Day 11:  Twizel to Christchurch

11 December 2010
8 km (5 mi)

Yesterday evening we made a big decision.  We decided that we are simply not comfortable riding the roads of New Zealand.  It’s not the mileage or the terrain but rather the traffic and lack of a shoulder that present the biggest challenge, and it’s a risk to our personal safety that we are not willing to continue.  The scenery here is absolutely stunning and we are truly disappointed that we will not be seeing it from the saddles of our bikes.  But we are not enjoying the riding and to us, that’s what bike touring is all about.  It’s the journey as much as the destination.  And here, we are only focused on getting to that next destination in one piece.

What does this mean?  Plan B is what this means, with “B” standing for Bus.  We departed Twizel this morning not on two wheels but on at least 4, riding a Newman’s Coach back to Christchurch.  It was much simpler to arrange than we would have thought, with the bikes stowed away beneath the bus with everything intact except the front wheel and saddle.  Now we were in the big beast barreling down the road at over 100 km/h and we felt a little sick as the bus traversed some of the same routes back that we had taken to get to Twizel and we could see from this vantage point that a touring cyclist was nothing more than a small nuisance to be passed at high speed.  It’s great that New Zealand is promoting sharing the road but in our opinion, there’s just not enough road to share.

Back in Christchurch with our fabulous host family, we have rented a car for the next stage of our journey.  Tomorrow we will pack the bikes and move belongings from panniers to duffels.  And the day after that?  We should be back on the road headed south.  There are too many mountains left to explore.

Day 10:  Lake Tekapo to Twizel

10 December 2010
81 km (50 mi)

Today was all about riding the Hydro Canal route from Lake Tekapo to Twizel.  Only it wasn’t.  As soon as we exited SH8 onto this quieter road, we came across a “Road Closed Ahead” sign.  This was not to our liking.  We rode a kilometer or so farther, trying to get a good look at what impediment lay in our way, but whatever it was, it was located at least as far as the bottom of big hill.  This was not to our liking either.  Luckily, along came a very helpful Kiwi in her paneled work van who directed us to a different route just a few more kilometers down SH8.  She said it was sealed but after turning off on it, we learned it was not.  No matter, we thought.  We are not going to ride SH8 if we can be a on a quieter back road, even if it is gravel.  Having ridden our touring bikes on dirt roads in Europe, we figured we could navigate this one as well.

The route (Braemer Road) was quite spectacular.  We were once again surrounded by mountains, with the Ben Ohau Range – home to Aoraki/Mt. Cook, New Zealand’s tallest peak – unfolding before us.

It was peaceful riding the dirt, no trucks or buses whizzing past us at 100+ km/h.  The only sounds were tires on gravel, an occasional bird, and artillery fire.  Yes, artillery fire.  Our route was taking us past the Tekapo Military training ground and there was a bit of “live firing” going on.  Avoiding truck traffic or dodging bullets – take your pick.

The sounds of guns firing faded as the Lake Pukaki came into view.

We stopped for a lakeside lunch, admiring the view and the peacefulness and calculating how much more gravel lay between us and Twizel.  So far about 25 km behind us, with a guess at 12 more or so to go.  As the gravel here was much thicker than the roads in Europe, and we weren’t on mountain bikes, it was slow going at times.  Just about the time we were really tiring of the road, the skies opened up and the rain began to fall.  This mixture is not our favorite when touring, despite knowing that on every tour a little rain will fall.  Even less to our liking was when the road eventually dumped us back onto SH8.  Wet, narrow, hilly, and winding?  Difficult combination to safely ride here in New Zealand.  We were over it.  Some changes needed to be made …