Days 10-11 Queenstown Half Marathon

Mike here.

It's time. The cumulation of our Southern Adventure. When Janine and I run the Queenstown Marathon. The full marathon for Janine and the half marathon for me.

I can't say that I'm particularly ready. My training programme has consisted of:

• Going to Nepal for three weeks - and catching Covid
• Recovering from Covid
• Doing one 8km run at Tekapo about two weeks ago
• Tramping and e-biking - but not running. At all.

Yesterday was my rest and tapering day, where I squeezed all my recovery from not running into one 24 hour stretch. I booked myself in for a lower body massage in the hope that the massage therapist would put all the strength and endurance back into my legs somehow. We also said goodbye to Callan and Stacey as they headed away to catch up with family and go on more adventures. 

We carb loaded at The Cow Pizza House for dinner. And that was that for preparation.

Now it's race day. Janine and I are are up early. We load up with coffee and breakfast. Out and ready for our 6:30am buses to our respective starting lines.

6:20am, smiles for the camera.

My bus takes me out towards Lake Hayes and Speargrass Flat Road. We unload into a huge field with a row of porta-loos at one end. I queue for one. The queue ends up snaking over the whole field. 

Once I'd been I get straight back into the queue for the next go. Well, I'm just standing about in a field waiting, right? I may's well stand about with purpose.

7:51am. Start chute. Nerves are building.

8:16am I'm off. It feels good. For the first 10 km.

8:50am. I can do this!

9:20am, I'm even taking first person photos.

At the 10km mark, all of a sudden, I hit a wall. I go from doing my thing to feeling exhausted. 

Now it's time to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and don't stop. 

 

9:50am. Just keep going.

The scenery we're running through is truly beautiful. My running pace has dropped right away and I'm shambling along at a pace I'd associate with tramping rather than running. Everything hurts. There is a bit more up and down in this course than I'm used to, too. 

10:45am. Nearly done. And nearly done.

Angela is there to cheer me on at the end. I try to put a game face on and fail completely. The last few hundred metres twist through the town which lets Angela cut the corners and keep up with me. At last I see the finish line.

10:50am, whew. Done.

That was so, so hard but I feel incredibly proud to have finished uninjured, pushing through 12km of pain. 2:34 is very slow but it is not a DNF. I keep that photo of me near the end on hand from now on. I don't want to feel like that at the end of a half marathon again.

I hobble off back to the hostel to shower and change. I have a bit of time before Janine gets in on her full marathon. 

Janine gets in, her time is 6:24. Huge effort. 42.2km, I can't comprehend running that far. And she still has a smile on her face.

Our medals!

We wander back to the hostel again, then off to Ferg Burger for dinner at the Hostel dining room. The view is beautiful. The dining room is pleasantly buzzing. I chat to a woman who is working hospo and was treated quite badly at her last job. She had to meet with HR to talk about how she couldn't just break her contract like that. The HR person ended up taking detailed notes about exactly how bad her manager behaved.

Don't treat people in hospo badly. Especially in Queenstown, in 2022, when you can't get good staff anywhere. There are 'staff wanted' signs everywhere. Lots of places are closed because they just don't have enough staff to open.

Ferg burger and a Speights at the Hostel

I love hostel life. Free beer on the dining room table.

What a finale to our 2022 Southern Adventure. We crammed so so much into just eleven days. I am really proud of what I achieved today. But I never want to run a half marathon like this again. The expression on my face near the end of the half is going to be my motivation for next time.

My Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8136646782

Janine's Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8137434295

Day 9 Lake Dunstan Ride

There's a really good writeup of the Lake Dunstan bike trail in Stuff, too.

Our Lake Dunstan biking day started with an early morning coffee and iced latte expedition to Ferg Baker (next door to Ferg Burger).  Queenstown is nice and quiet in the early morning.

We said goodbye to Iona and left her to start her day.  Thanks for coming, Iona! You've been a great Southern Adventure companion.

6:45am iced latte

We'll miss you Iona!

There were five of us today - Me, Mike, Janine, Callan and Stacey.  

