Hi,
For some reason (okay - many reasons) I have found myself in Tekapo many times in the past 2 years. Great weekends with friends to view the night sky, nights we were passing through and stayed to see the night skies, and just actually passing through to get further south and back again.
And every time I got glimpses of the Alps to Ocean bike trail and hankered after a cycling trip to do it too. 300km. All downhill from Aoraki to Oamaru. Yes? Well, not quite. But it totally looked fantastic and I wanted a piece of it.
After one such drive by, I happened to say to Maureen at work that I really want to do that bike trail. And she said me too. So we made it happen. Iona was always up for that sort of rollicking good time and sure enough, she threw her hat in the ring to come too. We targeted late March 2023 way back at the tail end of 2022. We did some preliminary checks on accommodation and bike hire back then. It all looked achievable. We booked our leave and secured accommodation (okay - Iona did most of that when I was over in Blenheim for Waitangi Day. You know, the weekend of the infamous foot incident of 2023). And before you knew it, it was late March and we were almost ready to do the thing!
Maureen didn't so much as up her training routine as just do a bit more on top of her already awesome fitness regime. Iona and I did a spin class! Yes, there was a disparity in conditioning. But Iona and I were up for the challenge and adding in the great leveller of.... an eBike. Maureen on pedal power. Iona and I using electrons in the way our mighty human ingenuity has given us to use.
Maureen is a machine and she wanted to do it initially over a day. I canned that as ludicrous immediately. Two days, she came back with. Three, I countered. We settled on that until Iona came in with a "let's get serious, 3 is never going to happen with me and Angela, how about 4?" approach. I tentatively approached Maureen with this slightly easier version of the A2O trail. She agreed (yes, I picked myself up off the floor and let Iona know the good news of only needing to ride 80km days instead of 100km ones!). I checked out bike hire places for eBikes for 4 days. They laughed. Said that sort of distances was for elite athletes only. And most people take 5 or 6 days.
I now scoff at you, bike hire place, showing off my elite athlete status back at home after doing the A2O in 4 days and realising it is possible to do it in 3. And this is with only 3 training rides around 55km length, commuting and some spin classes coming at ya! With training (okay, maybe not Maureen-level training, but some big rides and a better luggage carrying system for me) 3 days would be easy. With car support and no gear onboard, totally doable.
So, do not let anyone put you off with your goals that do not fit in their wee boxes they try and pigeonhole people into. You think you can do a thing, try that thing! Angela's wisdom duly dispensed!
What did we do in the end? Well. We did the Alps to Ocean bike trail in 4 days from March 23, 24, 25 and 26th. It is 300km from Tekapo to Oamaru. We got some good weather that made it even more fun. And the company was fantastic and the gear held up (mostly).
Because the bike hire places were rather unhelpful, I ended up with an eBike MTB for Christmas (thank you, Mike). A bottom of the line, bulletproof NCM Moscow Plus 27.5in bike. Iona borrowed a lovely full suspension MTB eBike 29in from Nicola (thank you, Nicola) LIV (I think it is a Giant offshoot) and Maureen flew down with her beautiful 29in MTB.
Mike helped me find the second pannier from the roof attic and I used a pannier rack that he had a few years ago for Queen Charlotte. So I was good to go.
Mike dropped me at the Bluebridge on Sunday morning, March 19 and I had an easy sailing (he has blogged about that and added pics). I worked from home in Blenheim Monday morning, and Tuesday saw me and Iona lash the bikes to the ute tray and head to Christchurch.
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| Lashed bikes |
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| Last minute training session Monday morning - Spin! |
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| Ready to head off |
We had a lovely drive to Chc, stopping at a cafe at Kekerengu just north of Kaikoura for a coffee. They do not do iced lattes. Shame because the location is top notch.
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| Cafe at Kekerengu |
We hit some rain and colder weather just north of Chc. And Chc itself was wet and cold. Not a lot of time in Chc though. A flying visit. Didn't even get a tour of Toby's new flat - but I did see it from the outside.
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| The Coachman |
Iona and I stayed in the wee unit at The Coachman, near Toby's old flat. It was clean and tidy - and cheap as chips. They let us bring in the bikes to the room to keep them safe. So they were out of the weather and we stopped them from dripping with blankets and things.
