van der merwes blog site

Date: Friday 1 March 2013
Route: Tokarahi to Ranfurly
Distance: 72km
Weather: Clear and warm in morning, clouding over with headwind in afternoon
Accommodation: Old Post Office Backpackers – recommended

Today was the toughest day so far. We knew Danseys Pass would present a challenge and it certainly did. Around 46km of the ride was on unsealed roads – from before the pass until just before Naseby.

We stopped at a lavender farm before the pass proper (after about 20km). One can smell the lavender from the gate. Evidently the climatic conditions are just right for lavender and they make award winning oil, on a small scale. We bought some lavender ice cream which tasted fragrant and tangy.

The pass proper was really steep on unpaved road with lots of loose stones and rocks. We ended up pushing the bikes up the main climb. By this time it was around midday and the sun was very hot overhead.
It was very quiet on the pass. We must have passed about 15 cars the whole time. It is a terrible road for cars as well – most were 4 wheel drive. In a lot of the places there is not enough space for two cars to pass each other. On the pass proper the cars were going so slowly they tended to stop and talk with us. No other bicycles.

Even when we got to the other side on the downhill, it was still slow going. This is because it was so steep and the road so bad we had to go down very carefully. We were lucky not to get any punctures or break spokes. Our average speed for the day on the odometer was 11km/hour – very slow.

There is a hotel and pub at the bottom of the pass, with nice garden, but we decided to push on. The road thankfully flattened out (around 40km into the ride) – however it remained a gravel road with many corrugations and loose rocks. There were also a few more climbs which were difficult as I was really worn out.

I sure was glad to see that tar at Naseby. We had a quick look at the (very cute) town and then flew into Ranfurly (14km) – against a headwind, but no gravel!

We love our accommodation at the Old Post Office Backpackers. On arriving I discovered I have worked with one of our hosts, Suzy de Louw, some years ago at HNZC in Wellington. She and her partner have had a radical change in lifestyle by moving down here. We are the only guests here tonight, so it was comfortable making a meal (steak) in the kitchen and sitting watching the news in the lounge.

Laurie found us here (we made enquiries at the campground earlier), and we accompanied him to the pub so he could get a meal and to watch some rugby. The pub had a real community feel to it. Ladies from the church were running a raffle for foodbanks, so we bought a couple of tickets. We were happy to win some home baking – date loaf and biscuits.
Kris and Laurie took advantage of the reasonably priced beer.

Date: Thursday 28 February 2013
Route: Omarama to Tokarahi
Distance: 106km
Weather: high cloud in morning, very hot in afternoon
Accommodation: Tokarahi Homestead Bed & Breakfast

A highlight of today was a detour we took to see the Benmore dam and then a quiet ride on the road circling Lake Aviemore. The main motorway goes on the other side of the lake – so we were only passed by about two cars the whole way around. The lakes are bright blue, and the fields and mountains are brown. The Benmore dam has the second largest hydro power station in NZ. We were surprised to find that the dam wall is made of earth – 110 metres high! There were many camping grounds around the lakeshore. The wind drove waves onto the shore, making it sound like the sea. We travelled over a smaller dam wall (Lake Aviemore) to get back onto the main road. This wall evidently has a ladder for Salmon to climb over (didn’t see it though). The final dam wall we passed was Lake Waitaki, this was one of the first dams built in NZ – between 1928-1934.

As we travelled down the Waitaki River, the country side became greener as a result of irrigation. It was totally brown and dry in Omarama, but we gradually passed some vineyards, then orchards and finally dairy farms. We stopped to buy some food at Kurow and some fruit at an orchard.
We also couldn’t resist a coffee at the Flying Pig cafe in Duntroon – the last town before our turnoff.

Our bed and breakfast is 13km off the motorway in the direction of Dansey’s Pass (tomorrow’s destination). This is the most expensive place we have stayed so far. The homestead was built in 1876 and has been restored with antique wall paper. Our room, at the front of the house, has a fireplace and a 5 metre high ceiling with decorative mouldings. We also have a ball and claw bath that I look forward to using later. It was extremely hot when we arrived at around 2.30pm, and the first thing I noticed was how cool it is inside. The house is made of stone and is surrounded by a porch.

Date: Wednesday 27 February 2013
Route: Tekapo to Omarama
Distance: 103km
Weather: clear and sunny, heat wave in afternoon
Accommodation: motel unit at Top 10 Holiday Park

Today was one of our best rides so far. We knew it would be hot,so we left early at about 8.45am. We made good progress – we had an hour stretch where we could almost maintain 30km per hour, as it was a gentle decline.

Unfortunately we couldn’t ride along the canal between Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, due to construction/ restoration work being done on the canals. The whole day was through barren alpine scenery – with the Alps in the background.

Lake Pukaki is an unearthly turquoise colour with the Alps as a backdrop.
We found our way onto the canal road at the outlet of Lake Pukaki and kept to it until Lake Ruataniwha. The road was extremely quiet with some anglers along the canal and not too many cars. I highly recommend this route for cyclists.

