I'm on a boat and I'm on a boat again

I wake up way too early and commence packing. Packing is boring and I eventually go back to sleep. I've got to make Manapouri by 10:30 to catch a boat and it doesn't look like much will be open if I get there too early. 

Not much in Te Anau is open either. I find the supermarket and buy breakfast/provisions and then find an open cafe.

I have a choice of riding 20 km to Manapouri on the road or 28 km off road on the Lake to Lake Trail. I choose the trail but quickly realize I've spent too much time in Te Anau and need to improvise something. At 10 km, I switch to the road. It's mostly flat or slightly downhill and I have a tail wind. I'm hitting 30 kmh. That sounds faster in km.

I had thought I could store my gear somewhere, but the Real NZ visitor center will be closed when my boat gets back. I change, consolidate bags, lock up the bike, talk to an old Australian man who offers to store my stuff in his car. I'm going to accept, but I have food and clothes and electronics that I'll need and they're not in the same bag.

On boat #1, I'm at a table with two girls wearing RealNZ name tags. They don't talk and as there's still wifi, I catch up on correspondences. Eventually another girl who seems to work there sits down and talks to them. She reeks of reefer, man. When we get off boat number one and onto busses everyone with RealNZ name tags (which is a bus full) gets onto the same bus. I gather it's the start of peak season and these are new employees...maybe on an introductory voyage. It's the only explanation I can think of and I'm too tired to ask. 

Back up a minute, at the start of boat ride #1, the captain says: To the red heads aboard, those who like things with motors, that's 2000 horse power...then something about how fast we're going but I'm not paying attention anymore because I'm trying to figure out if that's a red head stereotype I'm not familiar with. I haven't been around Kiwis enough because I've only been in touristy areas. Now guessing he said "gear heads".

And onto the bus: This is the first time I've felt crowded on this trip. The couple in front of me is coughing. There's no chance I'm not getting sick. I've wondered for years how they get buses on this road that does not connect to any other roads. And the answer is: They barge them in from Manapouri. Why there's a barge on Lake Manapouri that can move busses I don't know (probably related to this power plant), which is why the road exists. They move the busses around seasonally; they go to Queenstown in winter for use as ski shuttles. I talk to the German couple next to me, but my German is terrible and they're not terribly comfortable speaking English. The man is fascinated by Google maps, which I'm using to track our location even though I'm offline. He wants to know our elevation, but I can't seem to find it. I forget I have my Garmin in my pocket. They keep stopping the bus to look at the Sound or waterfalls, but the visibility is so poor it just looks like cloud. Also, I'm in cycling shoes and afraid to get to close to the edge. I take picture of people taking pictures.

Finally to boat number 3. I'm the last person off the bus because I'm carrying 4 bags and a water bottle and wearing cycling shoes. I find a seat on deck 2 next to a very quiet couple speaking English. If I haven't mentioned my Queenstown game yet: I listen to the loud Americans and guess where they're from. I tell them they must be Canadian because they're so quiet. Wrong: Portland. They say they're trying not to be loud Americans and everyone is asking them if they're Canadian. I tell them Kiwis do that because Americans won't be offended if you ask if they're Canadian, but the opposite is not true. They seem disappointed. I play my game with a girl I think is from California but it turns out she's from Hawaii. When I tell her she doesn't sound like she's from Hawaii she says she's really from the Mariana Islands and tries to speak without an accent. I talk to an Australian who's interested in my bike trip. He currently works for Yeti, previously worked for Patagonia...maybe Rip Curl before that. He seems to travel the earth surfing. I road for like 9 hours yesterday without seeing anyone and today there are a couple hundred people and they all want to talk.

I was not expecting much because I haven't seen the sun today. It almost pokes out a couple times. The ocean entrance (exit?) is the most amazing part. Seals (or are they sea lions?) populate the rocks, which shield most of the monster waves from tipping our boat over.

I try to take a photo facing the wind with my eyes open.

I have tons of pictures of waterfalls and cliffs and arms of sounds. Some day I'd like to see some blue sky in the background. It only rains 300 days a year here.

On bus #2, I'm fading and doze off and on. Nobody bothers getting off on any of the "view" stops. 

I'm the last person on boat #3 and there's not much room so I sit outside in a protected area. A Russian woman (who lives in Canada) lectures me about overdoing things and that my heart will only beat so many times. 

Back on land, one of the Americans I was talking to offers me a ride. I only have a km to go. Getting the bags on the bike is the hard part. I am bitten by unrelenting mosquitos for a quarter of an hour. I bike to my hotel, which has a lake view and I hope the sun is out tomorrow morning.

There's one restaurant open in Manapouri. I've made a reservation as the internet says it's mandatory. It's a strange restaurant in that there's a bar downstairs serving the same menu as the restaurant (reservation required) upstairs. The bar is loud and I've exceeded my limit of talking to people today so I go upstairs. But then I need to go back downstairs to order. Did I mention it's an old church?

I think about doing laundry but I've already exceeded my goal of staying up until 9 PM. I hear rain hitting the roof of my cabin and a chorus of birds.

Garmin says 17.2 miles and 571 feet of climbing. I'm either wiped out from yesterday or the 3 boat rides and 2 bus rides and I forget what else. Going to try to take it easy tomorrow.