When the clouds lifted a little, we realised it had snowed on the upper peaks.

Lake Hawea has beautiful vistas.

We were riding towards Haast today, mountain country. The clouds were over most of the peaks, but as the skies lifted, it was amazing.

We rate today’s ride in our likely top 10 rides ever. We’ve done a few too.

The views were incredible and seem closer than photos indicate, and we could see the snow vs the clouds easily.

The road, well, it is a busy tourist route. Well formed, minimal verge and fast.

We just hope that the cars behave. Most gave us a wide gap.

Lake Hawea was to our right.

There were hills. One was tougher and longer with an extended 10% section but we were comfortable enough.

This is looking back towards the town of Lake Hawea.

The views kept us amazed.

Heading down this hill and bearing left, we are heading towards Lake Wanaka.

Then this! A herd of cattle being moved down the road. Mums and their calves. The mums were very noisy with the calves trotting behind them to keep up with mum.

We rode to the left of that little calf. Cars moved slowly through as the cows dispersed.

The mess on the road was significant.

Climb again and we leave Lake Hawea.

The Neck, a higher point between the two lakes.

Lake Wanaka.

We stopped at this roadside viewpoint and were quickly joined by three other cycle tourers.

The guy on the left is from Switzerland, having started his ride in the far north, Cape Reinga heading to the Bluff. He has been riding 35 days or so. Wanaka was his next overnight stay.

The couple on the right are from Austria and were heading over Haast Pass to the West coast.

They were loving the area and scenery, coming from very mountainous countries themselves. They did note that the whilst the mountains are quite high the roads here don’t go as high as theirs so you don’t get to ride the dizzy heights.

You can see another group behind us. The man in white asked to take a photo of the five of us. We all laughed but agreed.

On we headed with Lake Wanaka on our left.

Lots of mountains and snow on the upper peaks.

Waterfall Creek, aptly named.

Looking back towards Wanaka.

Looking to the direction of our destination.

Another creek that flows under the road into the lake.

Just glorious.

Lake Wanaka ended and it was the Makarora River to our far left, that feeds into the lake.

We noted many deer farms.

More cyclists touring.

We stopped at a cafe some 5 km before our accommodation. Super nice, and this is the resident dog that sat with us.

The food was nice, and likely where we will go for breakfast tomorrow, but they do not open until 9 am, so we will start later. That’s fine, if the weather behaves. There is some rain forecast, but we will see.

We stopped here as Tony was leaking some tyre sealant. This time, the hole needed two plugs then it sealed fine.

I was horrified by the trophy hunting sign. This farm had a paddock of male deer, and a few paddocks with I presume females. How that works with trophy hunting I am not sure, but farm raised animals for trophies? I find it sad.

I’ve done too much work in and around abattoirs as part of my job and it has affected my mind set on animal killings.

A final view before our overnight stay.

We arrived early and have had a chilled afternoon. Good to relax as I am carrying an injury/issue and hopefully this will help.

That’s it today folks. This is an out and back section, so hoping for more good weather tomorrow to see it all again from the reverse perspective.

Thanks for reading .

😊❣️