We rejoined the main road at Twizel. Apart from a stop at a salmon farm, we had a straight run into Omarama. We arrived after 1pm, just as the heat was building up. It is almost unbearably hot outside this afternoon.

Omarama is a very small town, mainly a tourist stop over. I was surprised to meet Laurie again while doing the washing in the camp laundry. It was good to catch up again. I made a pasta dinner, Laurie brought along a bottle of red wine, so we had a good shared meal again.

Date: Tuesday 26 February 2013
Route: Fairly to Tekapo
Distance: 43km – and another 2km around town
Weather: high cloud in morning, hot in afternoon
Accommodation: Parkhead Motel – recommended for lakeside view

Today was another relatively short ride, and so we started late again at around 10am.
We had some atmospheric mist in the morning, but thereafter perfect conditions, if a little hot towards the middle of the day. We are now into Mackenzie country and the scenery is beautiful.

We stopped at an artists studio at Kimbell and had an interesting discussion. After a while, Kris ended up offering to help artist Lloyd Harwood to set up a new website for the gallery, which Lloyd promptly accepted. The idea is that Kris would coach Lloyd into managing the website himself.
Shortly thereafter Kris broke the second spoke of the trip – which took about an hour at the side of the road to fix.

Then onto Burkes pass – not as much of a challenge as Lewis Pass, but a long steady climb none the less. We felt we had had our exercise by the end of it. Once we got down to the other side the plain really opened up and we had spectacular scenery with the Alps in the background all the way into Lake Tekapo.

The lake is just as stunning as I remember it. Our motel is well sited on the road going past the Church of the Good Shephard, with classic views of the lake. Nice big room with all the facilities too (and he let us use his washing machine).

All Kris’s nuts have now been cracked! – we spent about an hour at the lakeside cracking the last of the hazelnuts – using stones from the lake shore.

We had a picnic type supper on our porch after examining the local restaurants – they cater for tourists (more $) and we decided we could eat better from the supermarket. Since then just been spending time watching the lake – the light over the mountains, cloud formations and colour of the water are constantly changing.

Date: Monday 25 February 2013
Route: Geraldine to Fairly
Distance: 48km – and another 2km around town
Weather: overcast and cool in morning, sunny in afternoon
Accommodation: Fairly Holiday Park motel cabin – too close to road!

Today was a shorter ride, but very much up and down. We left late after a lie in at 10am, and it took us 3 hours to get here. We had a few steep climbs and downhill runs on the way. The countryside was rolling hills – we are well out of the Canterbury Plains now and entering MacKenzie country. There is a statue of James MacKenzie in Fairly main street – he was the first European person to cross this country. He also stole 1,000 sheep from one of the biggest farmers in the area at the time.

The ride today was marred by the fact there was too much traffic for the windy road, not enough room for bicycles, and it can be dangerous. I would not recommend this road to bicycle tourists (however there are no real alternative routes).

The highlight of the day was our stop at Valley Brewing Co about 10km outside of Fairly. We saw the brewery and stopped to see if we could buy some beer for tonight. The cafe and shop were closed, but the owner was there and gifted us some bottles of beer. An excellent Pale Ale (strong hops) and a gorgeous Red Ale (called Muster). Very hearty and natural tasting – great craft beer.

Date: Sunday 24 February 2013
Route: Methven to Geraldine
Distance: 70km to Geraldine – and another 14km around town
Weather: sunny and clear
Accommodation: Geraldine Holiday Park cabin – excellent location and value.

We had huge rooms and wooden floors in our accommodation on top of the pub. However, I wouldn’t recommend sleeping at the top of the pub on Saturday night. After falling into an exhausted sleep at about 9pm, we woke just before midnight to the sounds of loud music and partying downstairs. The advantage of being this tired is we that we quickly fell asleep again. A while later, the music had died down but I heard a huge fight going on in the street outside with men and woman shouting at each other. Kris didn’t even hear this bit. Who would have thought Methven was such a party town at night?

Today’s 70km was extremely easy – just about all flat – we left at around 8.40am and arrived at 12 noon. We are travelling through the Canterbury Plains – good farming country with some large dairy herds and also sheep and some cropping. Where the land is not irrigated it is very dry.

It was great to ride in the sun, the air had a crispness to it, so we never got too hot. In the clear conditions we could enjoy the view of the mountains in the distance.

Geraldine is a lovely little town that was buzzing with Sunday afternoon markets when we got here. There are many small shops selling tourist stuff, wool products and delicatessen foods. We saw the largest knitted jersey in the world, hanging in a jersey shop (together with certificate from Guinness Book of Records). Also bought some special pepper Gouda and some Barkers jam from the Barkers shop (the factory is here).

After shopping and cleaning up we rode around town a bit and found Esther just arriving in town. We shared a few beers and some conversation – maybe she will drop in on us in Wellington.

We also had a discussion with an Australian couple from Sydney while making supper in the camp kitchen. They are in a hired motor home but went travelling all over Australia for a year with a caravan after they retired

Date: Saturday 23 February 2013
Route: Ashely Gorge to Methven
Distance: 89km
Weather: overcast and cool, sun coming out late afternoon
Accommodation: The Brown Pub – big room, shared bathroom, good view of town square from window

We left in the sunshine this morning, but soon rode into cloudy weather again. Most of the ride was flat and we made good time – it was so cool we didn’t want to stop and get cold. (this is still better than getting too hot though!) We travelled along Inland Scenic Highway 72 again – through farmland – mostly sheep and dairy.

