Kawatiri Cycle Trail

Coffee before the start

This is written a few days after completing the ride.  

There had been showers overnight but it was fine when we left to go on our ride.  Being coffee tragics it was necessary to find a nice place to imbibe.  Also, given there were going to be no cafés available  where we could to get lunch from, we needed to take something with us.  Fortunately, I was able to find a salad at a bakery and Bev found some sandwiches at the local supermarket.  Across the road from the supermarket was a little café that I had completely missed which Bev spotted.  We had a very nice coffee there before our departure.  

Since last being in small towns in the South Island  the coffee has been surprisingly good.  Not quite up with the best in Wellington but getting close.  

The cycle trail started just over the bridge crossing the Buller River  that links the main road to Westport. We rode an interesting and flat trail to Carters Beach.  They had a fascinating information centre in a structure which looked like a wharenui on a marae.  There they displayed a bit of the history of the area.  Māori have had a long association with the area with signs of occupation going back 700 or 800 years.

Wharenui like information structure

We rode through Carters Beach settlement and then followed the coast on a couple of boring long stretches of path until we climbed to a rather nice area called Omau. There you could look out at the sea below to some lovely views of rock formations formed by sea and wind erosion.  


We went past Cape Foulwind and stopped briefly at Tauranga Bay where in the carpark area a man had a little caravan selling coffee, ice-creams and other snacks.  We were fortunate to sight a couple of weka there searching for food. It is a DOC (Department of Conservation) area with a walk to a nearby seal colony and then further along you can reach Cape Foulwind.  Cape Foulwind was named by Captain Cook who was blown away from it by "foul winds". 

Tauranga Bay coffee cart

We followed a long beach  path which was under threat of being eroded away by the sea.  We found out later that since the trail was constructed, about 15 to 20 metres of sand dune had been lost.  The local council has no money to arrest the loss of the dunes.  I am not sure where they will put the path once it is unsafe to ride along.  Over the road, but hidden, was a sand mine for rare earths which were being mined for export.  During the week we were told that about every 12 minutes a truck rumbles along the road taking its load to Nelson.  




Eroding dune

We left the dunes after 5.5kms and headed inland climbing up into some remnant native forest where there were a number young and old rimu trees.  It was rather pretty.  By that time we had covered 29kms.  Initially Bev was keen to go a bit further but when I pointed our that the trail descended she decided that she did not want to climb back up it when we returned.  In addition, it would have been rather late by the time we got back to Westport.  So we turned around and headed back, stopping at Tauranga Bay for an ice-cream and  a chat with the coffee cart owner. He was an interesting  chap from California who had followed his parents out from there and had married a local NZ girl.


The trail

We were both rather tired when we got back to our accommodation having covered nearly 60kms. We were rather pleased with ourselves having covered 280kms over the six days we had been cycling.  Not quite as far as a previous ride we had done known as the Alps to Ocean but close to it. 

Finished

Being Sunday night it was rather quiet in town but we found a nice pub where we had a tasty meal.   


Near Omau

Dragging a log to protect dune


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Slumming it in a "holiday park"

The portents for the day were not good with rain and showers predicted for much of the day whether we were in Picton or Nelson.  We were hoping that the rain would arrive and that would be it for our time away as cycling in the wet is not that pleasant.  While we loading our bikes the host came out and we were able to have a chat with her.  She was lovely and interesting.  She had moved from Christchurch about six years prior and had made Picton her home creating a community that she felt in engaged with.  She worked as a nurse at Wairau Hospital and seemed fully engaged with her work.   A coffee stop was next at my favourite Picton café situated opposite the foreshore.  When we arrived it was quite warm and then suddenly the clouds came over and the perceived temperature dropped,  By then the coffee had been consumed and we left in a persistent drizzle that continued until we got to Blenheim where it was warm and blustery without a shower in...
Read more

Snow, sun and pies

Image
  Sponner's Tunnel portal south end It was a very cold morning and our hosts told us that there was a sprinkling snow on the top of the ranges behind us. It was definitely cold when we got onto our bikes.  We had a pleasant breakfast talking with some fellow cyclists who were from the Sunshine Coast.  They were headed in the same direction as us.  As usual we left a bit later than them.   Crossing a river between Wakefield and Belmont Rob had suggested we meet at the Wakefield Bakery as it was renowned for its baking products including pies.  It certainly had a lot of tempting food.  They had a huge range of pies which were being purchased in large quantities by local workers.  We had a coffee and as we were leaving had a quick chat to a group of local cyclists who were using the cycle trail.  Apparently they rode part of it almost each day depending on the weather. Like us they were enjoying retirement.   Shortly after we le...
Read more

Peanut butter and rain

Image
Rain had been predicted for our first day.  It was not raining when we loaded up the car but just as I was strapping the bikes on the carrier rather big drops began falling.  By the time we were on the road the heavens had decided to deluge us all including cyclists who were already on the bike trail next to the road.  The sensible ones were sheltering under some trees.  At Cycle Journeys we had a briefing and they even included Rob in the orientation. He was going solo and not using their service.  They could not have been more helpful.  Soon we had our rain jackets on, rain covers on our panniers and tyres checked.   About to depart the depot We ventured out into the cold rain and fortunately the climb out of Nelson warmed us up.  As we got to the top of the short ride the rain eased and by the time we reached the railway trail it had ceased.  Our first stop was t Pics Peanut Butter World.  This had been recommended by Cycle Journeys a...
Read more