Category: Bike Touring

The most anticipated ride of our summer trip was the West Coast Wilderness Trail. The trail runs from Greymouth to Ross along the West Coast of South Island of New Zealand. It only officially “opened” in late 2013, but it still has parts under construction, and some areas with alternative routes in place. For practical purposes, it’s open right now from Greymouth to Hokitika, and our plan was to ride that section.

Our plan was to spend two days riding on the trail – the first leg would be from Greymouth to Kumara, and then the following day from Kumara as far as we could go. Luckily we had our support crew (Lew) with us, so we could get dropped off at one point, and then picked up somewhere else. This dramatically simplifies the riding. For those without support crew, I’m sure that shuttle services are available – it’s worth spending a bit on this, and not having to do “out and back” rides, or trying to make it into a loop.

The trail promises:

“This fabulous cycling adventure guarantees an outstanding landscape ride through dense rainforest, past glacial rivers and lakes and through wetlands, all the way from the snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps to the ocean.”

Greymouth to Kumara

We were driving down from Nelson, so arrived in Greymouth in mid-afternoon, for the first leg. We found a park in town, and started getting organised. Now where exactly does the trail start? Oh right. We managed to park RIGHT NEXT to the official start point! Nice parking there. Gear up, say goodbye to Lew, and plan to meet up again in a couple of hours in Kumara. It’s around 35km from Greymouth to Kumara, and it’s all flat. We wind our way out past the small port, and settle onto a mostly gravel trail that runs parallel to the shoreline. This means no traffic, but at times it does make for slightly dull riding. But it’s all very easy going.

At times the trail moves closer to the road, but it’s all traffic-free, until we get to this bridge:

Yes, that’s right folks. This is the main highway down the West Coast, and it has a one-lane bridge, that also has a railway line running down the middle of it. Currently the bike trail also goes across this bridge. It makes for an entertaining crossing – luckily there’s some friendly drivers around, and they put us in front of them, and shield us somewhat from the other traffic. Phew. It looks like they’re building a “clip on” lane for pedestrians/cyclists – the sooner it goes up the better. Later we spoke to a couple who were carrying their young children with them. Not only did they have to negotiate the cars, they’d also had the misfortune to arrive exactly when the one train that day came through.

Up until this point, the trail was reasonably well-signposted. But after the railway bridge, the signs seemed to stop. The only option was to follow the main road until Kumara Junction, then turn off and follow the road to Kumara. Hunting around online seemed to give some contradictory answers – some sites said the trail went via the old Kumara Tramway, others showed a road alternative. We ended up following the road, which had no shoulder, and feeling somewhat miffed, like we were missing out. We could see a couple of spots where the trail seemed to be built, but it was deliberately fenced off. I was annoyed about it, and worried I’d missed some signposts. But later I spoke with other cyclists, and found out that it was the only option available at present. It will be finished off soon hopefully.

We had a quick look around in Kumara, a historic gold-mining town. The Theatre Royal Hotel has had a massive amount of money spent on it, and looks to be well set up for the hoped-for influx of cashed-up bicycle tourists. It looks like a great place to have a beer, but I don’t think I could afford to stay there. Out of our budget. Instead, Lew drove us through to Hokitika, where we were staying.

Hokitika was packed with people, and cars with bikes on board. It seemed that we weren’t the only ones who decided to ride the new trails, and I’m not sure that the locals were ready for it. Almost every bed in town was taken, and we were lucky to get into the local pizzeria – they had to close the doors at 7:30pm because they’d run out of food!

Kumara to Milltown

The following day Lew dropped us off back at Kumara, for what turned out to be the best single day of riding for the whole trip. It starts out gently enough, with a mix of single track and gravel roads, before things get a bit more interesting with a diversion through an old gold-mining area.

But then you start working your way around TrustPower‘s Kumara/Dillmans Hydro scheme. Now things step up a gear as you look out over mirror-like lakes, with snow-capped mountains in the background. You start thinking “This is what I signed up for!”…but push on. You go deeper and deeper into the country, and suddenly you’re feeling quite isolated. Bush all around you, steep mountains, very little sign of human habitation.

