Back in the day, the Soviet economy was guided by a series of five-year plans, but often the outputs were achieved in shorter time. These achievements were widely publicized in the state media. I wonder if my Soviet Union upbringing made me cycle often further than planned during this trip, bringing me ahead of schedule. I guess it’s harder to beat the Soviet out of me than I thought. To slow myself down I decided to stay in Queenstown for another day.
It was a day of indulgence: I got up at nine, I had a deer burger named “Sweet Bambi” for breakfast and I polished it up with three scoops of ice cream.
I felt a little guilty afterwards so I hiked up to Bob’s Peak overlooking Queenstown to burn some of the calories I had just consumed.
I skipped lunch, had a decadent donut covered with chunks of Mars chocolate bar and filled with caramel, then went for another scoop of ice cream.
Then I dozed off in a lakeside park. After a humble dinner I finished my day with three more scoops of ice cream. In my defense, the ice cream was all of different kinds.
Now, after gathering some strength, I am ready to ride the rest of the distance up to Bluff.
Queenstown was as busy as expected, and after seeing the scenery around Milford Sound, nothing to write home about. There was one thing, unusual if not remarkable: I met a group of middle-aged Chinese women also traveling on folding bikes (I think they were Dahons). After cycling for 34 days in Australia they had just arrived in New Zealand to cycle on both islands.
Today in numbers:
7 – scoops of ice cream eaten, a modest amount for me
150 – flights climbed, hopefully offsetting consumed calories