Grinding the Gears

So we finally started biking. We though we better get going if we were to retain anyones faith in our ability to actually do this!
Three days ago we left the small village of Arthur's Pass. It's actually quite deceptive when they call the village that, as the real "pass" is 4km UPHILL from there. Our first few peddel strokes with fully loaded panniers were completed in our lowest gears, grinding upwards.
Luckily, the mist hanging in the mountains and the sun rising over the pass was enough to distract us from the pain, and soon enough we were through with the tough work.

Then...we cruised.
We cruised like we will probably never cruise again.
Wind in our faces, teeth chattering, bone vibrating, bike rattling, praying-to-the-bike-gods-that-our-brakes-wouldn't-fail, we cruised down the mountain (16% grade!!)towards the West Coast.

We finally called it a day at Moana, a small lakeside town where we had our first beer and a basket of fries. 68km later, day one was day done!