Day 25- Greymouth to Lake Coleridge
Today was our last day of riding and the boys from NZ had cooked up a cracker of a ride for us!
There was no mention of “ladies in wheelchairs” but I am sure it went through their minds as they devised the route.
Anyway it was up at 6.00am again with breakfast in the community kitchen at the campground.
After packing the car it was off by car through to Arthur’s Pass for coffee and morning tea. It was interesting to do the trip by car this time to see the country in a different way than by train as we did last year. Some of the photos will attest!
The coffee was good and I had a sausage roll and muffin…. You wouldn’t believe it the butter was to be a $1.50 for a small serve! Given the cost I gave it a miss!
The temperature at Arthur’s Pass was a cool 4 degrees with some wind chill made it very cool indeed!
After coffee it was off to the start point of the final ride for the trip…. How sad?
Before I get in to the final ride it is worth commenting on the country we passed through today. On the west side of Arthur’s Pass the country was green and covered with forest however on the east side the country is very dry with very little trees. I hope the pictures below give a good representation of this.
The ride today started near Lake Lyndon and it was a 24 km ride on gravel roads to the end point at Lake Coleridge.
The temperatures rose during the ride to about 24 degrees which was very pleasant riding. Much of the ride was downhill so the ascent for the day was only 187 metres.
During the ride we met a couple of hikers from Holland who were travelling from south to north on the South Island. We also witnessed a cavalcade of Second World War jeeps and cars on the road. There were 19 of these which was a great sight for us to see as they passed us.
At the end of the ride we took the final ride pictures to witness our ride adventure from Auckland Airport to Lake Coleridge …. This we believe is the first and only ride of this route ever!
After this it was time to load the bikes on the trailer and head by car to Christchurch. Along the way we had a coffee stop at Hororata which was timely for me as I had a bit of a snooze in the car.
We arrived at Chris’s home at about 3.30 pm and unpacked the car and trailer and gave the bikes a quick clean.
Showers were a delight to get refreshed and do the blog of the day’s events.
I will do a reflection on the trip tomorrow after having a night of sleep but I will say this……
This trip covered about 1400 kms of riding and we climbed over 14000 metres. We travelled through wonderful country and had some really memorable experiences. The route chosen by Chris gave us some great insight into various parts of this magical country and though there were some challenging times, we met the challenges with the strength and determination required….and with some humour!
Chris and his fellow New Zealanders were great hosts and we were incredibly fortunate to have them as our guides and mentors….. so thanks.
Also I should not forget my Aussie mate Steve Seymour who was a great companion on the trip. Well done to you Steve for being a great friend.
As I said I will do a full reflective on the trip tomorrow after we clean and pack the bikes.
The pictures today are:
Today’s route
The viaduct near Arthur’s Pass… great engineering!
Chris on the ride today
A view of the distant hills with glaciers atop
John on the ride today
My bike at the end of the trip. It was magnificent in most respects except for the mechanical failure at Masterton. I had no punctures which was pleasing given the country we travelled through
I couldn’t resist the last picture of John asleep last evening with his cap and hoodie on! Happy sleeping John!
