Thursday, March 6
Queenstown to Wanaka. This stretch turned out to be a bit of a surprise (pleasant and grueling). We opted for a shorter, secondary route through the mountains rather than bombing through on the main artery 6. The route we took, through Cardrona, we later found out is the highest state highway in New Zealand. High seems to be an understatement. It was one of those roads that just kept going and going -- all straight up. Also, most of the way up was dirt and gravel which was scary going on fully (and back heavy) loaded bikes. The views were absolutely worth the work. On the climb up, we could look back across the valley and see Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. 
After the climb, we were rewarded with a long descent through a narrow, stunning canyon. Wanaka sits right on Lake Wanaka. After buying dinner -- beans and rice (what else?) -- we sat on the rocky shore of the lake watching the sailboats and the mountains in the distance.
