TA Day 22 - Greymouth to Hokitika

 60.4 miles, 2530’ climbing

Lodging: Heitage Highway Motel

Rain

We rode all day on the West Coast Wilderness Trail, and it was fantastic. From Greymouth, we hopped on  coastal track. There were glimpses of the surf through the greenery. WeE saw a sign indicating we were near a blue penguin nesting area. Last night we were told that the penguins come in to Greymouth at dusk, but the woman who told us said she’d lived there all her life without seeing one. We saw no penguins.

We turned inland onto a track that wound through the rain forest, and we continued for most of the day through ferns, small and large, grasses, moss, and dripping trees. It rained most of the day. We stopped for coffee in a small town after a dozen miles. For about 30 miles we climbed, passing a couple of reservoirs, then we started descending. Some of the time we were alongside canals that go to the electric plant. When the forest opened up, we wound our way down switchbacks. After ~53 miles, we came out onto a paved road, then we went back into the forest near narrow canals and descended to Hokitika. 

Because 1.6-2” rain are expected tomorrow, we are taking a full day off. It will feel strange not to be on our bikes after 22 days. We hope Tuesday will be less rainy.

TA Day 21 - Springs Junction to Greymouth

 80 miles, 2920’ climbing

Lodging: Copthorne Hotel Greymouth, an odd hotel with rust and peeling paint

A little rain

Today turned out to be one of our easier days of riding although we anticipated it to be one of our hardest. We headed out onto a climb through the forest on pavement, quickly needing to adjust our layers for light rain. After several miles we were in beautiful rolling hills until we reached the town of Reefton where we joined Sam and Keza at the Broadway Bakery, a charming place on a charming Main Street. Immediately the conversation turned to whether we were taking the Big River track or not. Many consider it a highlight of the TA, but it’s known to be treacherous in the rain, and we had already been riding in light rain for a couple of hours. With regret, we decided to take the paved bypass. A storm system is coming in, and maybe we will get back this way some time. Of the riders we saw, only Sam opted to go up the track. Hopefully his ride will be good and ahead of the storm.

A couple days ago, our proprietor told us that people left all kinds of things behind: charging cables, clothing, false teeth. On our way out of Reefton, we saw a woman stopped at the side of the road, waving something in the air at passing cyclists, and asking if they’d left it behind. I hoped against hope that she would be waving a set of false teeth in the air, how bizarre would that be? But it was sunglasses. We hope they were reunited with their owner.

Our ride into Greymouth was straightforward. We toook our checkpoint photos out at the inlet before checking into our room. It’s one more day until the big downpour. We plan to ride to Hokitika tomorrow, and we expect some light rain.

TA Day 20 - Lake Rotoroa to Springs Junction

 67.3 miles, 3940’ climbing

Lodging: Springs Junction Holiday Homes

At 7am, the lady who runs our lodging brought us an amazing breakfast: poached eggs from her hens on whole grain toast with avocado, roast tomato, and bacon. She also continued to tell us entertaining stories. What people leave: charging cables, clothes, false teeth. About eels: the ones in the lake are huge and protected, the ones in the river are smaller and taste muddy. About her hens: possums leave them alone, wood hens pinch their eggs but they are protected; we admitted we had no idea what wood hens are. She said they look like kiwi birds (cute, rare) but they are bigger and you sometimes see them running off with a full egg in their beaks. On swimming in the lake: she swims on most warm days and the eels don’t bother her. But a few years ago, some boys went out on the lake at night, intoxicated, and one fell in and drowned. His body was never found. Eels are meat eaters, and they say eels ate him. Hmmm.

We headed straight out onto a gravel climb, a shock to the system first thing in the morning. Soon we topped the pass and had a cold descent on gravel through a beautiful valley with farms. It felt great to turn west on pavement with the sun on our backs and a descent to the town of Murchison. 

In Murchison we saw Sam, Keza, and also Rob and ?? at the wonderful River Bend coffee house. We last saw Rob and ?? at our jet boat ride on the north island. Sam and Keza left ahead of us.