Later in the day the trails go through more bush, and you hit glorious switchbacks, rolling on and on downhill, with the odd scary swingbridge:

Racing down through the bush, and suddenly you pop out at “Cowboy Paradise.” Huh? This is a rather odd place – it’s set up like a one-street cowboy town, where you can pretend to be a cowboy, and start shooting things. There’s a bar, and the accommodation should be ready by now. But when we were passing through, the main saloon was being completely rebuilt, with huge piles of timber sitting around. No matter, the bar was open, and we were ready for a drink. A very relaxed sort of affair, you drink what you like, then at the end the total gets totted up, and the cash is just strewn across the bar. Bring cash, I’m not sure if Eftpos was available. Absolutely sensational views of a Arahura valley, where my wife’s grandfather ran a huge farm:

From here we went back into the bush for more nice trails, before glorious switchbacks down through open fields:

We then had a bit of a grind along a gravel road down a glorious river valley, before being picked up by Lew. Fit riders who start early in the day could make it through to Hokitika, but we were happy to be picked up.

Overall Impressions: Do It

I highly recommend this ride – it was an amazing view of this country, seen from a very different angle. Stunning scenery, a feeling of isolation, and riding surfaces & gradients that were achievable to most. There weren’t many riders out there younger than us. This will be a fantastic ride when it is completed, and will become a major attraction in the area, providing for much more sustained income than the Wild Foods festival.

One local we were chatting to had been involved in much of the planning and preparation for this trail. The long-term plan is to extend it from Karamea all the way to Haast, almost entirely off-road. This would probably be 10 years away, but if they can achieve that, this will become one of the greatest bike trails in the world.

A Note on Hokitika

My wife still has some relatives in Hokitika, and we had a nice time meeting some of them. It is a somewhat isolated town, and it’s not very large. One particular comment struck me when we were there, chatting to the locals:

“Sure, of course I remember when XXXX died, what was it, at least 10 years ago? He was a good sort. But as I said, I’m still fairly new to the area”

I guess it’s a bit like that.

New Zealand has been building many kilometres of bike trails over the last few years, and some of them look pretty spectacular. So rather than travel to an exotic foreign destination, we decided to stay in New Zealand this summer, and spend our holidays checking out some of the new trails.

I had originally wanted to do a full bike tour, carrying all our luggage, but the logistics of that were proving difficult. My normal travel style on the bike is to have a rough idea of direction, and then each day go as far as I like, stopping wherever is convenient. But this is tricky to do around Christmas/New Years in provincial New Zealand, as places tend to get booked out.

Instead we took a different approach – put the mountain bikes on the car, head down to the South Island, then spend three weeks travelling around, stopping in towns for a few days, and exploring the bike trails in that area. Using mountain bikes gave us complete flexibility to tackle any sort of trail surface – from fast downhill trails to gentle family-friendly rail trails.

On the Road to Wellington

Samson got dropped off at rural farmstay retreat (i.e. my brother’s kiwifruit orchard), then we started the long drive down to Wellington, to catch the ferry across to the South Island. On the way, we took the Akatarawa Road from Waikanae to the Upper Hutt. This is an amazingly beautiful drive, but I hope that tourists don’t get directed down here by their GPS – this is a VERY narrow, twisty road. It’s a bit stressful constantly going around blind corners on a road that is only a bit wider than a single car.

We then had a short ride on the Rail Trail part of the Rimutaka Cycle Trail. I wish we could have spent more time on this trail, but we had to get down to the wharf to check in.

Nelson – Mountain Biking Mecca

Our plan was to do a rough anti-clockwise loop around the South Island, with our first main stop in Nelson. I have family here, so we could spend Christmas with them. On the way from Picton to Nelson we stopped near Tennyson Inlet for a little warmup on quiet roads and bush tracks. Amazing views, lots of isolated places, but pretty tough going slogging uphill in the heat.

The amazing thing about Nelson is that you can ride out your front door, ride through a few city blocks, and then you’re suddenly on fantastic mountain bike trails. My brother-in-law had been a fantastic help with map and suggested route around the Codgers Mountain Bike Park. We were having a great time, but really starting to sweat, and feel the steepness of the slopes…only to be somewhat embarrassed to find a couple of gentlemen at least 30 years older than us had already made it up the top…

Another day we went out with Dave up into the Sharlands Creek area – a long slog up a gravel road, followed by a bit of bush-bashing to find the trail, and then the downhill single track just seemed to keep on rolling. This was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I was on the bike – not running along beside us like Simba!

The Great Taste Trail – Nelson to Mapua

Nelson isn’t just mountain biking though – they already have a large network of bike paths around the city, and now they’re adding a new touring route around the region. We checked out a part of the “Great Taste Trail“, which will form a 3-4 day loop out from Nelson. We rode from Central Nelson to Mapua, via Richmond and Rabbit Island.

This was a nice day out, but we were getting a bit tired by the end. Breaking it up with Mapua at lunch was very nice, but it was a long day out – it’s just a bit too long for families with small children, who should only plan on tackling small parts of it. Special mention to the ferry operator – I thought I had completely messed up our timing, and we were going to have to wait, but nope – the ferry was doing a few extra runs, and pulled in just as we arrived.