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| Toby driving |
I did go for a drive in peak hour traffic with Toby and he is so good with driving now compared to the last time he drove with me. I hope he gets some more practise in and gets his licence soon. Good on him.
We met up with Tessa and Toby and went to Poms for tea. Iona enjoyed it too. Probably should have stopped at the jalapeno cheese dip for food, to be honest. I did just have salad for my main - but was quite full by the end.
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| Dinner at Poms |
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| My son is so handsome |
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| Bikes in the wee room |
Back to the Coachman to sleep like a log. Then up to get away after a quick brekkie at Coffee Culture to collect Maureen from the airport and head away to Oamaru.
Maureen's flight was on time. She got her bike from oversized luggage in a fancy bike bag. We lashed her bike bag to the ute tray and I drove the van with Maureen as shotgun while Iona drove the ute.
We stopped in Timaru at Pique Nique cafe to meet Debbie from work. I got to see Jaxx in real life after only seeing pics of him. So good to chat to Debbie and pat Jaxx.
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| Hi wee Jaxx! |
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| Debbie tries to have both of us pose properly |
Continued onto Oamaru and found a good wee spot for the van on Tees St, not too far up a hill for ease of cycling access after slogging over 300km. Didn't want a big hill at the last of it.
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| Oamaru spot on Tees St |
Decanted from the van to the ute, and found a space for me in the back seat and away we were, off to Tekapo.
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| We're off in the ute |
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| Timaru Pique Nique iced latte |
We drove up SH83 after a detour from SH1 down some gravel back roads due to a tree toppled over near Oamaru. I scoped out the bike trail from the car as we sped by.
Got to Tekapo quite late in the afternoon and to my surprise, that wee valley across the lake from Tekapo was free from cloud. It usually has cloud in it and I want to go explore it one day.
We unpacked the ute and got our gear ready to start the bike ride the next day. We had a wee cabin (like last time with Iona and Mike) and then wandered into the village for something to eat. It was late by then - maybe 7.45pm. And there was a street food market on until 8pm (it runs every Wed evening) so we got some burgers. They made me a special vege one.
Gobbled that down and headed back to bed.
Up early to a frosty start. A bit of frost on the windscreen that needed some de-icing before I could drive it to the long term car park behind the holiday park.
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| Sunrise on our first day |
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| Almost ready to head away |
We rode with jackets on (all of us) and gloves, beanies and tights (the softer pair of Maureen and Iona, obvs) to the Greedy Cow cafe for brekkie to start off our day right. Once my fingers thawed inside the warm cafe (okay, Iona and Maureen were right to wear lots) we had delicious food and an iced latte.
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| Greedy Cow delicious iced latte |
Iona had to faff around with her frame bag this morning. It was hard to fit into the frame space. She got good at making it fit the night before and each and every morning from then on was so slick!
Iona and Maureen's bike attracted attention from other cyclist types as we watched from the cafe. No one gave my lovely bike a second look - and I am kinda glad about that. They will not steal my bike when other nicer bikes are around.
We headed off around 8.30am to a brisk, but already warmer, clear day. This day was 93km to Ohau and the lodge there. Pretty much the only accommodation. It was pretty flat terrain all day and we missed any horrendous head winds that this section can cop.
After the heady distance of about 3km I had my first gear failure. The clip on one pannier had totally come off. Maureen gamely went back across the last wee bit of bumpy gravel road to try and find it. But not surprisingly was unsuccessful at finding a 5cm piece of black plastic on the lumpy road. However the two bungees came in handy once more and I bungeed my panniers on and it made it much better immediately.
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| Riding between Tekapo and Twizel |
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| Lovely colours |
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| I see a salmon! |
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| My bike and the others in the distance, getting rid of layers |
Past salmon farms, canals of brilliant blue, snowy Aoraki peeking out above all the surrounding mountains, weirs, lakes. Lots of things to see. Seagulls and shags so far from the coast, attracted by the salmon farms. There was a terrific downhill on bitumen from the tops of the canals down to Twizel's level. I made it up to 62 km/hr until I looked down at my front axle and wondered why it was making an unusual sound. And then noticed the front quick release just dangling in the whipping wind from the high speed I was doing. Gulp! Quick stop to tighten that up. And let my heart rate settle back to something approaching normal.
