Cromwell, here we have the puncture in the Jimny tyre repaired, again!

I decide to cycle the Lake Dunstan Trail while Rachel visits the local pool. This is just past the quarry on the southern side of Lake Dunstan

The trail goes over the property of the Carrick Winery & Restaurant, no doubt it attracts some customers

I’m now past Cornish Point and things are going fine, except for the fact that my rear tyre seems to be slowly deflating, luckily I brought my hand pump

The trail can be cycled in both directions, I’m going Cromwell to Clyde, only occasionally is there oncoming traffic, like here

They put a lot of effort into making the track possible along the south side of the lake

The only real steep bit in the track, I was being overtaken left and right but that was by cheaters: people with electric bicycles, they don’t count

Nice views getting higher up the mountain

Cromwell Clyde Road on the other side of the lake

View from the viewpoint, my cap is out of shape

Another view in the direction of Cromwell

It’s mostly downhill from here, about 20 km left to go, that’s maybe an hour more

The views are still great but my rear tyre isn’t, I’ve had to inflate it 5 times now in the past hour, that doesn’t bode well

Nice day for water skiing

Hugo Bridge, this is where I spent an hour trying to fix the leak in my rear tube but it was impossible, I still don’t know what the problem was with that tube but ONLY when it was IN the tyre would it deflate, NOT when outside of the tyre, making finding the leak undoable. Extremely frustrating experience. It meant I had to WALK the remaining 20 km or so to Clyde. Not much fun.

I sent up the drone to see where to go to next, I thought I would have to continue the track in the photo but it turned out I needed to take a completely different route, no idea where the track in the photo eventually ends up, maybe I’ll find that out a next time I’m here

The Nevis Valley, we did that last year, in the X-Trail, that was very nice but a bit too rough for the X-Trail

But this year, with the Jimny, we should be able to tackle any track, hence our attempt today at the Old Woman Range Track

It’s clearing up a bit, and the temperature is going up as well

And we’re on our way. The landscape reminds me of Norway but with less trolls

So many interesting rock formations

You could spend quite some time here

Which is exactly what we did

Me taking the photo below

It’s difficult to capture the beauty of the landscape in photos

But I try anyway

It’s quite magical with all the low cloud

And I see animals in all the rocks, this one looks like a rabbit to me

With her gray and black clothing Rachel really tries to blend in with the landscape

I am very glad the Jimny allows me to go to places like this that I otherwise would not have been able to visit

Another look towards the Nevis Valley, do you see a face?

I do, an angry face

The view north, back towards Cromwell and Lake Dunstan

And we truly are the only people here

Despite being the only ones here I park the car like a true gentleman just off the track so potential other traffic can pass

Some convergence clouds

The road is loooooong, and we’re going slooooow

There’s the odd bit of road where you can go a bit faster but most of the track is slow going

But that’s ok, this way we get to enjoy the stunning scenery more

It’s getting on in the day and the clouds are getting lower

And we still have a fair way to go, hopefully we can avoid driving in fog

The views keeps changing and they’re all great

I’m sure the little Jimny is happy to be taken to these places

This is definitely a trip I won’t forget

I mean, look at that!

Stunning

This reminds me of my old Lucky Luke comic books, they always ended with an image like this

Luckily the weather is improving

We went to Lake Hawea, to see how far north we can get on the eastern side of it, this is in Gladstone

The wind is picking up again

Time to cook some lunch, the boot of the car provides the necessary shelter from the wind

We drove the Dingle Burn Station Road until we reached a compulsory parking spot, from where we decided to walk further

The McKerrow Range on the left, normally I fly there, the landscape is spectacular

On our way back to the car park

The view south from pretty much where the Timaru High River Track meets the road

Looking towards Breast Hill

The Te Araroa Trail goes through those mountains, one day I’ll walk that trail!

Pisa Range in the background

One more photo of Lake Hawea

Ok, two

And then we are off to the Old Town in Cromwell

Golden hour and dark blue cloudy skies

Perfect lighting for photos

Cromwell

Om Nom Nom

Cromwell Heritage Precinct

Kawarau River

Lake Wakatipu (Queenstown)

Awesome food (thanks Jasper)!

The road to Glenorchy

Kinloch