We dropped off our Toyota in Christchurch on Thursday and picked up our Trek bikes that afternoon. We also met our fellow travelers and our leaders Pete and Em on our PedalTours trip. There are 13 of us in all and with the exception of one couple who are from the U.K., all Americans—mostly from the West Coast. The next day our bike adventure began. As we rode in the vans out of Christchurch, the weather was intermittent showers. We stopped at a cafe out of town and the adventurous –i.e., Bob and two other men- rode from there in the rain over a very steep pass.

In the afternoon, after the rain had stopped. Notice, biking on the left side of the road!

Along the way to Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass. Parts of this day looked like Lord of the Rings land.

Jane rode in the van up to the top of the pass –got out there and rode down that pass, but then pretty steady up. We ended up at Arthur’s Pass Wilderness Lodge—a beautiful lodge. As a first day ride, this was a little wet, but not too long. While at the lodge we went to see the sheep farm and learned all about the Merino sheep. There were wonderful sheep dogs, a great Border Collie and another New Zealand breed.

t Valentine's Day at the top of Arthur's Pass.

The next day we had gorgeous weather and rode up to the top of Arthur’s Pass and from there it was down all the way to the West Coast and ended up in Hokahita. As we went down from the pass, the forest changed to a rain forest. There were ferns and eucalyptus and all sorts of other tropical plants. We heard what sounded like a parrot or cuckoo. It was a glorious day. This was a long day—longer for Bob of course, as he did 16km more than I did. But, I ended up with a respectable 103km(around 63 miles).

Lunch at an outdoor cafe on the way to the coast.

These lovely roads with ferns and fern trees on either side.
Hokahita is a town well known for its jade. Jade was used by the ancient Maori for tools. However, then to make the tools took many years and often generations of families would be working on a piece of jade. The shops in Hokahita are not necessarily the best ones for buying so we were spared that. And given that we barely got to town in time for a shower before dinner, I was relieved that I wasn’t missing a great opportunity.

This morning we woke to partly cloudy skies and much warmer than it had been. We both could put on our summer jerseys. Today was also a long day and we started out along the coast. Right before lunch we had a brief shower but then the riding was nice. After lunch I found a Maori shop with nice jade in it. Today was described by the guides to us as undulating, no big hills. However, we ended up climbing over 2700 feet over 65 miles. We stopped around 8 miles out of town for our last snack and then headed into Franz Joseph. Shortly after we started it began to rain, but we thought we’d be fine and didn’t stop to put on our rain gear. By the time we got to our motel, we were soaked and a hot shower felt very good.

This morning the sun was shining and we took a walk up to Franz Joseph glacier. This beautiful waterfall was on the side of the glacial floor. Very interesting to see ferns in the forest next to the glacier. This afternoon we’re happy to have very little to do.