We stopped at Twizel for lunch and I bought 3 t shirts for us all. Souvenirs. The iced latte there was not good. Burnt the coffee I reckon. But it was good to chill out after 50km of riding and recharge our batteries. I may have had a cheese roll. The start of many cheese roll samplings I gamely committed to over the next few days.
I applied some blue zinc to my face while at the cafe to ensure I didn't get any sunburn. I turned to Maureen and Iona and asked if I looked like a Smurf. They both dissolved into giggles and laughter and said no. The photos prove otherwise!
We left Twizel at 1.15pm and headed out to the lake from there along a back road. Some of the houses were stunning and on huge sections with views to the alps.
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| My burnt iced latte |
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| Do I look like a Smurf? |
We wondered if our eBikes would need a top up at lunch times. But by this stage neither of our bikes had even dropped a bar of strength. So no top up charge needed. We did do a lot of that first 50km on zero or 1 level assist. I used it a bit more trying to keep up with the 29in wheels on the road sections and only dropped one bar of juice by the time we got to Ohau lodge for the afternoon.
We finished at 4pm. I have never been to Lake Ohau and I do not know why because it was stunning. Majestic peaks. Blue lake. Lovely trail. I especially liked the dam and weir portion of the ride around the edge of the lake. We could see the charred trees from a serious bushfire a few years ago. No sign of the terrible floods that washed out roads though. They must have got those sorted. Or at least, where we were was fixed.
Ohau lodge is so good. They are friendly and the service is so attentive. They have a wee Caltex fuel station with a few bowsers. We did laundry ($2 a wash and the same for drying cycles) after we showered. We got dinner and brekkie and it was all delicious.
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| Ben Ohau |
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| Finished the first day |
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| There's our room! |
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| Maureen and I admire the fuel onsite |
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| Lots of mushrooms on this trail |
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| We check the lake out |
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| Dinner at the lodge |
The front desk told us 7pm for dinner. But later we found out it was 7.30. Maureen was ready to eat her own arm by then. She was starving.
As we waited at an empty table to be seated, I started taking notes for my blog. Got absorbed in my phone while Maureen sat to my left and Iona to my right. As I typed, they both got up to check on laundry, check on when the table might be ready and get drinks. Maureen even asked me what I wanted to drink. I was good though. But eventually I noticed a what's app text that said to look up at a table to my right. I did. And saw I was alone and Iona was sitting at a table already. How did that all happen without me noticing? Super focused, that's how. I sheepishly joined Iona.
We ate dinner with Barb and Ian from Tetjaune near Jaspar in Canada. They get away for awesome holidays on bikes often, by the sound of it. Warm Showers is a website that cyclists use to find places that open their houses to other cyclists. Ian and Barb are on that in Tetjaune and use it here a lot.
We loved quite a few things about day 1. Swooping on the single track sections. The brilliant colours of the canals and high country. The movement of water in canals and lakes. Aoraki peeking out. Maureen rated the Greedy Cow brekkie. Yes, so do we all! Visit The Greedy Cow in Tekapo if you're ever passing through or staying and want a marvellous breakfast.
Our room at the lodge was good. 2 2-bunk single beds and a massive bathroom. Room 47. Lots of power points to recharge batteries. We brought our bikes into the giant bathroom overnight.
This was my worst sleep of the trip. Off and on all night. But I felt okay in the morning despite only getting broken sleep.
We got a cooked brekkie at 7.30 from the lodge. Good scrambled eggs for me and Iona. Good full brekkie for Maureen.
Away just after 8.15am for the 11 km gentle climb up to our 950m high point. It was slightly overcast and there was a prospect of rain. But it never eventuated. We had a gentle climb for about 6km up a beautiful path getting better and better views of the sun starting to get higher in the sky and peek under the cloud layer. Ben Ohau rising at its iconic 45 degree angle from the lake with sun and cloud layers in an intricate pattern of beauty.
This is where the eBikes came in handy. I had mine on level 1 assist for the entire uphill section and it made it a doddle. After the 6km mark (or thereabouts) it got a little steeper. But still nothing to worry about on an eBike. The path meandered around making it a gentle gradient the entire way. I got a bit in front (Iona hung back to ride with Maureen) and stopped to climb a bank above the track for some awesome video of the others climbing up.
