On the dry side of the mountains

After reuniting with my bike in Wanaka (I got a ride from a couple I met while kayaking on Milford Sound, which made the trip from Te Anau much faster than I had planned), I started heading towards Omarama. It's 111 km from Wanaka, so I knew that the chances of me getting there before dark weren't too high (I didn't get started until 2:30 p.m.). And indeed, with some harsh headwinds, I realized by the time I got to Tarras that I didn't have a chance. Since there really isn't much civilization between Wanaka and Omarama, I opted to camp at a road-side picnic area.

Unsure about the legality of my chosen campsite, which happened to be right next to a pretty creek and across the road from some cool cliffs, I made sure I stayed out of sight.

My route from Wanaka to Christchurch is on the east side of the mountains, along State Highway 8. The weather patterns here are similar to those in Washington state - the west side of the mountains are very wet, predominantly forests and rainforests, while the east side of the mountains are quite dry. Indeed, the last two days have been very sunny and today looks like the trend will continue.

As you might expect, with such dry weather, the temperatures are less moderate - the days are quite warm and the nights much cooler than they were along the coast. In fact, I woke up on Sunday with a tent coated with frost. And the water in my water bottles was half frozen. Unfortunately, my feet were also half-frozen by the time I woke up... and they remained little footsicles until I stopped for some lunch along the side of the road at noon.

My objective for the day was Lake Tekapo, about 150 km of cycling, and I arrived here at about 6 p.m., after stops in Omarama (known for its glider flying, although I didn't see any flying yesterday) and Twizel, a humble town that had been built up when plans for a hydroelectric plant were in the works, but is now a quiet place with plenty of "vacancy" signs at their motels.

Lake Tekapo is a popular place for fishing and boating, and the other big attraction is the Mt. John observatory just down the road. Of course, the dry weather and clear skies here make it ideal for an observatory.

I almost bought into the night trip to the observatory, but in the end opted to save my $70 and avoid the tourist trip. I felt like my tourist activities in Te Anau (kayak trip on the Milford Sound and boat trip to the glowworm caves) were enough for a few days. After all, I had my own unused star-chart and there was an open field near the village center...

So I bought some hot chocolate mix and cookies, packed up my sleeping bag and stove, and headed to the empty field. My plan backfired slightly when my lighter wouldn't light, but fortunately it wasn't as cold as the previous night, and I was able to identify plenty of constellations: the southern cross, canis major, centaurus, carina, and plenty of others that I'd never heard of before. Orion, Gemini, and some other constellations that are visible in the northern hemisphere are also visible here.

I'm aiming to reach Christchurch either tomorrow night or the day after. It's only about 240 km away, and I only have about 96 hours remaining in this country, so I'm hoping to get there soon so that I can make a couple of fun day trips from the city... as well as find a cardboard bike box to pack my bike in!

So with that, it's time to post this and hit the road!