NZ Hike and Bike Day (Sunday, February 14)

Breakfast was at a fabulous place in Queenstown called Halo. Bacon and eggs, with a kind of sourdough toast. I have to say that New Zealanders know how to cook eggs. I think they put a bit of cream in them when they scramble them, and they also don’t overcook them. Yummy.

At breakfast, Diana got a nice surprise. Ellie (Active Adventures) and Doug (Diana’s fiance) had conspired to deliver a nice Valentine’s day surprise to Diana: a rose, some chocolates, and a card. Very sweet. Everyone in our group appreciated the gesture, though I’ll bet some of the guys were wondering how they might top that!

When we got on the bus, behold, another birthday, which of course required another celebration. Happy Birthday Gayle!

First activity of the day was a lovely hike up an apparently little-known trail that had just wonderful views. The hike wasn’t too strenuous, but enough to get our blood moving. Took about an hour, up and down. You can see the views from the look-out area where our group gathered. I finally was captured in a few trip photos, so you can see I am actually participating in this activity and not just blogging about it!

After the hike, we headed to a lovely town called Waneka. It was pretty busy because there was a craft fair or something going on. We had a chance to wander around the public park for a bit, and I got some interesting pictures of a dead tree base, a stream, and a hand sculpture. (Couldn’t help myself.) Then, after we had lunch, our guides went to trade our food trailer for a bike trailer, then we headed off to the starting point for the bike ride, about 16 miles away.

I know that once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. But it was so long ago that I was last on a bike that I wasn’t sure how I’d do. Not bad, as it turns out. It was a challenging ride in that my long-standing complaint with biking was the same here–sore butt! The bike had a kind of hard sport seat, and I really need a lot more cushioning than that to be comfortable. But as there weren’t any other options, it was off we went!

Along the way, I got some great pictures of the scenery. When I was complaining yesterday that I should have brought a point-and-shoot camera, I hadn’t realized that I have one: my iPhone 6! It takes really good pictures, so that’s what I used during the bike ride when hauling the big camera would have been too much. (Though I haven’t figured out how to get the iPhone landscape pictures to rotate properly on the blog. Until I figure it out, you’ll have to look at some of the pictures sideways! 🙂 )

Kirsten went with the group on the bikes, and Katie met us with the bus at various points, checking in with everyone and explaining what the next segment was going to be like. I did almost the whole 16 miles, except for a challenging long hill on a segment of a paved road (complete with traffic). For that, a few of us got a ride on the bus and then started off on our bikes where the trail picked up again.

I have to say, I was very glad to reach the town! While the weather was great (sunny and warm), the ride wasn’t too strenuous, and the scenery was fabulous, I had a hard time overcoming butt ache.

Back on the bus, we headed down the road to Makarora, to our accommodations for the night at the Wilderness Chalets. Not quite a wilderness, but a very small town. We had a private dining facility and Katie and Kirsten again put on a great meal, complete with a chocolate birthday cake for Gayle. These ladies really go above and beyond to make things safe, fun, and fulfilling for us all. Active Adventures is doing a great job on this trip and other than some of the activities being almost at the limit of my abilities, I think it’s about a perfect trip.

Tomorrow is, weather permitting, the heli-hike at Frans Josef Glacier. Woo hoo!

No internet access tonight, so I’ll upload two days worth tomorrow night. Once again I’m looking forward to getting horizontal for a good sleep! 🙂