I was trying to get an early start as wanted to get to Queenstown to support friends competing in the Queenstown marathon, but just as I was about to walk out the door, the question was where was the door key…? Suspected that it would be in the pocket of my shorts which were of course in a dry sack at the bottom of my pack, so grrrrr, it meant taking basically everthing out to get at it, but found the key!.

Finally on the road at around 7.15am and while it was not raining, the road was wet and it did not look encouraging in the direction I was going, as well as there being a wind that was not particularly helpful. On the plus side, it was not as cold as thought it might have been.

As no Cafes at Wanaka opened before 8am, it was going to be a while before a decent breakfast, as even Cardrona Hotel was closed when I went past.

There was a surprising amount of traffic heading towards Queenstown and wondered if it is contestants for the marathon, but if it was they were leaving it a bit late.. but then most of them seemed to be driving Audi’s or Mercedes..

Shortly after Cardrona the rain set in and as I reached the first of the Cardrona bridges (I think that they count down from 11) as you go up the valley, it became very dark and felt like it was about 4pm in winter time.

After getting past Cardrona bridge number 1, this is where the hard yards start and there were a couple more ramps than I remembered from previous climbs. There was a slip on one of the upper ramps that had obviously happened overnight which effectively blocked one lane and made me a bit wary about any rocks that might be coming down.

Unfortunately due to the weather the views at the summit were limited, but it was still worth a photo, but given the temperature and the rain I was not going to hang around. A couple that were driving a camper van that had past me just before the summit and had given a thumbs up sign, came over and offered if I needed anything from their camper van. They were tourists from Quebec and cyclists themselves. I thanked them for their generous offer, but all I wanted to do was get to a lower altitude and hopefully somewhere a bit warmer..

Once again a fantastic decent was buggered because of the wet weather, but I did not want to end up on my backside, or over the side.. The views in decending were still great and this climb especially on the south side is one of the closest to a French Alps type climb in New Zealand.

Managed to stop at the stop sign at the foot of the climb and then it was on to the main road into Queenstown and past Lake Hayes I had timed it well as they were packing up from the marathon and no hold ups..

Going over the bridge in the dip just before 5 Mile at Frankton, there were a lot of people supporting the marathon runners who were on the track underneath the bridge following the river.

Got into Queenstown which is always a bit of a hoot on the road from Frankton and Queenstown was as busy as, due to the marathon course going through the middle of town.

I was as cold as and hanging out for some food and found a hotel in the Mall for breakfast/lunch that enabled me to get back to my position in town to watch Jemima go past (managed to get a photo and she heard me call out) and while I saw Jeremy I was too late with the photo, at least face on and got one of his back disappearing down the street only about 400 metres from the finish.

Congratulations to both of you, great result.

Also spotted the New Zealand TV celebrity Chef, I think his first name is Josh, he is a tall good looking dude and he was being tracked by a motorcycle TV crew.

While it had been basically unpleasant weather wise, it suddenly got worse as a southerly came through which must have been awful for the competitors, but it was worse for the spectactors..

I took the weather change as my cue to leave as it did not look like it was going to abate any time soon and I was cold and could not afford to wait as I was already wearing every bit of riding gear I had. The traffic getting out of town was horrendous as was the weather although after going through Frankton and over the bridge and then behind the hill, there was less rain, but the wind increased and it was coming right down the lake the direction I wanted to go..

It could be a great viewing ride along the lake, although the only other time I have done it, there was a head wind as well.. Good to finally reach Kingston and check into the booked motel and after a 20 minute shower, I was finally thawed out..

Total for the day was 115ks with a climbing elevation of 1,195m.

I have booked accommodation for tomorrow at Te Anau and will make a decision then whether I go to Milford Sound, which was not part of the original plan, or whether I go the roundabout way to Invercargill through Manapouri and Riverton. I am keen to go to Milford as have never been there, but am a bit reluctant if the weather pattern of the past few days remain as on occasions it has had me asking myself “remind me again why I am doing this?”..

Poor old Mr Scott is looking definately second hand…