Length of the South - Day Seven

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Route

Bottom of St James, up Clarence River over Island Saddle to follow the Wairau River through the Rainbow Road to SH 63 and down to Wairau Valley township.

Day 7 Map

Distance: 155    Cumulative: 1,139

The motel owners kindly allowed me to stash the bike out back with their dog last night and are rewarded by being woken up at 0600 hrs as we try to leave quietly. Sally drops me at the DoC cottage and disappears off back to the unit to prepare for a leisurely trip over the Lewis Pass and around to St Arnaud to enjoy a beautiful sunny afternoon in the bush around Lake Rotoiti and impeccable hospitality at the St Arnaud Alpine Lodge.

DoC cottage at bottom end of St James

This is the second time I have biked in this area, last time was with Julie and Thomas in October 2013 when we got rained off the St James and Rainbow and did the Molesworth instead.

The trip up the Clarence is on a pretty badly corrugated road but not as bad as some I've been on in the last few days. It’s a dramatic landscape but barren with cattle on the flats and two lines of pylons dominating the valley. Somewhere behind the range on my left (west) the St James Cycle Trail (or: DoC link ) loops out and up the Waiau River to loop back over Maling Pass and join my road again further up the valley. Fowlers Pass Track heads off on the left about half way between. There’s a bit of traffic about including a flash Land Rover going in my direction.

Where the St James Cycle Trail re-joins, the road crosses the Clarence for the last time (0930 hrs). Regretfully I don’t take the turn off to Lake Tennyson; not far away and reportedly very pretty (and with a campsite ). The flash Land Rover does, as it passes me again a little further on.

Looking north from near top end of St James. 
The road follows the pylons up the valley on the right to Island Saddle, 
Mt Southey is straight ahead, Lake Tennyson is in the valley next to it 
Mt McCabe (and Mt Princess on the skyline behind) are on the other side of the lake, 
Maling Pass is the notch on the left with the Spenser Mountains just visible behind.

As the road leaves the Clarence it heads up into Island Saddle, which marks the transition from the Clarence to the Wairau catchment. I’ll be following this waterway for a while. The final grunt up to the saddle (1,347m) is steep but only about 200m high so not so bad. This is apparently the highest publicly accessed road in the country.  At 1030 hrs the day is starting to get pretty warm.

Traffic. Final climb to Island Saddle from Serpentine creek.

Island Saddle – highest point on the trip.
Looking southwest back down the road. Mt Southey on right with Lake Tennyson not visible directly behind it,
St James Range across the background (the Clarence River is not visible but flows right at foot of the Range),
Paget Ridge on left.

The road drops down through Island Gully to join the Wairau River (there’s a sign posted track to Island Gully hut which crosses the stream just at the gully mouth). It’s fast travel heading east down the Upper Wairau, on the true left a series of deep gullies cut into the Turk Ridge, which meets the Crimea Range behind me (west) to delineate the headwaters of the Wairau River.

The road crosses the Wairau River, marking a pivotal point in this area. To the west is the Wairau headwaters and the route I have followed from the Clarence; in the valley to the south is Tarndale, the headquarters of the Molesworth Station; to the east, about 15km away, is Isolated Saddle on the Molesworth Road. The flats to the south and east are extensive and dotted with lakes including Lake Sedgemore. However, I am heading north, to follow the Wairau through Wairau Gorge before joining the Rainbow River (for reference, DoC’s Sedgemore Sleep-out is on the right of the road before the bridge – I didn’t note any signs but wasn’t looking).

Heart of the Molesworth. Looking south and west; 
Wairau River flowing right to left in foreground, Mt Tarndale on skyline behind the hill on the right, 
Boddington Range in the distance, Alma Heights above bridge on left. 
Tarndale is in the valley straight ahead, the Alma River flows right to left at the foot of 
the Boddington Range and provides access from Tarndale to the Molesworth road. 
Sedgemore Hut is probably at the stand of trees in the middle.

About 1130 hrs I reach a gate that marks the boundary between the Government-owned Molesworth Station and the privately-owned Rainbow Station. The Land Rover is parked up and the occupants express surprise at seeing me again. It’s an older group of friends from Auckland that are touring the top of the South and, having enjoyed Hanmer, are taking the interesting route to St Arnaud. Another 4WD turns up as they are leaving – this road is busy!

Last sight of Molesworth Station. Looking south, Mt Tarndale on skyline.

