March Sunshine in Manapouri

Saturday 29 March

The cloudy start swiftly burned away to reveal clear blue skies.

After a morning of admin we packed a picnic, set up the bikes and headed off along the Lake2Lake cycle trail from Lake Manapouri towards Lake Te Anau.

The track follows alongside the Lake for a few kilometres but then ducks inland up a rather bumpy ungraded road to the main road for about 5-6km. Apparently the council and the local farmer could not reach agreement so this was the compromise. Back on the track a while later we had left the lake behind and were following the Waiau River, so stopped for a picnic on the stony river bank.

A short cycle later we passed Rainbow Reach where we walked the day before and then a rougher area of trail (from my perspective) so we whizzed back along the main road enjoying the smooth ride and the panoramic views.

I loved seeing the Dalek tower in close up, we had driven past him twice at car speed - I could not believe that he was so famous he had his own landmark icons on Apple Maps!

A wee siesta to rest our weary legs, then we strolled round the Home Creek Walkway next door to our campground. This riparian space is dedicated to allowing the creek to meander naturally and encourage waterways flora, fauna, birdlife & fish to flourish as they would before human intervention in the landscape.

I reprised an Abby Tomkinson special to accompany our pork steaks for dinner - fried apple & cabbage (such an amazing cmbination, and used up half the apple from Auntie Liz' apple tree) then we hopped on the Ebikes to cycle down to the lakeside at Fraser's Beach in search of an epic sunset… but it never really eventuated, just a gentle golden glow and some fabulous clouds. Can’t win ‘em all! The monochrome rainbow effect around the setting sun was pretty special though.