The first leg of our northerly diversion took about 5:30hrs and saw us travel over 115km over Lindis Pass (965m high) and down into a small village called Omarama. The best thing about this journey was a sheep farmer who rather than use the traditional sheep-dog method of gathering sheep, (that we're all used to in the IOM and the rest of the world!), had rather show-boatingly gone for a more aerial approach and bought himself a helicopter. I know sheep are big business here but this guy is taking the mick! He was especially pleased to pose for us during his work.
The next part of our journey was again in beautiful weather and carried us further north into Mackenzie Country (a vast area of tussocky sheep country set within tall mountain ranges in the distance) where we hoped to spot Mt. Cook - the highest point in NZ at around 3750m - and it's blue foreground in the form of Lake Pukaki. And so we did...
In keeping with the sheep theme we ended this day by viewing the Church of the Good Shepard on the edge of Lake Tekapo (where we had earlier swam in it's stratified waters - warm for first 12" or so, icy cold beneath!). The weather was spot on all day but the ride was a little dull given the straightness of the roads and the lack of any up-close scenery - all 90km+ of it.
Here's another picture of yours truly looking rather cocky (don't know why - I've been trying to grow a rather dodgy-looking travelling beard!) with Lake Tekapo in the background sporting my rather bright triathlon trainers!
We've basically spent the last two days retracing our 'steps' back to Wanaka. Tomorrow we tackle the highest main road in the country that will see us into Queenstown (the extreme sports capital of the world) where perhaps a bungy jump or sky dive is on the cards.
-AC
Apologies for the dodgy text and picture layout, haven't quite got the hang of this blogger thing yet!
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