Milford Sound

So Mildord Sound was always somewhere I wanted to ride, and when I figured I could finish off everything I want to do in Southland and make it to Dunedin by Christmas I committed myself. I couldn't have picked a better time. 

I figured 3 days would give me plenty of time, but it would mean a lot of climbing on the middle day. 

Nice blue sky and fluffy clouds made the ride amazing.

The first hour our so of riding followed lake Te Anau, but trees and hills were in the way so it wasnt until leaving the lake that I got a good view.

From then the mountains just kept creeping closer. The terrain kept switching between wide own valleys to very densely forested roads.

Along the way I passed Mirror lake, wasn't a very good mirror this day. 

The riding was easy going, some steep sections but short enough to cause little problem. 

After a quick break at The Divide I started the descent down to where I was staying for the night. Very quickly I was at the turnoff to the Hollyford valley, where I had another 8km of gravel to descend. What greeted me was a very nice, strange campsite. A great place to spend the night. 

Distance day 96km total 4341km

Ascent day 950 total 47,850m

With only enough food for one more night and the following day I had to make it back to Te Anau the next day. This meant a double mountain pass day. 

I was feeling amazing. Neck was hurting from looking up so much but worth it! 

750m altitude I had to gain to reach the summit. Over 20km that isn't so bad. 

I had a nice warmup climbing back to the main road. While it was still cold, threw jacket came off as it wouldn't take me long to warmup. As the morning progressed the mountains kept getting closer. This is why I ride!

Overall the climb was fairly easy. A few sections requiring a bit of effort, but only for short periods. 

2 hours after starting and just as the road had nowhere to go the Homer tunnel was revealed. 

This was the one part I was worried about. 1.2km at 10% down towards Milford, worth minimal lighting. Before hand I was worried about the climb out, but it turns out I should have been worried about the descent! 

With all my lights on, and having asked a car to sit behind me for extra light we were off! My lights aren't bad, but they were near useless for the speed I was going. Even the cars lights didn't illuminate any of the bumps till it was too late. 

Holding on tight and just riding over anything I made it through! Definitely got the heart pumping! 

The view and the road in front of me made it all worth it.

20km of mostly downhill, with a bunch of switchbacks straight up. I was on the brakes heavily through the switchbacks, but after that I was able to go through most corners at a comfortable speed with minimal braking.

Unfortunately the start was in the sun so I didn't rug up. When I got into the shade it became cold. Not enough to make me stop though. 

The road flattened off significantly halfway to Milford as I had a gentle cruise to the ferry terminal. 

Last time I was here I couldn't see Mitre Peak. The conditions were just slightly better. While eating lunch am Aussie couple came along. They were cyclists as well, but they didn't really count as they had hired a car for a week. 

After a decent rest I headed off. Threw shade that had cooled me on the way down was gone. This, along with a very tough climb made door sweaty work. 

This side of the climb was tough! 900m in 20km isn't very bad, but when the first half was well below the average there was a lot of ground to make up. 

A few tourists cheered me on as I started the switchbacks, hopefully ill be able to get a few of their photos! With the tunnel in sight I knew I could make it. If I hadn't known about the tunnel the sight of the wall approaching would have scared the shit out of me. 

While resting at the top one of the road crew offered me a lift. I declined as that would have been cheating, and I wasn't overly worried. 

I did wait quite a few cycles before I headed off, but eventually I got myself sorted. The climb took me about 10 minutes. Going slow my lights were able to illuminate the road fine, so I was able to avoid any bad bumps. Oncoming traffic wasn't a problem either as the road was plenty wide enough. In all I had one stream of cars pass me from behind, and the second oncoming stream entered just before I exited.

I had a go at chasing down a bus, but fairly quickly the corners widened and our slowly pulled away. This descent was much more chilled. 

Eventually I got back to the turnoff towards where I camped, but instead I started climbing again. Another tough climb, so I took a few opportunities to stop at lookouts. 

I should feature prominently in some people's photo albums as a bunch of people took photos with me. 

Eventually I reached Lake Gunn, my camp for the night. I had a bit of trouble finding a spot to setup my tent but eventually I noticed a small clearing. 

I had a very quick dip before getting everything sorted. 

Distance day 79km total 4420km

Ascent day 2000m total 48,750m

After my big day of climbing I planned am easy 100km ride to Manapouri. The morning was really still which made for great photos. 

It was also quite cool. That didn't last long. Very quickly I was wishing for shade. 

Even though I'd already traveled the road before it was still great. It was only upon approaching Te Anau Downs that the riding became a little monotonous. 

I decided to give the Mirror lakes a second chance and I wasn't disappointed. 

Once in Te Anau I had a very lazy lunch. The heat was putting me to sleep. Eventually I restocked my food and headed onwards to Manapouri.

A nice flat timetrial had me at my destination easily. Whilst I was well away from any mountains, the sight of them off to the side was great. 

When I checked into camp the host mentioned there was another cyclist staying from Switzerland. Unfortunately heading the wrong way, and sounded as though he was taking it very easy. 

Distance day 103km total 4523km

Ascent day 600m total 49,400m