We drive further south. The mountains get higher, the valleys deeper, the meadows greener and the petrol most expensive. There are only a few villages left, and they are small. The roads look as if they were built exclusively for the summer tourist crowds. You simply couldn’t designate anything as a scenic road. Otherwise the next road would be a stinker.
My head is great after the New Year’s Eve party, as is my stomach. I look forward to every single bend on the 300 kilometres to Lake Wanaka. There are countless of them. Shortly before Wanaka, we stop at Lake Hawea, a very thermally active mountain lake. Unfortunately, there is not enough wind for kiting. On to Lake Wanaka. The wind is blowing strongly here.
We visit all five hostels in the town. All fully booked. Today we have to stay in a hotel. A very strange one. It smells like an old people’s home and grass, a stunning combination. In the evening we go to the lake, some kiters are out. I get my gear ready, jump on the board and ride 10 metres at a nice 20 knots. Then a buckle breaks on my harness. Gone.
The next morning we head towards Mount Aspiring, one of the highest peaks in the New Zealand Alps. A dusty gravel track takes us 25 kilometres up into a beautiful mountain valley. After the fifth river crossing by car, we arrive at the car park and set off on the Rob Roy Track. The name fits. It really does look like Scotland here. After half an hour, my broken bike starts yodelling again. Rien ne va plus.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.