Length of the South - Day Four

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Route 

Burkes Pass to Sheffield via Fairlie, Geraldine and the inland scenic route (SH 72).

Day 4 Map

Distance: 190    Cumulative: 745

Final adjustments before leaving Burkes Pass Township

It’s a clear sky but misty further down the valley as Sally drops me at a quiet Burkes Pass township for a 0720 hrs departure. It’s a quick and cool trip down valley to Fairlie (21km) then onto Geraldine (46km further) at 1000 hrs - by when it has cleared into a warm and cloudless morning. Geraldine shows all the hall marks of an intersection on the tourist trail with buses and souvenir shops. Sally catches up soon after for a roadside comparison of intentions.

The day heats up and the straights get longer. The high point is stopping at Mayfield, where a couple of Austrian cycle tourists are sitting outside a café. We compare notes: they are taking their time and have travelled through Australia and the North Island (including Whangamomona) and are heading down the South Island to come up the West Coast. She is delighted to hear that Slope Point is the southernmost point of the Island and that they will no longer need to visit Bluff; he still wants to see it though, as he can’t believe it is bad as he has been told. I refrain from comment but note that SH 1 at that point is pretty cycle unfriendly.

They are interested in my lightweight rig but as they are living on the road have to carry a lot more, and have more heavy duty gear, including internal hub gearing. This almost halves their daily mileage, but man they must be fit. The break is longer then needed and the day scorching hot when I set out again.

Hot and dry. Head down on the Canterbury plains

Sally stops by near Pudding Hill (near Methven) and I stretch a point by accepting cold water. It’s dry and hot with a strong head wind and precious few towns to break the monotony, so a good excuse to sit under a tree for a bit.

Still on the Canterbury plains

Moving again but still in Canterbury

Rakaia Gorge marks the end of the long, gradual uphill from Geraldine. It has its share of folk enjoying the river and scenery and I decide not to take the option of turning left up Zig Zag Rd for Acheron and Porters Pass.

The final leg for the day is the push to Sheffield into a head wind. There’s a few more towns (Glentunnel, Coalgate) which give an excuse to pause and rest. Another cyclist stops, he’s heading towards Queenstown with a pretty casual bike set up. I recommend a dip in the Rakaia, which I should have done. A hitchhiker walking in the opposite direction stops for a chat and it turns out later that he also chatted to Sally, who is waiting up the road a bit.

Finally, Sheffield at 1900 hrs and it’s quits for the day. Sally has booked in at a pretty standard motel in Oxford so we chuck the bike on the car and head there. I’m in a pretty poor state and nauseous from the heat, and not eating and drinking properly, so stay in the unit drinking cold water and trying to force down pasta. Also lying on my front due to … well, it’s a bit of a low point.

Options 

I couldn't find realistic options through this stretch that avoided sealed roads and interminable straights. There were a number of possibilities but most involved looping out and coming back to the main road not much further on. I had intended to follow the Rakaia River up to Acheron and back over Porters Pass, but in the end was a bit fed up with Canterbury and decided just to push on up the road to Sheffield. This stretch of the Island is why it is a strong option to take the West Coast despite the amount of tarseal involved there – it’s less busy and better scenery than the Canterbury Plains.

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Length of the South - Day Three

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Route

Omarama to Twizel, Tekapo and Burkes Pass township via the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail, Te Araroa Trail, the Alps to Ocean flood alternative, Tekapo Canal Road and SH 8.

Day 3 Map

Distance: 154    Cumulative: 555 (both estimates as I forgot to note the readings)

It’s another overcast cool morning and a bit of uphill to get out of the way so it’s a nice start to the day at 0729 hrs. My route follows the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail in reverse starting up Quailburn Road on seal then gravel, then at 22km leaving the road for the single track. The Trail meanders up through grass land before getting serious and climbing to the Tarnbrae highpoint (900m) arriving at 0925 hrs. All rideable. I clean forget to leave the promised letter ‘A’ on the track for Glenys, who is due through in the next few days.

High point on Alps to Ocean. Lake Ohau behind

I’m looking forward to an entertaining descent but my right knee is giving gip to the extent that I have to go slow: what a pain. Part way down I remember the forgotten ‘A’ and place one in an obvious position at the edge of a beautiful patch of beech. I think she found it.

Lovely section of track through a stand of BeechNot many stands of trees like this in the last 2 days. 

