Nelson to Hanmer Springs

After a lovely time in Abel Tasman National Park we headed south towards the Nelson Lakes area.

We took two days to ride from Abel Tasman to St Arnaud. We were recommended a very quiet backroad by a local from Motueka that would get us off the main highways. The road followed the Motueka River upstream with a couple of small saddles along the way to keep us honest. We stopped off at Tapawera overnight, which is a tiny town next to the Kahurangi National Park. The town consisted of a food shop, pub, campground and a small train station with no track. Apparently (according to the even smalller museum within the old train station) that the Nelson to Greymouth train track used to run through here and they decided to rip the track up in the 1950's??. So a group of nine local women camped on the track in protest. There were heaps of photos which showed the women still knitting their husbands jumpers while on protest!! The campsground here was pretty much someones backyard, but the hosts were lovely and had home grown herbs available for cooking!!

The next day we rode further south to St Arnaud, a small town on the edge of Lake Rotoiti that is the gateway to the Nelson Lakes National park, with heaps of tramping and other outdoor activities. We stayed in a DOC campsite situated right on the edge of the lake with stunning views of the long narrow lake with steep mountains bounding it either side. The only dampner was the clouds of sandflies that were ever present!! Citronella candels did nothing and insect repellent (which we discovered has expired...thanks mum) only got the sandflies stuck to our skin. So dinner in the tent it was!

Nick coming down from the top of a hill near St Arnaud

From St Arnaud we planned to ride the Rainbow Track. A 4WD gravel road that is a service road for some electricity pilons. It is also a historic route that Maori and Eurpean settlers used for trading purposes. It is 120km long and crosses the Island Saddle at 1400m one of the highest passable roads in NZ! We tackled this road in 2 days.

The first day of the Rainbow Track followed the Wairau River upstream so the riding was mostly gentle uphills with a few minor hills thrown in. After about 10km we reached our first ford, but being only a few metres wide we decided to ride it and got through OK. After our second one only 1km later we started having bets on how many there would be. On about our 4th ford, it was a lot bigger, but after succesfully riding all the previous ones Nat went through first. This one was quite wide, about 20m across. Nat managed to get two thirds across when her front wheel hit a large rock and set her heading upstream!! We put her foot down but was in deep water and ended up on her side with her bike on top. She quickly got up and pushed her bike out. Nats panniers have waterproof fabric - great for heavy rain but not for swimming - so she got a lot of water in one of her panniers and her front bag. With a wet sleeping bag, camera and clothes she still had a very positive attitude. After this incident we preceeded with caution, taking our shoes off and pushing our bikes across the freezing streams.

Nat crossing a ford

We started the day in slight drizzle but by lunch time the rain set in. We were aided by a slight tail wind that increased in strength throughout the day. By mid afternoon the wind was over 100km/h and we even got blown off into the ditch a few times by large gusts. But the best bit was when we got blown 50m UPHILL on a 10degree climb without having to pedal!!

A view down the valley (1200m altitude) Nat in full wet weather gear

The scenery of this ride was fantastic. We started at 600m altitude in lush beech forest in a wide valley, but soon climbed above the bush line where rocky scraggy slopes narrowed in around the road and river. Above 1000m altidue the narrow gorge then opend up into a alpine desert with tussock grass the only thing surviving up here.

We stayed overnight in a DOC hut, which was fantastic after a day of wind and rain. THe hut also had a fireplace so Nick was out chopping wood in the rain so we had some wood for the fire. We managed to dry out all Nats stuff, but thanks to our reliable wet weather clothes we remained dry, apart from our feet.

The cosy DOC hut on the Rainbow Track

The next day we had to tackle the Island Saddle at 1400m. This was a very steep 2km climb that ascended over 200m elevation. The gravel was very slippery after the rain last night and which was still coming down. At one point the road was over 15% gradient so we had to push our bikes up the last 1km of the climb. But after this we had a even slower downhill due to the dodgy road surface but then a gentle downhill all the way to Hanmer Spring, where we are now enjoying a day off wandering around town and soaking in the thermal springs!!

Tomorrow we are off over Lindis Pass towards Greymouth where we meet up with Tahlia and Arnaud from Australia for a few weeks.