Starting the South Island Road-Trip….part two

#newzealand #travel #adventure

We left Punakaiki the following morning and drove to Lake Kaniere, we spent the night parked up by the Lake, with amazing views and very few people.

We took the bikes out for a little spin along the lake, and up on to a small section of the West Coast Wilderness Trail. It traverses alongside a historic waterway (a man made “water race” used in mining or irrigation :bloke) and was a really cool piece of trail, almost perfectly flat single-track with wooden bridges, but suitable for families.

Bloke decided he wanted to do a longer section the next day. So I dropped him off at the trail marker in Kumara and we agreed to meet 4 hours later, back at the lake (the phone reception on the West coast is pretty non-existent). It was billed as the most technically challenging section of the four stages of the trail with 700m of climbing in it and I thought it might be a bit much for my knee to cope with yet, so I waved him off, feeling a bit gutted to not be going. I got to our meeting point at the lake at 3.15pm thinking I’d sit and read my book for a bit, to find him already sitting there, he’d smashed it out in 2.5hours! The guidebook suggested 6hrs, the local bike shop said 4hrs (the local literature said it was technically demanding – it was if you were on a road bike, it was a gravelled path!! Gutted 😤. On a positive note the trail went deep in to the bush and really showcased the rain forest. I passed a really cool wild camp called Trappers Rest. Another section ended at a brand new saloon. Yes you read that right: a wild west saloon called Cowboy Paradise! It had swing doors, American barstaff and pistol range over the road where you can put a few rounds in the targets. The saloon serves food and drink and acts as accommodation for people cycling the full length of the trail over a few days. It is quite incongruous, oddly new and slightly ridiculous, but also kinda cool 😁 :bloke)

On to the next campsite and in to Hokitika. “a cool little town” is their by-line, and they are not wrong, it really is very cool. With grey sand and rocks on the beach, fierce seas and more driftwood than I’ve ever seen in one place before, this place has an interesting and arty feel about it. Driftwood sculptures can be found all along the beach here.

This one is a dragon……can you see its head?

It’s a key area for New Zealand Jade, and there are many artists based here, for that reason alone, but it also seems to have attracted others here too and I can see why. The combination of the West coast rainforest and the beaches, make for a stimulating subject matter, even I pulled out my pen and paper and did a bit of sketching, something I haven’t done in years. I managed to have a bit of a wander round the town and check out a few of the local galleries. They also have a few funky and relatively new, quirky coffee shops, one of them even has a bee hive in it. A glass box housing the hive with a large pipe connecting it to the outdoors so the bees can go about their business (bees-ness? :bloke). They sold the honey in the shop, along with a completely separate glass, cold room, housing their cheese collection. I love finding places like this in these small towns, it’s always such a great surprise.

Later we headed over to Hokitika Gorge to see the blue pools, the colour of the water is amazing (creamy blue glacial melt water :bloke). Sadly, the sandflies were a nightmare, and after spending a decent amount of time slapping ourselves, and then each other, in a bid to swat the damn things, we didn’t end up staying too long.

That evening we were advised by the lady in campsite office to visit the glow worm dell opposite the site, but not to go until at least 10pm. So, not expecting too much, we did as we were told and made the short journey to the Dell. It really was magical, I’ve seen glow worms in caves and tunnels before, but never in trees out in the open, it made for a really magical feel and I was half expecting to see fairies. The lack of any decent photography equipment meant we didn’t get any photos I’m afraid.

We checked out the local riding spot too, Blue Spur Bike Park. The ride up from the car park was a pretty brutal start, and quite telling. We hit a couple of the trails and immediately it was apparent that I needed to get my head back in the game. The trails over here are so different from anywhere else I’ve ridden. They are hand cut, rather than by digger, which means they are generally a lot narrower than I’m used to, in many cases, a handlebar width, and they still seem to be riding with narrow bars (maybe that’s why?!). In most cases, because they are cut in to hillsides, they have bloody huge drops to one side of them too, terrifying at times. Much yoga breathing is needed. But after stopping and having a word with myself, we went back to the first trail and rode it again, much better on the second attempt and we, albeit, a bit gingerly in my case, smashed out a few more trails. This is me waiting for the bloke to come back up the wider section of the ascent, on his way back from sneeking in an extra trail while I got my breath back 😄. Look at those lovely ferns, I’m loving riding through all this lush foliage.

I think it’s gonna take a little time to get dialled back in to it over here. The decision was also made to make an upgrade to my bike and change the gearing, to give me a little extra help up the hills. Let’s face it, with these dodgy old knees, I’ll take all the help I can get. I’ve got an ebike on order too. Only joking! Not yet, but it may not be in the not too distant future…..