Destination: Dunedin - NZ 2014 Part 10

My alarm went off while it was still well and truly dark outside.  Today was the last day of the tour - we only had to ride about 70km to Dunedin where Chris and I would pack up and fly to our respective home cities.  I crept around the dark hostel drinking a liquid breakfast and putting my panniers on the bike.  The forecast said it was going to start raining at about 2pm in Dunedin (NZ forecasts are unusually specific), so I wanted to make a mile and get moving as I was unsure of the terrain that awaited us on the ride.  The plan was to follow Highway 1 for an hour or so, before heading down to the coast to follow the beach all the way into Dunedin.  The weather was already variable when we got going, switching between drizzle and light rain as we rode across town.  Our exit out of Milton was marked by a dead dog on the roadside that somehow had its intestines unravelled their full length across a couple of lanes of the road.  It seemed like a good sign to get my head down and get out of Milton as quickly as possible.  As soon as we hit the open road, Dunedin seemed to start pulling me in with some kind of tractor beam - Chris dropped back almost immediately as I rode the 20km-ish stretch of Highway 1 to the next town in about 40 minutes.

My old Redline Conquest Classic ready to hit the road one last time to finish this tour off.

Chris gets moving out of Milton through mud puddles from the night before.  Conditions were to remain damp all day.

My view for the first 20km of the day.  Trucks, rain and traffic as I pedalled east along Highway 1.

The only mildly interesting sight between Milton and Lake Waihola.  I could even be bothered stopping to get a photo or check it out - I was on a flyer and wanted to beat the heavier rain forecast for later in the day.

Sign on the outskirts of Lake Waihola.  Fortunately that was to be the end of our riding on Highway 1 for this trip - it really is as bad as people say it is.

Stopping for breakfast and some bike adjustments at Lake Waihola.  Chris was only about five minutes behind me - despite a bad start to the day with knee some pain, he was now feeling good and riding strong.

From Lake Waihola we headed south towards the coast, on a quiet road away from Highway 1.  Here's a picture of Chris listening (and singing along) to Hootie and The Blowfish on his phone.  That dude's music collection is truly mystifying / awesome.

The photo doesn't show it, but the climb south out of Lake Waihola is very steep.  At least the roads were quiet...

Chris' knee pain of the past few days seemed to completely evaporate, and now he was flying up the climbs - so fast that I really struggled to keep up with him.

There's the town of Lake Waihola below us.  It took is an hour to get maybe 8km.  Even old ladies in Milton were telling us this road was particularly steep.  Turns out they were right!

After a few false summits we eventually crested the range, before a 75km/h blast back down to the sea at Taieri Mouth.  Even with the showers and watery sunshine, it was good to see the ocean.

Getting close now...

The road tracked along behind the sand dunes for 15km or so, with occasional glimpses of the ocean and the sun to energise us.

The pull of the Dunedin tractor beam got stronger the closer I got to the city.  My average speed over the 16km from Taieri Mouth was 32km/h - I was riding more like a Sunday club racer than a touring cyclist.

Milestone reached.  Now all we had to do was get into the city itself, which I knew from a previous visit involved a fair bit of climbing.

During the taking of this photo Chris sustained the worst injury of the tour as he lifted his bike over the grass...

...and there's nothing more uncool than a chainring grease mark.  True road riders look away in disgust now!

The road became progressively wetter as we pedalled closer to Dunedin - although we were now riding with a handy tailwind to speed things up even more.

Stopping for a quick bite to eat by the beach.

Beachside riding near Brighton.  Despite being so close to the city, this coastal road was surprisingly quiet and remote - definitely gets the full recommend from me for a cycling route into Dunedin.

Stopping at the only shop in the seaside town of Brighton, on the outskirts of Dunedin.  From here I knew there'd be hills and bad weather, so we both stocked up on hot chips and chocolate milkshakes for energy.

Our last road meal - huddled under a shelter trying to avoid the steadily increasing rain.

The photo doesn't show the scale of it, but this was one last killer climb up from the coast into Dunedin city.

Suddenly we were in the suburbs of hilly Dunedin, dropping down into the city centre.

 Dunedin city centre - certainly a shock to the system after being out in the bush for a week or so.

...and then it was all over.  Shortly before 2pm we arrived at our destination in the centre of Dunedin.  Within 2 minutes of getting into our room, the rain started to pour down solidly for two hours.

Chris and I decided to spring for a nice big 2 bedroom apartment at the Dunedin Palms Motel, a pretty fancy place right in the middle of the city.  We were glad we did - they were super bicycle-friendly, allowing us space in their garage to wash, pack and store our bikes.  As the rain poured down outside, we sat in all our riding gear, drinking cups of tea, not saying anything and contemplating the ride we'd just undertaken.

My legs seemed to know the tour was over.  As soon as I got up from my hotel room tea drinking session a searing pain shot through my right ankle - sort of like it was sprained or something.  The only sensible thing to do was hobble to a Dunedin pub for a few quiet drinks and a feed to mark the end of another great New Zealand bicycle tour.

At the end of our ride in Dunedin, it seemed like it was a lifetime ago that we'd left Christchurch at the start of our tour.  The biggest lesson I'd learned from my previous tour in NZ was that I needed to do more riding each day and have less rest days - something that I was pleased I managed to correct on this time around.  We'd only had one rest day in ten days of riding, and the distances and terrain each day had mostly been a real challenge.  The other thing about this tour that was a real treat was spending time with my mate Chris - we live in different countries and rarely get to spend any time just hanging out.  This ride was also Chris' first cycle tour, and I very much enjoyed being a part of that - getting to share in his touring highs and lows that over time I've somehow taken for granted. To sum up the whole experience, a good time was had by all.

