Day 12: Lauder to Waipiata

I (Pam) got quite the treat this morning. Remember that we were staying in an old hotel, with shared bathroom. Well, when I got up to use the bathroom, I opened the door and came face to face with a gentleman dressed only in his skivvies! I was shocked, but cheerfully said “Good Morning!” and went to the bathroom. I guess Matt overheard the old man and the other two guests saying “There’s a lady here!” “A what?” “A lady!” “Where?” “She’s in the washroom!” “They should have told us there was a lady here!” I think he was more embarrassed than I. It sure gave me a good laugh, anyways.

The hotel provided breakfast: toast and cereal, juice and coffee. We ate as much as we could, and then settled the bill and packed to leave. We could pick up the rail trail right outside the hotel, which was very convenient. The trail is gravel, and since it used to be the railroad, very gradually graded. It was a very fun ride. Our first goal was to get to a town with food, since we were out of snacks and Lauder had no facilities. But we kept stopping to take pictures of the amazing views as we gradually climbed up into the Gorge and came upon two tunnels. The first was over 700 feet long, and the second over 600. We also crossed over two very high railroad bridges, which made me (Pam) very nervous, and the second was so high I got a touch of vertigo as I crossed. We saw many birds along the way, and even caught a glimpse of the elusive New Zealand Falcon as it hunted in the gorge.

The weather began as a slight breeze in our favor, with the sun being hidden behind stormy looking clouds. Then it would clear up for a bit, and get sunny and hot, and the breeze got a little faster. Eventually, we had a major tailwind pushing us onward, and if we hadn’t needed to stop to eat, we could have ridden forever.

We made it to Hays Engineering, the place made famous by the invention and manufacture of wire strainers, the design is still used today. Luckily for us, there was a little café and we were able to fill up on a veggie stack (which was like a vegetable lasagna) and a ham and egg sandwich. We also treated ourselves to scones and soda. We toured the site, which is in its original condition and includes the main house, the mill house where they made the tools, a bunk house for the workers, a dairy shed, and other out buildings. The café was in the old cottage, the first house to be built on the site, but it’s been remodeled since.

Once we’d explored Hay’s as much as we could, we got back on the bikes and headed down the road. The wind was still in our favor, and practically pushed us up to the highest point on the rail trail. Then it was downhill to Weddenburn, which was neat because there was a little building with coffee and water and drinks and even ice cream, with an honesty box set out. Lining the walls were plaques with information about the area, and sheep shearing. There were samples of the different kinds of wool. The lower the micron, the better the wool. The three examples were: wool used in carpets, then a merino cross breed used in clothes like Smartwool, and finally the good stuff-Merino wool used in clothes like Icebreaker. Even though we didn’t buy anything from the shed, we left a small donation to help keep places like it open.

All along the trail are gangers sheds, basically just shelters made of corrugated sheet metal. Many of them have information plaques, which we enjoyed stopping to read along the way.

We were making great time, and continued to do so. A few times the trail turned us toward the wind, but it wasn’t for very long, and we took advantage of having the wind to our backs. The trail is so much fun to ride! Although, I’m not sure I’d be saying that if we had been heading in the opposite direction…

The first town with a grocery was Ranfurly, and we popped into the supermarket to get food for the next few days. We took advantage of the Wi-Fi at the hotel in town, and posted a few updates to our journal so everyone would know we were still alive. Then, we raced the last 8 km to Waipiata with the down grade and tailwind pushing us over 32kmh on the fine gravel road. Waipiata is a tiny town with a hotel/pub, a school, and not much else. But, it does have Domain camping, which is basically just common land that you’re allowed to camp on.

As we pulled up to the place, we were attacked by two magpies. Those things are vicious! But, we didn’t let them win, and sufficiently scared them off. They don’t seem to want to bother us too much anymore. We set our tent up in the tennis court area, near a sheet metal fence in the hopes it will block some of the wind. There’s toilets, but not showers, so no shower tonight for us. We’ve eaten dinner, and are settling in for the evening.

This particular night of touring allowed us to reflect a little bit on life. Just last night we were eating a steak dinner and staying in a warm bed, tonight we are pitching a tent next to a tennis court and eating rice mixed with canned tomatoes and chicken. Interestingly enough we were happy in both scenarios and satisfied with life. It can be amazingly simple how little you need to be happy and enjoy life, a great life lesson to be remembered in our often hectic and material world.

Touring in the spring time is so much different than fall. The sun goes down much later than we’re used to. For instance, it’s 8 pm and still light out, and will be for another hour or so.

After the difficult last two days, today’s ride was a pleasant one. But, I’m still sore and tired, and ready for a good night’s sleep. We plan to get to Middlemarch tomorrow, and take the train to Dunedin on Sunday. What an adventure we’ve been having!

P.S. I’ll try to answer some of the Lineberry’s questions:

Yes, Parker, the venison we ate was red deer. I think that’s the only kind they have here. They were imported a long time ago, and their population increased so much, they were a pest. But now people have farms with them, and they use them for food. I’ll try to get a picture of them for you. Other animals that people brought here that are pests now include rabbits and possums. They’re having a hard time controlling the population, since there are no predators for them. They didn’t import coyotes or foxes or anything like that. I think the yellow field was canola, the same kind of field in Idaho at the reunion. Do you remember that?

Parker and Preston: I’m not sure what kind of salmon they are. They’re marketed as “Mount Cook Salmon” but I suspect they are Pacific Salmon, the same kind you would get in Washington State.

Paisley, there are no bears in New Zealand, except in zoos! Cool, huh?

Parleigh, we love you too!

Parker: The bacon burger was WAY better than McDonald’s. And cost about the same, too! The beets sure tasted good, even though I wasn’t sure they would!

Parker: I think the white animals you’re talking about are sheep. There are sheep everywhere here! Today we scared some that were right on the road, and we didn’t want to hit them, so we yelled so they would run away!

Preston: The three lakes we saw, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki, and Lake Ohau, were some of the most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen. The color of the lakes is unlike anything I can describe. It’s made that way because of something called “rock flour” where the glacier grinds up rock, and the rock gets frozen into the ice, and then when it melts, it makes the water cloudy, and when the sun hits it, it’s a green/blue color. So beautiful!

Preston: We’ve seen lots of “paddocks” of red deer, (paddocks are fields or pastures) but none in the wild yet. But we did see some turkeys along the trail today!

Paisley: Yes, we are going to ride our bikes tomorrow! And I’m so excited that you’re learning to read books! You are awesome! One Fish, Two Fish is one of my favorites.

Keep asking questions, kids! (And anyone else too!) I’m so glad you are enjoying our adventure. We’re sure having lots of fun!

Stats:

Distance: 58.82km

Time: 4:12

Max: 33.95kmh

Avg: 13.97kmh

Climb: 371m

An old curved railroad bridge, the first of several today

How many sheep can you spot?

Pam lighting the way through the tunnel

Another bridge on the rail trail

Love the expressions on each of them

An awesome battery charger at the Hayes Engineering Works Shop. They fed it 230VAC in to the top and used giant screw in resistors on the top to lower the voltage then rectified it to charge the batteries. It must have been a sight to see glowing red as it charged the batteries.

Dinner, doesn't matter where, it's good when we're together.