2nd January 2022 (Hot and sunny)

 Boy it was warm when I crawled into bed last night. Had a pretty good sleep though and woke just before 6am and began catching up on the blog.                 



Stu and Eileen's lovely home in the Gibbston Valley. 

After an enjoyable breakfast including some of Eileen's homemade bread and Stus coffee we planned on how we would go about picking up Brody. Eileen attached the trailer to the car and off we set into Queenstown, with a stop at Pac n Save to pick up some food for the day. Had been keeping in touch with Brody and it was a seamless pick up.                                                                  

Good to see him and really hope he enjoys his time cycling. Of course, it will take time for his body to adapt to this new regime everyday. Back to the house where we began putting Brody's bike together. All went well, we just took things slowly and eventually it was as it should be. 



The temperature by now was getting up there. Had some lunch and decided to take a trip into Arrowtown, as Brody has never been there before and because Julia was desparate for a swim. 

In the car on the way in, the temperature was thirty one degrees and it definitely felt like it.        Down to the Riverside walk, where we found a spot, perhaps hip high, where we could soak and get our heads wet. Having cooled the core temp. down, we decided an ice cream was called for.      

Four lemon sorbets and a hazelnut later, we marched down to the Chinese gardens to read about the early Chinese immigrants and how they lived.              


Stu, Eileen and Alfie

Back to the house for a bit of washing, packing and fiddling with the bikes, before we took off to Kinross Winery for dinner. Enjoyed a lovely meal and chat then headed home, where Brody refined his packing with Julia's help and I caught up with Stu and Eileen.      Tomorrow, we'll leave about 8am. Travel 20km into Arrowtown again. Then another 20km into Queenstown, where we'll look around, pick up small items, before heading to catch the Earnslaw to Walters Peak, where we will camp the night. 

Comments

  1. Georgina DolanJanuary 4, 2022 at 8:30 PM

    Nice to see Brody in Arrowtown! Cool little spot, I hope he liked it. There was filming for a movie there when Hayden and I were there last February.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pete and Julia DolanJanuary 5, 2022 at 12:56 AM

      Yeah it is a cool little town, except when it's stinking hot! Thank God for Patagonia ice creams!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COUNTDOWN!

Image
In two days time we go on our first bike tour for three and a half years!  Like a lot of people, we had big travel plans for 2020, but of course with the emergence of Covid, that didn't happen.  Pete and I had always thought we'd travel overseas until we were too old and then we would start exploring more of New Zealand.  But with options so limited now and NZ being a relatively safe place to be, we have decided to close the business for a month and go explore the cycle trails of the South Island. Many of our friends have already done a number of these trails and come back home raving about the Alps to Ocean, the Otago Rail Trail and the Dunstan Trail, and keen cyclists that we are, it seems crazy we haven't done any of them.  So we're going to do all of them.  Well, all of the ones in the lower South Island as we've only got a month, and it is supposed to be a holiday, not a mission!   So we are flying into Christchurch on Saturday morning and will sp...
Read more

14th January 2022 (sunny and warm) 0km

Image
Woke this morning in Waihola, or as it has come to be known, Whatahola.  Like an Amazonian tribe, undiscovered since time began, so in a way do the inhabitants of this dreary lakeside village exist. Happy, in their own way, pottering in their gardens, counting flies on the wall, pulling out the cutlery drawer and replacing the knives where the spoons used to be.                       Literally used as a transport stop between Dunedin and Invercargill, stock drivers named "Trevor", complete with stubbies and work boots, enter the confines of the roadside cafe, for a triple shot coffee and a "Jimmy's" pie.     Mid morning we left the cell-like features of our holiday park cabin, complete with two, middle of the night freight trains, rolling on endlessly into a parallel universe. Our move took us directly across the highway to a motel, booked well before we knew, that suicide was a preferable option than stayin...
Read more

10th January 2022 (sunny and hot) 43 km

Image
Awake at 5. 45 am and finished off last nights blog. The day had dawned slightly overcast and a little cool, but looked as though it would burn off. After Eileen had taken care of the horses we all sat down for some toast and marmalade, which was yummy. Unloaded some fresh hay off the trailer and then loaded the bikes. It was lovely to catch up with Eileen and Stu again and have the luxury of a bed.       Eileen was driving us to Clyde, so that we didn't have to cycle through kawarau gorge, which is also a busy highway. Forty five minutes later she plonked us down in Clyde, where we cycled 8km to Alexandra to begin the Roxburgh Gorge trail.                                                                 Ju and Brody visited the supermarket to grab some lunch, while outside, looking after the bikes, I met...
Read more