Leader: Athol Berry
Cyclists: Erica Gilchrist, Catherine Doyle, Helen Williams, Bill Peplar, Christine Lawson, Kaye Willcocks, Brian Alexander, Livia Mandeno, June Cripps, Maria Jackson, Michael Bradbury, Owen Sprosen, Luitgard Schweneman, Marlene Hiestand
Day One – 7th March
Author: Maria
What an exhilarating start! Shuttled bus then 14 cyclists whizzed down Mt Ruapehu on a chilly Friday morning. Awesome fun.
Hot coffee at the “famous” chocolate eclair and donut shop at Ohakune prepared us for actually peddling. This was some of the best riding. It was perfect weather, stunning scenery, awesome ACTA members and great to be alive.
Raetahi 18km on was an early lunch stop and a great little community op shop provided some interesting wheeling and dealing.😂
From there it was easy ups and downs to the excellent Pipiriki campground where a few braved a cold Wanganui river swim.
A takeaway dinner was available cooked by the super friendly owners ending a great start to the trip.
This campground is well worth a stopover if you are planning a trip.
Day Two – 8th March
After experiencing the manaaki from the people at the Pipiriki Camping ground, we headed downriver through spectacular scenery to Jerusalem.
There we visited the beautiful church with it’s juxtaposition of Catholicism and extremely beautiful Maori décoration.
We met the one remaining nun who shared apples from her tree with us,before resuming our trip,pausing at the Te Kanawa Flour mill,a reproduction of an early venture of Maori, in Colonial times.
Our next stop was at the Matahiwi Cafe, a former “Native School”,where we had refreshments,and then carried on to view a lush,verdant tunnel under the road.
As we followed the river we had wonderful views back to the Central Plateau,together with the twisting path of the river from gorges to open farmland.
Cycling into Whanganui alongside the river after a 63 km day,was wonderful.
We had more luck that night.
During our dinner at the historic Rutland Hotel the heavens opened while we were enjoying our dinner.
Once the meal was over and we had walked and cycled back to our motel the heavy rain restarted.
What a brilliant and fortunate day.
Day Three – 9th March
A not too early start from the Riverside Motel as we headed along the cycle way along side the Whanganui river into the city. The Durie Hill elevator did open until 9.30am being Sunday.This took us to the top of Durie Hill (3 bikes at a time!)but well worth it as the road alternative was very steep.
Then Catherine led the cyclists off to Fordell where Athol met the group with the support vehicle and morning tea under some trees and near a stall selling preserved fruit which a lot of us took advantage of.
On to Hunterville .The road was quiet and at the beginning was easy riding but the second half involved more hills and we were glad to finally reach the out skirts of Hunterville.Our accommodation was the Station Hotel which is well worth staying at. We all had dinner there that night and a cooked breakfast the next morning.So much food
Day Four – 10th March – Hunterville to Haimatangi Beach 89kms
After a sumptuous sleep in extra crisp sheets at the Station Hotel and a delicious full English cooked breakfast we saddled up with the leader’s promise of “another flat downhill day.” Well wrapped up to combat the morning chill, we skeptically rode south towards what looked like huge hills and the Onga Rd turnoff.
Thirty odd kms, two sizable hills and a fair bit of flat, we hit Marton for cake, coffee and some even scored a nice bit of clothing shopping. We carefully navigated the heavier traffic on the Makirkiri Rd, crossed the Rangitikei River, some more lovely downhill, 1km of easy gravel and it was a roadside lunch with the Ohakea Airbase in our sights.
Another mad dash across a major intersection, SH1, and we were on our way downhill to Tangimoana Beach. First a little soft sand to the river mouth and then dodging an army of Kawhai fisherman we had the 10km ride to Himatangi Beach in our sights.
Perfect timing with the tide with the sand looking very firm and Kay having successfully dislodged a very irritating live earwig from Brian’s ear with water from her drink bottle, we were off. Well the electric bikes were off, but the rest of us did find it a slow steady slog. We just couldn’t get the speed up to skim gracefully over the sand, but an ice cream at the journey’s end fixed all our grumbling.Mike provided a bit of cycling entertainment in the thick, dry, sand with a skid, flip, roll and a stylish recovery all thanks to his youthful years of judo or such like training!
We finished the day with a lovely outdoor communal dinner thanks to head chefs Erica and Luitgard and Athols’ well stocked beer and wine fridge. A perfect end to a perfect trip.
Day Five – 11th March
A shuttle back to Ohakune