We gathered some food along the way – some beautiful big apples off a tree by the side of the road and a huge 2.5kg bag of hazelnuts for $10. The nuts were being sold at the side of the road with just an honesty box in attendance. We have our work cut out cracking them all.

The most impressive part of the drive was coming down into Rakaia Gorge – a long steep winding downhill – and crossing the river. The bridge was high and rickety. From up there we could see the river, which was a long way down, large and deep and a strange bright turquoise colour. There were many fishermen down on the river bank which was wide and rocky. The way out of the gorge was just as steep – so much so that we pushed our bikes part of the way (first time this trip!).

Once we turned off on the road to Methven we had a long gentle downhill run – I barely had to pedal – was just pulled along in Kris’s slipstream. The problem with such a cruisey end to the ride was that I got really cold and arrived quite chilled – nothing that a pub meal couldn’t fix though. We had made excellent time – arriving just before 1.30pm.

The hotel we are staying at is at the top of a pub in the centre of town. We spent some time walking around and cracking nuts in the sun on a bench. We met a Swiss tourist called Esther who is touring on her own – this was her first day and she rode from Christchurch. We may see her again as she is also going to Geraldine tomorrow. Kris gave her some nuts (trying to lighten his load!)

 

Date: Friday 22 February 2013
Route: Hurunui to Ashely Gorge (near Oxford)
Distance: 100km – exactly
Weather: overcast and cool, slight headwind in morning
Accommodation: Ashley Gorge Holiday Park – excellent value for money, beautiful location – recommended

Today we clocked exactly 100km as we pulled into the holiday park. Kris also broke his first spoke about 20km from our final destination. Hope this doesn’t become more frequent now. We were worried about getting the wheel cog off as it was very stiff at home – luckily Kris got it off after a brief struggle. It was hard starting up again after we had fixed the spoke (we cooled right down and muscles began to get stiff).

We started out the day a bit later than usual, as we waited till 8.30am for the cooked breakfast included in our stay at Hurunui Hotel. The breakfast was huge and fuelled us for most of our ride.

We enjoyed chatting with the proprietor. He told us that he can notice the number of trucks on the road going past the hotel doubling in the last ten years since railways have been stuffed up. He also told us a tragic story about a local man who committed suicide last year by jumping off a local rock formation called frog rock (we passed it later) – his picture is on the bar as he was a regular drinker there.

Possibly the most scenic part of the ride today was Weka pass, near the start of the ride. Interesting rock formations and very dry. We spent a short time on the main drag to Christchurch before veering off to farm roads. These detours extended our planned route from about 85km to 100km.

We stopped and bought our groceries for supper at Amberley around midday. We then got onto Scenic Highway 73. Most of the ride was flat over the plains. As we approached Ashley Gorge we passed more and more lifestyle properties with horses, some miniature horses and Alpacas. The last part of the ride became more scenic with some ups and downs – I was almost getting too tired to appreciate it.

Our cabin here is very comfy and includes a kitchenette where we could cook our supper.

Date: Thursday 21 February 2013
Route: Hanmer Springs to Hurunui, then to Peaks Farm and back
Distance: 96km – 51 to hotel, 42 to farm and back
Weather: overcast and cool
Accommodation: Hurunui Hotel

We had an easy ride to Hurunui in the morning, as it was flat or downhill and lovely and cool after yesterday. It was scenic going out of Hanmer Springs, but less so once we got onto the plain. Also not the best road for traffic.

We got to the Hurnui Hotel at around 11.30am. It is in the middle of nowhere and is more a pub than a hotel. However there are rooms upstairs – they are very rambly and old fashioned with uneven floors. We were the only guests. We left our back panniers at the hotel and set off for our farm visit.

We have a small shareholding in the Peaks Farm, but I have never seen the farm before – so this was very exciting. Unfortunately the road leading to the farm (for about 5km) had just been graded and was full of loose gravel – not at all pleasant to ride on. When we arrived we had some confusion as to where the entrance was – luckily Jen rode past at that point and met us. Jen and Gavin are the couple that manage the farm. They gave us a very friendly welcome. It was good to meet them and get to know them better. The farm is also very beautiful with an outlook on the Hurunui river and the Peaks mountains behind. The farm manager’s house is stunning with large doors looking out onto the wonderful view. Jen and Gavin took us on a tour around the farm in their 4X4. We saw the milk shed and the irrigation sprinklers. They have done a lot of re-pasturing the past year and you can see the difference. The work they have done to protect the river bank by dumping whole trees onto it was one of the most interesting aspects. I learnt a lot about dairy farming. It was great to see it all for myself, after reading about it in reports.

We took a slightly longer route back to the hotel that had a shorter gravel road section. We enjoyed a fairly stodgy meal back at the hotel, together with more Monteiths beer.