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| Iona and Maureen and the stunning lake |
I soon saw both of them stopped on a far corner. I could hear them talking as there was no wind. I could see Maureen pumping up her front tyre. Then she got on and told Iona she would push up to the top, about 1km away. Then she rode under where I was standing, spotted me and told me the same thing. Yep, I said.
Then Iona came up, spotted me and told me that Maureen had a puncture and would stop at the top to sort it out. Yep, I said.
Climbed back down to the path and headed up to the top. Maureen was finding the hole in her tyre as I approached. Yep - I spat on it and left a gooby mess on her tyre. Hahah. Hardly needed as the hole was obvious when I put my face closer to the tyre. A wee nick. And Maureen had tubeless tyres. Lucky it was the front one and not as much a faff.
Maureen had this tubeless tyre repair kit that was called Stans darts. However, she had never used it before. Her 28 day trip on TA had no punctures at all! So I pulled up a YouTube video and we both watched it then tackled her tyre. To no avail. I do not know why it didn't work. It was a tiny nick. You couldn't see any defect in the inside surface. But we tried two darts. Maureen tried one and I tried another. And we broke both and failed miserably to insert it into the hard rubber of the tyre.
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| Scene of the puncture repair |
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| At the high point of our entire trail |
Let me just say at this point, at various times in the past, learning a new skill immediately, necessitated a YouTube video session. Wearing a sari. Folding fitted sheets like a pro. Filleting a fresh trout. All these things come to mind. I wore jeans instead of the sari in the end, because after many watches, Mike declared me dressed. Stepped back to behold his sari-wearing wife, and I jumped up and down once on the spot and ended up with pools of fabric at my feet and in my underwear. Which - you know - could be romantic. But was not, as I was expected at a function in less than an hour by this point. The fitted sheet folding was like some magical thing. We watched and watched. Paused. Followed along. And I swear at some point, sleight of hand was used and the sheet was folded like a boss on the screen. And a ball of mess in our laps. Nope. Cupboard still looks like a dogs breakfast. But we did fillet the trout successfully.
Stan's darts? No. Not happening. Anyway...
Maureen decided to stick a spare tube in and we were not too long away and enjoying the fantastic long single track downhill on the other side. Ian and Barb had passed us as we just finished with the tyre. But they pulled over a few kms down and let us whiz by. I loved this section - it was possibly my favourite piece of the trail. I just wish my pannier rack would not move around. I had to stop twice on this fast section to pull it away from my tyres. As I bounced, it would hit the wheel and make a noise. But I was hopeful the next bump would push it in the opposite direction away from the wheel and fix itself. It didn't always do that and I had to stop and adjust it.
But we got to some old shed before too long and had about 15km on a deep gravel road. One of my least favourite sections, to be honest. And we had about 3 or 4 cars on this section - one of which rode fast by us. We got to the seal and turned to watch Iona negotiate the last 30m of gravel and that rude driver was returning. She sailed past Iona at a great speed and was on her phone. Maureen gave the universal slow-down wave and the driver saw it and waved back! So, for a second, that driver had no hands on the wheel as she hurtled by two cyclists.
Oh well.
This is where we happily did not divert off for the 7km side trip to the Clay Cliffs behind Ōmarama. Maureen and I checked each other: want to do that?
And kept on riding.
Iona chuckled to herself from her 20m distance behind us and also carried on after us. Anyway, there were versions of the clay cliffs in miniature all over this trail. The refrain became: "You want to see these clay cliffs? Nah, seen some already". We then got onto a nice wee bit of track before Ōmarama beside a wee stream. I liked that part.
Then into Ōmarama proper for lunch at the Oasis cafe. I may have consumed a cheese roll. And a V.
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| Tasman Fuels next to the cafe |
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| Bikes surround our cafe table |
It was good I ate that and was fueled by V and cheese (is there anything better, I ask you) because the next section was another cracker. The track hugged the shores of Lake Benmore and was a great crushed limestone surface. We did meet a few more other cyclists on this next section between Ōmarama and Otematata. I can understand why. A decent length, great surface, easy access by road to either end and just beautiful. The working farm must have taken a bit of negotiation to secure the trail through it. Well done to all that effort to get it built.
