Dry Shoes!

Yes, my cycling shoes are finally dry, but they may not be coming back to Canada - they are um, fragrant, and not in a good way.  I think they may have to be retired after we reach Bluff.  The ride into Franz Josef was beautiful, despite the rain, so we didn't see the alleged mountains but still had a good ride.  The next morning, we rode on to Haast, starting out with momentary glimpses of the gorgeous peaks, so there really ARE mountains there!  At dinner that evening, we were, of course, talking about the rain we had ridden through, at which point Lindsay said he and Vince had been discussing it too, and they had agreed that it was not actual rain, merely low cloud, a touch heavier than light mist.  We were looking out the window at the time, and John said if we couldn't see the green shed (about 10 metres from the window) that would be called raining. But somehow, we were all soaked right through after an afternoon of riding in whatever you want to call it.  I call it rain!

Miraculously, the next morning it was dry, after we fell asleep listening to rain bucketing down, so off we went down the road, and what a ride that was!  All that mist had made the dozens of waterfalls even more spectacular and the greenery even more green, if that is even possible.  We followed the Haast River up and up and up, ending with a crazy climb at 13%, then another one of those scary downhills luge runs into lunch.  Then the sun was out and we were into Lake country, riding past Lake Wanaka over The Neck and along Lake Hawea and into Wanaka.  It is so much like Kelowna!

All that took 5 days of riding, so we were ready for our day off today, lolling around in Wanaka.  We drove up to Cardrona Hotel for lunch - what a beautiful place, but now we know what we're in for tomorrow - 24 km of uphill to the hotel, then the REAL climb begins, before we descend into Queenstown.  Wayne found a cool little cinema here, so we had date night at the movies.  All theatres should be like this one - homemade ice cream, beer and wine available, couches and big leather seats to sit on, and an intermission; so you can stretch your legs, get more popcorn or homemade cookies fresh out of the oven!

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