Sunday 13th May, Day 5, Riding to Lake Hayes

We were going to leave by 7 but when we got up at 6 it just didn’t seem like a great idea. It was FREEZING!!!! Everything outside was covered in ice and it was way dark and cold… so we just took our time getting ready.

We eventually rocked out at 8:30 and thought it all looked good. It was really cold but we were wrapped up well (I even had the extra thermal inners in my trousers!!) and it looked like we might even get some sun. That was until we hit the Taieri River bridge on SH1, when everything changed.

The thick mist started about halfway across the bridge and it was like riding into dense fog. The temperature instantly dropped a few degrees and visibility disappeared, as much from condensation on the inside of the visor as the soup on the outside.

There was only one thing to do and that was lift the visor…. and let an icy blast into the cocoon. Speeds dropped, extremeties froze, noses streamed, we shivered, and tried to soldier on. But it was too much for our soft middle-aged whiteness to bear; we stopped at the first place that had a light on, got off the bikes and crawled into the relative warmth and light of the The Waihola Store.

Not only were there no chairs, there was hardly standing room. But there was a coffee machine. It was a really good latte and our fingers appreciated the hot paper cup as much as our stomachs enjoyed the hot liquid. But we couldn’t stay there forever so, after 30 minutes of comfort, we reluctantly set off again.

If anything it was worse. We occassionally popped out into the open, closed visors, and sped up…. only to turn the corner and plough straight back into the whiteout. I’m not sure if it was raining or not but there was a lot of moisture in the air and it was draining work.

(side note: I stopped somewhere beside the road to dry my visor and, while pulling out my cloth, must have dropped my notebook and pen as well. Not a biggie, and so glad it wasn’t the wallet…  but still a bit frustrating… there were all sorts of incoherent mumblings scribbled in those pages…)

The coffee and the cold were having an effect and we were both holding out for the public toilets in Balclutha. It was maybe a silly thing to have waited so long because we both skidded in beside them, dropped the bikes on the ground and half fell, half dived into the cubicles, with pants around our ankles. Really, it was a very close call! But, oh the relief.

We decided against a long stop in Balclutha, instead aiming for Gore. It was only 70km but it felt a lot longer. We had a few good patches, but it was still freezing, and tiring. After filling the bikes at the Gore BP (16.92 l @ 222.9 = $37.72, 11.67 l @ 222.9 = $26.01) we couldn’t be bothered looking for anywhere else so bought another coffee and sat in stunned silence as the feeling returned.

Things had improved a little by Lumsden but it wasn’t until we got to Athol at about 1:30 that the sun really appeared and the temperature started to rise. There was a fine looking cafe in the middle of noweher and we so obviously deserved a treat that we had no choice but head on in.

Jane had the seafood chowder and I had the mothers day special (Smoked Salmon with Special Potato Salad and Green Salad, followed by Apple and Raspberry Crumble and Ice Cream).  By the time we left it was a beautiful day, in every sense of the word.

The roads were now open and inviting, and we only had about 70km to go. It was a doddle.  But then came Lake Wakatipu…. Jane had threatened to stop and look at the view and she was true to her wood… although our stops were a bit out of sync… we drove past the first stunning view and pulled into the very next one to find we could see nothing through the willows beside the lake.

A few kms later we tried again and it was similarly disappointing… but we took a few photos anyway… before following the rest area track back onto the road… except it didn’t go onto the road, it dropped down into an awesome area right on the lake shore. This is where all the tourists were standing taking photos and looking suitably awestruck. What doofuses we