Milford Sound via Mavora Lakes

We've be on the road nearly two month...yes, time flies. Most of us know this. Kate and I have spent the better part of the last few weeks in the Otago region of New Zealand. Open spaces, lovely weather (finally!), and roadblocks full of sheep! We took a four day mini-trip in between races from Queenstown to Milford sound via the TSS Earnslow Ferry and Mavora Lakes Road.

The ferry was an eventful 45 minute trip across the S-shaped Lake Wakatipu. Eventful in that the boat is a super old, super cool steam ship. Otherwise, uneventful. No stormy weather or rogue waves or anything like that.

The boat dropped us off at Walter Peaks Station where the unsealed road meandered nicely through the mountains and farmlands. One of my life-long dreams to snap a photo of a scene like the one below! Glad to check that off my to-do list :) Heaps of sheep, open space and empty roads make for picturesque photos. They were being guided from behind by the farmer guy in a truck (aka ute, here) and his herding doggies. And off they went. Leaving doo-doo tracks that we would immediately be riding through. YES!

See, lots and lots of open space.

We camped a night (incredibly cold - but cloudless!) at Mavora lakes and befriended a french couple cycling on an odd contraption - it's a tandem...not so odd...but the front seat is a recliner style - I forget what they are called. The concept of this style tandem is good, the french couple explained, but the mechanics of it still needs some work, they said. The concept is that the person in the rear only sees the back of the front person on a regular tandem and potentially misses out on heaps of sights so having them in a reclined position up front gives both parties views to enjoy. Hopefully the small german company that designed it will edit it and make it more user friendly.

Eventually Kate and I made our way to the sealed roads to Te Anau - a gateway town to the Milford Sound. We camped the night at a freedom camping spot known as Queen's Reach before taking off the next day to Lake Gunn. Long day due to a late start, but the sunny sun sun was out for a record three days in a row!

We are so far south, and Autumn has arrived so the nights are for sure getting longer - this only means shorter days of riding as well.

The following day ranked up there as one of the most beautiful riding days of my life - the ride from Lake Gunn, through Homer Tunnel (a lightless, narrow, 1.2 km tunnel through near vertical Fiordland mountains), and out the other side to Milford Sound is indescribably stunning, even in a midst of chilly drizzle. Pics won't do it justice, so I suggest you just go there yourself!

See, I'm super happy to be in Milford Sound!

On the bikes again tomorrow for a 7 hour race in Queenstown - we're doing it relay style. It's 7 hours on a 7 mile lap course. Then off to the Otago Rail Trail or the Catlins before a half marathon back in Wanaka the last weekend of March! We agreed to volunteer at registration the day before, so we get our entries waived. I will also hopefully hunt down a winter job and work for accomodation as well while in town. Wish me luck!

Aloha!

If your not gonna win it...

Race report! Man oh man. What a 'race.' to sum up my experience in simple terms, my motto became "if you're not gonna win it, you might as well document it!" how does that explain my race for you?

Don't get me wrong, this was definitely a race. In fact it's a fairly big deal race. There were five different evetns going on with nearly 3500 participants overall. There was the event Kate and I did, the off-road triathlon. There was the mountain bike race, the off road marathon, the miner's trail 15km run, and an adventure run that took the winner of that race over 6 hours. The tri combined a 2 km swim, the same 47 km track of the mtn bike race, and the same 15 km trail for the Miner's track run. The swim was the roughest part and contributed to a rather long mountain bike e experience. My legs finally warmed up and were ready to ride fast at the 22km left sign. Nice. So that's what happens when you don't train for a 2km swim in a frigid glacial lake with a surfing wetsuit that you tried on and got in the water a day prior. It's safe to say that I was eSsentially asking for rough, long and cold swim with an even rougher transition and first half of the bike. Lesson learned. I will for real never sign up for a triathlon that I haven't properly trained for. This habit must be broken.

So it's an experience that could have gone real sour...BUT it didn't. I went through a few phases on the bike.

Phase #1 - There is NO WAY I will be able to finish this race. No way. And "I have how long to go before I'm done with this thing" and "this royally sucks."

