make your way from one end to the
other by pedal power and I consider
it close to a must do if you have time.
Leaving Queenstown, I had my last
real adventure in the area loading
Robin onto the Mount Nicholas Fer-
ry to ride the Nicholas Station Road
past the Mavora Lakes and onwards to
Stewart Island.
Riding a narrow ramp off the ferry
into Nicholas Station in the rain I was
almost regretting my decision not to
just take the highway. My mind quick-
ly changed as the sun suddenly broke
through the clouds unleashing a wave
of warmth and a magnificent double
rainbow over the top of a gorgeous riv-
er valley with steep mountain faces on
either side. Thankfully the road was
well maintained gravel all the way to
the Mavora lakes allowing me to fully
enjoy the magnificent views, the only
challenges being two very shallow riv-
er crossings.
Arriving at the beginning of the
lake area there was a grin plastered to
my face as I ripped up the track beside
the lack alternating between splash-
ing my way up the puddle covered dirt
sections and the beachfront sand and
gravel, although I must admit I did
make two mistakes.
First, I didn’t stop and camp for the
night and second, I didn’t strip down
and go for a dip. Well for honesty’s
sake l should admit to a third blunder;
after riding one of the sandy beach
sections I tried to do a slow turn-
around on the narrow dirt path and
gently dropped Robin onto the dirt
when the front tire slipped on an ex-
posed root. Oops! From here it was
a long but easy ride down to Invercar-
gill to catch the ferry across to Stewart
Island.
The first time I’ve left Robin over-
night since starting the adventure I left
her on the kickstand as I hopped on
the boat across the Foveaux Straight to
Stewart Island. A quick and easy jaunt
later I arrived to a beautiful sunset ea-
ger to see the local wildlife; kiwis and
penguins.
I pitched my tent, threw back some
dinner, and headed out into the eve-
ning just as the weather began to turn.
What began as clouds flowing through
to obscure the stars became light rain
steadily increasing in volume as the
wind rose as well. Needless to say,
the animals were not found, and I hid
away in my tent in hopes for better
climate in the morning. It didn’t hap-
pen.
Thanks to a magically waterproof
tent and a scotch induced coma, I was
able to ignore the weather through the
night until the sun began to rise, and
the hail began pounding on the tent.
Waking up to what almost appeared
to be a winter wonderland, I made a
quick dash inside to the common ar-
eas of the hostel to ride out the storm
where I hung out with Alex from Ber-
lin. Despite the weather we headed
out and attacked the easiest of the
walking trails doing a quick (and wet)
walk around the tip of the island en-
joying the wet views, before both de-
ciding we’d had enough and rushing
back to catch the last ferry back to
the “mainland”. This ferry ride was
something spectacular as the storm
had pushed the seas to a much more
adventurous and enjoyable ride, al-
though this sentiment was not com-
monly shared aboard as there were
people throughout the cabin leaving
their lunches and dinners in the small
paper bags.
My small venture did not assuage
my desire to explore the area, and I
will definitely be returning to do a
multiple day hike through the local
huts.
My next couple of days on the main-
land were a blur of waterfall walks,
coastal roads, and time in the saddle
as I was beginning to feel the bite of
time and whipped my way up to the
Dark Sky Reserve and Mount Cook
while there appeared to be a great
window for practicing some star pho-
tography.
The first notable stop along the way
was in Twizel where I met Weronika
TRAVERSE 32
Kwapisz a Triumph Poland ambassa-
dor doing a quick lap of the country
on a beautiful red Bonneville Bobber.
Talk about life goals; travelling the
world by motorcycles generously pro-
vided by companies in exchange for
social media promotion. Sharing sto-
ries of great rides around the country
and getting her take on the ups and
downs of her burgeoning motorcycle
career was highly informative and en-
joyable, I really hope to ride with her
again in Poland!
While the sky is stunning, Twizel it-
self is nothing remarkable outside of
the fact that is an easy entry point to
Mount Cook where I was headed the
next day.
As a polar opposite to Twizel, the
ride up to Mount Cook is spectacular.
Towering snow-covered peaks as far
as the eye can see with a beautiful blue
basin through the beginning of the
ride, and while there is no section of
back to back hairpins or heart racing
action, the continual slow curves and
good asphalt make it a very enjoyable
ride.
With Tekapo as a target for the night
I once again only sampled the area
with the 8.5km Hooker Valley Track
up to Hooker Lake which is supposed
to have magnificent views across an
iceberg encrusted lake of Mount Cook
and the nearby glaciers … or in my
case horizontal rain, high winds and
low cloud obstructing all views. Yet
another place I’ll have to return to!
With all the requisite photo stops
along the way the ride to Tekapo took
much longer than it should have, but
you won’t see me complaining about
that however, I may have made a mas-
sive mistake in timing my arrival to the
lake with childrens school break as the
majority of my hostel was booked out
by a high school making it near im-
possible to get access to the kitchen,
or common room, or really anything.
Colby’s top tip: don’t travel during
school holidays.
Thankfully I didn’t spend much
time at the hostel as my main reason