Sunday, September 25, 2016

One hour gone

When the alarm woke me up I was confused the phone said 5:30 but the clock said 4:30 so I got on the net and realized that today was the start of daylight savings time and that we had lost an hour. Knowing this I went to the hotel reception when they opened at 8  and asked for one hour late checkout. Australia and New Zealand both have checkout at 10 am in most of the places we stayed at.



As we expected it was drizzling on and off , so we went for breakfast at good restaurant where the locals go on Sundays. It was packed and we had to sit on a small table. After breakfast we started to load up the motorcycles and managed to leave before 11 am . There was light rain and the roads were wet , we also were getting used to handling of the new bikes.



initially the weather was cold but bearable. then it got really cold and down to 5.5 deg C . at times we would get strong side winds and the overcast was constant. We passed by some very nice scenery and finally parked in front of Lake Pukaki , the color was different a light turquoise that we have not seen in a lake before . Unfortunately the clouds covered the mountains and Mount cook could not be seen.



Husain's bike started to warn that fuel was low and before we entered the motel we filled up at a gas station . Once we arrived we realized that the motel was under new management for a week now. There was no internet and no guest laundry service.


We rested and warmed up for a while and then walked into town for a meal. on the way back we stopped to buy some food a grocer for Ali's late night snack. tomorrow we head further south to Te Anau .