DAY 17 –Whataroa to Haast

DAY 17 –Whataroa to Haast– 190km / 12:45 total / 8 Riding time /23.4 kph average

To add to the averageness of the hotel the continental breakfast was a joke. I basically ate my own food because it hadn’t been stocked up. I set off from the hotel before the other guys as they had not set their alarms properly and I also wanted to also try and get to Fox township before the heavy rainband came through.

It was drizzling when I started at 7AM and immediately got held up at a cow crossing. I proceeded through the drizzle which became steady rain at Franz Joseph. I stopped and checked the mapprogress and saw the guys way behind me. A number of other touring cyclists were also braving out the weather including a couple of girls I had passed back down the road.

I decided to risk it and get to Fox before the storm came in so I headed up and over the three significant climbs. It was raining but not really heavy and I joked with the roadworkers as I began the second climb. In the end the climbs were fine and I rolled over them and down into Fox township where the weather definitely had started to come in. I changed in a café, dried my clothes out by the fire and proceeded to eat hot food and drink hot coffee

The café went from being empty to very full as people poured in for lunch. The weather outside worsened as the rain was driving from the north then the south. I could see other cyclists out there braving it but looking pretty miserable and it seemed I had managed to avoid the worst of the weather. 

I noted that it said at 2PM Fox would be sunny. It was 1PM and still chucking it down though.

As I waited for it to pass Paul B rung and I chatted to him about the latest news of the adventure so far and then I booked the last bed in the backpackers in Haast with confidence that the weather would pass and I would be able to set off soon. I looked out the window at 1:30 and saw the hint of blue sky in the south. Within 15 minutes the entire sky was clear and it was back to being summer again. Typical mountain weather! I rushed to get back into my surprisingly dry cycling gear and met Kelly and Olly as I headed out who had just arrived. They were going to stay in Fox as they were completely drowned and there was no accom in Haast.

I headed off with intent after my 3 hour break and followed the very cool cycle track to the glacier to get the control point photo. I just took a photo from the carpark and could only see the very top of the glacier but that’ll do!

Then it was back to the main road and  to deal with the 125K of SH6 all the way to Haast. I got aero and actually smashed out the kms quickly despite the wind being a headwind for an hour or so. It basically took me 6 hours to get to Haast with very minimal stopping. I did stop to try and fix the alarming grinding noise coming from my bottom bracket. This was not a good place to have a mechanical as I was hundreds of K’s from any bike shop but after dropping some lube in the BB the noise did go away much to my relief and never came back during the ride.

I arrived in Haast (or so I thought) and then discovered I needed to ride 3k further to get to the township. It was later than I wanted at the backpackers but it was all good and I had food to cook myself a good meal and another TA rider Malcolm who I had ridden with on day 1 was in the same room, so I shared adventures with him, washed, stretched, ate and slept. Despite the wet and blustery morning, today had actually been a really good day and I had enjoyed it, even in the rain!