With the derailleur failure our cycling journey was over. However, we still had a few days left of our trip.

With the benefit of Toby’s Ford Ranger, we trotted off from Manapouri to Te Anau, only 19 km by road.

We were to ride this via a trail. It was a short day of around 35 km.

We did head off the main road to intersect the trail. The overnight heavy rain was evident, as the trail was flooded, and a jet boat prepares its next round of victims for a drenching.

We drove up to a viewpoint overlooking Lake Te Anau.

Volunteers were packing up barriers and banners from the previous day Kepler Track endurance run.

We arrived in Te Anau late morning, despite dragging our heels.

We checked out the Department of Conservation visitor centre, which provides a dearth of information on the region, plus pictorial history.

We have a big penguin at home, but here we have….a big deer.

I ended up in a bookstore, buying the latest Paullina Simmons book to read. Nearly 600 pages should keep me busy. I started to read it as we parked by Lake Te Anau chilling.

I read it in 24 hours, finishing it before we even left Te Anau. Not often I have such time to enjoy a book.

Te Anau is a busy town, the base for all travel via road to Milford Sound. Thousands upon thousands of people descend daily to the Sound, car after car, motor home after motor home, and the most incredible number of buses.

The following day we joined the convoy for some 20 km, heading to Lake Mistletoe. There is a circuit walk to the lake, through lovely forest.

A super easy walk, nice forest.

A pretty lake.

Back at the carpark looking to Lake Te Anau.

A little further up the road is Te Anau downs, site of a well known farm, as well as the departure point for walkers doing the Milford Track (transported by boat across the lake).

This is an old shearer’s shed, which is to be renovated. It is adjacent to the first historic mini hydro scheme in the area,now in ruins.

Another look before we head back to Te Anau for some lunch, then off to the cinema to watch the short feature film, Fiordland.

Good to watch, showing various aspects of the Fiordland National Park during the four seasons, with extensive use of drone photography.

Next day it was time to head back to Queenstown for our final two nights.

We would have been following the Mountain Trail to Walter Peaks, then ferry across Laka Wakatipu, then riding to our base. 125 km day riding.

We could see it was quite windy around the trail area, and wondered how the creeks would have been after the projected 200 mm in the mountains.

We stopped at this cafe just because of the bike pictures. Inside staff were busy cleaning up from a rogue customer who had used the tomato sauce bottle like a water pistol spraying sauce everywhere. Chairs, tables and carpet were all squirted. Idiots!

We stopped at the Honey shop which also had interesting old cars like this.

Driving back along the Devils Staircase, I note what a wonderful bike ride this would be heading in this direction. Just the issue of the cars and no verge though. We saw no cyclists.

Back in Queenstown we headed to Queenstown Park and back to this water edge cafe we are familiar with.

We returned Toby’s car up to Arthur’s Point, leaving it parked on the street with the keys sitting on the left wheel. That is a concept that I found difficult, hoping his car remained safe.

We cannot thank him enough for stepping in when he did. 😊❣️

Yesterday we finished cleaning the bikes and packed them up.

We then walked. Around 10 km but broken up as my knee is still complaining mainly downhill (slopes, steps).

We walked along the Kawarau river trail to the Hilton cafe, sitting in the sun for about 90 minutes, watching the boats, planes, people.

Walking back, great views of The Remarkables. I do enjoy looking at this majestic and rugged range.

What a holiday and adventure. Nearly 1,000 km ridden, over 14,000 m climbing and many memories created.

We are ready to go home, see Khaleesi and keep planning our next adventure.

To be sure, it is booked! It is a long one (3,200 km), six countries, and less climbing than we have just done, and I doubt very little dirt! Certainly nothing like we have experienced here on some of the trails.

One last view, out our door, as the sun starts to go down,

The Remarkables are just that. Quite remarkable and leave me in constant awe.

Thankyou to those who joined us virtually on this journey. We appreciate your thoughts and comments left here and on Facebook. 😊❣️

To keep doing the blog is something I toss around, but I thank Honu’s mum for its continuance for a further year.

Honu is a friend of mine from Zwift. He is my co captain on a weekly Trek ride we lead. He relocated from the west coast USA to east coast to care for his older parents, who have some health challenges.

Honu’s mum reads daily. I think Honu casts it onto a larger screen and he told me how much she likes to follow.

I was honoured and thought, another year at least. I contacted WordPress who ‘did a deal’ with me, saving me $.

To Honu’s mum, and everyone, thankyou. Over 8,600 views, over 5,000 visitors in 2025.

Ooroo 😊❣️