January 18, 2006 - Epic Camp NZ Day 10


Oh, the rain is back! Ride up Arthur's Pass 65 km.

The rain came in around 4:00 AM. By 6:45 AM when the alarm went off it was showing no signs of letting up and didn't until we were over Arthur's Pass.



The short triathlon race planned for the day was modified to an Aquathon ( Approx 1500 meter swim and a 7 km run). I choose to say in my room with Wim and Dr. Eric and watch from the window. There was about 10 people that were not put off by the weather, or quilted into it, and did the little race. There were more Epic Camp points awarded by placing in the the race than any event thus far. The king of the mountain points were (5, 3, 2,1), same for the half marathon. But, today the winner gets 15 points down to the 13-14 places got 3 points. That's an amazing amount of points for one event.

The rain just poured while they were running the race. They were so wet! I heard a mix of comments by the participants. Some people thought it was fun others thought it was bad for there body, others said it was a dumb decision to participate.

All the wet clothes and wetsuits had to be put into garbage sacks since we had to pack-up and head to the next destination.

We had breakfast at the same place we had dinner last night. They are really a fancy place. If you order off the menu they food is fantastic with all the presentation. As we walked down through the doors I smelt syrup and fantasized about french toast. However, we had scrambled eggs, oatmeal and toast.

Because of the serious amount of rain, we were given several options today. We could get in the vans and they can take us to Arthur's Pass village, where we are staying tonight, or ride to Otira, a 55 km ride, then get in the van which would take us over the pass, or ride the whole way. There were concerns that the pass may be too dangerous and Gordo suggested some may want to run/walk over the pass instead of attempting to ride it. When we started, my plan was to only riding to the post at Otira and then get in the van. The rain never let up and the water was flowing along the roads and waterfalls were visible everywhere. Everyone was soaked to the bone by the time we got to Otira and it wasn't clear how the van thing was going to work. I really didn't want to be standing out in the rain and freeze waiting for a van. So, after pausing for a moment Mitch, Kevin, Randy and I started up the mountain. It was the steepest climb I have ever been on! There were waterfalls coming down each side of the canyon. It was like the Hilo side of Hawaii – massive amount of rainfall with huge waterfalls.

We rolled into Arthur's Pass village and found were we could shower and put on warm clothes. Then we had lunch and warmed up by the fire.

Afterwards we moved our accommodation bags to the Youth Hostile were most of us will be sleeping tonight. Several of us strolled down the street to the first cafe we found. Mitch ordered is usual fish and chips, I order to sweet fruit bars and a cappuccino. It was wonderful. Kerry was working on her photos and Mitch crashed on the coach as the sun started to come out.




By 5:30 PM the sun was out and the sky was blue. Go figure!



We have personal time until 6:30 PM when dinner is served.



Most of us were staying the night in the Youth Hostile, the rest were in the Alpine Hotel. The Youth Hostile was really clean. There were 6 people to a room in pods of three. Two bunks below and one on top.


Posted: Tue - January 17, 2006 at 08:30 PM          

©