Today we were set to explore a section of the Nelson Lakes National Park, home to the beginning of the Southern Alps.

Our base is the town of St Arnaud that we arrived in last night.

Looking around at the other guests at our accomodation, many are here to do walks, mountain biking and boating.

Unlike Tasmanian National Parks, we have been able to access the parks here free of charge.

Two alpine lakes, Rotoroa and Rotoiti form the heart of this 102,000 hectares park.

Both lakes are surrounded by steep mountains, and surrounded at shore level by honeydew beech forests.

We had a great breakfast and set off.

Here is today’s route. essentially only three roads were ridden on.

St Arnaud-Kawatiri Highway, turning into the Kawatiri-Murchison Highway, then turning left onto Gowan Valley Road. Hard to get lost today.

The roads were all good quality but the middle 6 km (each way) section on the Kawatiri-Murchison Highway was busy, narrow, little to no verge. The other two roads were quiet and far more enjoyable.

The gradient replicated the three roads. The down is the first two roads, then the up to the lake and opposite to return. Whilst it looks steep it wasn’t. The average gradient climbing was mostly 2-3%.

We had a headwind on the first downhill hoping it would not change direction for our return journey. Of course, it did and we did the climb home into a growing intensity headwind.

Weather wise, it started overcast with a small probability of rain.

We left well rugged up. I pulled out my long sleeve thermal base to wear, then my cycling jersey, then my wind gilet, then my Assos wind jacket, then my Assos visibility vest. Legs were bare but they do all the work. I had leggings on the bike I could put on if need be.

Layering is what gets you through inclement weather…taking layers on and off, having somewhere to store them too as you ride.

By the time we returned I was down to my more usual kit with the thermal and jacket both off and stored away.

Reaching the junction of our second road, the Kawatiri-Murchison Highway there is a pleasant roadside stop, toilets, historical information.

The Great Taste rail trail that has featured heavily earlier in our trip used to connect with the former station here.

Turning towards Lake Rotoroa we see the mountains again forming the St Arnaud Ranges.

Finally after 43 km we arrived at the lake. Superbly majestic.

A family were preparing to launch their boat.

We had planned to spend time sitting by the lake. Little black biting insects had other plans and we stood there slapping our legs silly.

New takeaway? Find a small insect repellant to add to the first aid kit I carry. Preferably flat sachets!

As we ate some food, slapped our legs like a crazy Finland Fish Song Dancer we read about Peter Johanson, a Swedish immigrant and early pioneer of the area.

This is the remnant of one of his hand cut canoes.

Heading out from the lake we crossed this bridge where the Gowan River flows into the lake.

The road out was still quiet. Mostly the traffic was heading towards the lake.

The Gowan River flows adjacent to the road.

I have read before that it was a Tasmanian who introduced possums to New Zealand. Whilst regarded as a pest, there are others who make products from their fur.

Living in Possum Lane, Turners Beach, we have two types of possum (brush tail and ringtail) that visit (as seen on our security cameras at night and evidenced by Khaleesi carrying on when they walk along the fence).

The only time they have annoyed us, or should I say me, is when one destroyed my zucchini’s last year. I was unimpressed.

Quirky and someone with a sense of humour set this up in a paddock.

Heading back along that final road was the steady climb and the most annoying wind direction had swung around to be a headwind with increased gusty intensity.

It is a cyclists curse when that happens as you hope you will benefit one way at least. Not today….again!!

We made slow you going of the last 20 km. At times the wind was so strong I could not even do 12 kmh.

Here is our speed graph for the ride. you can see how the speed dropped from just before 60 km. That is the wind factor.

We had great views looking back towards St Arnaud’s. This is a great road for cycling, despite the wind. cars were considerate and the road was quite wide.

After 85 km and 734 m climbing we were back at our accomodation

After dinner we went on a 3 km walk down the road to Lake Rotoiti.

A local resident had this natural weather indicator in their front yard. Click the photo to enlarge the writing.

No dogs, not even in your car!

Lovely views along the lake. It was quite windy and cool down by the lake, nevertheless there were a group of kids swimming as their well rugged up parents watched.

Views around the lake.

It’s been great visiting the alpine lakes and seeing the northern mountains of the Southern Alps. Quite the contrast after our predominantly sea view trip.

Tomorrow is a new year, 2025.

We’ve had a great 2024 with our cycling adventures, visiting Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, San Marino, New Zealand completing over 4,000 km outside of Australia.

My strava data tells me I did over 21,000 km in total for the year.

Whilst that sounds pretty ok, a lot of that is on Zwift, an easier way of amassing training km than outdoors as there are no weather elements and cars to contend with and the cycling speeds are higher, draft benefits are strong. It keeps me fit though for what we do touring wise.

I want to pay homage to our friend Kat Secteur in the Czech Republic.

Kat has done over 55,000 km for the year and it is all outside. 100%. She does not have a trainer. What’s more, the weather whilst she rides now is winter, so lots of snow and her ride a few days ago was minus 1c.

Well done Kat. I had the pleasure of doing a day ride with Kat back in 2018 of about 235 km. We rode out towards the border of Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. That is my biggest outside ride and it was with a wonderful group.

Well done Kat, inspiring women globally.

Happy New Year readers. Thankyou for your continued support and may 2025 be happy and healthy. 😊❣️