We jumped in the van and swung past Callan and Stacey's Rav4, parked up on a Kelvin Heights side street, to grab helmets and other bike gear.  As we headed south down the Kawerau Gorge, right on time, we realised we actually started from Clyde and not Cromwell and so we were late.  Some panic ensued but we were driving just behind the bike company's shuttle bus so that reassured us. We were just ten minutes late in the end and it wasn't a bother.

We followed the shuttle bus all the way to the She Bikes He Bikes car park, and soon found our bikes lined up on the old railway station platform. The professional but relaxed and reassuring staff soon had us fitted to our bikes and quickly ran us through how everything worked. Then we loaded our bikes onto the enormous shuttle bus trailer and Don, our driver, drove us back up State Highway 6 to the start of the trail.

We're ready to begin

The first part of our ride was around the Lake Dunstan inlet to Bannockburn and back, shaking down our bikes as we went. Janine's bike wasn't accelerating like it should, in fact we worked out that it was actually not providing any e-bike assistance at all and showing a "W013" error (thanks, Callan, for remembering that code a full year later). We tried various things to fix it but - of course - turning if off and on again sorted it out.

In fact I think this first few km was mainly there to sort out both the bikes and their riders. In this part it is easy to leave the trail and get help or pull out. Especially at the Carick Winery where some other riders warned us with serious voices that we would find nothing more to drink past this point. I think they meant water but I'm not completely sure.

Off we set

Lupins

I'm having so much fun

Now we started around the lake proper, and the track went from "Grade 1" (wide flat gravel road) to "Grade 2-3" (slightly narrower track with some up and some down and some corners). 

One highlight was how the track designers had solved the impossible problem of how to get the track past the occasional sheer cliffs on the way around the lake. They had built cantilevered track hanging off the rock faces. Lots of fun to ride around. 

We reached the famous coffee boat right at 12pm. I enjoyed my second iced latte of the day along with yummy things from Ferg Bakery that I had secreted in my bike pannier. 

The view just keeps getting better

Mike reads about the cantilevered track

Lunch doesn't get much better than this

Straight after the coffee boat was one of our few ascents, a series of nicely graded switchbacks. Our E-bikes made short work of it. There was a viewpoint at the top with Brent's dad Bruce McMillan featuring on an explanatory sign.

"People were able to see inside the drainage tunnels after they were constructed. Pictured is tunnel guide Bruce McMillan during a drainage tunnel open day."

Callan, Stacey and I at the trig

Janine at the trig

It was quite surreal biking along this path, which Mike and I had looked at from the highway on the other side of the lake many times in our travels. And now we were biking along it, with the serenity of the heat and scenery only broken by the noise of the traffic on that same highway. Now we were watching the cars who were watching us and no doubt some drivers were wondering, "How did those cyclists get there? What's up with that track then?"

Towards the end we reached a huge, nearly 100m long suspension bridge named the Hugo Bridge in large letters. 

Mike set himself up and took a lot of photos

Mike's leg is not as photogenic as my feet

Stacey (and Callan)

Me!

Janine (and Callan)

Janine exits the bridge

... and onward, back at lake level

Clyde Dam was nearly our destination - it was the point when we transitioned from track back to tarmac. I'd never been that close to it before. Unfortunately you couldn't cross the dam itself, but you could see it up close.

Very soon we were back at He Bikes She Bikes Base Camp and returning our bikes. Clyde is quite a small town but it did have at least a couple of cafes and bars for weary thirsty cyclists. We chose The Merchant of Clyde and enjoyed a few drinks and a bite to eat.

Clyde dam, up close

Clyde memorial at the side of the road.
"RIP Danny, our lovely cat. We miss you."

The Lake Dunstan cycle trail was really impressive. I had high expectations and it exceeded them! If you have a spare day in the Queenstown area it's a must do.