From the satellite images I’m pretty sure there’s a short cut or two that avoids going all the way to the Ohau Lodge. In the end I follow part of the Te Araroa trail (sign posted) which drops quickly on an old 4WD track and saves about 5km. From there it’s along the lakeside first on the road and then on lovely single track to the lake outlet with the imposing face of Ben Ohau just across the lake.
Following the flood route to Lake Ruataniwha proves to be a mistake. The gravel road is in a poor state and plays merry hell with knee and backside (now with an impressive blister on one side). Most of the time it is easier to ride in the grass so it’s slow progress. However there’s some interesting hydro structures around and Lake Ruataniwha itself is a pretty oasis amongst its trees.

Lake Ruataniwha. Twizel obscured on the right

Short aside for hydro geeks ...
As far as I can tell Lake Ruataniwha receives the tail race water from Ohau A power station (which is fed by Ohau and Pukaki Canals from the respective lakes), and from Ohau river (natural flow from Lake Ohau), the lake outflow passes under SH 8 to Ohau B Power Station (with some diverted to the Ohau river course) and down another canal to Ohau C Power Station which discharges into Lake Benmore (which also receives the waters of the Ahuriri, Ohau, Twizel, Pukaki and Tekapo Rivers). Benmore feeds Aviemore which feeds Waitaki after which the Waitaki river proceeds to the see unmolested by dams.

I’m pretty relieved to join SH 8 for the short hop into Twizel at 75 odd km and around midday for pie, drinks and supplies. Sally buzzes in having spent the night in Alexandra.
The track from Twizel to Pukaki across the flats avoids the roads and feels like Arizona (at least I imagine so). The snow-clad Southern Alps in the distance are free of cloud and spectacular, but do little to mark progress. Wilding pines are dotted across the plain.

Bike propped against a wilding pine
Looking north towards Pukaki with Aorangi in the background.

How not to prop your bike against a wilding pine

There’s a wee climb up to the lake edge where a view across Lake Pukaki suddenly opens, it is its usual surprising teal colour. The information centre car park is stuffed with cars and buses. I decide not to visit and continue along the trail and across the high dam.

Lake Pukaki; ridiculously beautiful

The trail skirts between the road and the shore and is pretty good riding. A few stretches look like they were the course of an old road.

Head down and missing the scenery

I have one 140m climb noted for the arvo – from Lake Pukaki Power Station following the pipes up to the stilling basin at the end of the Tekapo Canal. It’s hot but not bad. From the top the stilling basin looks like an infinity pool with Lake Pukaki below. About a kilometre and a half of canal has salmon cages tethered in the current with hopeful fisher folk scattered along the banks on either side angling for a catch.

Stilling pool at the end of Tekapo Canal. Lake Pukaki visible on the left.

The road is closed to traffic soon after and I’m delighted to have a big wide sealed road above the surrounding landscape to myself (although before long it switches to gravel with a strong head wind).

Looking back down Tekapo canal

About 22km later, despite views across the Tekapo River into the MacKenzie Country and up to snow clad Alps, I’m pretty relieved to get away from the canal but have to admire the mass of water that travels along it and the engineering involved. The wind seems to be blowing from Burkes Pass which doesn’t bode well for later.

My route crosses the canal by the power house for a wee climb up a gravel road and through some forest into the back of Tekapo, arriving around 1720 hrs. Sally has booked a unit at Peppers and has water in the fridge, so I pop up for a break before hitting the road again. There’s a lot of tarseal ahead over the next day or so and I’d prefer to knock a bit of it off today.

The wind is getting stronger and it’s a grind across the flats (it’s actually downhill) then over Burkes Pass. A family of French cyclists are huddled by the road with a couple of youngsters unable to continue into the wind. However, they have everything they need and I suspect that soon after I pass they nick over a farm fence and pitch tents.

The wind is howling out of the Pass and the evening sun is striking low under the steely clouds trying to spill over the ridges and passes. Eventually the Pass is behind and, as the Burkes Pass Township has accommodation options, it meets my conditions for stopping and accepting a lift back to Tekapo from Sally who turns up bang on time (1930 hrs).

Options

The Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail was a bit of a side excursion and I suspect a more direct route would have been to stay on the Otago Rail Trail longer and go through Dansey’s Pass then the Hakataramea Pass. I wonder whether there may also be a way to get through to the back of Fairlie and bypass the McKenzie Country altogether. In any event I recommend against the hydro road to Lake Ruataniwha – better to follow the regular route of the Alps to Ocean to Twizel.

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