Back on the blacktop - NZ 2014 Part 9

Despite being the only guests at the Beaumont Hotel that night, the resident Icelandic chef still went to the trouble of putting on the full breakfast spread for us.  As we sat there ploughing through numerous breakfast courses and cups of tea, we surveyed the weather outside.  It looked dark.  Dark and cold.  A very low and thick fog restricted our view of anything more than about 100 metres away.  With breakfast consumed and bikes packed, we stepped outside into the cold.  I don't know quite how cold it was at that moment, but it surely must have been well below zero - certainly judging from the frost everywhere.

Sun rising through the morning fog at Beaumont.  Another Lord Of The Rings scene plays out before my eyes.

As we were leaving, the fog lifted around the pub and the sun blasted through.  Somehow, being in the full sun was even colder than being in the fog.

Single lane bridge into Beaumont, complete with cyclist-controlled traffic lights.

Chris unleashing his inner shepherd on the Clutha Gold trail.

Leaving Beaumont, the Clutha Gold trail turns away from the river and heads through farming valleys on the way to the town of Lawrence.  Only a few hundred metres from Beaumont it was bright and sunny, with the thick fog still clinging around town.

Scenery like Windows XP standard wallpaper...

Fast and easy riding, hoping it would warm up a bit.

Within half an hour of leaving Beaumont the trail started up a long shaded valley.  While the climb wasn't exactly steep, there were a few pinches and switchbacks here and there that required a little bit more effort than I had put in since riding Danseys Pass five days ago.

We rounded a spur on the climb and I saw the road pass over the range high above me.  For a moment I was none too amused at the prospect of more climbing - fortunately it turned out we were on another old rail line with a tunnel cut through the hill.

Chris had a light this time, which made it considerably safer / easier than our previous tunnel experiences on the Otago Central Rail Trail.

Last tunnel of the trip = completed.

After passing through Big Hill tunnel, it was downhill through farmland pretty much all the way to the trailhead at Lawrence...

...except for a tiny little switchback climb about 6km out of town.

Can't argue with that!

Last leg of the Clutha Gold trail into Lawrence, through some cropping land.

A cropduster was working over the trail as we approached.  We stood there for ages trying to get a good photo.  The pilot spotted us and did a super low flyover on one of his turns - so close we could see the carbon buildup on the engine exhaust.  It was totally awesome.

End of the Clutha Gold trail and the end of the dirt.

The Lawrence trailhead.  By linking together the Otago Central Rail Trail, the Roxburgh Gorge trail and the Clutha Gold trail, we'd managed to ride over 200km of completely car-free trail through some pretty out-there landscapes.  I can't recommend these trails highly enough for cycle touring in NZ - absolutely a must-ride.

Back in a busy town on a busy road.  A very odd feeling - we hadn't ridden on a main road for the past seven days and it was taking some getting used to the traffic, trucks and buses.

Helmet hair world champion of the world contender.

I hadn't had a liquid breakfast drink for at least a few hours so it was time to have yet another.  I must admit I haven't been able to stomach these things since this trip.

Wow - first sign pointing to the end of the trip.

Leaving Lawrence on the main highway did my head in.  I wasn't used to the road, and wasn't used to the cars, and wasn't finding it all that much fun.  Chris was looking good on the first climb out of town as we headed towards the coast.

The closer we got to the coast, the windier and hillier it became.  Despite a strong start out of Lawrence, Chris' knees soon let go over the undulating climbs, and I left him far behind out on the road.  I wasn't feeling too bright myself, and just wanted it to be done for the day.

One final monster climb for the day, before a long and fast descent down to the coastal lowlands.  At this point Chris was a spent force, sitting crestfallen in the drain by the road.  Things were pretty grim up there on top of that hill, until I ripped a massive loud fart that lightened the mood / galvanised Chris into action to outrun the stench.

Only a few kilometres to go along highway 1 into Milton, where we were staying for the night before our final push into Dunedin tomorrow.

Ducked into the first open food business we saw for carrot cake and beer combination.

The sign said "Milton - Town of Opportunities".  Probably should have read "Milton - it's not quite right".

We were staying the night at a hostel in town.  We were the only guests there.  The place was nice enough and comfortable, but much like everything in Milton, something about it was deeply unsettling and unnervingly odd.

The only pub in town was some syndicated sportsbar type joint.  After a few beers and laughs in the charmless bar, we wandered into the world's bleakest Chinese takeaway shop for fish and chips.  Although by this stage I'd somehow downed four pints of beer and was just looking forward to bed.

Potted plant display in the middle of the floor.  Interior decoration Milton-style.

It was another one of those crazy days of cycle touring where the beginning and the end were completely different - seemingly starting and finishing on different planets.  We'd started at a remote little village at a cozy pub, now we were in a characterless service town on the main highway in slightly sinister hostel.  Despite our pretty bleak surroundings, I was still pumped about tomorrow.  We'd be finishing the tour by riding along the coast into Dunedin - one of my favourite cities.  I packed up all my gear ready for a quick escape in the morning to get this tour finished off.  I turned into bed and commented aloud how comfortable it was - in hindsight that assessment may have been augmented by the 2+ litres of beer I'd drank that afternoon trying to dull the pain of being in Milton.  At any rate, it did make for a fun end to a long day.