South Island Space Jam: Bikepacking New Zealand

I’ve been cycling New Zealand north-to-south for the past few weeks and just hopped the interisland ferry, pedaling straight south over a gravel route known as “Molesworth Muster.”

The first hundred kilometers were an Oz-like daydream of Dakotan gold fields and sweeping mountain vistas. The second hundred kilometers became a rockfight with the elements. Hands dyed purple in freezing rain. Pace strangled by a fraying lasso of headwind. I didn’t realize how cold it was until the jagged powder of snow crystals started collecting on my gloves. Sometimes the sky just loses its mind. We all get there.

Logistics be damned, I u-turned from Hanmer Springs to backtrack another hundred kilometers north along an adjacent valley called “Rainbow Road.” More torturous weather was waiting at the top with rocky washboarded grades and brute winds howling in my spokes. Glacier blues and moonlit pinks led the way over Hell’s Gate to a sheltered slice of wild camping for the night, silhouettes frosted in milky stardust, buoyed by the soft glow of an overnight rainbow.

by donivanberube