You’ve got two options going from Nelson to Richmond – you can either go more inland, via an old railway line, or you can go along the coast. It might sound odd, but I actually preferred the inland route on the old railway line – it was very peaceful, whereas the coastal route is quite close to a busy road. It’s still a bike lane, but it can be very noisy, and you’re a bit exposed if it’s windy.

Its Easter Sunday and one asks themselves “what shall we do when all the stores in Auckland are closed and half the city has left town for a relaxing four day weekend?”  We’d already agreed to head out for a Sunday morning cycle, and after seeing the lights of amusement rides somewhere in Auckland City as we drove over the harbour bridge yesterday evening, we decided thats where we would head.

So after Lindsay hauled my butt out of bed at the unreasonable time of 8.00am on a Sunday morning in the midst of a four day public holiday, I got our gear and myself together and Lindsay took the dog out for a quick walk.  Then with Lindsay the navigator in the lead we wound our way through the back streets of the burbs checking out the latest properties to jostle for the real estate buyers prepared to pay top dollar. Onto the main roads noting the latest polished concrete cafes with the coolest hipsters who seem to have been purposefully placed in the window front to show how contemporary their establishment is.

We tooled through the backstreets of Auckland city, in the areas that once upon a time you wouldn’t go down in the clear light of day.  Now the streets that ten years ago courted prostitutes have pedestrianised roads, stylish bars and shop fronts inviting in locals and tourists alike.

Over the last five years my nights out on the town have most certainly come to a grinding halt, and since finishing with my corporate job Ive lost touched with the city landscape. And it appears things have changed quickly, so as we wound ourselves through Britomart I marvelled at the new Britomart Pavilions which have now been added to the ever improving Central Auckland Transport Hub. They seem to have developed so quickly and contain all manner of high quality fashion stores,  eating establishments and cool out door areas to relax in.

From there wI followed Lindsay as we headed north west along the city’s waterfront. We cycled up and down the various piers which are now home to a variety of establishments which today included amusement park rides and side shows beside the Cloud Pavilion, a temporary establishment where Aucklanders gathered to celebrate the Rugby World Cup.  Unfortunately the huge, brightly lit super cruise ship that we’d seen from the harbour bridge the night before had sailed, but it was a pleasant ride with the sun peeking through and the odd tourist ambling about.

We rode through the viaduct and across the draw bridge that now connects the separate sides of the viaduct harbour where tourists and locals alike gather to wine, dine and watch the array of super boats that moor in this ever changing part of the city. On the other side  of the draw bridge we rode through the recently established Wynyard quarter which used to be a short walk from our old home.  Even this landscape has vastly changed in the eighteen months since we lived her.  The dirty old silo’s and crumbling empty blocks are now being filled with buildings designed to breath a fresh air into the area, and the Silo’s are being decorated in all manor of styles with the area now representing a boho kind of cool in the inner city.

From there we found the second half of the Easter amusement park, and Lindsay reminisced about the fair ground ride pictured that he seems to think might be the same ride he took some twenty years ago.  My memories of it aren’t to pleasant as Lindsay likes to tell people that I get sick on a Merry Go Round!!!

On this rediscovery of the inner city, we finally cycled over to the Victoria Park Markets which are currently in the middle of an overhaul.  They are starting to sparkle again and there’s a bit of hope that this precinct will pick up once development is completed. There’s now a mixture of contemporary cafes amidst the old stores that still sell all types of smoking paraphernalia, hair braiding and hippy fashions.

Across the road the historic Birdcage pub is now back in place after it was shifted back about twenty meters to allow building of an underground motorway tunnel.  It was placed back on its new foundations where it has stood for 100 plus years, and it has now been stylishly redecorated and is open for business.

So then all that was required was to cycle the long slow ride up franklin road and along Ponsonby road which is once again a forever changing landscape with hip new furniture and clothing stores, and eateries opening all the time.

Lindsay talked of a time when he lived in the city as a student and was starting out his career, when there was barely a store to pick up even the lightest of refreshments.  A city on the edge of an amazing harbour that had for a time lost itself.  Now we both feel proud that our city is an exciting and interesting place to visit and there is such a variety of places to visit and things to do.  I think we might leave the city cycle for another year or so and see whats popped up then.

We finally tooled back through the suburbs, to discover our favourite coffee shop ‘Urania’ was closed. Instead we picked up some hot cross buns at the little french bakery around the corner from home, and headed back to a very excited Samson who’s always happy when we get back home.

