Again this day started in darkness, Breakfast of a banana
and a Muesli bar and I was already looking forward to a cooked breakfast in
Reefton at Broadwood Café. Back up to the highway and onto Maruia Township,
which isn’t much by the way, soon it was over to the other side of the Maruia river
and down Maruia West bank road.
This was a nice gravel road undulating alongside the Maruia River pretty much all the way to Springs Junction. Once at
Springs Junction I went to the shop just to get my water bottles filled and
they were very obliging. On my way again and I could smell the breakfast at
Reefton and I couldn't wait, the climb
up and over the Rahu saddle wasn’t too bad and what goes up must come down all
the way to Reefton. My Mum was staying in the Reefton camp ground as she was on
a caravan trip around the South Island, so I popped in and told her I was heading
for the Broadwood Café for a long awaited breakfast.
I ordered the full breakfast and I knew I wouldn’t be
disappointed as I had eaten here before, a Mochacinno straight away please and a cappuccino
with the breakfast. I also got tempted by the huge Hotcross buns sitting in the
prime spot on the counter so I bought four of those for later. I found a table
outside and started drying a little bit of wet gear in the morning sun. My Mum
arrived and we sat down and chatted about her trip and mine. She told me she was really enjoying following the TA online and told me about some of the other riders she had met on her travels. The breakfast was amazing and I highly recommend the Broadwood Café if you are ever in or passing through Reefton. It was time to bid Mum farewell and hit Big River. I was looking forward to this ride as I had pictured it in my head to be one of the most actual Mountain Biking sections of the TA along with the Bridge to Nowhere and it
did not disappoint. I loved the ride up Big River climbing up through the forest; it was nice to be in the shade as it was now 11am and pretty warm. I loved the remoteness of where I was and I didn’t see a soul through here, I went up and checked out the Big river hut, a pity I wasn’t here at night as I love staying in Doc huts, next time.
This is not the DOC hut:-) |
Back onto the route and the Waiuta walking track, luckily for me it was reasonably
dry through here so most of the track was rideable a nice challenging track with
a loaded up bike but still lots of fun. Out to Waiuta and a quick stop to take
in the views and a few photos.
My sister actually lives pretty much at the junction of Waiuta road and State Highway 7 so popped up to her house to say hi but I wasn’t expecting her to be there as it was about 3pm and she should be at work and she was. Back onto the route, I knew this section exactly down to Greymouth as I had ridden it before on a 7 day Bike packing trip a few years back. This section was pretty uneventful really apart for the wind that was in my face. Then as I was getting close to Greymouth I heard a
toot of a horn and it was my Sister, she had finished work in Greymouth for the
day and she tracked me down using the Map Progress site. We had a quick chat,
maybe 5 minutes if that. This was a great day so far seeing my Mum and now my
Sister, thank you so much; it really lifted my spirits to know you were there
with me literally and virtually. Upon reaching Greymouth it was straight to the
super market for much of the same as always. The Warehouse was my next stop as
my Mum had told me a story about one of the riders being cold whilst camping
and not having enough gear. So I had decided to buy something to keep me warm
just incase, as I had been border line a couple of times and I was always
slightly concerned about this in the South Island. I bought a Polypro top and a
pair of women’s leggings (they were the cheapest option, truly).
The Infamous Greymouth Bar |
There were some keen surfers out there on the otherside of the Bar, it must have been
freezing in the water, crazy if you ask me but it is all relative to what you familiar with. Most people would call the TA riders crazy and we probably are. From here it was onto the West Coast wilderness trail
all the way to Hokitika about 100 kilometres. I was whizzing down through here
but you definitely need to be aware of other users. At Kumara I stopped outside
the pub to make a call to some accommodation in Hokitika I rang Riverview cottages
the woman asked how desperate I was for a room as she was actually closed
tonight (http://www.riverviewcottageandcabins.co.nz/). I explained what I was doing and that I would not arrive until about
11pm. She said that is all fine and to just leave the $55 payment on the table
inside the room.
There was a TA rider inside the pub presumably having a meal
and I checked the tracking site as I knew there were a few riders through here
somewhere, I set off and was soon back onto the Wilderness trail, this was nice
riding and not a track I had ridden on before. Although I had ridden on the Old
Christchurch road through to Hokitika before and also Milltown road from Lake
Kaniere to the Wainihinihi River out to the Otira Highway so I knew the area a
little bit. At about 4 kilometres out from Cowboys Paradise, there were signs
up saying road close take the high water route. There was even a locked gate
across the road, I was really unsure of what to do here but I decided to stick
to the GPS route and slipped around the side of the gate. After the roads/track
works that they were doing, the track descended down into the Wainihinihi Gorge
and it was really enjoying riding it. It was obviously dark now, maybe around
9pm and I got to Cowboys Paradise, it looked awesome with the cabins old style
and there were TA’ers bikes leaned up against the rail where you would expect
to see a horse tied up. The restaurant or Saloon was all lit up and I could see
the riders, maybe 6 of them sitting down at a big table, probably eating a
great meal and thoroughly enjoying themselves. I was seriously jealous and very
tempted to go in but my bed was calling so on I went continuing on the track to Milltown Road. I have since spoken to some
friends that have been to Cowboys Paradise and it is somewhere I definitely want
to visit with my family and hopefully we will this year. From Milltown Road I
thought I knew it pretty well but it took a bit longer that I thought to get to
Lake Kaniere where I met a rider that was just setting up camp for the night
at around 10pm, I carried onto the water race trail which I had ridden and ran
several times before. The track had been seriously upgraded to cater
for all abilities but it was still very nice riding, I was really enjoying this section and
I got a bit carried away and just about had a crash. I couldn’t wait to get to
the Riverview cottages, a short road
ride and I was there, the woman had told me that she had no other guests as she
was meant to be closed and to just choose any room. I went to try one room but
the door was locked and then I heard some voices; there was actually someone in
there, I wonder what they were thinking? When I checked my phone later the owner had sent me a text to inform
me that room 1 and 2 was occupied, ooops. I settled in had a shower and it was
straight to sleep, another big day, 1about 17 hours on and off the saddle and
about 280 kilometres with a lot of that off road.
Great blog keep them coming
ReplyDeleteCheers, just a couple more to come.
ReplyDeleteGreat writing Jake; had a laugh at your cross dressing style and your near prang on the easy Wilderness Trail... mind you at night and fanging it a couple of those hairpins could sneak up on you. Your next sponsor has to be the Reefoton cafe and the Hoki accommodation!
ReplyDelete