Multi-modal transportation

February 12th 

Twizel Holiday Park to Tailor Made Backpackers, Lake Tekapo

KM 2408.3

Distance: 55km

Elevation: A few hills but effectively flat (at least for Eliza)

Steps: N/A

Time: 9:30am - 4:30pm

Today we opted for something a little bit different:

Yep, that's right - we hired some bikes to ride the section of the trail that overlaps the Alps to Ocean trail. And, yes, for the eagle-eyed among you, the bike in that photo that is for Eliza is an e-bike! And yes, you are also correct that Vaughan's is not an e-bike. More (lots more) on this, later.

The van arrived just at 9:30am to drop off the bikes and take our packs to Lake Tekapo for us. We had just a daypack, and the small carriers on the bikes, but this is plenty to carry a bit of food, water, and raincoats (just in case!). 

We then used our new-found mobility to head to... yes, you guessed it.... a cafe in Twizel. Have to support those local economies!

Apparently the local council has recognized that, with the immensie difficulties in finding people for service jobs, patrons (especially out-of-towners) were getting a bit impatient and stroppy with staff. So the council made up these signs and distributed them to service industry companies. And the staff actually really appreciate it!

(It's a good lesson to take with us, even past any sort of staffing shortages. Be Kind!)

Only then, caffinated and cabinet-food fed, did we actually hit the trail.

At first, the trail was very flat, and the weather, while overcast, was very pleasant - neither too hot nor cold. Vaughan led the way through much of this section, although Eliza was never too far behind - not even using much of the power assist from the e-bike at this point.

We made it to Lake Pukaki in very good time. This is a glacially-fed lake, so is a stunning blue colour, and also looks across to Aoraki/Mt Cook and the other of the tallest peaks of the Southern Alps.

At least, that's all true when it's sunny. Even with the overcast skies, though, it's a pretty view! So we decided to have lunch here - some pre-made sandwiches we bought the day before, and fruit. (fruit!! so good having fresh fruit!)

The cafe (and salmon farm visitor's centre) there also has some innovative bike parking.

It was after this stop that the trail started to get a little steeper, a mixture both of little hillocks up and down, and just the overall slope of the trail coming into play.

And here was the first section where it became clear that Eliza had made the correct decision in getting an e-bike. Here is a typical view from Eliza's bike during this section of the trail:

Is that Vaughan in the distance? Yes, yes it is. Note that Eliza had to stop, dig her phone out of the carrier bag, and open the camera app; and she still had plenty of time to take this photo.

She'd say that Vaughan was eating her dust but... honestly, her dust had time to settle before Vaughan came through. At this point, Eliza was using the boost setting of 1, out of a possible 5 (5 being the highest or strongest assist from the e-bike).

(Yes, most of the rest of this post will be Eliza sledging Vaughan about his stupid decision to hire a push-bike instead of an e-bike. Vaughan can't protest because he's still trying to get his jelly-legs to work properly.)

It was after this that we came across the "big hill", that even people travelling the other direction on the A2O trail remembered, and told us about (one said, "based on the speed I picked up going down it, it's going to be a hard one for you to climb!").

This was the second situation where the e-bike was definitely superior. This was probably a really tough hill!. Eliza didn't notice it. She even shifted to a higher gear, to match the setting of 3 on the power assist, and spent as much energy going up that hill as if she had been on the flat, with no assist.

Again, here is the view from Eliza's bike, 4 minutes after cresting this less-than-1-km-long hill climb:

Yep, that's Vaughan, puffing away but actually making good time!

This hill put us onto the Tekapo Canal service road, which basically took us the rest of the way into Tekapo itself.

So this was the scenery for about 25km:

Not shown: the (what felt like) 50- to 70-kph headwinds.

Yes, this was the third section where Eliza's choice to hire an e-bike was absolutely, hands down, no doubts, the correct decision. Wherever possible, Vaughan attempted to "draft" behind Eliza. And honestly, by this point, Eliza was feeling sorry for Vaughan, so whenever she turned around to find him 50 or 100m back, she would slow down.

Now, remember how on that steep hill, she only used 3 out of 5 on the boost? Well, on this completely flat section, she was using 3 and sometimes 4, just to be able to pedal into this headwind.

So yes, spare a moment for Vaughan's quads, tomorrow...

It was at this point that Vaughan came up with the great business idea for the bike hire place that they should have a kiosk part-way along the canal section, and offer to upgrade to e-bikes for an exhorbitant fee...

By the time we got to the power station, the wind had either finally died down, or the hills were near enough and at the right angles to block the wind, so the reminder of the ride was easier (or maybe just Eliza thinks so, because there were a few final hills that she flew up, and waited at the top for Vaughan to catch up.)

After arriving at the backpacker's, we met with some of Vaughan's family friends, Karen and Shannon, who happened to be in Tekapo on vacation. Whether they know it or not, they have earned the title "trail angels" for feeding us, and letting us use their washing machine!! It was really good to catch up with them, and even better that we'll get to see more of them when we get back to New Plymouth later this year.

Tomorrow is a "zero" day, aka a logistics day, here in Lake Tekapo. We were hoping for some stargazing as well, given that we are in a Dark Sky area, but the cloud cover looks to be well set-in. I did try to get a picture of the stars from our camp-site in Twizel last night, even though the clouds had already started to gather - here's my latest attempt, better than the first from a few weeks ago, but I obviously still need to learn the settings on my phone. If anyone can teach me the right ISO, EV, and WB settings, I'd be grateful!