A2O. Day 1

Our first day of the Alps to Ocean was a drive up to mount Cook village, snuggled under the highest peak in New Zealand, and a cycle back to base. Problem is there's a large river in the way. So in true kiwi fashion the ride starts with a wee heli ride across the Tasman glacier outflow to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere.
The wind was wild to start with but assisted us descending down to Lake Pukaki on single track and then a mixture of too- shingly road and made MTB track along the eastern shores of the lake. The lake has it classy photogenic colours from the glacial silt that feeds into it. Despite this, after 40 k of lake (yes, it's huge) we could no longer resist a dip in the glacial water. Just about enough to revive us as it was damn hot- we were properly Cooking. The wind also turned into a mean south westerly for the last bit, but by this time we were on a cool lakeside track then an even better single track dropping onto the pukaki flats/ lake outflow and home to get horizontal asap. A big day in big country.Read more