Franz Jozef to Fox

Yesterday we had a day off in Franz Jozef where Vanessa did a half day trip to the glacier. I went for a walk with Ella and Jeremy, a fellow cyclist we met a few times on the road, to the bottom of the glacier. It´s a beautiful walk and we were lucky with the weather too. Ella loved it because there were plenty of stones to throw and water to splash in. It´s a shame the place has become the tourist attraction of the West Coast. Franz Jozef town is a collection of tourist accommodations and has lost the Kiwi character. We had a good time though.

We wanted to leave early this morning because there were three big hills on the way to Fox but Ella had too much fun playing so in the end we didn´t get to leave until 10.30. By then it was pretty warm but who´s complaining? Only 25 km to Fox but 12 of them are steep climbing and it proved to be very tough. In fact, for me, this has been the toughest since we arrived in New Zealand. The first hill is tough in the beginning with some very steep sections but by the time the gradient gets a bit easier I was exhausted. Vanessa was going up like a mountain goat and I decided not to try to keep up with her because that would have destroyed me. The second climb begins almost inmediately after the first with no real descent between them. The scenery is amazing; this is proper high mountain landscape with snow caped mountains and beautiful green valleys. On the second climb I broke. At first I tried to work my way out of the valley but my legs gave in. The trolley is simply too heavy and I have to stop for e breather every 200 meters. Vanessa was nowhere to be seen. WHen I finally got to the top I thought this was it, that I was done climbing and I was literally laughing out loud when I started the very steep descent. That laughter very soon turned to a disbelief shouting when I saw the road started to climb again after crossing another one lane bridge.
I couldn´t believe it. How could I have forgotten that there were three and not two ascents?? The third climb was an impossible task and steeper than the two previous ones. I got off my bycicle and tried to push it up the hill. It was even worse and I had to stop. I waited for about 15 minutes to get myself together and had another attempt. I can´t remember how many times I stopped before finally the road dropped into Fox but by the time I got to the village I could hardly walk. I found Vanessa in a cafe having a coffee. smiling, as if she hadn´t suffered at all...

We had a big burger that night and slept very well