Tour Aotearoa Day 35: Haast to Makarora, 50 miles, 3,120 feet elevation | Mount Aspiring National Park

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This route just keeps throwing us ringers everyday. Today we cycled through Mount Aspiring National Park and though the day began cloudy, it put a mystical feel on the ride.

We rode past so many waterfalls, some marked, most unmarked. That’s the beauty of bike travel… we could hear them before we could see them. While many in cars pass them because they aren’t marked, we saw so many.

Of course travelers in cars don’t need to hump their gear up and over the passes, but there is even joy in that (once it’s over).🤣

On the climb up Haast, I stopped to take a pic of a waterfall, mostly because it was well… powerful and noisy which meant big in terms of waterfalls, plus there was a guardrail on which to lean my bike.

It was an unmarked waterfall, but dang if as soon as I was ready to take the photo, a big ole tour bus pulled up and blocked my entire view. Really? You had to stop here. In front of me? 🤷🏼‍♀️

I looked up at the bus and who was waving like crazy at me from inside the bus? Our good buddy Durell from South Carolina whom we cycled with for five or so days! He and his bike were on a bus to Queenstown and here he was again. He keeps popping in and out of our lives. I call that a God wink.😉

Durell sent me the video he took looking out the bus window and the moment I recognized him is pretty special.

Just before we started climbing up to Haast Pass we stopped for a snack and brief rest. We saw a young couple obviously doing the same so of course we said “hello”.

Turns out Ulys and Virginia just posted in the TA Facebook group about riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (south to north) on their way home to Quebec. They were asking about how alike and different the TA and GDMBR are. When I saw the post I thought “are they cray cray?”

And now here they were. No! This ambitious couple is going to do it! They are the sweetest pair and this is Virginia’s first bike tour. Just like our other Canadian friends Amelia and Sarah , their first bike tour too, and they are stomping on it!

Just going to put this out there – I’ve never met an unkind Canadian. They are all so nice. Am I right, eh? 🇨🇦

But now back to the National Park.

It. Was. Stellar.

Below are a few pics but today’s vid will give you a better idea of just how remarkable it was.

Click on the image below to view today’s video.