We've Knocked off the South Island!

A summary of our last week on the bikes.....

The excitement of knocking Tapuae-o-uenuku (Tapi) off continued as we made our way out of the Awatere Valley the following day. Buzzing from the climb but a little exhausted too (!!) we had planned a cruisy day to get from Camden Downs down the valley towards Blenheim. Thinking we'd do 10kms for the day but as the kids had an amazing amount of energy we continued onto the 20km mark then onto 30km, finally biking almost 40km to Blairich! There were some tough climbs in there too but we were rewarded with stunning views across to Tapi. Once the sealed road was hit it was enjoyable biking alongside the vineyards and of course taste testing a few 🍇 to keep us going!

The route for us was to head up and over Taylor's Pass then down to Blenheim- so more hill climbing! Wouldn't say kids enjoy the hills but as they are getting fitter there is certainly less moaning and groaning about the hills! Sometimes they ride and sometimes they push but we always get to the top eventually!

And the downhill is always worth all the effort!

We timed our arrival into Blenheim a bit wrong with arriving at rush hour - it was the biggest town we'd hit on the bikes so let's just say it was a bit manic! Plus there was a change in the weather which created this crazy blustery southerly wind which just made it that bit more challenging!

After a quick supermarket shop for the usual goodies.....chippies, chocolate milk, cheesecake, pies oh and some fruit & vege we headed for our campsite.

Two nights here to resupply and get ourselves sorted for 5 days around to Picton via Port Underwood.

The kids certainly cursed Dad for his navigation path to Picton! They'd spotted a sign reading 28kms to Picton on SH1 but our route was 60+kms over more hills....? What, why, when it was a flat road on the highway!?

The detour soon paid off as we headed past Rarangi Beach and over the hill down into beautiful White's Bay - where the first telegraph line was erected back in the late 1800's.

Lots of dam building, boogie boarding, bit of school work and just hanging out on our day off was bliss.

It was then onto Robin Hood Bay and Whatamango Beach. Big ups and big downs - cruising past many cute wee bays on the way. One big climbing day where we managed 1000 vertical metres!! What a route to finish the South Island on!

But a beautiful part of the country.

Our last campsite at Whatamango Bay was just 10kms from Picton - no chance of a cruisy morning start though as Mahe was packed up and ready to go by 8am!!

Excited but sad that our South Island leg was coming to an end, we arrived into Picton mid morning. Straight to the supermarket for our usual treats once again plus some extras since we'd just 'knocked the South Island off'! We let the kids roam around in the supermarket allowing them to choose 3 treats each....out came pies, chocolate biscuits, chocolate milk, fizzie drinks and chippies! Well deserved they'd done it - they had just biked from Bluff to Picton on their own bikes using their own power!! Incredible effort and they still had boundless energy for the Picton foreshore playground!

Now a break from the 🚲's as we head back to Fiordland to caretake 'Kisbee Lodge' in Perservation inlet.

We'll start back in Picton and head north in August 🙂