If any of you are old enough to remember "Gilligan's Island" (TV series), you'll remember the opening song about this group of people who started out for a "3-hour cruise"... So we were going to go for a little bike ride along the lake. And the young woman at reception told us that we could go north (where we had driven a couple days ago) but it was quite hilly, or we could go south along the lake and then along the Clutha River that runs out of the lake and through Albert Town and back...just a 10 K ride and not very hard. Obviously she had never actually ridden a bike on this route, or her youth caused her to seriously mis-perceive the reality. The first 2+ hours were beautiful, with the landscape constantly changing as we worked our way around the south end of Lake Wanaka.
You can see from smiling faces that we were having a good time, enjoying the scenery and cool sunny day. Then we got to the outlet that initiates the Clutha River.
Now the riding got a lot more challenging: narrow single track much of the way, usually a significant drop-off to the river, sandy or unstable soil, rocks, tree roots...you get the picture. Ideal for hard-core mountain bikers or even for dedicated walkers, but tough for us. Pretty, nevertheless, with beautiful colors in the water.
We soldiered on and finally reached Albert Town which, we were told accurately enough this time, had a single tavern/cafe where we could have lunch and we did. We thought the worst was over since were were going to ride back on town streets from there to Wanaka. But she had neglected to mention the hills and we frequently had to walk the bikes, either because they were too steep for us to ride or because Hal just had to stop and rest. This is a picture as we crested the last major hill returning to Wanaka.
When we finally got back to our room--5 hours later--we were pooped and pretty much laid around til dinner time. Now for a shower and early bed since we are up at 6 am to head for Queenstown at 7 am tomorrow.
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