New Zealand...Fire 'n Ice'05 part6

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G

glitch_oz

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Previous part 5:
https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34995#34995


Pounawea welcomes us back home with a spectacle...

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Next morning's sunrise makes it real-hard to leave the place and go north to Dunedin.
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Goodie jettisons her left pannier at near 100kph...which miraculously stays intact and waterproof despite the spectacular bounces and tumbles. Brownie-points to Hepco Becker, great gear.

It's off to Dunedin via the main highway, the Otago Peninsula another experience: the road winds tightly, following the shores only 1 meter above water level...and no barriers!!
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Finding the old, Scottish-built Dunedin University proves a hard task, the original building are nowadays surrounded by more modern structures, a young guy on a 50cc scooter plays guide and gets us there, thanks, buddy! :)
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Clouds draw in along the coast, time to get inland and hopefully outrun the weather...and it works! Some 20odd km of twisties get us onto the road to Middlemarch/ Ranfurly,
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traffic drops off to near-zilch, we've got the road to ourselves once more.
Above us the skies are in turmoil, 2 fronts fighting each-
other...
"Blind- Billy's Holiday Camp" is a REAL find,

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a huge grassy area cradled by tall poplars, small cabins dotted randomly, the camp-kitchen is an old railway-wagon with a generous, covered timber deck...the spectacular sunset is the cream on the cake. In the background the locals "take-the-pub-to-pieces"...it's Saturday and the rugby is on Sat-TV.
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The pizza from the lonely shop in town is truly forgettable...but the local Monteith beer makes up for it :))

Another of those spectacular sunrises
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and we're on the road to Ranfurly, wide-open sweepers to the turnoff onto the Hyde-Macraes Road, yet another backblocks-find, yeeha.
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Bends and sweepers galore onto the High Plateau, the paddocks are studded with big boulders?
The hamlet of Stanley is a surprise,
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there's a huge open-cut gold-mine around here, we
have to have a look---no mention of it on any map or info material we've come across.
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The pub is worth an inspection as well, one of the oldest in NZ.
It's north to Ranfurly for a break, then into bad gusts south to Alexandra/ Clyde.
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The wind at Lake Dunstan near Cromwell is so bad, it's getting close to impossible to wrestle the bikes through 120km/h gusts and we're finally outta luck:
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The rain pelts down hard. The first real rain for the ride so far!! And it seems like it wants to make up for it. 10 mins later it's down to drizzle...before it REALLY buckets down across the Lindis Pass to Omarama.
The clouds are nearly low enough to scrape the helmet on if standing up on the foot pegs. But the wind has dropped completely and riding is easier now. Omarama is dry?.juuust being at the edge of the big dark clouds...after a quick break it's off north to Twizel and target for today. A bit more drizzle, an impossibly coloured lake at the turnoff, the water is iridescent aqua, it's surreal. Ahhhh...Goodie's birthday and we're off to the pub :)
The last glimpse of the day...Lake Ohau, Twizel
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Next:
Mt. Cook stumper, losing Jimbo, Karamea, Across to the North Island, gravel-pits, East-Cape:
 
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