After the last debacle when we tried to go mountain biking at Hunua, I felt another attempt was in order. Summer has been fantastic here, with warm sunny days just rolling on. Perfect level of warm too, not like the “heat dome” or whatever they’re calling it that’s burning Australia to a cinder.

This time around I was sure to triple-check the footwear packed in the car. No mistakes this time. Just a nice ride through the bush, fields and streams of the mountain bike trails at Hunua.

In the past, the trails were a mix of single-track through the bush, and gravel roads. Turns out that there’s been a fair bit of work done to build up some new trails, so where in the past you would have gone onto the gravel road, now you stay in the bush much longer. This is all good, but it does mean a LOT more riding if you’re doing the standard loop. At one point Anna “hit the wall”, and my life was only saved by an emergency infusion of raspberry liquorice logs. Things would have been very, very grim if I wasn’t carrying the right supplies. Lucky.

Very hot, and very tired by the time we made it back to the carpark. Perfect.

For our second day out on Nga Haerenga, we took on a different part of the network – the Waikato River Trails. This is a recently completed 100km section of trails that follow the Waikato River between Atiamuri and Arapuni. Quite different to the Hauraki Trails, these tracks started out as dedicated walking tracks, rather than the typical railway conversion.

This shows up clearly in places, and I was glad we took the full suspension mountain bikes. Many parts of the trails were smooth and wide, but there was plenty of steep bumpy ground, including a few places where pushing the bike was the only option – both uphill and downhill.

It’s a bit more of a drive from Auckland to the start of these trails, around 20km past Cambridge. I would have liked to do some riding near the Atiamuri end, but it would mean a pretty long day. Will have to do it as part of a weekend trip. Instead we started at the Pokaiwhenua Bridge Carpark end, rode along the trails for a few hours, then looped back via Arapuni.

While the Hauraki Trails had many, many cars, bikes and walkers in site, these trails were much quieter, and when we started, we were the only car in the carpark. The first 4km or so were well away from the river, on a gravel path next to the road. Later that day we saw a large family group riding along this section – I would advise against this. You’re better off driving to Little Waipa Domain, parking there, and then starting on the trails at the point they get nice. From Little Waipa to Arapuni is quiet tracks beside the river, with a few short climbs, and a 500m boardwalk included. It’s generally flat, until you get close to Arapuni, at which point it climbs a long way, as the river level changes because of the hydro station.

At Arapuni, you can head out across the suspension bridge, built in 1925 for workmen crossing from Arapuni village to work on the new power station. There’s something quite disconcerting about a long high bridge that waves up and down as you cross it. Wouldn’t want to be up there in high winds.

From the Arapuni village and suspension bridge, it’s around 2km of nice trails to the Arapuni Dam itself. This was some of the best riding, through pine trees, with high cliffs nearby, falling away to the far below river. From the dam onwards, the signs advise the next section is “for experienced riders only.” Well, I think I’m experienced…how hard could it be? This section starts out fantastically, more like a tight single-track, than the usual DoC-approved 4WD track they make cyclists ride. A few steep climbs & sharp corners, but nothing too much. Nice views too:

And then…it got tough. Not just a bit tricky, but slogs of pushing the bike uphill, through tight switchbacks. More of the same coming down. Not in the least insurmountable, but it would be tough if you had the whole family here for a gentle day out. No big drama, but don’t bring the kids here. We got to the camp ground at Jones Landing, and decided that would be far enough today. We’d been going for 2-2.5 hours, so it was time to turn around, to make sure we didn’t over-extend ourselves. That’s the problem with “out and back” rides.

Rather than push our bikes back up over the steep sections, we took the alternative 8km road route back to Arapuni. I wasn’t looking forward to riding on NZ roads, but these were quiet, predominantly downhill, with a tailwind, and fields full of wild flowers. I guess I can cope with that.

We had a little look around Arapuni before heading home. Arapuni village was built for the hydro dam workers. It’s now a quiet, pretty little town. From what I could make out, the old shops, mechanics and petrol stations had all closed down in the past. But now there’s signs of revival, with the Rhubarb Cafe opening up. Unfortunately they were on holiday the day we passed through, or they would have had a couple more customers. This sort of business opening up is the sort of thing that the cycle trails are meant to encourage – I hope they get sufficient custom to stay in business. They were the only business we saw in our whole day out, so they should get a few people stopping in.

Instead of a cafe, our last stop for the day was picnic table by the river. Could be worse.

 

In 2009, at a Jobs Summit, John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, promoted the idea of creating a national cycle trail, going the length of New Zealand. The idea was to create jobs during the building of the trails, and then attract tourism and money to New Zealand, in particular to small towns. Cycle tourists spend less per day than regular tourists, but they stay longer, so spend more overall. Apart from being a bit smelly, they are considered a good class of tourist to attract to a country.

