The South Island LakesJazerá na južnom ostrove

Lakes and hills, that's how you could sum up our first cycling stage in New Zealand.

Right on day one though, we got a proper lesson. We started at a hostel in Queenstown, where we'd already gotten the bikes out of storage the evening before departure. The forecast called for showers and sun, but outside it looked like another gorgeous day. Our goal for the first day was the town of Wanaka, about 70-80 km away over a mountain pass, with roughly 1000 meters of climbing to do, or as I like to measure it, about one Kráľová Hoľa.

The day was truly beautiful right up until the moment we reached the top of the mountain pass between Queenstown and Wanaka. Because that's exactly when the aforementioned showers hit, at breakneck speed. Picture a mountain saddle: no trees, no buildings, no cover, just the road. And of course it didn't stop at solid rain and wind, within a few minutes came hail, which is really no joke at all on a bike.

Fairly critical situation, but luckily a kind lady in a pickup truck took pity on Kika (btw the favorite vehicle of militant regimes everywhere, the Toyota Hilux). With the words "oh dear, why are you cycling in this weather, are you okay?!?!" she pulled over for her, together we loaded the bike into the bed, Kika got in the cab, they waved at me, and off they went.

So I threw on my winter gloves and, totally soaked and frozen, caught up with them 15 km later on the other side of the pass. By then, of course, the sun was blazing like crazy, and it was slowly dawning on us that the weather here in New Zealand is more fickle than Matovič's COVID policies.

On the following days we were more careful, and we also got a bit luckier with the weather. We had a somewhat smaller crisis right on the second day crossing Lindis Pass, where we underestimated our access to drinking water, but luckily a random tourist with well-stocked supplies in his car saved us. It was also funny that in New Zealand it's strictly forbidden to poop in the wild, yet Lindis Pass had an 80 km stretch where there was genuinely nothing at all, let alone a toilet.

The last day went by without any crises. We visited a salmon farm, admired Aoraki, New Zealand's highest mountain, cycled for a bit with a tailwind and sails stretched out (video below), and finally dropped anchor at a fantastic campsite on the shore of Lake Tekapo.

Aside from a constant headwind, the sun was on our side for the whole stage, with almost no rain. In that spirit, we crossed several mountain passes and saw several lakes (Wanaka, Pukaki, Tekapo) with truly kitschy-blue colors. From Lake Tekapo, in the next stage we'll continue toward the east coast, to the South Island's largest city, Christchurch.