Days 10 and 11: Wanaka

We rode from Queenstown to Lake Wanaka yesterday via the Cardrona pass, the highest paved road in all of New Zealand (at 1080 meters). The climb was over about 8 miles and starting at about 350 meters with the worst at the end (of course) ascending steeply for about a mile and a half (so much so that I had to stand in places because my petals wouldn't turn fast enough to keep my balanced...). Adding insult to injury, we had done a bunch of shopping in Queenstown and the post closed an hour early and we missed it! So we (and by 'we' I mean Dan), had to carry all the gifts over the toughest pass in New Zealand...So we discarded most of your gifts along the way. Sorry.

We had a blast cruising down the very steep backside into the small gold mining town of Cardrona where we had lunch at the Cardrona Hotel, founded in the 1860s, before heading into Wanaka.

Check out the view into Wanaka! It is a beautiful little lakeside town, like a mini Queenstown, but just as filled with tourists (including us).