We went through a campground at some point before we got to the farm section and into a series of wee stream beds. Iona had spotted some other cyclists eyeing us up as we merrily hurtled down this part of the track. With hindsight we know that they wondered why we were happily cycling into a detour section. But we missed any sign of that.
We came to a fast flowing, narrow stream with no bridge across at all. Which was weird because the entire track is so well maintained that you barely need to get off at any time for the whole 300km. The stream was probably well over my knees in depth too. And handily had two narrow planks plonked across the stream.
So Maureen held her bike on one side of her body and scampered across the planks. I approached with some trepidation, wondering how I could possibly emulate that feat with my fully laden heavy eBike. A dead lift - maybe. But a one-armed side lift while perched on bendy narrow planks and trying to shuffle forwards? Not even in my wildest fitness dreams could I do that.
But Maureen came back across the planks a wee way, and I manhandled my bike onto the planks and pushed it out towards her outstretched hands. Between the two of us, we managed to negotiate the plank. Then Maureen went back to help Iona - who managed the whole thing from her end with a lot more grace than I could scrape together. Hahahah.
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| The plank crossing |
It was very exciting. We then came across a decent bridge for the cycle trail - but with red tape across the far end and a cardboard sign hanging on it. We ducked under this tape and sign and looked back to read it: Track closed due to washout.
Oh. That was why those cyclists Iona saw were watching us carefully (read: astonished) as we cycled obliviously into the washout section. But we were fine - thanks to Maureen's experience. And muscles. And balance.
The scenery in this next section was craggy and steep with the blue lake a great counterpoint to the browns. We entered the working farm here. It was steep in places but nothing technical. And again, using level assist 1 was ideal on the uphill sections.
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| Benmore in the distance on the approach |
I think we all agreed that this day was the best across the entire trail. Maureen's highlights were everything on this day. Except for her puncture, the gravel road section and how she stopped for a wee behind a convenient bush twice, and always 2 mins before a real toilet. Hahahah.
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| Benmore |
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| Riding |
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| Beautiful views |
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| Iona looking like a champ! |
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| Selfie. She's so tall! |
Iona's highlights in this section included coming through the Benmore rocks and all the water views and the downhill from Ohau. Yep - I concur.
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| Maureen climbs some crags |
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| Gets to the top |
As I ascended the next uphill section, I came around a curve to find a chap barrelling down towards me. Yes, I was on his side of the track - but it was the clear part of the track so everyone was on that side. And Maureen had mentioned there were cyclists behind her as she rode by him up higher. He gave me a fright and I squeaked as I pulled over to my side. It wasn't close - just unexpected to encounter someone going much faster than me.
Not long after him, two other chaps descended as I still headed up. Turns out these guys were needed further up the track.
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| Almost at the dam |
Close to the end of our section (but before we could see the dam - so maybe two more hills to negotiate) we met two women struggling up a hill to where we were checking out the views. One of them was on an old eBike. If you imagine a Raleigh 20 with a motor you would get a good impression of what this bike looked like. And its motor had decided to stop working. So she was on dirt hills with a bike with minimal gears and no electrons!
We tried to help her (I suggested a reboot - I am in IT after all). Her companion said she would ride on to catch the two men that passed us earlier. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen any time soon. They were well in front. The reboot did nothing so the woman just sat down in the sun and said she would wait for her men folk to get back as one had promised to swap bikes should hers fail. I hope she was not there too long.
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| Maureen looks down on Benmore dam and Otematata in the distance |
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| Rocklands at Otematata |
I had one bar left at this stage as I descended from the dam into Otematata. Lucky Otematata was so close. But I had used level 1 for quite a lot of today. The big Ohau uphill. A bit on the road sections. And the uphills in the craggy hills. So I was pretty happy with the battery. It was a long day. 80km on my Strava.
We got to the Otematata Eatery and Iona and Maureen got us checked in. Our rooms were great - obviously in the process of getting renovated because we had adjoining rooms with a connecting door. But Maureen's room had a fancy new bathroom to enjoy with her spacious double bed. And Iona and I had a shower and bathroom from the early 70s with our two single beds.
There was even a Pye radio built into the wall in every room. Nothing broadcasting on the 4 channels though. Maybe Friday night was not a radio station night.
