Day 2 - Christchurch to Twizel



We left Christchurch reasonably late due to the wonderful hospitality.

We had to go and find some riding shoes for me because I had managed to leave mine at home.  Fortunately I was able to find a pair at a very reasonable price. 

Christchurch when we left was very warm and by the time we stopped for lunch at Dunsandel it was almost 30 degrees.  We had a lovely lunch at The Dunsandel Store sharing a chicken and cranberry pie as well as a salad, all polished off with a piece of fruit cake.  Travelling along State Highway 1 ,the amount of irrigation was apparent with huge pivot irrigators going even though the land was quite lush from a lot of recent rain. 

The last time I had travelled through to Twizel was about forty years ago when I was at University.  I did not recognise the countryside.  I thought it was quite flat until Fairlie but the route we took  was windy and hilly. In areas where I thought dairying would not have reached , it had, again with lots of irrigation.  No wonder our rivers are so degraded and the aquifers and becoming polluted.   It seems so wrong to have cows on land when the climate is better suited to sheep, cattle and cropping.

After Burkes Pass we descended through to Lake Tekapo.  It had been predicted to be windy and wet but it was warm and sunny.  The last time I had been through Tekapo I remember it as being a sleepy little village with the cute church looking out over the lake.  Now it seems to be booming with lots of expensive looking houses being built and teeming with tourists. Despite that the scenery is still stunning, with the mountains rearing up around the blue and turquoise lake. 

We got our briefing for the ride which is going to be interesting and certainly a bit tougher than I imagined. We spoke to a guy in the motel unit next door to us who had ridden from Tekapo and said they had had to have a little kip after the ride as it was so hard.  He only did 54kms whereas tomorrow we are doing 77kms.  At least most of it is flat beside Lake Pukaki. 

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