Jonno drove us to the airport so no need to worry about whether the taxi would turn up.  The bikes were packed in their new Tardis bags from Groundeffect. With front and back wheels removed, the bikes were much more compact and hopefully easy to load on the bus trips ahead.

We were at the airport in about 40 mins and more than three hours before our flight.  Checkin was almost fully automated........

No alarms this morning, and we woke around 8:30 NZ time.  We enjoyed a leisurely coffee whilst finalising our plans for the day - which was to cycle to Jack's Point.  Then I found an alternative route via Arthurs Point which was in the opposite direction to routes we had explored on our last visit. As a bonus enticement, I found an highly rated cafe that we would pass on the way......

For a quiet street in Queenstown there was a lot of noise but then given it was a Friday night, probably not unexpected. Between the music and the shouting, it took a while for me to get to sleep. Simon heard the music but not the shouting so enjoyed a better night's sleep......

It rained quite heavily overnight and we woke to a light dusting of snow on the surrounding mountains.  We enjoyed a leisurely start and did some hand washing to make the most of the forecast fine day.  

We headed off around 10am to cycle the Upukerora Trail, a 10km loop along Lake Te Anau and back into town along the Upukerora River.......

The shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 10am, so we enjoyed a leisurely start and had time for a second coffee.

There were 6 other cyclists from Saturday's shuttle, so four had made other arrangements.  It was about a 30 minute drive to Central Station and by the time we arrived, the sky had cleared to a glorious day.......

We met up with the other cyclists from the shuttle for dinner at the pub in Lumsden and had a most enjoyable evening.  The wine was fine and the pub meals were pretty good.  We all left around 8:30 so I wasn't too late for my French lesson which started at 8:15NZ time.

Breakfast lived up to expectations, with delicious fresh bread, salami, cheese, fruit, yoghurt and muesli.......

The taxi was a little early and the bikes fitted easily in their bags, so we were at the bus stop with plenty of time to spare.  The bus to Dunedin was waiting and it was surprising how many people didn't realise that was their bus and joined the queue for the Christchurch bus once it arrived.  We joked with the bus driver that we were tempted to go to Dunedin instead given his efforts to find his passengers.....

It was a fine and calm morning with just a gentle breeze when we awoke.  As Simon packed the bikes, I walked to the nearby Greedy Cow to stock up on morning tea and lunch provisions.  

By the time we set off round 9am, the skies were looking more ominous.  The path along the Takepo canal was easy riding and we were able to make good time....

We had a long day's cycling ahead so were wheels rolling by 7:15am to detour via the Twizel town centre to pick up morning tea and lunch supplies.  The Hydro cafe offered a few good options, but were a bit liberal with the red onion on their sandwiches, so I darted across to the bakery for a more basic sandwich - red-onion free as well as a salted caramel slice that I was sure we would appreciate later in the day.....

The Oasis cafe proved to be a disappointing source of ready made options for lunch so we continued down the road to the Wrinkly Ram which offered an impressive array of rolls except that they were laden with red onion.  I gratefully accepted their offer of making me a roll without red onion.  We also stocked up on some sweet treats for morning and afternoon tea......

We were up at 6am to allow time to have eggs for breakfast.  According to Jo, our host, they were colony eggs and not free range.  There is a shortage of eggs in New Zealand at the moment as the government ban on battery-caged eggs has come into effect combined with a ban on importing eggs and supermarkets phasing out colony cage eggs.  Eggs will need to be barn or free-range.  Anyway, at least we had eggs for breakfast.....

A cold change came through overnight, accompanied by rain and wind.  Fortunately, we were close to the bus stop and could ride there as Simon had decided we didn't need to pack the bikes in bags.
There were three other cyclists waiting when we arrived and I was rather anxious that we wouldn't fit all the bikes on the bus.  I left Simon removing wheels and went in search of some sustenance for the trip.......

We were up early as we knew we had to be at Christchurch station 20 minutes before the Transzalpine train to Greymouth was due to depart at 8:15.

We appreciated the myriad of bike paths as our route took us on dedicated cycle paths or cycle lanes. There were heaps of people on bikes commuting to work. Clearly we weren't travelling at commuter speed as we were passed by people on EScooters, skateboards and other cyclists.  

There was a heavy rain warning for the Westland district, scheduled for 29 hours from 4pm on Thursday.  A real incentive to ensure that we were in our accommodation before the rain started.

So we were up early and on the road by 7:30.  There wasn't much to Kumara and we saw just the occasional dog walker as we left the town.  We headed past the Kapitea and Kumara reservoirs which were tranquil and still in the morning light.....

The forecast rains fell during the night and at times the wind was ferocious though it was reasonably calm when we awoke.

Simon left around 8:30 to walk to the Hokitika airport some 1.5kms from our accommodation. There were multiple rental companies represented at the tiny airport with individual staff taking responsibility for servicing a few companies.....

We woke to a beautiful, still morning.  Our Airbnb host had provided four free range eggs and Simon turned them into a delicious omelette using some of the mushrooms and tomato we had set aside from the night before.

We returned to Orakito to do the 4.2km return Trig walk, confident that the views would be worthwhile.  A boardwalk took us across the wetlands and then we walked up well-graded track.  It was easy walking and it was less than half an hour to the top...

Is it possible to have too many views of a glacier?  Given that we had decided not to do the helicopter flight over a glacier, today we were going to see whether the views were any better after a four hour walk to the top of Alex Knob and an elevation gain of 1,130 metres

We wanted to ensure that we could at least see the Franz Josef glacier before the cloud set in, so we were up at 6am and on the road before 7:30 for the.....

There was another heavy rain warning for later in the day, so we made the most of an overcast but fine morning to walk around Lake Mathieson, a small glacial lake some 6kms down the road. Renowned for its reflections of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, we had to settle for reflections of the surrounding mountains and cloud.

It was a lovely 4.4km loop walk and the reflections were indeed stunning.....

An alarm-free sleep in - for the first time this trip.  The rain was forecast to continue but it was dry when we woke around 8:30.  Some climbers were making their way up the rockface in front of us and we watched them for a while.  

Simon cleaned and packed my bike, and with chores done, we headed into town for coffee and to purchase a MeroMero Piha handlebar bag that I had discovered yesterday in a cute little shop, the Revology Concept Store.