Ow, my butt hurts

We are back in Wanaka, but this time we are on bikes!  We rode about 35 miles from Queenstown to Cromwell yesterday.  Riding loaded bikes was a new experience for us all and I think we all nearly took a spill doing routine things.  Skyler almost ate it trying to stand up and pedal, I almost fell trying to maneuver from the sidewalk to the street, and Lucas fell into a parked car.  Overall, it was a good start. 

 Satisfied with my pack job

 Skyler trying to pick up some ladies

"Beat it kid!" Lucas scoweled, as some poor child asked us where we were going.

We heard there was some rain coming in the evening and into the next day but all we got was just a fabulous sunset.  We just stopped at a rest area to camp with what seemed like 20 camper vans (I think you are allowed to camp anywhere there is a public toilet).  As we layed down in our tent to rest our aching legs, our close neighbors decided it was a good idea to blast their German rap music--which coincidentally had the same melody as Jingle Bells.  We tried to make some passive aggressive comments like "Gosh I enjoy camping in silence" and "man I am tired and ready to sleep!" 

Super Size for epic Sunset!


We were initially stoked when the wind picked up and drove everyone inside their cars, but it turned out the wind was louder than their music.  The rest of the night we layed in half sleep, waking up whenever the wind would collapse the right side of the tent on Skyler.  If he didn't push the tent back out into it's normal position the rain fly would make a sound that accurately replicated a WWII warplane starting its engine.

So with sore butts and droopy eyes we started our day towards Wanaka.  The first hour or so we had to battle a mighty head wind.  On this trip I haven't encountered anything as demoralizing as having to struggle to pedal downhill.  I found myself cursing and taunting the wind "Oh is that it?! Well good I needed a work out anyway!"  I looked on with disgust as some slick roadbikers flew by with their carbon fiber bikes and tailwind.  Finally the wind died down and about 10km outside of Wanaka it started to pour.  I welcomed the change surprisingly.  Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I found it motivated me to bike faster so I could stay warm.  Thoroughly exhausted we are all trying to stay awake for dinner. 

We decided to treat ourselves to a hostel for warm showers and to keep everything dry for tonight's rain.  The next several days we will probably be camping.

As promised here is the first of many of spandex photos! Haha

Just a routine water break on the side of the highway

More Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/