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| Latest in modern technology, circa 1971 |
Because of the great famished incident the night before at Ohau lodge, we were pretty early into the pub for our tea, I have to say. We got loaded fries, minus the bacon, to start. Mmmm. With gravy. Mmmm. And I had the mushroom pasta with a delicious sauce. Iona got the poke bowl and it looked pretty good. Maureen got something - but I only had eyes for my pasta.
Into bed not long after that. We had sussed out the brekkie options because the accommodation only did dinners. 8am at the bakery across the road (they had coffee) or some coffee carts miles away on the other end of town. Or so we were told.
Anyway - we went to bed. I chatted to Mike. And he sent me a link to say the aurora was approaching storm levels and probably visible to the naked eye as far south as we were. I got out of bed, pulled my parka on over my sleep shorts and put my cleat shoes back on and padded out with Iona to the park over the road. But it was totally cloudy. No sign of any aurora. Just our luck! That would have been magically epic! I did take a photo of the night sky. Imagine, if you will, a completely black picture. That is evidence of a cloudy sky at night. No need to add it in here - I am sure you can all envisage it exactly.
We wandered back and I was asleep in seconds. Iona on the other hand did not sleep as well.
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| Bakery at Otematata |
Up early - Maureen had a shower so she could fully maximise the luxury of her brand new bathroom. We were away by 7.56am and at the bakery a minute later across the road. It was open already and we had some light brekkie (I had a bacon and egg muffin and Maureen happily consumed my bacon!) and Iona and Maureen got a coffee and then we were off up to the dam. Iona also wants it known that she ate hot cross buns and banana in some taste sensation that will not occur in my presence if I can at all avoid it. The coffee cart mentioned last night by the bakery as being way over the other end of town was 200m if that from the bakery. Not far at all! But we did not stop.
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| Look at the size of these pipes! |
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| Yep - those are big! |
Headed back past the rockery and wetlands to the hill up to the dam. Probably 5km to the base of the dam. Another km and we were up on top of it and looking out over Otematata. My grandparents lived here in the 60s when they came over to NZ. Grandad did something around the dam construction. Not sure what. It was commissioned in 1965 and is a mighty earthen dam wall.
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| Looking back over Otematata from the dam |
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| Riding over the dam |
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| Dam lake |
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| Dam wall |
This day (day 3) was the day of the dammed. No, wait. The day of the dams. We crossed and saw so many today. 4? Benmore. Aviemore. Waitaki. And maybe I made up a 4th one. We had seen more in the previous two days - maybe that is what confused me there.
The section from Benmore dam to Aviemore was on tarsealed road. And I have to say, it was a tad boring. Iona and Maureen were cruising along on their 29 inch wheels and my wee legs were going much faster on my 27.5ers. Well, that is my excuse anyway. I used a lot of level 2 assist to keep them within cooee.
This side of Aviemore lake was very quiet with so many campgrounds with permanent looking caravans. I can see the appeal. Quiet. Lake. Fishing. But not a lot else to do. As we stopped to check in with each other, Iona asked me if I saw the apple tree she spotted earlier. No, I said, disappointment coursing through me as I love a good wild fruit tasting. And my melancholy gaze drifted away from Iona's hopeful face to the far distance of the lake as I struggled through my overwhelming sadness, only to discover my eyes alighting on a burgeoning apple tree full of red, super scrumptious looking apples.
"Oh, like that tree there?" I asked Iona, pointing with barely contained glee.
We wandered over and I started picking and eating apples. This was the best tree! So yummy. You could sell these. I put some in my bag for later.
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| Deep stream |
We also poked our nose into Deep Stream picnic spot to have a wee look. Looks like a nice place to camp, under the No Camping sign.
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| On Aviemore dam |
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| Who needs a buoy? See what I did there? |
Continued to the Aviemore dam wall, where Iona was in front and gesturing wildly to her left as we approached it. Couldn't see anything - maybe there was glass? But no. When we got to the dam wall to take pics, she asked excitedly if we'd both seen the dead wallaby? Because she clearly signalled the excitement.
Oh. Best pay more attention when Iona gestures from her bike next time.
We crossed the dam and got onto crushed limestone trail and stopped at a ruined hotel to take pictures. Some chap at the bakery where we ate brekkie (including the hot cross banana option) told us it was a good place to stop and take photos in the window frame where he has taken many pics of grandchildren. So we did just that!