42km in slightly over 4 hours (we were definitely not in a hurry)

The weekend away

Hi,

I can't believe our weekend away went off without a hitch.  Toby went home from school and found William just fine.  They changed into their Halloween costumes and went trick or treating around Wadestown (Toby says Jacob went with them and they went to every house and got a tonne of candy - candy?  My son is turning American).  But Toby took no photos.  So I have no evidence.  Except the huge happy grin he gave me when we collected him on Sunday night - I could tell he had fun.

Meanwhile Mike and I drove to the airport and met the others for our work weekend away down to Queenstown.  We all got on the wee ATR 30 and spent the next two hours on a wee prop plane.  Mike had a load of work to do, so he was working any chance he got.

The shuttle at Queenstown took us to our accommodation at Pinewood Lodge and we found a room.  Mike and I in the double bed and Dave and Alex in the bunks.  Mike promptly sat down to finish his work - and he got it done.  I went for a walk to the Fresh Choice supermarket and got a few provisions.  Back for our gondola ride and luge afternoon.  Luge is such fun!

Mike enjoying the chairlift to the luge

I really enjoyed the luge.  It wasn't scary in the slightest - just fun.  And cute fun - enough to make you grin all the way down.

Gondola view

 We had five rides on the luge and that was about enough.  Three wouldn't have been enough.

Gondola selfie.  Mike is such a doofus.  But gorgeous doofus.  And now I know where Toby gets it from

 Mike and I wandered around the skyline restaurant at the top, remembering an old date we had there many, many years ago.

The view from the top

Luge! And that's the order we finished in.  Me, Lisa, Mike and Nicky

Mike acting up for the cameras

On the way back down

 From there we wandered into town and had a Fergburger on the waterfront.  For the memory, the Fergburger was one of the best burgers I have eaten.  I had a Fergburger with brie.  The bun was perfection, as was the slab of meat.  Yep - I enjoyed that.

Waterfront

Back to the accommodation and I had an early night.  Mike woke me at 11pm knocking on the window.  So I let him in that way.  He's funny.

Next morning we ate breakfast and went to hire bikes from the reception.  We got two GT Aggressors - hardtails.  But they were really good bikes.  We rode to the Earnslaw via the supermarket and I finally got to take a ride on the iconic classic steamboat.

Hire bikes stashed in the museum on the Earnslaw

 From Walter Peak station, we rode down the gravel road for about 15 kms.  Such a lot of fun.  Mike and I only met one other group on the way back.

We also came across a mother Paradise Duck with her 12 chicks following her.  Then the dad took off to provide a diversion, pretending he couldn't fly.  Unfortunately for him, we were riding the same way as him, so he acted for a good 700m before finally taking off in a graceful arc back to his family.

At our lunch spot we saw a hare the size of a small deer.  Mike scoffs at my description - but it was seriously big.  Huge legs and ears.  And striped.  Like Bambi.

Coming back on the Earsnlaw

 The fierce headwind meant it took a while to reach our lunch point, but we got back to Walter Peak super fast.  We got the earlier boat.

I tracked my ride - but included the Earnslaw portion of our trip

Mike on the bow

Feet in the engine room

We dropped the bikes back once in Queenstown and got ready for dinner.  We all went to the Speights Ale House and I had a great seafood chowder.

Back to the room and Mike and I crashed.  Had a great sleep.  Then up on Sunday for a wander around Queenstown.  It was so warm!  We caught up with Lisa and Nicky and went ice skating!  Woot!  Mike is so good at it.  I am hopeless.

Ice skating!

The wind was amazing and we got hit by wee pinecones as we walked through the gardens.  Into town and the rain came down.  We found a cafe to shelter and then caught a taxi back.

Back to get the shuttle bus and into the airport.  Delays to flights from the weather meant a later departure from scheduled.  But it was all good.  The flight into Wellington was so bumpy.  Like a rollercoaster.  It made my heart beat a little faster.  And the pilots had to combat ice forming on the way up too - Mike was fascinated.  We could see it really well from our seat.

So - a great flight up.  Exciting.  And we collected Toby from William's place (they are house sitting in Karori) and all went home exhausted.

Bring on the weekend for a quieter time.

Had an absolute blast though.

Love,
Angela