Again the rain stayed away and the West Coast of Te Waipounamu put on another Blue Sky day. We packed up the van and drove to Hokitika for supplies and a bit of sightseeing and then up the Lake Kaniere road to the DOC campsite at Hans Bay. Lake Kaniere is a glacial lake, nearly 200 m deep and surrounded on three sides by mountains and mature rimu forest. It is regarded by many as the most beautiful of the West Coast lakes, however it is a very popular water ski lake that, although set in beautiful surroundings, does suffer from Christchurch hoons, with their noisey power boats, making noisy noise pollution. No matter, we chilled for the rest of the day on a very pleasant grassy area. The next day we packed up some lunch and set off for the return ride up to Kawhaka Pass where we'd reached on Day 2. As the lake is situated at approx. 230 metres the first ½ hour of the ride included a very steep downhill to the glacial fed Arahura River. A great downhill, yes, but I was dreading the climb back (on my non ebike) at the end of our 65km day. And so, putting that thought aside, I cruised and looked at the magnificent scenery. After a toilet stop at a well positioned loo, we began the steep uphill on a series of narrow switchbacks climbing Mount Tuhua. At the top, just before entering the bush once more, we stopped for views down the Arahura Valley. Did someone say "stunning" ? One place I was looking forward to visiting was Cowboy Paradise. We'd heard lots of interesting stories about the owner and sure enough, on meeting him on the front porch of his "ranch", we got to understand what people had told us about his personality. I'll just say that he has a lot of opinions and he's willing to share them with you whether you want them or not! A memorable location and a memorable character. We pushed up through the bush tracks again, reaching the top at Kawhaka Pass in time for lunch (packed and carried in panniers). The return was fun, fast and at times a little bit white-knuckle until that dreaded uphill at the end. However, as my mentor Iohan used to say "I'm using the I'm No Hero gear". Sunset on the lake campsite with a cool beer - https://www.komoot.com/tour/1017484194?ref=aso