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| Maureen and me captured in the ruined window frame |
I enjoyed the ride on the limestone trail to Kurow. The weather was again kind to us - warm, no wind and no rain. We had lunch here at a wee cafe opposite the Speights pub. I might have had a cheese roll. Okay - I had two. This trip could be renamed the "Cheese roll tour of A2O". Iced latte was good although it came with ice cream in it. More an iced coffee than an iced latte.
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| Kurow cafe |
Iona was organising our pick up for the Glenmac farmstay that night and chatting to Kay (the owner) on the phone while we sat outside at the cafe table. The group next to us overheard and came to chat because they were staying there too.
Oddly for me and Maureen (Iona had ducked back into the cafe), this group had just left their accommodation over the road at the Speights pub, and were having lunch and then riding to our farmstay after a pick up from the winery just down the road by Kay. So, maybe they were riding 12km in total. I was very confused and thought they must be taking weeks to ride the 300km trail at that rate. But later at the accommodation, Kay explained they had walked up the hill behind Kurow that morning as a change of pace and activity from riding. Ahhhh.
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| Blackberry |
We left Kurow and I enjoyed the riding through paths cut through gorse, broom and blackberry patches. Every time we stopped, I browsed the blackberries. We passed our third dam of the day; Waitaki. Tiny compared to the others.
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| Waitaki dam |
We biked through to Otikaieke then backtracked to Otieke to ride up to the main road and Gard Road for a pick up from Keith (Kay's husband). We sat in the sun (Maureen and Iona chatted to the local farmer digging a big trench for a pipe) and only waited 5 mins before Keith turned up with his ute and a cage on the back tray.
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| In the cage! |
We had to heave the bikes up over our heads so Keith could grab them and pop them into the cage. Iona and Maureen stood in the back to hold onto everything so we had no carnage. I rode in the cab with Keith. We got up to the farm, maybe 5 km from the main road - up a gravel road. We met Kay and Jet, their cute black lab. She was so friendly. But she did disappear before dinner. Maybe she is a pest when you eat - because she was certainly a pleasure hound.
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| Hey Jet! |
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| Dirty |
Our room was used as a bit of a storeroom - it was a sleepout just out the back. Next to the water pump - which annoyed Iona and Maureen a bit. It had a double bed and a single bed (and a rollout bed and a portacot). I shared the bed with Iona and Maureen took the single.
The other group had arrived by the time we unpacked and got our bikes in the garage. We got all our showers in before they had truly arrived. The bathroom had a floor that sank as you walked over it - hidden under 2 bathmats. And the roof of the house looked like it might be quite sieve-like in a decent rain. It started to lightly drizzle at this point too once I had finished my shower - but not heavy enough for us to worry about any compromised roof. This drizzle was weather that would remain with us for most of the following day. But still not windy or cold.
Ash was also staying and doing some fishing. Turns out he lives in Peregian Beach. Lucky him. I might see him in a few weeks.
Big dinner. Chops. Sausages. Shepherd's pie. So I ate a lot of mash and salad and roast vegetables. All very nice. With pear crumble for dessert.
Off to bed. Slept well. What water pump?
Highlights for day 3 included Maureen being in Kurow, birthplace of Richie McCaw. But no statue yet - she is tempted to contribute to their GiveALittle to save up to get one! Hahahah. And her double shower to start the day. Iona loved watching Maureen riding through the stream crossings during day 3. And her dead wallaby sighting just before the brutalism architecture of the Aviemore dam wall. The apple tree I found when we were stopped was also a highlight.
Yep - in total agreement with these highlights.
Now I run out of carefully curated notes. So I am just totally making up day 4 from my memory. Let's see. We wake up to the soothing noise of the water pump kicking in for the other group's early departure time (they had a shuttle to meet in Oamaru). So up we got and packed up and wandered in to get brekkie. My day was powered by two Weetbix.
We headed off at 8am in the overcast conditions with a slight misty drizzle. We rode down to the main road and then on the SH83 for a bit until we joined the trail at our furthest point from the day before. Rode up to the Maori Rock drawings just before Duntroon for a good look at those. They have changed a lot since I visited with Mike and his dad in the late 90s. Well fenced, good plantings and lots of informative signs. You can see the damage caused by museums carving out some of the best examples for their displays.
