New Zealand - South Is - Landcruising, MTB & Hiking

[Clintnz]

As our last few trips south have been on the motorbikes we decided it was about time we took a car down again & did some hiking & mountainbiking. Various things got in the way so our 'summer' holiday eventually ended up happening in April. Not to worry, we had a couple of weeks off so we loaded up the Landcruiser with bikes & camping gear & rumbled off down the North island.

Stopping for a break on the edge of the Tongariro National Park:

We stayed with friends out of Wellington that night then sailed to the South Island on the ferry to Picton the next day. We continued south on hwy 1 then turned off up the Awatere Valley. Not far up there we were passed by some friends on their motorbikes. Colin, Miles & Shar were out for a weekend ride & we had made loose arrangements to meet up on the way. We soon caught them again when Colin had to fix a puncture.

We continued on up the valley.

Eventually we got to the boundary of NZ's largest farm, Molesworth Station.

After a scenic drive up through the station we bid goodbye to the motorcylists as they were taking the turnoff to Hanmer to stay there.

We were continuing on to camp out deep in the hills over Maling Pass.

Next up, biking the St James cycleway.

Cheers
Clint

 

[Clintnz]

The day dawned a little frosty, but we had been warm in the tent with good sleeping bags plus polarfleece liners.

After some warming porridge & coffee we set off down the Waiau valley on the bikes.

We had the trail to ourselves for the first 20km

It's a big 80km loop, Rosie opted to take the 4wd track & Maling pass back to camp for the last 20km & I took the more technical singletrack over from Fowler Hut to Lake Guyon. Even though it got dark 1/2 way over, I had a good headlamp & this was the most enjoyable part of the ride.

Cheers
Clint

 

[Clintnz]

After that huge day of biking we took it very easy the next morning & waited until the frost had thawed a bit before getting out of bed. I've made a few improvements to the Toyota recently for camping & the extra lights, fridge & fold out table in the back all worked really well.

After breakfast & a couple of leisurely coffees in the sun we rolled out of the valley.

We took a few diversions on the way south to Hanmer.

Despite the sign Jollies Pass is now a fairly cruisy gravel road.

We got a cabin for the night in Hanmer & had a nice feed in town. The next morning we checked out some of the local MTB trails & went up Conical Hill.

By the afternoon the weather was going to crap & I'd seen a boat I wanted to look at come up for sale down in Dunedin so we hit the road south again & stayed the night with my sister in Stavely. The next day we checked out the old part of Oamaru on the way through.

After a couple of days of sorting out the boat purchase & seeing a little of Dunedin in the rain we made our way north again as the skies cleared.

Towing a 45 year old boat trailer 1400km home. What could possibly go wrong?

Well the Duratorque suspension had rusted off out of sight inside the axle & broken off. With help from the awesome people at the Oxford Challenge Station & the Springfield tow truck we got the whole mess back to their yard. This was Easter Friday, no parts to fix the trailer were going to be obtainable until the next week so the next day we left the boat in Oxford & headed for Arthur's pass. First stop was some biking at Mt Cheeseman:

After spending the night in Arthurs Pass village YHA we set off to do an overnight walk on the Andrews stream, Casey Saddle, Poulter River loop. It was prime fungi season so there were lots of colourful things sprouting up from the forest floor.

Had a very pleasant night camped in the river valley.

At the end of the track it was great to crack a cold beer from the new fridge, I had also put in a deep cycle battery so the fridge can run without the car going for a couple of days.

That evening we went to Christchurch so the next morning we could do some shopping for trailer parts & get back to Oxford to fix up our boat trailer.

After a lot of cutting & grinding & welding & bodging I had some new suspension bolted on under the trailer. It would need rebuilding to sit lower when we got home. Huge thanks to the guys at the Oxford Challenge Garage for the loan of the welder & stuff. After a pleasant stay at the Oxford Pub we headed North again the next day through the busy Lewis Pass. Since the Kaikoura earthquake destroyed part of highway one this scenic route has turned into the main route & there's lots of trucks & roadworks.

We spent the next few days in Nelson & went for a ride around the 40km Coppermine Saddle MTB loop which conveniently starts just up the street from Rosie's parent's place where we were staying.

It's quite cool how you just set out from the suburbs & end up way out in the mountains.

The next day we started north again & that was the end of the South Is fun. No further problems getting the boat home & she seems to go pretty good on the lake:

Cheers
Clint

 

[kpredator]

thanks for the pictures,like your rig too!!