From Murchison we had a long rolling climb to a pass where we took our checkpoint photos. At the pass, a small bird seemed interested in interacting with Ed, but it spat out the shortbread cookie crumbs we offered. Very cute, definitely not a beggar bird. The descent had a lot of gravel which makes your back tire skid sometimes, but soon we were down and on the final miles to Springs Junction. We had reserved a holiday home that we were told was 380m from an junction, but with no indication in which direction. Fortunately we spotted our cottage before the junction, a comfy little place we were glad to arrive at.

We have the Big River trail tomorrow. Rain is coming in a few days, so it will be good to get thru that trail before that.

TA Day 19 - Richmond to Lake Rotoroa

 71 miles, 3727’ climbing

Lodging: Gowan Bank Backpackers

After microwaved breakfast pies and instant coffee, we left Richmond on the Great Taste Trails cycling path which we followed to the nearby community of Brightwater and then through some rural areas. Part was paved and part was a gravel track alongside the road but separated. We passed many vineyards and a farm with a field of chickens, many of which headed over to see us when we made clucking noises. We are chicken whisperers! In Wakefield we stopped at the recommended bakery for a coffee and a scone. Two other riders, Keza and Sam, were also stopped there. It was a busy place.

Finally the trail turned away from the roads and was a gravel climb to Spooner Tunnel at a very reasonable grade, super enjoyable to ride. We had put our light mounts on our bikes last night in anticipation of the tunnel which is 1.4km long. We thought we saw a glint of light at the end, but it turned out to be two walkers headed in our direction. The tunnel had red reflectors on one side and white on the other, and it felt otherworldly as they illuminated as we pedaled through. Near the end we passed two cyclists, and then we were back out in the forests on a fun, easy downhill path to Tapewera. At the Tapewera coffee house there were a lot of cyclists, some on different routes, we shared a sandwich and chatted with some of the other riders.

From Tapewera, we had a long climb through a forest, then a downhill descent on a highway with little shoulder, fortunately not too long. At one point it appeared that the pavement had been undercut by the river. Finally we turned off towards Lake Rotoroa, a pleasant series of hills rolling upward thru the forest adjacent to a river. 

Gowan Banks Backpackers is a simple, charming lodging provided by a home owner. Chickens roam around the yard. They sold us pasta packets, milk, and an assortment of fresh garden vegetables plus basil which made a delicious dinner we were able to cook in our room, and we will get breakfast in the morning. Keza is staying somewhere nearby in their cottage.

After dinner we walked to Lake Rotoroa for our checkpoint photos. It’s very beautiful and had half a dozen swans swimming on it. We saw Sam, camped there, who told us that the lake is full of eels, unnerving to see during his swim, and that eels can get to be very old. We didn’t see any eels, but we didn’t linger due to sand flies. 

TA Day 18 - Havelock to Richmond

 45.25 miles, 4055’ climbing

Lodging: Queen Street Studios

Light rain

A coffee shop near the holiday park opened very early, so we got fresh coffee, scones and muffins for breakfast. The ride started with 12 miles on a road with almost no shoulder. We were warned by the guidebook, but it was still unnerving to have large trucks pulling trailers rattle past at full speed. After Pelorious Bridge, we turned off on a gravel road with relief, climbing thru some cattle farms and forest.

The start of the Maungatapu track, a nearly 5 mile climb, was steep. We had heard that it would be challenging, and fortunately the track was a more manageable grade for a couple miles. The last couple miles required a lot of walking and pushing. We took our checkpoint photos at the top, and headed down. Soon we met 2 local women on an overnight outing pushing their bikes up the other side. We commiserated on the steepness of the climb, and they breezily informed us that we had come up the easy side. As we descended, it was clear they spoke the truth. It was steeper and rockier as we descended to a reservoir and continued down good gravel.

We rounded a corner and found ourselves coming into Nelson past beautiful homes and parks. We got on a bike path and had an excellent path side lunch. A seagull screeched above us and a table top sign warned that gulls would snatch food.

An easy several miles led us to a nice hotel with an unassuming presence next to a good restaurant and a grocery store, everything we need. 