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| Pou at the rock drawings |
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| Looking at the drawings |
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| Well fenced now |
Back on the trail and through the Duntroon wetlands and to the Flying Pig cafe. Which I am going to have to call out as our best cafe since the Greedy Cow. Seems fair. Cows. Pigs. Anyway, the young chap on the register was friendly with a lovely smile. And I ordered a cheese roll and an iced latte. Both delicious. And because our lunch was destined to be in the middle of nowhere, Iona and Maureen had got some good looking sandwiches to take. I wandered over to look at the options, but they all had meat in them. I was contemplating buying one and taking out the meat when the cafe owner/manager asked me if i was okay as she had her break and a cuppa. I mentioned I was vegetarian and she said they could make me a sandwich. I got the best looking egg sandwich.
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| Cute ice cubes |
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| Flying pig iced latte and cheese roll |
We left there and I was happy to put it on my list of places to visit should I ever be passing by.
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| Rakis rail tunnel |
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| Egg sandwich deliciousness lunch spot |
From there we headed up the last of our big hills before we hit the sea. Elephant rocks (which we looked at from afar), up and down dale. We had some uphill zigzags to negotiate. And as I waited for Iona to get up, I decided to take off my sunnies as they were covered in misty drizzle and made it hard to see. I straddled the bike and twisted to get my backpack off. As I did that, I put my hand on the handlebar and accidentally pushed my throttle down. My bike shot off from between my legs and mowed me down. Fortunately (huh??) I was next to a farm gate and my bike went nowhere. Except it did give me a good shunt and I have some bruises to show and a lesson to learn (do not just put your hand blindly on the handlebars).
A wee washout had us on a road for 15m before re-joining the path. As I pushed my bike up onto the trail, I noticed my handlebars were loose! Tightened those and was glad it did not happen on a fast downhill anywhere. More gear failures. But not majors.
We came up to the tunnel and stopped to turn on our lights. Then through Rakis tunnel (only time I needed my lights) and down into flat land for the final push through Weston and into Oamaru.
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| End of the A2O |
There it was! All done in 4 days. My elite athlete status secured. The most excellent trail ride. Not technical at all. And not sore at all (except for bruises coming from the accidental throttle incident). Would I do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. But I want to use pedal power over a slightly longer period. Maybe 6 days by pedal power. And if we had vehicle support - not much gear so I could really go fast on those downhills.
Iona and Maureen were fantastic companions on this merry adventure. Maureen is still talking to me, so that seems to be a bonus result! :-) Didn't scare her off.
We rode up to Tees St and found the van unscathed. We took a while fitting the 3 bikes into the van. I pushed the seat right to the back and put small things into the boot space. We bungeed the bikes and used blankets to protect them from rubbing.
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| Van full of bikes |
Things to learn for future rides:
Get a better gear system
You do not need more clothes. Washing every night worked a treat. The only item I did not use was my tights.
Cheese rolls work well
The eBike battery can last for 80 - 90km fairly easily. On easy terrain, with favourable winds and little gear, you could get 130km range on its lowest assist level.
I need a better shirt to keep sun off my neck. The Camelback worked great but pulled my shirt down. My buff didn't cover that easily.
I need to drink more water through the day. My 2 litres did me for 3 days. Maureen replaced her 2 litres every night.
Be careful with meeting anything like buses or flights after a long day of riding. Extra stress if you get held up. Book things with that in mind.
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| At the end |
So, what next? We drove up to St Andrews on SH1, headed inland through Cave to Tekapo. Grabbed the ute. Maureen dismantled her bike and packed it into her bike bag. Drove to Chc airport. Got there at 8.30pm. Left Maureen at the Novotel for her flight the next morning. Filled up the ute, left the van with Toby and drove to Blenheim. No traffic at all to speak of. One vehicle from Cheviot to Kaikoura. Got into Blenheim at 2am. A sleepy hello from Col from the depths of her duvet and a shower and crawl into bed secured the deal!
Thank you to everyone that helped make this such a great adventure. Col and the ute (and letting Iona come and play with me). Mike and my bike - thanks for that! Maureen for being such a good sport about the silliness Iona and I can sometimes exhibit. Nicola for the loan of her lovely bike. And general encouragement from anyone we chatted to in the lead up to the actual ride itself. Thank you.
Epic! So good. Want to join me on the next one?
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