North-west of Queenstown, past the head of Lake Wakatipu, the road gives out and the real mountains begin. This is the country around Glenorchy, the last small settlement on the lake, and beyond it the Dart and Rees valleys, where glacier-fed rivers braid across wide gravel flats under peaks that rise to nearly three thousand metres. Mount Aspiring National Park starts here, and so does a landscape that film makers have borrowed again and again, since the beech forests, the white rivers and the great bare walls of rock make it look like an ancient fantasy of the mountains.
The ride out to Glenorchy is one of the finest in the country. The road hugs the lake shore for forty-odd kilometres, twisting around bays, climbing over rocky headlands and dipping into small coves where the water is a startling turquoise. It is a road to ride slowly, partly because the bends come quickly and partly because every few hundred metres there is a view you will want to stop for. The surface is mostly good, though there are tight sections where the shoulder is narrow and tour vehicles come the other way.
Beyond Glenorchy the tarmac ends and gravel takes over, leading toward Paradise and the trailheads of the Routeburn and Greenstone tracks. The gravel is fine for a steady ride in dry weather and miserable in the wet, so look at the sky before you commit. The rivers here are bitterly cold, even in January, and swimming is for the hardy, though a quick dip at a quiet gravel bank is hard to resist when the sun is out.
You will not find fuel past Glenorchy, and the nearest large town is Queenstown, so take care. Glenorchy itself has a small shop, a cafe and a pub, and a few places to stay. The weather turns quickly, with rain sometimes lasting days and rivers rising over fords, so keep an eye on conditions. Come back along the lake in the evening if you can, when the light is soft on the water and the day-trippers have gone home.