Te anau Xmas parade

Saturday was The local areas Xmas parade through the town center. I wasnt aware that there were this many people near here. It got quite busy

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From New Zealand Cycle tour

[new car ??]

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[Docs lorry]

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[another well polished car]

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[Some Clowns]

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[Stylish race transport]

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[the local pipeband]

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[A very large Strawberry in jaynes hand, all the way from Auckland according to the box]

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[A microlight out over the lake]

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[Looked breezy out on the lake , not on shore though]

We also sorted out the hiring of a pack and a pair of boots for going "tramping" or Hiking on sunday.

day 21 , Milford to Te anau

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[Homer Tunnel , 1.2km of darkness up a 1:10 gradient]

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[They have large Bees here .... thats Jaynes glove for scale]

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[The kea , notorious for wreaking cars , tents , saddles (jaynes) and tried to steal her glove too....got that back though]

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[mirror lakes]

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[and again]

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[Te anau Downs domain]

We managed the 20km climb from sea level to around 950metres in 1 hour 40 ... we guessed the whole morning would be neeeded. We then decided to try and make it all the way back to te anau in 1 day , a 120k day which took us just a shade under 7 hours. Glad we did it too as the wind would have blown hard in our faces today

Today has mostly been resting and cleaning kit. Tent needed dried out after enormous ammounts of rain and panniers and bikes needed cleaned. My bike needs a new rear tire after only 1400kms ! must be due to the weight of the kit !

Milford sound by boat

When we arrived at the homer tunnel on the way there we were greeted by a mass of tourists from all over the world armed with cameras and camcorders....I think they either thought we were famous cyclists or were just impressed that we had cycled to the highest part of the Milford Road! Either way it was pretty cool if not surreal. A nice driver of one of the coaches who again maybe thought we were famous or poor gave us a discount card for one of their cruises....which were at our cheaper end of the budget anyway. So we boarded the Mitre Peak 1 and went for a cruise. Ps dont pre book ... just go on an early morning cruise and book at the Milford Sound Lodge..... saved us about 15 dollars each over pre booking at te anau

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[Not our boat]

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[Bowen falls , generates all of Milford sounds hydro Power]

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[steep high sides make Arbroath cliffs look like stairs]

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[stirling falls]

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[Stirling falls again ... look closely for the kayakers]

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[seals]

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[looking back into the sound from the tasman sea]

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[me on a rock]

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[me and jayne]

day 17 - 19 Te Anau to Milford Sound

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[allow 2 days more like !]

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[sun came out on day 2]

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[its the same road honest]

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[so warm the road actually stuck to my tire that is tar]

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[20km Downhill ....very steep]

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[first thing in sight at Milford.]

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[jayne on the board walk]

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[Mitre peak]

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[campsite or pitch and putt .....you decide]

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[ps...those that laughed at the large spanner im carrying .....the tent wouldnt have been pitched without it there ....](the campsites at milford ...officially the most expensive and worst "camping" ive ever done.....good job the sights made it worth it )

fed up of sore backsides

traded bikes in for solution

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