A blur of cyclists before dawn

The Coast to Coast race is a 243km race across the country from Kumara Beach to Christchurch. There is a two-day version that started yesterday and a one-day version that started at 6am today. The race is a 3km run + 55km cycle + 33km run (up a mountain!) + 15km cycle + 67km kayak + 70km cycle. Here is a photo of the lead pack of cyclists, whizzing by the local hotel. There were about 10 other people scattered along our stretch of street, including one photographer with a tripod, the parents of a competitor in the 1st chase group who yelled "hi Ma and Pa" as he passed, and the person arranging road cones to block side streets before the race. And now...back to sleep :)

Hokitika to Kumara

On the highway, the distance between Hokitika and Kumara is only 20km. However the West Coast Wilderness Trail took us inland today, for a total of 73km. We could have spread it over two days, but Kumara is humming with activity due to the Coast to Coast race happening today and tomorrow (more on that tomorrow!). This trail truly lives up to its name. Here are some pictures from today. Not sure if they will post properly, but they are:
-curious roadside cow who was watching us adjust the seat heights on our bikes
-weka bird, a flightless bird that looks a little like a kiwi but walks like a chicken
-video of Neil crossing the stream (luckily we did not have to circle back and take the high water detour)
-one of a few signs warning us not to veer off the path due to mine shafts
-our well-deserved lamb dinner, with an apple cider and a "kiwi green" (midori, run, lime, apple juice & sprite)

Hokitika -> Ross -> Hokitika -> Greymouth -> Ross -> Hokitika...phew!

We were all over the place today! We arrived in Hokitika last night. This morning, we drove down to Ross (26km south) to drop off our bikes at the start of the West Coast Wilderness Trail. Then we headed back north, spent some time exploring the Hokitika beach and shops, and then continued further north to Greymouth. 

In Greymouth, we returned our rental car, secured accommodation in Greymouth for later in the week, and caught a bus back to Ross to be reunited with our bikes. From there, we set off on the first leg of the West Coast Wilderness Trail (33km from Ross to Greymouth), which so far lives up to its name quite nicely. Tomorrow, on to Kumara and then back to Greymouth on Saturday.

Glaciers by helicopter

We woke up this morning to blue skies and sunshine (and the sound of many helicopters) and knew we had to try to fit in an aerial tour. We saw the Fox & Franz Josef glaciers, Mt Tasman & Mt Cook, and landed on the Franz Josef glacier for photos. Totally awesome experience!!

Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Wanaka, & West Coast

To reach the West Coast required doubling back to Queenstown. This time we opted to camp at historic Arrowtown which maintains a cute downtown. We then drove to Glenorchy to see the rest of the lake, and swung back and up to Wanaka. We opted for the back road through an alpine pass, including spectacular views.

View from the pass

Wanaka is apparently starting to boom the way Queenstown did. It certainly was alive, but notably not as boisterous as Queenstown. Unique there was Puzzling World, where we competed in a giant outdoor maze (4 flags and the exit), plus explored illusions (including a floor tilted at 15deg).

From Wanaka we continued to Haast and began our west coast adventure. We ended up crossing the Haast pass in driving rain and stopped in Haast for the night (a couple hours short of our goal of the glaciers).

Maze

Happy faces finishing

Roman Toilets... by the actual toilets (random)

Yesterday we did the hikes to Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, and saw a kiwi bird in person! (no photos as not allowed to take photos).

Fox Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier

Upcoming plan is to bike the west coast wilderness trail by Greymouth, then eventually bike the Great Tastes Trail by Nelson. We were going to take the train through Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, but apparently some of the tracks were burned in a fire and the train is out of commission until May.