I found my way back to New Zealand on Friday morning and Katie, Simon, and I drove up to Lake Tennyson on Friday night. We arrived late in strong wind and a bit of rain and scurried into tents before they blew away. On Saturday we rode into Lake Guyon on the St James Cycleway. As we had left reasonably late we arrived after around 3 hours riding about 3 pm. We had lunch and decided not to try going any further. We didn’t really have much in the way of lights. I also seem to have contracted some sort of American energy sucking lurgi. Instead we snoozed in the funky little hut for the entire afternoon waking around 10:30 pm. Katie cooked us some dinner and it was back to sleep… Very lazy.
We rode out the way we had come in over Mailing Pass on Sunday with spots of rain and lots of wind. We then drove back to Hanmer for some thermal pool goodness. Dinner in Hanmer before driving back home to Christchurch.
Above left: In front of Lake Tennyson. Above right: Katie and Simon setting off towards Mailing Pass.
Above left: The track is nice and friendly into Lake Guyon. The descent from Mailing Pass is quite steep but ridable. Above right: Lake Guyon is a 2.5 km detour from the main St James Cycleway route but well worth a look. Katie rides towards Lake Guyon. The hut is situated behind a patch of bush on the left side of the lake.
Above left: Lake Guyon hut. A cosy four bunk affair. Cosy as it’s got a fire… Above right: View from Lake Guyon hut.
Above left: Laziness overcame us and we snoozed the afternoon away. Above right: Heading out back over Mailing Pass on Sunday.
Above left: Katie and Simon are victorious after pushing their bikes back up the steep side of Mailing pass. Simon demonstrates his victory with his yoga power-drink pose. Above right: Coffee at the Powerhouse Cafe in Hanmer after finishing riding. IMHO nobody does cafe culture like New Zealanders. Of course the clientele leaves a little to be desired.
Above: Photoshop required to get one good photo…