Cycle: 98km

The alarm went off at 6:30am and Claire nipped out to check the weather. I was, I'm ashamed to admit, secretly hoping for cloud and therefore more sleep. However, an excited Claire reappeared saying the skies were clear so I groggily rose for our dawn date with Lake Matheson. Lake Matheson is a famous lake close to the glaciers that has spectacularly scenic reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. The lake is most calm, and hence the reflections most clear, at first light.

So, we were dressed and ready to go! We set off and it was immediately obvious to Claire that she had a puncture. Grrrr. After getting up so early this was a little annoying! What could we do, though? Fix it we did and set off down the road 20 minutes later than we'd hoped.

As we cycled the 4km down to the lake we became surrounded by more and more fog. This was very pretty and made for a surreal journey but boded badly for our reflections!

At the lake the fog was very thick but it's a half an hour walk to the viewpoint on reflection island so we set of regardless. The walk was fairly uninspiring (not next to the lake) but as we neared the viewpoint the fog lifted and we were presented with postcard perfect views! Lucky us! The puncture had set us just on time for the fog to lift. The views were stunning and it was just a matter of waiting for the ducks to stop splashing and the water to settle!

We completed our lake circuit and had a tasty breakfast at the Lake Matheson Cafe along with a Kiwi Experience busload of tourists. Matt and I did this very same trip 8 years ago!

So, even with a puncture and a walk round the lake we were still able to check out by 10:10am! That's how early we got up!

Today was a tough day on the bike. As soon as we left Fox Glacier Village we started three toughish hills. They each ascended about 200m with fun descents. We were cycling through rainforest with views of hills and jungle. At one point we crossed a bridge with steam rising from the river which was an unusual experience! We both enjoy a good hill but these made the rest of the day pretty tiring!

After these hills we stopped at Franz Josef and had an early lunch. The place didn't seem as nice as Fox but it had a good shop where we bought our dinner supplies! There aren't too many towns on the way up the West Coast so we need to stock up whenever there's a shop selling anything fresh.

The lie of the land began to settle and we passed through more farm land, crossing glacial blue rivers and around big rainforest carpeted mountains. Occasionally we'd pass views of snow-capped mountains or even the glaciers as they ran down the mountains.

After a final stop at Whataroa for cups of tea, chocolate bars and biscuits (no fresh fruit there!) we finally rolled into Hari Hari just before dark. There was supposed to be a cyclist friendly motel (Flax Bush Motel) there but it had changed hands recently. The owners were still really friendly and the place very clean, but the rooms were a bit dilapidated and in need of some renovation. We were the only people there so had what felt like an apartment to ourselves! After a tiring day of getting up early and lots of cycling we crashed out fairly early. Another big day tomorrow so lots of sleep and an early alarm required!