Haast times

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8/3/09 = A rubbish day in Haast

Woke up early today to check weather and see if could get a better visit to Lake Matheson. Was 7:15 when looked outside and discovered only grey sky; an all too familiar thing here on the Wet Coast. Secretly glad though; still really tired and fancied a good snooze. Scuttled back into bed and snoozed for next 45mins. Lovely. Then up at 8am, had porridge, cup of tea and read another magazine; all good ways to start a day. Got ready then and spent last few hours in Fox on internet. Internet = one good resulting feature of rain. Back at hostel then and ready for Atomic Shuttle pick up at 10:50.

Bikes dismantled, bus on time and off we went to Haast = 2 and a half hour journey. Really cold outside, much colder than other days, and was even cold on bus. Cuddled up under scarf and read book for entire journey there. After just an hour though, found ourselves stopping for a lunch break at The Salmon Cafe. Wasn't even hungry, but had heard of this place and food did look tasty. I said food then, but what I actually meant was cakes 😊 Anyway, had to get something really, because were stopping there for an hour and there was nothing else there but tasty cafe and a whole lot of rain. Got a v.mini pizza - which actually had spaghetti on = tres wierd! - and also the famous giant muffin that had been described to us. He was huge; probably one of biggest muffins ever seen, so got some tea as well to wash him down. I've got to say, although he was tasty, it wasn't the best muffin I have ever eaten. Think people were just impressed by the colossal size and you couldn't fault him on that. Managed to eat it all with my 2 cups of tea, and then was time to get back on bus.

Read for next 1 and a half hours, then arrived in Haast to sunshine. 😊 Not too impressed when got off bus though. Was expecting a fairly large town, but all could see was a shop, a bakery and a motel. Oh no! Booked into the Wilderness Motel and was really annoyed to hear they had no banks or ATM's. Next cash machine = Wanaka = 2 days away and now only had coins left to my name; $2 worth to be exact. Oh no! Started to get really worried about it. Knew card would work in some places, but also knew it didn't work in them all and I'm just a really funny person with money. Hate being without it = security gone. Laid on bed and stressed for about 30mins, then realised there was nothing I could do about it and just had to deal with it. Got ready to go out...somewhere? Went to supermarket first. Needed something for dinner and needed to see if card would work. Bought usual pasta and had to spend last $2 on it as card didn't work; although man behind counter said it would have worked if hadn't have tried for cashback. Little less stressed now.

Dropped foods off at hostel and then set off to do the only thing possible in town = a visit to beach. Asked motel owner what could do because was still only early afternoon and his answer was "Nothing". V.helpful I thought. Haast = a tiny town and there really was nothing to do. Even beach was a 7km walk away, but were so bored and feeling a little stir crazy that decided to do it anyway. That was until we set off and could see journey ahead. Walk to beach was along a main highway, with no paths, no scenery and nothing to look at at all. Was the worst looking walk possible and the thought of having to do it twice was more than enough for us to turn round. No way were walking 14ks on a main highway with no footpath, no matter how bored we were. Turned back after only 10mins and back to unfriendly motel.

Was a nice, sunny day, so looked for an area to sit outside of motel. Didn't have a garden or any grassed area, so pulled 2 chairs out onto concrete at back. Noticed some jigsaws inside - have been known to enjoy a few of the old jigsaws in my time - and set about trying to find on to complete. Used to love jigsaws as a youth. Avoided the 1000 piecers and found a suitably small 100 piece jigsaw. Took it outside and off I set upon it. Took a good hour, even had to move inside because of rain, but finished it and really enjoyed it. This is what Haast will reduce you to. Was still only 4:30 then and really had nothing left to do. Played on a game on my phone, tried a really hard jig (of the puzzle variety, not the dance), chatted, played jenga and then was finally 7pm and time for dinner. Had pasta, tomatoes and bread (which was suprisingly nice) and was 8pm by time finished. Did another puzzle (at least brain been challenged today) and then went to bed at 8pm. Wow. All in al, a v.uninteresting day; can only hope will be better tomorrow. Crossed fingers for sunshine tomorrow and rain to go away; don't fancy biking in rain.


9/3/09 = Day 4: The waterfall route across the treacherous Haast Pass.

Didn't end up with an early night; ended up reading and finishing book instead, so really tired when woke up to early alarm. Crawled out of warm bed into dark room and trundled off to make porridge breakfast in preparation for day 5 of biking. Chatted to a fellow porridge eater who was also a biker from Oz. Was even 2 other guys there who were also biking; one of them in our direction. Always nice to know that other people do this kind of thing too. Then had to drag things out of room and pack up on kitchen table; didn't want to wake other 2 people in room. Packed, ready and excited by lack of rain, pedalled off at 8:45. Had to stop a sandwich shop on way because no food stops available en route today, then set off in cold. Freezing cold. Hard cycle ahead today and v.long. Even worse that last part involves a 600mclimb spread over 20kms - not feeling that!


Set off in direction of Makarora and although were both really cold, was a really nice cycle. Started with small hills and lots of flat sections = 😊. After 5mins, was just like cycling through set of King Kong movie...looked just like it. Surrounded by steep hills of green that were dripping with water and a v.low/thick mist covered nearly everything in front of us. As pedalled on, realised that mist was actually cloud, cloud so low to ground that we were actually riding through it. Crazy. Amazed by it for a while. Next 2 hours passed just like this; nothing really eventful. No big hills had to pedal up, lots of waterfalls, green hills on either side and still a cold, blue sky. Nice. At midday, after more than 3hrs cycling, got to Pleasant Flat = only toilet stop and eating area on our whole 82km journey. Quite happy to stop here because already done 49kms; always nice to stop knowing you are more than half way. Shame that the second half = so tough.

