Into the Wind

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.  We couldn't quite fit in the blueberry muffins so took a couple for the road. We never did meet the host, Gabriela though Simon did briefly speak to her husband.  

It was another beautiful morning as we cycled out of Lumsden around 8:15.  We were on trails this time, and except for the odd gusts of wind, it was pleasant cycling.

We stopped after about 15 kms at the Five Rivers Cafe and found a few of the shuttle group there so joined them for coffee whilst they had breakfast.  

The next 15kms to Athol were very pleasant, and at one stage we cycled through a corridor of trees.  We stopped at Athol for our muffins - which were delicious and decided to press on to Garston for lunch, another 12kms down the road.  The weather was closing in a little with the occasional drizzle but not bad enough to warrant raincoats.

We stopped at the Coffee Bomb, an airstream trailer selling the most amazing lamb burgers that had come highly recommended and lived up to expectations.  It was drizzling enough to warrant raincoats but we found a little protection under a tree to enjoy our burgers.

Leaving Garston we turned onto a quiet backroad which must have been recently graded as there were very little tracks through the rocky surface.  These created quite an obstacle course as we tried to dodge the bigger rocks.  The wind had picked up and the gusts were strong making for really unpleasant cycling.  It was only 18 kms from Garston to our final destination at Kingston but progress was slow.

We crossed a scenic suspension bridge and the Matuara River, famous for its brown trout.  The trail continued gradually uphill, and the wind was gusting even harder.  By now the cycling was really challenging as we struggled to keep the bikes upright in heavy winds.  

Finally we reached the peak of the hill and enjoyed some protection from the wind as we made a gradual descent into Kingston and headed to our shuttle meeting place with a few minutes to spare, only to find that there was no one there and the cafe was closed.  After a few messages, Simon headed up to the only other open cafe, to find the rest of the group waiting who advised that the shuttle was delayed as they were down a driver due to Covid.

We drove back to Queenstown around the edge of the lake, and the views were stunning.  However, the road was narrow and winding, and we were glad to be seeing it from a vehicle. The driver, Mike, gave us a running commentary of the route and kindly detoured to drop us back at our hotel.

We managed to do a load of washing and start the bike pack up before heading out for a wonderful dinner at Blue Kanu followed by ice creams at Patagonia as a belated birthday celebration.

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