After the tough tour to Fox Glacier we had a resting day there and could relax a bit in the park, watch some birds and drink some well deserved beers. We went to bed early as we wanted to be at our next spot already at lunch to have time to enjoy Lake Paringa at a conversation campsite.
Crazy bridges, funny birds and the rough coast
We cycled again along the Highway 6 in the direction of Haast. Crazy bus drivers, cars and campervans forced us to be highly concentrated on the traffic around us. Especially narrow bridges can be tricky to survive once you are on them and all the others cannot wait. But we managed these obstacles and had a relaxed lunch somewhere in the nowhere observed by a curious New Zealand pigeon. Later on we passed the rough coast desperately searching for a “restroom spot”. We found a public toilet out there and wondered why the people in the line were jumping around all the time. Finally we had it – damned sandflies again!
Beautiful Lake Paringa
We were really fast and reached Lake Paringa already at lunch time. The sun was perfectly shining on the campsite and we got a place in the first row. After building up the tent we did a quick “lake shower” as this conversion campsite did not have a real shower. It was freezing cold 😉. During afternoon more and more people arrived. We walked around the lake and took some photos before preparing dinner. But as the sun set we got aware that we really could have a little sandflie problem here…
Route
Max elevation: 186 m
Min elevation: 7 m
Total climbing: 900 m
Total descent: -1051 m
Average speed: 20.20 km/h
Total time: 05:07:18