Looked like a nice picnic area, but as soon as stopped, sandflies descended. Really hate sandflies. Hate the name for them even more. How can they be called sandflies and then pop out of the grass...that's just misleading?! Hundreds of them relentlessly swarming and eating us, so ate as quick as we could and got ready to move.Just as getting ready for off, a cycle tour bus pulled in, with some cyclists following behind. They had just come the way that we were going. Didn’t bode well that a girl slumped off bus, laid on a bench and had blood dribbling down her arm after falling off her bike down the hill. First aider comment: “Well it is a bit of a killer that hill”. Oh no! Filled water up - good job they had a tap here because not passed any houses so far - then did only thing we could = peddle on. Should have waited longer to let food settle, but just really couldn’t face flies! Only 5mins into journey when came across the big Thunder Falls. Did the 2min bike ride to visit them just to give belly a bit more time to settle. Nice falls really, but just a bit waterfalled out today; seen so many!

Did a few minutes looking at water, then got back on road. Got hit by a steep hill almost straight away. Didn’t look too bad because could at least see the end, so head down and off we went. Definitely underestimated it. Was so steep found myself willing the bike on and leaving the rain mac on was a big mistake. By time had finally crawled up hill, was totally out of breath and so sweaty clothes were stuck to me. Worst part was that that wasn’t the worst part. That was only the start of what was coming! Pedaled reluctantly over gloriously flat bride, then came to The Hinge of Haast Pass = the killer. This hill was neither short nor undulating. It was a tower of incline that we couldn’t see the end of…it was death! Stupidly, we tried to cycle up it. That lasted all of 5minutes, even in granny gear. We were moving slower than a walking pace and killing ourselves in the process. Had to get off. Usually hate giving up on things, especially physical challenges, but I know my limits! I was no more likely to cycle up this thing than I am to win the next Nobel Prize! We both got off and up we pushed. Even pushing up the hill was a nightmare. Now instead of thighs burning, our calves were killing, us pushing forward and weight of bike trying to drag us down. Didn’t lift head. Couldn’t. Every time did have a sneaky peak at journey ahead, end seemed no closer. How long does this hill last! 15 v.long minutes later, we deep breathed our way to top. Relief. Such relief. Collapsed back onto bike and pedaled steadily across next part. Were still some hills, but much smaller and much more doable. Went at a nice, slow pace and all was right with the world again.

20mins later, finally got to the downhill. And what a downhill. Was an incredibly steep and straight descent. Woo hoo! Flew down it. Let legs fly round pedals. Such a great feeling to be moving so fast with so little effort. Love downhills 😊 Did a few up and downhills after that and all rest of ride was a lot more enjoyable, especially when got to Davis Flat. After 2hours, felt like I had at last got my second wind. Just nice, steady riding = my favourite kind. Stopped for a mini break just before end for water and to admire view. Usual beautiful mountains on all sides…can’t get enough of these mountains. Then did last 10k to Makarora; all enjoyable. Never thought I would be able to use that word after cycling 80ks. Strange how quickly you adapt to things.

Arrived in town and pulled up to only building could see. Soon discovered that Makarora town = 1 building, which is the shop, accommodation, pub and restaurant. Multifunctional. Checked in to a v.expensive $30 room, but v.happy to discover it was a lovely, private hut. V.cute and in an amazing setting. Yes, the good old mountain backdrop again. Wheeled bikes in, had quick snack of nuts and museli bar - living on at least 5 portions of these a day lately - then went to check out shop. Not too impressed to find they only had a few shelves of food and was most expensive have seen so far. Food in restaurant next door = even worse. Rubbish. Consoled self by booking skydive again. Info lady already told us would be rain for next 2 days, but really wanted to do dive, so booked it just in case. Can’t believe how excited I am…v.strange to say I’m usually petrified of heights. Booked on for 10am in Wanaka…just in case weather changes. Back to lovely hut then to deliberate about dinner. Some hours later (didn’t spend all that time talking about dinner…despite what you may think) decided on a pizza, Deb pasta. Bought it, then back to kitchen, where one of funniest things so far happened…funny for me anyway. Kitchen had a cooker and some huge gas burners. Don’t know why Deb chose to use burners, but it was definitely her downfall. She turned on gas, held match to ring and then there was a glow of orange so large and so bright that I could hardly see Deb. She was swallowed up by flame. Stood perfectly still, hot - from flame and nerves…mostly flame - and in shock from whole turn of events, Flame settled after a matter of seconds and left behind my newly balded friend Debs. There she was, singed and smoking, with a look of horror on her face. Did a quick visual check to make sure she was o.k., the laughed so hard I couldn’t stand up straight. Her eyebrows were singed, her hair smelt like burning and all the ends of her eyelashes were white like ash. So, so funny. Even she laughed…after a few minutes. Ha! Needless to say, she chose not to use that burner again! Ha! And I laughed on and off for rest of night; even laughing now as I’m writing it again.
Ate my burnt pizza - my culinary skills were dashed too - chatted for a while, then made a cup of tea and took it to our little hut. Had a lovely, lovely hot shower. All the better for being an en suite. Then got into bed all warmed through and happy 😊

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Photos

Completed jig
A proud moment

A random waterfall
They're everywhere.

Cute little Huts
Amazing location.

The Amazing Long Arm Reach
Wouldn't wash up without it.