The country side starts to change becoming greener and rockier. Beech starts to turn up and provide a bit of shade. It is dramatically different to the sterile landscapes of the Molesworth. At Coldwater Creek there is a DoC campsite that looks idyllic set amongst trees, with a clear stream, grassy area for tents, and a loo. Although it’s midday, I’m not feeling quite like stopping yet so head on through the Gorge.

Coldwater Creek DoC Campsite

20 minutes later I’m looking at the confluence of the Rainbow and Wairau. An older woman cyclist is coming the other way (Australian). She has a tough road ahead and is well laden, but seems content to potter along and is not aiming to get to Hanmer today.

Looking north down the Wairau River,
confluence with Rainbow River in middle of photo somewhere.

The road crosses the combined rivers and follows down the left bank. At 64km it crosses Connors Creek and a signposted track leading up the true left to Connors Creek Hut , about a km away.
Grassed flats give way to scrub, then beech forest, which covers the lower slopes of the steep valley sides. The river is clean and clear and already sizable. You can’t help thinking what it is like by the time it gets to Renwick. Periodically a 4WD or DoC ute passes.

At around 65km there’s a gate and the old cob homestead. A 4WD is parked outside paying their dues, and another pulls up as I’m opening the gate. I wait for them to clear through and have a good old chat with the woman. She’s there through the season taking $2 from the cyclists, $15 from motorbikes and $25 from vehicles. Names go into her book and I note that I’m the 6th cyclists to go through today. She says a group of three came through with a support vehicle earlier. She relates telling one of the DoC staff off, for going too fast on the road, and her views on their weed control programme; “they’re not touching my blackberries!”

At 1330 hrs I come to Hamilton River which is clear and inviting, so stop for lunch amongst the beech trees (a tin of sardines and a couple of muesli bars). But not before wading in and just standing in a cold pool for a while.

Hamilton River

Very much revived I potter on across fords, through beech and along grassy flats. Eventually (75km in) the road crosses Six Mile Creek, meets the Rainbow ski field road and becomes tarseal – which I wasn’t expecting. From there it is a very comfortable ride following the cleared pylon corridor down the valley, over old terraces, through stands of beech and across occasional fords (including “No Catchem Stream” – I wonder what’s behind that name).

About 89km there is a fork that I had hoped to take where the farm road goes straight to SH 63. Grumpy signs rule that out so there’s a bit of winding uphill to join SH 63 part of the way up to Top House Saddle. With 92km down it’s 1520 hrs and there’s a firm tail wind blowing down valley, so I turn towards Blenheim.

About 8km down the road I’m skipping along at a great rate when I see a cyclist with a tramping pack(!) gasping in the patch of shade from a single tree. He relates a sad tale of leaving Blenheim with favourable winds which then switched, and he’s been battling into it in the heat ever since with no shops since Wairau Valley Township (50ish km away). He’s absolutely strung out and appreciates the chance for a chat. There’s not much I can do apart from offer moral encouragement and point out it’s less than 20km to go to St Arnaud (from where he intends to go tramping). He tries to wave down a camper van which fails to stop.

I go back to enjoying the tailwind, tinged with guilt. 7km later the road crosses the river and I note that there is active forestry on the north bank so I would not have been able to get through. Across the river the wind changes. I put it down to a local anomaly and stop for a breather at the DoC camping ground a wee way after the bridge. But no, the dreadful Blenheim weather is doing its thing and I’m up against a strong head wind for the rest of the day. In these conditions the Wairau Valley has very little going for it: long straights, grinding wind, forestry and farms (and, before long, grapes), no shops and little of interest.

Eventually I decide to pack it in, there’s accommodation available at Wairau Valley Township and Alistair very kindly agrees to come up from Blenheim to pick me up. I stop at the pub to swill down a ginger beer. It’s a bit of a sad relic and nobody is in tonight despite some hopeful dinner settings at one of the tables. I leave the hotelier to his empty bar and head on down the road to meet my ride for a very comfortable and convivial evening.

Options

One obvious option is to do the St James Cycleway, which I had up my sleeve but elected not to do this time. The Molesworth would be a very good option; it avoids the commute down the Wairau Valley and could be followed by the Port Underwood Road. The north bank of the Wairau was a serious consideration, but logging operations were underway. Another possibility is to head left out of the Rainbow and through to Nelson via Eighty Eight Valley, and then over the Maungatapu Track to Pelorus or towards Golden Bay if you wanted to finish at the most northern point of the Island.

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