Manapouri to Walter’s Peak Landing.

February 28, 2025

Back on the Tour Aotearoa riding North!

This morning was a cold start. I didn’t feel like doing the boat trip to Doubtful Sounds so I went back into town hoping for a coffee at the cafe. I struck out there so I just started the ride back to Te Anau for more supplies thinking I’d take a day and half to get Queenstown. I had a second breakfast in town, hit the 4-Square and hit the road. That stretch of about 25 kilometres on the highway wasn’t too bad. I never love a highway though so I was happy to get off it onto gravel and following the S2S route to rejoin the TA route.

I plugged away on the gravel towards Mivora Lakes and spotted a rider ahead and I was gaining on him. I rolled up beside him and realized we were at the same campground last night. We didn’t get to talking then so we swapped Great Divide and New Zealand stories as we avoided the sometimes rough washboard. We stopped for lunch in the shade and then I carried on.

Held up by a herd of cows being moved to a new pasture.

The route doesn’t take you to Mivora Lakes but you can detour there to camp. It was too early for that so I continued on. Soon the scenery started to improve significantly and it also started to feel more desolate and isolated. I’ve only had that feeling a few times on this trip. You certainly felt ‘out there’ and didn’t see anyone for hours. I stopped and talked to another biker on a day trip, and then a young cyclist from Colorado. He was making his route up on the fly and he had taken an interesting path that included some hiking as well.

I made an error calculating how long it would take to get to Queenstown. I looked at the Google maps distance that follows highways. I should have checked Ride with GPS because the TA route follows backroads on the Around the Mountains cycle route and ends with a ferry across the lake to Queenstown. As the afternoon was going by and looking at the map I realized it was realistic to get to the ferry terminal and camping.

I decided to pace myself into the headwind and stop for dinner when I go hungry and take a break. The scenery just kept improving with every pedal stroke. Big dry looking mountains with a stream running through the valley and some really fun descents. The climbing today was also really reasonable. Nothing too grunt worthy.

As I was finishing dinner Derek, who I met and rode with earlier, caught up I was surprised because he said he usually cuts out at 70 km or thereabouts and I’d already ridden 120 km. We chatted for a few minutes and decided we’d meet at the campground at the end of the road. The last 15 km were very scenic as the road went downhill and suddenly Lake Wakatipu was in full view. I had another sheep herding experience and I stopped and talked to a couple of the young workers. They said the farm has 11,000 sheep!

Soon I rolled into another farm that’s more of a staged tourist farm. It’s kind of shocking to roll into Walter’s Peak after being in such isolation for the afternoon. The gift shop and ferry ticket place was still open so I grabbed a pass for the 8 AM boat, along with a sugary drink. Now I’m at the campground here which is one of the nicest free campgrounds I’ve ever encountered. It has a sprawling view of the lake and Queenstown across the lake. It’s windy so definitely a night to fully peg the tent.

Tomorrow after the ferry I think I’ll tour around Queenstown and decide if I’ll stay for the day and night. It’s the most touristy spot in New Zealand I’ve been told.

Today’s gravel riding was outstanding. The last half was some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip thus far.

Highlights:

-amazing scenery in the afternoon and at the campground

-fairly easy riding after getting away from the highway

-Derek’s a friendly Brit and we’ve enjoyed talking bike trips

Distance: 140 km and 1123 m elevation gain

Today's ride: 140 km (87 miles)
Total: 3,195 km (1,984 miles)

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Carolyn van HoeveStunning scenery on the round the mountains trail! I came off my bike just before the von hill, breaking my shoulder(going in the opposite direction). Luckily we managed to get a faint signal across the lake to Queenstown and a helicopter came to the rescue. Came back to finished the trail a year later.
Your weather timing has been perfect. Best run of weather we’ve had all year. Loving all those blue sky photos!
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2 days ago

Andrew RichardTo Carolyn van HoeveOh no! That’s awful. Sorry that happened to you. Glad you had a signal. I noticed there wasn’t anything until I almost got to Walter Peak Station.
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2 days ago

Carolyn van HoeveCould have been worse! My husband thought the free helicopter ride was pretty cool. Not long after we had called for help, the lady who owns the farm (most of the land that you can see, I think) happened by in her ute. She took the couple that was cycling with us and all our bikes back to the boat landing to get back to Queenstown. It was amazing the amount of help we had even in such a remote area.
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1 day ago

Andrew RichardTo Carolyn van HoeveAmazing to have local help. She may have stopped by me. I had a lady slow down with a sheep truck and asked if I was okay. I was just stopped for dinner.
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1 day ago