Arthur’s Pass

Oh my goodness. Arthur’s Pass was next level hard.

We knew it was steep on the approach but it really was something else!

It was a steady climb all day long which always makes me feel slow and sluggish. The incline for most of the day was manageable though.

We got to a pub called The Otira Stage Coach Hotel. We’d been told to stop here by our AirBnB. The hotel was voted something like “New Zealand’s most interesting.”

From the pictures you can see why. There was a Gollum on the roof, a huge statue of Gandalf and old memorabilia, and a parrot!

We called in there because it’s basically at the bottom of the pass. I was feeling a bit nervous about what was to come. We ordered a hot chocolate and a brownie to give us a sugar rush to drive us up the ~2000ft in just a few miles.

Needless to say, I pushed my bike the entire way.

Stew somehow rode the whole thing and came down to save me every now and again. The first time he came down he said he had to stop because he felt like he was going to vomit. I’ve never seen him to red faced. It was seriously challenging!

At the top, Stew said, “you’ve basically pushed your bike to the top of Scafell Pike today.” That’s the highest mountain in England and it really put into perspective what we’d just done.

I don’t think I could’ve ridden my bike up there unloaded; nothing like a challenge 😋

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