One of the “Great Rides” on the North Island of NZ is the Mountains to Sea trail and only a small portion of the “trail” is really single track, with most being quiet country roads. Riding a track with net downhill would be lovely; however, since I am trying to get north for my flight I am ending up doing most of the tracks “backwards” or uphill.
I started in the coastal town of Whanganui. Many road signs spelled it without the ‘h’. I finally saw an explanation: since white people couldn’t pronounce it properly with the h it was removed for sometime and spelled Wanganui. Folks eventually came to their senses and reinstated the h! For a large city, I really liked it! In general, I find that NZ towns, both large and small, have really maintained vibrant downtowns unlike much of the US where all the business moved out to the suburbs.
I left Whanganui and put in a rather short day to land at the amazing Flying Fox accommodations right on the river. I had to hit a gong to get the owner’s attention and then they pulled me across the river in a hand cart hanging in the air! All of their buildings, including rather high end accommodations, were made completely from recycled materials! I was camping (because I am never high end) and even that had many personal touches such as this outdoor camp kitchen.
The next morning I continued on to Pipiriki where the route continues up the river without a trail for 30km! Most people take their bikes on a jet boat, but as we have established I am frugal and it was only an extra 60km pedal to circumvent the river portion. On the way out of Whanganui the previous day I had tea (ok, I had coffee, but having tea with someone sounds much more Kiwi!) with a woman in her 70s who used to cycle tour all over the island and abroad. She is very sad that her body can no longer do these things and she warned me that the pedal out of Pipiriki was a long one. When I arrived in Pipiriki (one building was the jet boat company, cafe and campground) my legs weren’t going so good, the weather was heating up, and I wasn’t too keen on the idea of the 30km of uphill. I had been leapfrogging all morning with a caravan and upon learning they were headed for the same town as me I asked if I could catch a lift. They kindly obliged. Once I resupplied in Raetihi I carried on downhill to a free campground with great reviews. It was a lovey site on the river and a gorgeous peaceful evening. I hiked along the river at sunset looking for the rare Whio, an endangered blue duck with a fleshy upperlip to scrape food of rocks. I *think* I saw one that night but it swam away before I could be sure.
The next morning found me climbing for several hours to rejoin the Mountains to Sea route. From the high point I backtracked for an out and back leg (with a huge descent I would have to regain) on a section I missed with my bypass to see the famed Bridge to Nowhere. The Bridge to Nowhere “was constructed in the mid-1930s to provide road access to the lower and middle valley farms known as the Mangapurua Valley Soldiers Settlement. By the time it was completed these areas of the Mangapurua Valley were deserted, the bridge rarely used and the construction of the road to the Whanganui River abandoned.” (source: doc.nz website)
After seeing the bridge and starting the back track I paused near a small stream and was surprised as a bird started yelling at me to get lost! It was a Whio! No mistaking my sighting this time. I also saw tons of wild goats, both scampering on vertical cliffs across the river, but also lying in the trail as I would come around a corner. Unfortunately, they were always long gone before I could get my phone out for a picture.
This section of trail was popular with tourists getting dropped off with ebikes for the largely downhill run and boat ride out. One particular group was having a rough day of it and barely going to make the boat. They were staying in a lodge that night and one older woman in the group really seemed to be struggling. I told her the finish was just around the corner and noted how much she would enjoy her glass of wine that night. She informed me she was going straight for the liquor – the hard stuff! She really was pretty worked over and fed up with the day. Another older lady on an ebike was coming toward me on my side of the trail in a blind corner and her response as she adjusted was “Shivers!”, which may be my favorite new expletive!
One of the challenges to the riders of heavy ebikes (and bikepackers!) were the many narrow swinging bridges on the trail. To get my bike on the bridge I basically had to wiggle it in through a coordinated series of handlebar twists and bike lifting. On one of the bridges I got impatient and pushed a little too hard and fast and the cables of the bridge ripped my pannier. This was doubly frustrating because they are one of my newer pieces of gear and so much of my gear is already hanging on by a thread; including needing to replace my entire drivetrain, but that is a story for another day… At camp that night I patched up the tear with needle and thread and covered it on both sides with strong and waterproof 3D tape. Hopefully the gash is now the strongest part of the bag!
Water has been harder to come by on the North Island, probably both a feature of their geography and being later in the summer. Often you are following a massive river but it is hundreds of trail-less feet below. That night I managed to find a small stream and camp site and settled in for the evening. I’ve been reading Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” and that night as I was camped in complete isolation and nodding off to sleep he decided to focus on describing all Appalachian Trail hikers that have been murdered on the trail. Thanks Bill.
Back up and over the climb to some of the first real and fun single track of the route landed me in Whakahoro and the Blue Duck Station; it was everything I hoped it would be! A DOC campsite (cheap, no frills), a gorgeous swimming hole in the river, and a cafe with mountain woman sized portions for a good price! There was nothing else within 40km and I was in heaven! The afternoon swim was especially sweet because summer has definitely arrived and it is uncomfortably hot out between 1 and 6pm. I whiled away the afternoon watching a Tuī harass (or get harassed by, I was never sure which) a smaller bird in the tree near my tent. Only one more day to wrap up this route. The final day was a bunch of road miles followed by a trail that would land me directly in National Park (a city). The only problem was the final portion of the day was 10 miles of climbing in the afternoon heat. I was completely cooked by time I got to town and it was no wonder as the temp was 31C (almost 90F). However, the clear hot day treated me to amazing mountain views. I had completed my ride from the Tasman Sea to the volcanoes of central NZ! Now to dig deep and do my intended hike in the mountains the next day before the weather shifted to rain and clouds!
Mount Ngauruhoe