Once people started looking at the practicalities of implementation, the goals shifted a little. Rather than just aiming for a trail the length of the country, the plan now is to have a network of trails around the country, known as “Nga Haerenga (The Journeys)”. There will be showpiece “Great Rides” which are almost entirely off-road, and they will be linked up by sign-posted rides on quiet back roads. The “Great Rides” tend to take in old railway lines, or Department of Conservation land. This means that the location and direction of each of the Great Rides is all over the place, so it’s going to be tough to get them to link up in any meaningful fashion. We also have few roads in this country, so there may not be any quiet back roads available.

Still, it’s a good start. Work has been proceeding all around the country, with some trails now fully open, others partly open, and others at the planning stages. I’m on summer holidays right now, so it seemed a good chance to check out some of the trails. After spending time with family, I was hoping to spend a week travelling around, doing some multi-day rides. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way, so instead we decided to do a few day trips from Auckland. Unfortunately most of the trails are some distance away, but we found a couple where we could plan it into a longish day’s trip, with a bit of driving.

The first trail we tried was the Hauraki Rail Trail. This follows old railway lines from Thames to Te Aroha via Paeroa. There is also a stub that runs from Paeroa to Waikino, via the Karangahake Gorge. Our plan was to drive to Paeroa, then ride from Paeroa to Waikino, back to Paeroa for lunch, then from Paeroa to Te Aroha and back, then return home the same day.

Paeroa is a small town, famous for the springs that produce the water that goes into “L&P”, a local soft drink. These days it’s a stopping point between Tauranga and Auckland, most famous for the number of antique shops. Apparently it was also the winner of the “2012 NZ Community of the Year.” I have no idea what that involves, but the town was buzzing when we went through. It’s about 120km from Auckland, so it was an easy 1.5 hour drive down.

We parked in the carpark near the rotunda and toilets, as you come in from the north on SH2. Tip here: Park near the trees, in a place where you will be shaded from the afternoon sun. Then the car is nice and cool when you come back all hot and sweaty.

After gearing up, we headed off through the town, and joined onto the trail to Waikino. This heads up through the Karangahake Gorge. The trail itself is generally a fairly wide gravel path, following the old railway line. After starting out across farmland, it then goes up through a fantastic winding gorge, past the old gold processing battery. Along the way, the trail passes through an 1100m tunnel. You can see the light at the far end, but it never seems to get any closer. About halfway through, I thought “Maybe I should make a joke about how dark it is in here with my sunglasses on?” I turned around to say something to Anna…only to realise she’d been wearing her sunglasses the whole way. We do wear photo-chromic sunglasses when on the bikes, but they don’t go all THAT clear. Good thing there were some lights through the tunnel.

This leg was very busy, with many walkers and cyclists out and about. Generally the trails are wide, so it’s no big deal, but you do need to watch where you’re going, and take care going around corners. We used our touring bikes, but a mountain bike would be fine too. You wouldn’t want to try it on very narrow tyres though. It’s 14km out to the Waikino railway station – good ice-creams and food here, I’m pleased to report. You can get the vintage train the next 7km to Waihi, if you want to push on to there. They are hoping to complete the bike trail through to Waihi – this would make for an interesting option for a two-day ride, going from Thames to Waihi, staying overnight, then riding Waihi -> Te Aroha.

The trail is pretty flat – it is an old railway line after all – but you do notice the slight downhill heading back to Paeroa. Heaps of traffic passing through town by this time. I was happy to be on the bike, and not stuck in a hot car.

I’ve never found any outstanding eating options in Paeroa, but the L&P Cafe wasn’t too bad. We stopped there for lunch, relaxing a bit, before heading out of town again, this time to Te Aroha. This section of trail follows an old railway line through farmland for 21km from Paeroa to Te Aroha. There were few riders on this section, and it’s understandable why, as it’s not as “exciting” scenery-wise, as the Waikino leg. The surface shows that it hasn’t had many riders, and in some places is a bit soft. But I’m pleased we did it.

It would have been nice to have had a little more time to explore Te Aroha, but we were a little pressed for time, so we just took a break from the hot sun, had a cold drink, and turned around to head back to Paeroa. Since it wasn’t so exciting, I took to counting the cattle grids we had to ride over – I counted 49 cattle grids. You get sick of bumping over those – would have been nicer to have had suspension then! We were pretty hot and tired by the time we got back to the car, for the drive home.

70km or so in the hot sun – a good day out. Here’s a few photos from the day