Phase#2- being irritated and mildly pissed off at the amount of money put into the entry/wetsuit/mandatory bike and gearchecks, etc and not putting the time into the swim/running portions to perform decently.

Phase#3- realizing how big this event is - the unsealed road we were riding on is only opened once a year for this event. It goes through very

remote and rugged mountains. Before the race we had to go to a bike shop to have our bike and helmet checked and we also had to carry specific cold weather gear/first aid/repair kit/etc in a pack on both the bike and run.

In this phase i was also starting to genuinely observe the natural beauty surrounding me (my legs slowly started to loosen up to). We really were in a remote area and the seemingly annoying gear checks in town a couple days prior started making a little more sense.

So this is 'time to change your attitude, steph' phase. This is when I came up with my personal motatapu motto " if your not gonna win it, you might as well document it!" and all the sudden the race became fun and enjoyable. It was effortless to enjoy where I was and embrace the moment and stunning scenery surrounding me. I started to feel the "how lucky i am to be here" feeling versus "oh geez what have I gotten myself into...how much longer of this crap" feeling that overtook me earlier on.

Phase#4- photosnapping-aholic - for racing standards. I was happy to have my camera handy. The run was much more successful and I was able to run most of the uphills and had a few chatting breaks in between thanking all the volunteers.

So yeah, no pr's were broken, no podium placement... But someway, somehow still managed snag an XTerra slot in Maui for the world championship race in October! The two other people in my age group declined the slot so it rolled down to ME!!! Yeah!!! I took it...And I have a whole 7+ months to get ready for it!

Thank again to all the volunteers who sat for hours on end in the chilly wind!

The Rainbow Road

The Rainbow Road connects St Arnaud to Hanmer Springs via a private, unsealed (gravel) road, gradually meandering uphill through forests, mountains, streams, rivers, farms, gorges, and pure beauty. Island Saddle is the highest point along the road at just above 1350 meters. Nothing islandy about it up there! :) Just a whole lot of grass and mountains and clouds. And beauty. Below are some pics of us making our way to and through the road. The road goes through a few homesteads and is only open December-April each year. A $2 toll applies to bikes - pretty cheap considering 4 wheeled motorized transport = $25!

We did have several streams to ford across. One we even have to take apart our bike and trailers and carry them across due to high water levels. Kate and I stayed in St. Arnaud an extra night due to the water falling from the sky the day we had intended to leave. I think it was a smart choice because we very easily could have gotten stuck in between unpassable creeks.

We spent our first night in Connor's Creek Hut. What a gem of a place. Roughly 1 km off the main road, it's nestled just at the base of a huge mountain with a mountain creek (Connors Creek, I presume) running just to the side of it. Great water source. One of the lovely streams we encounter that would be so nice to have a refreshingly cool jump into on a hot summer day - a day that really has yet to come!

Everyone here keeps mentioning how Autumn is just around the corner...that's not music to my ears :)

Just behind the hut is a beautiful trail marked with orange triangles. These huts are dotted throughout the mountains along trails for hikers - and hunters and cyclists...whoever needs them. A small (usually) fee applies to maintain the huts and they are equipped with fireplaces and bunks. Nice to stay warm and dry from the rain we would have encountered.

I took a little walk behind the hut and encountered lots of beauty. I would love to come back here one day and do some tramping through these mountains. Such variety.

Yeah, we made it to the top of Island Saddle - just the name is bringing back memories of island life on O'ahu - oh Hawai'i how I miss you so. You will always hold a special place in my heart and one day I will return. But for the time being, I must appreciate and embrace life on another island.

We spent our second night on the road at Lake Tennyson. Pictures do this place no justice...so you'll just have to go there yourself. We met a few people also camping on this below freezing night (frozen dew drops on the tent the following morning!). I had pretty much every layer of warm weather clothing on me. I guess being optimistic about the cold - at least I am using all the gear I have packed rather than it sitting in the BOB taking up space and waiting patiently to be used.

Such a beautiful Road and definitely recommended for those with the proper treads, location and time.