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| Lakes Alexandrina and Tekapo from Mt. John |
What a change! I woke up to complete overcast and steady rain. So much for weather forecasts. It was only spotting by the time I started off, but after a few miles it got heavier again so I'm sheltering in a cave - actually a convenience store in the village of Cave. I even got some entertainment while waiting: a lady drove away forgetting to disconnect the gas pump (no damage except a broken hose). The webcam from the B&B before I left showed sunshine at my destination, so there's hope for later.
The scenery today reminds me of Scotland - helped by the low clouds over the moorish hills. Lots of sheep too, but they don't bleat piteously in the rain like Scottish sheep. There was some steady rain with a fairly cold blustery wind, which at least meant it wasn't too hot cycling in the rain gear. I'm now in a cafe in Fairlie, drying off again, though I'm mainly pretty dry underneath the rain things. There are two other cyclists in the cafe. I haven't seen many cycle tourists up to now: a couple going the other way early on, and a Bike Friday couple in Geraldine yesterday on a 6 month tour of Australia and NZ. I haven't seen any tour groups at all.
I've done my first pass now - Burke's Pass at about 2500ft. The climb was very gradual except for the last couple of hundred feet. As promised, it stopped raining at the pass (actually just before the steep bit so I could take my rain gear off for this), and it was soon back to blue sky.
Lake Tekapo is beautiful. It's so blue I think it makes the sky blue (a nearby lake Alexandria is the usual grey color). I went on a "3 hour" walk to the top of Mt. John and back around the lake (it took me about 2, even with some sitting in the sun. There's an observatory at the top. And spectacular 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. I've arrived in Lord of the Rings country!
Rene, co-host with Marianne of the Moonlight Bed and Breakfast, acts as a guide at the observatory, so he invited me and the other two guests outside for a star show. The observatory is here because there is so little background light, and the stars are very vivid. He used his bright green laser to point out unfamiliar constellations in the southern sky (the other guests were from Wales), and familiar ones upside-down. The Milky Way was very obvious, but also two large globular galaxies (Magellan is one, I've forgotten the other) were visible - we have nothing like them in the northern sky as Andromeda is much more distant. He also pointed out the International Space Station zipping by - I hadn't realized that was so easy to see.
