Day 26

When I woke up and looked in the mirror (not a common recent occurance), my eyes were so puffy I wondered if I’d accidentally left my contacts in. I spent 5 mins trying to figure this out, in my sleep-deprived state, before seeing the shrivelled blue lenses on the sink.

I’d arranged to meet my friend Roz for breakfast/coffee and it took me too long to get out the door despite the easy pack up. Luckily I’d misread when she’d be there so I was in fact early. It’s interesting how your mental faculties decline over this kind of event! Even simple addition becomes a logic puzzle.

I zoomed down the hill to Queenstown (much quicker in this direction!) and located the busy cafe where we would meet. I’d realised this morning I was absolutely out if snacks (having eaten my last hideous OSM when I got to the motor camp last night) so when I ordered my eggs Benedict I also bought a brownie and a scone, interesting labelled white chocolate and pistachio (definitely a mistaken flavour combination, it later proved).

After breakfast Roz and I swung by a nearby convenience store, and I spent $40 on a small pile of calorie-filled items. A few familiar faces were waiting at the Earnslaw; we secured our bikes downstairs then were off! The voyage was another chance to fuel up (hot chocolate and pastry, plus a chocolate milk) and take some photos of the stunning day. Yesterday’s snow looked beautiful on the mountains especially when you weren’t in it.

At the other side, I put on some sunblock and again rode with Gerard and Col, though we often leapfrogged Johan, Andrew and Tony, who’d also been in the boat.

The first 40 or so km were stunning – pretty flat and amazing views of the lake and mountains. The three of us had a quick rest after a while, and Col kindly shared pieces of ginger crunch, which definitely ticked all the cyclist food group boxes. When the climb started, it wasn’t too bad and before long we were at the 700m top – our last real hill! The down hill was great though a southerly headwind now sprung up.

During the descent I saw Geoff and Maureen who’d I’d stayed with in Hawea. I’d known they might be in the area but didn’t recognise them quickly and my kegs just kept peddling. Then I spent a while feeling bad for not stopping, it’s like my comprehension/mental processing is sitting permanently at about half drunk.

Just before this I’d been following Andrew a bit too close and as he went through some fresh cow dung, it sprayed up all over me…

The day soon turned worse, with the road after Mavora Lakes recently graded. This meant very difficult, soft gravel, which slowed us down and demoralised. Eventually we reached the end of the road section and turned off to the round the mountain cycle trail.

Like the Hauraki trail, this appears to have suffered from lack of consultation with actual cyclists, rendering it straight, flat and with no points of interest, combined with an annoying gravel surface. I’m not sure why cycle trail designers think cyclists want to ride on packed gravel. They do not. When you’ve done nearly 3000km, it’s very jolty on your tender bottom.

The three of us were counting down kms till the end and finally we reached Mossburn. The pasta at the pub defeated me, my stomach has clearly shrunk with all this dense high calorie food.

One more day! So weird.