Day 3: Glentunnel to Rakaia Gorge

We woke this morning to birds chirping and the sun coming up. Quite a lot of condensation on the tent through the night. Matt got up a few times in the night to the strange sounds of critters, but he never got a look at anything. It was a very brisk 3C when we got up, and we headed over to thee kitchen area to cook up some porridge. Using the electric kettle, it was simple to heat up the water and add to the oatmeal. I’m not much of a fan of plain porridge, evidently, but I ate it anyway.

We broke camp, attempted to dry the tent as much as possible, and got on the road about 830. We were unsure of our destination, but knew we wanted to at least pause in Rakaia Gorge, since we heard that it was beautiful. There are just a few small areas between Glentunnel and the Gorge, and the roads were very quiet. We climbed steadily until we reached about 450 m, and then we finally got to go downhill. You could catch a glimpse of the river down below, a “braided river” I think it’s called. Definitely glacial melt, as the color is a brilliant blue.

We reached an information center on the north side of the river, and we rode down to the bank of the river and got a good look at the water. It is so beautiful. There was a jet boat for hire, and we chatted with the owner for a bit, but we decided against a ride. His dog was adorable, and just wanted to play with us.

At this point, I think the jet lag caught up to us. We hadn’t gone very far, but we were both tired and dragging. It’s taken us a bit longer to get used to riding again than we expected. Our bikes are heavier, and we’re not quite as in shape as we would have liked. So, we decided to call it a day and take advantage of the campsite on the south side of the river. It is a beautiful site, overlooking the river, and it’s nearly empty since it’s the offseason. We’ve been told that it will get much busier over the holiday.

First things first, we needed lunch. We made a picnic lunch and ate some pb&j. Then we set up our tent, and blew up our mattresses, and laid down for a much needed nap. The sun was shining, a slight breeze blowing. By the time we woke up a few hours later, a cloud cover had set in and the temperature dropped a bit.

We went for a hike down by the river, and enjoyed the view. After storms, the whole gorge fills with water, which is hard to imagine at the moment. The gorge was amazing with tons of stones and the breath taking colored water. We skipped a few stones, sat by the river, and generally just enjoyed the immense beauty around us.

When we got back to our tent, a fellow camper, Blair, invited us to join him for “5’s”, which is a tradition in either New Zealand or just at the campground, not entirely sure. We joined him and the camp host, and had a great time talking. We learned that the black and white birds we have been seeing everywhere are “magpies”, but different than our magpies, and they’re nesting right now. They’ll attack your helmet if you’re not careful, which has happened to us once so far. As we were enjoying the good company, another cyclist rode into camp, and it was the French cyclist, Pico, whom we met in Christchurch two days ago. We had all planned to be here in Rakaia last night, but he didn’t make it either. It’s fun to see people we’ve already met. We’ll probably be seeing more of him as our journey continues.

We started getting hungry, and made to say our “good evening”s, and Blair gave us his number to call when we get back to Christchurch if we need anything. It’s so nice to meet good people and is one of the best parts of traveling the world on our cycles. As a bonus Blair had an Android phone which Matt was able to getting some settings off of to get his phone receiving a data signal.

We ate our dinner of rice and vegetables (Uncle Ben’s, comes in pouches, just add a little water and cook for a few minutes). And now it’s getting dark, and we’re in the tent, finishing up for the night. Tomorrow we’ll see where we get to. Since we are using the mobile for uploads it will be text only tonight, which is a shame, because the pictures from the last two days are absolutely spectacular, so you’ll just have to wait for those. Bottom line is: we’re doing great. We’re having a good time, and we’re in awe of this country already. Keep the comments coming, we’re enjoying knowing that so many people are behind us, cheering us on!

Distance: 28.1 km
Time: 2:04
Climbed: 287m
Max Speed: 51.7km
Avg Speed: 13.57km