but continuously, was the hardest. Once the ups and downs started in earnest it was lots of fun! The valley was very green and pretty too. I met some van-supported cycle tourists coming the other way. I didn't get a smile or acknowledgement out of any of them, so I think they must have been overwhelmed by the hills. There was a cafe at Mt. Lyford after 36 miles, but this was closed for a private function, so there was actually nowhere to buy food until Waiau at 50 miles. I had some cheese and cookies with me and snacked on them at Mt. Lyford. After Mt. Lyford a headwind began to pick up, but the road was now sufficiently downhill that this wasn't a problem.
I had lunch at a pretty old hotel in Waiau. This was the decision point: I could go another 30 miles to the Springs or stay at Waiau. It was still quite early (I did the 50 miles in just over 4 hours and left the B&B at 8:15), I wasn't feeling tired and there wasn't much at Waiau, so although the wind was now even stronger, I decided to go for the Springs. I called up to make a reservation at a B&B there.
The remaining 30 miles was one third south-west, one third west, and then one third north. The middle third was very tough, the strong west wind making me work for every inch! I was down to 4th gear out of 27 for much of this portion. The last 10 miles were easier, partly due to the better direction and partly the valley was now narrower, and gave some shelter, although cross-wind gusts sometimes threatened to blow me off. The scenery was spectacular again, approaching the Southern Alps (this is the road that goes over Lewis Pass to the West Coast).
The Albergo Lodge B&B is very luxurious. I have my own king size bed, jacuzzi bath, porch, tv with DVD movies etc. The breakfast promises to be excellent too, with lots of choices. After recovering from the ride with a cup of tea, I walked 15 minutes into the town to try out the hot springs and have dinner. My B&B host gave me a free pass for the springs in exchange for filling out a short survey.
The springs are quite nice if you like that sort of thing, given that they are not isolated in the wilderness and so must accommodate hundreds of people. Soaking in the pools was certainly relaxing for tired legs. There are a variety of pools with temperatures 41C and down, sizes from a hot tub to a swimming pool, and various levels of smelliness. It's Sunday evening, and the Christchurch day and weekend trippers have gone home, so it was not too crowded.
I had a roast lamb dinner in a pub watching test cricket (India v. NZ) on a large screen tv. Coincidentally, the other two cyclists from Kaikoura chose to eat there too, and came in when I was nearly done. Apparently they had found the first bit to Mt. Lyford quite hard, harder than I did (I see now that there was a lot of climbing, so they were right!), and the cafe was open when they arrived, so they stayed there for some time. They agreed with me that the last windy bit was terrible, and that the cycle-tourists didn't smile.