TA Day 17 - Wellington to Havelock

 ~90km ferry, 23.3 miles, 1850’ climbing

Lodging: Havelock Holiday Park cabin

Windy

We woke early to head to the Bluebridge Ferry while it was still dark, and quickly headed out to the ferry terminal. It was very windy. We were able to get coffee and a pastry from a local shop before boarding. We met a few other TA riders, including one who crashed near the Bridge to Nowhere and is now driving a support car for friends due to having hurt his shoulder. The 3.5 hours on the ferry passed quickly, and it felt good to have a break from morning riding. We took our checkpoint photos in Cook Strait, and disembarked with a bit of chaos typical of ferries.

After the ferry docked in Picton, we stopped for an early lunch and repacked our daypack contents into our bikes. Picton is part of the famous Marlborough wine growing region, but there were no vineyard stops in our schedule. We headed west. 

At a lookout, there was a sign telling the Māori story of how a large canoe, a waka, paddled from far away, capsized on the shores here. The intricate designs carved into the bough split apart the hull, and the partially submerged boat formed the hills and inlets of the Marlborough shore line. Very poetic.

The strong wind made our short ride hard. In some  inlets, a lot of boats (yachts?) were anchored, and we considered which ones we’d like to stay on. It’s the shortest ride of our trip so far, but we were happy to stop in Havelock, the Green Mussel capital of New Zealand. We had a taster plate of green mussels with our dinner at the Green Mussel Cafe.

TA Day 16 - Masterton to Wellington

91.3 miles, 3117’ climbing

Lodging: Sebel Hotel Wellington

Today was our longest ride so far on the TA. We left Masterton fairly early, navigating morning traffic. Soon we were headed out of town on a paved road with no shoulder in the fog. We had our blinking tail lights on, but it was a bit unnerving at times when trucks passed in denser fog. Most traffic seemed to be going the other way. After ~12 miles, the fog lifted. Our morning ride had rolling hills and little climbing, and we made pretty good time.

About 30 miles into our ride, the hills opened up. We saw a large hawk fly up from the side of the road, and as we passed we saw that its kill had been another hawk. Gasp!Cannibalism! Probably hit by a car.

It was breezy and we started to see olive trees and grape vines (all covered with nets), and we arrived in the charming town of Martinborough. It was full of cafes, wine shops, and gift shops, with lots of visitors. We stopped for an early lunch, and a man renting bikes lent us his floor pump so we could get our slightly soft tires up to pressure. This will make climbing easier.

Out of Martinborough, we had some rough gravel, a little pavement, and then a singletrack connector to the one big climb of the day, the Remutaka rail trail. We were getting a lot of sun for a change, and it was a steady, warm climb. Fiball we reached some rail tunnels, long enough that we pulled out lights to pass through them. There was also a long swing bridge which broke up the climb. We took our checkpoint photos in the tunnels then soon topped the pass where we were rewarded with a fast descent to Te Marua through beautiful forest of ferns and trees, greenery growing on every surface.

We stopped for an ice cream and soda at a little store, then began our descent into Wellington. It was supposed to be all down hill, and we decided to try to get near the harbor. We had early afternoon ferry tickets to the South Island, but possibly we could change to the morning departure.

Our descent was mostly on riverside bike paths which descended ~27 miles through parks with just a few funky connectors and a disturbing lack of public restrooms. Although downhill, we had headwinds up the river valley. At one point we stopped to let an uphill rider pass through a gate. He asked if we wanted a beer, then told us he was meeting his cousin Mark who we’ve been passing on the Brevet, and he rode it 2 years ago. With 20 miles to go, we declined, but it was a fun moment of trail community. A couple different people asked if we were on the TA.

We reached the coast in the town of Petone where we followed a coastal bike path to Wellington. In the busy beach area of Petone, we saw a woman with her belongings sleeping on a bench, the only identifiably homeless person we’ve seen on all of the north island, so different from the numerous homeless camps around the city at home. 

We arrived at the Wellington harbor just at dark and booked a hotel, then had showers and got a pub dinner just before their kitchen closed. It was a long day, and we’re glad to be comfortable and close to the ferry terminal.