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High Altitude Heaven
As a continuation of a ride catching up with family down south, it was off to catch up with Matt, Ian and Alf to go and sink our teeth into an epic four day route of Otago High Country trails.
This leg was from Gore heading up to Fairlie to catch up with the crew. Back on one of my other GPS logging trips I noticed that Clinton, a town with the slogan "Our three horse town", actually had five horses. Well...
...someone took the liberty to correct the town's sign!
With mostly drizzly overcast weather it was off to have a looksee up a few back roads
A cloudy Danseys Pass
After a night in Kurow, next morning was a hasty trip up to meet the guys a little past Fairlie. A trip at speed over the twisty gravel roads was a little sketchy with very limited visibility
Once I caught up with the riding crew, we were off on a route Matt had done a magic job of putting together. Nice job brother!
A few techy side tracks made for some interesting riding
Minimal visibility on some high altitude tracks with some hefty drop-offs added to the excitement
We stayed in the dinky little pub rooms at the Omarama Hotel for a couple of nights as we did a couple of loop routes
Tracks that in some parts more closely resembled steep rocky goat trails
Some of us chose to ride on two wheels, others opted for one =)
Taking a photo in amusement of those resisting to adopt GPS technology and using one of those paper thingies!
It was a cracker day on the lake
One of the routes took us us high, very high
An epic zigzag that dwarfs the Awakino
Yehaa, magic views from the reward of some bike wrestling to get up to around 1600 meters. Absolutely stunning views!
Completing the route that day involved some steep rocky demanding terrain seen in the back of this photo
The next day was off through another new station and more magic views
Later on we linked up with a familiar route =)
Checking out the hut book
It seems the crew from Nitro Circus did a lap through here on their recent tour
Stopping in for a bite to eat at Danseys Hotel
No Otago trip would be complete without a blat through Black Forest
When you can't afford security, improvise!
The current drought is causing havoc for farmers, this photo was taken from the lake floor of Lake Opuha, the lake is now more of a puddle
Along the way we encountered a few bulls, BIG bulls. After previously being chased a couple of times, I just don't trust these gigantic beasts, they give me the sh*ts
For the four days of riding I stripped the panniers, all my heavy camping gear and rode with just tool kits and basic clothing etc. Being a fairly fast paced trip it was certainly much more fun
Arriving back at base. After riding Bannockburn Bike Week, some GPS logging and this fairly epic four day ride resulted in the rear tyre looking a little worse for wear
After Matt had an argument with his footpeg, my tyre was no comparison to the state of his foot!
I really didn’t want to wind up this three week trip, it had been an absolute ripsnorter. The next GPS logging trip kicks off in two weeks so not too long to wait. Until then…
