Since we made it to Makarora last night, today we felt we needed to push the 81km to get to Haast. This is another tiny little town but was the nearest place with any type of store or service. Of course getting to Haast required us to make the climb over Haast Pass. This pass is the lowest one going over the alps towards the west coast and we were taking it in the easy direction. Easy direction over mountains mean the descent is on the fun side.

Having a riding buddy has had a lot of perks on the road but unfortunately I pulled something my riding buddy at home used to do to me: “I'll see you on the other side”. At the base of the climb we took a break and then I took off at a faster pace making my way up alone. Waited for him at the picnic area at the peak and we ate lunch before I once again took off alone to fly down the mountain.

After the pass the road flattened out and we spent the last 50km cruising through the rain forest, pushing towards the sea. When we pulled into Haast we met a couple other cycle tourers at camp. Mark and Garben, who met on tour and started riding together as well.