NZ18
Ride to Queenstown
OK,
so we rode to the Fox Glacier, but we never saw it; too much rain and fog.
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| Last Night's Heartland Hotel, Glacier Country |
We
slept overnight at a hotel near Highway 6, and then the next morning we rode
off towards Queenstown a 365 km ride
This
day of riding to Queensland I remember well, because it rained all day. I was
soaked through to the bones. We, Carol and I, wore our waterproof Klim suits but
got wet through and through. Why did this happen? The suit was always a good suit and no,
before we went to NZ it did not leak. Was it because we washed the suit before
we shipped it to NZ? Does washing ruin a suit? What a bummer, I do not like
riding sitting in a puddle of water, feeling the drops run down my body, down
into my pants, my boots. It was bad! Other riders in the group had waterproof
suits, they did not mind the rain that much but I did not like this day at all.
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| This is How the Day Started and it Just Got Wetter |
The
actual riding was OK, the road in good shape, the area around is full of large
trees and all was very verdant, it’s just that it rained… Yuk.
It
rained until just before we arrived in Queenstown. We, Carol and I, had to find
the Hotel. We had the address and it was OK to find the entrance to the
reception but parking the bikes was a different matter. The parking was behind the Hotel, in a below-ground garage. We received a dongle that would
open the garage door, just wave it in front of the gizmo and the door goes up.
Ha! Right!
I
would make a good Beta tester… things that are electronic seem to not work
for me.
So
I parked the bike in front of the closed door and walked back to the Reception
to have them check the dongle. OK, they gave me a new dongle and I had to walk
back to the bike. Easy, right? NOT so
easy.
The
walk to the reception was through a maze of buildings, doors and using
different elevators and ramps.
The reception was not very kind when I asked them for a different dongle; they
insisted the old one worked. OK, I invited them to come with me, to show me it
worked but of course… THEY were too busy for that.
OK,
I got a new dongle, now I have to walk back again to the bike. I felt like a
white mouse in a maze. I had to remember the way to get to the bike. The whole
operation of parking each bike took about 15 minutes per bike.
Finally,
the new dongle worked, but why make it so awkward, how about a button, you push
it and the reception can see you are legit via a camera, they open the gate and
you ride in. No, it has to be a dongle… these things do not work because they always have to
be re-linked to the correct room, what a pain it was to just park the bike.
Of course we had 2 bikes to park…Mine and Carol’s. Yes, both original dongles
were faulty. Welcome to Queenstown. 30 minutes to park 2 bikes, and I’m still
walking around in wet clothes.
The
sun shone in Queensland and that was perfect because Carol and I could lay out
our wet suits and boots on the terrace in front of our room and let them dry.
My boots were swimming pools, filled up by the water that ran down my legs.
Yes,
Carol’s suit, like mine, was soaked.
Klim,
you will hear from us!
But
we are now in Queensland… we have the late afternoon off and we just wandered around
and go into town. A walk of about 20 minutes each way. It was kind of easy
going downhill into town, not so easy walking back up.
Queenstown
is like San Francisco, everything is built on hills.
Dinner
was a place with a view over the lake, but we must have picked a slow day,
there was not much to see besides some water.
According
to the ‘brochure’ we received there are tons of attractions in town, we just
have to find them. Well, maybe tomorrow,
we are in Queenstown for 2 nights.
