Day 22: Tuatapere to Manapouri

Made it through another night without getting rained on in the tent and got on the road at around 8:30am. We thought that we wouldn’t need our rain gear but only made it a kilometer down the road or so before it started sprinkling, and then lightly raining on us. So we stopped and donned the rain gear.

As is typical for NZ we played the lets never have the right clothing game all day today. You wait to put on the rain gear and it just keeps raining. Finally you put it on and the sun bursts out of the clouds to turn you into a sweating hot mess inside your rain gear. You can’t take the heat anymore and take off the rain gear to immediately get blasted with some cold air and rain. We are getting used to always being wrong.

Anyways it was mostly flat and uneventful for the morning. Of note we rode across the Cliffden Suspension Bridge which was constructed in 1899 and was the only crossing of the Waiau River for many years. Now the bridge is a historical landmark only to be crossed by cyclists and pedestrians. The Waiau River used to be the second largest in New Zealand until a hydro electric power plant was built requiring the diversion of its main feeder river and flow was reduced over 100fold. Since that some larger flows have been restored, but it is still a tenth of its natural flow.

Other than that a few small climbs, and a few friendly honks and thumbs up from drivers, including a French couple who were staying in the same place as us last night. We paused in Blackmount for lunch, bathrooms, and water bottle refill. Again we tried some store bought New Zealand bread and were blown away by how good it is.

After lunch at around the 50km point we hit the large climb of the day, we were still in the wrong gear, as the rain gear quickly became too hot for climbing the hill in the sun, took it off. As we crested the hill it started to rain again, pretty strong so we got the jackets on. Also met another cycle tourist who was resting at the top of the hill after climbing from the other side. He was from Seattle and had started out with a 3 month tour in mind, but realized he would need more time, and now has been here for a year. He worked for a bit as WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), which is very popular here in NZ, and is back to touring for a bit. Very energetic guy.

We enjoyed the nice downhill and then eventually had to don the full set of rain gear as waiting out the rain proved to be making our shoes wet. We paused for a second at a little turn off on the side of the road where it showed how the river was being diverted to Lake Manapouri. From there we kept getting glimpses and partial views of the mountains surrounding Lake Manapouri, with whisps of clouds at multiple heights, with rain and sunshine all mixed to create very dramatic views. It was very beautiful.

Finally we arrived in Manapouri and found a holiday park to stay in for two nights. We had dinner at the small café nearby where we ordered a bacon egg burger, and received a burger with no ground beef patty but it did have a couple slices of bacon and an egg instead, chalk that one up to cultural misunderstanding. Also instead of putting pickles on the burgers here they put beets, actually an improvement in our tastings. Tomorrow we are going on a guided tour across Lake Manapouri and then a cruise around Doubtful Sound.

Distance: 80.76km

Time:5:15

Avg:15.38kmh

Max:51.68kmh

Climb:737m

1899 Suspension Bridge

A visual reminder of the effects of the lumber industry. The right 3/4 of the hill used to be covered in trees. New Zealand does practice renewable lumber practices so it will be planted again and take 25-40 years before it is felled again.

View down the road towards Manapouri

Lake Manapouri, or a tiny fraction of it.