Alex Hallatt 4/9/21 Alex Hallatt 4/9/21

Living in New Zealand: Alps2Ocean on an Ordinary Bike: Day 5: Otematata to Kurow

When you google what to do in Otematata, you find everything to do with the lake and nothing to do with the town because there is nothing in the town. There’s a small everything store and beside it a place to get tiptop ice cream (unfortunately not even New Zealand owned any more). There is a golf course and playing fields and a pub, but all the activity centres around the lake below the dam. The lake is wonderful, but if I’d known I think I would’ve avoided the 12 km diversion and carried on to Kurow. As it was, I had to cycle the 6km back up to the top of the dam. At least the last 15 minutes of climbing warmed me up. It was the first time I had worn my sealskin gloves and down gilet to start the morning.

Now the landscape becomes even more about introduced species of flora and fauna. I saw a ferret run in front of me and a dead wallaby by the side of the road. I stopped for tea by the lakeside, which was choked with willows.

I took more time again to take breaks and enjoy my surroundings on the trail rather than rocking up early to the campsite. A 15 minute walk up Deep Stream track takes you to a picnic bench. It was a perfect spot for a skinny-dip and I swam from one side to the other bank and back. It is deep. Once again I was trying to not think about the eels that were probably under me. But I saw nothing but fantails above me and a cormorant that left the rock I swam to.

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I stopped for lunch in the ruined village of Wharekuri. The lady in the Kurow Museum said that the village had been abandoned after fire. It was a sad place to be but that was because there was so many broken beer bottles there.

Kurow’s campground is very cute and ideal for kids. I would’ve loved it as a nine-year-old playing in the safe river and amongst the trees. It was only $65 for a cabin.

We had a basic, but good pub meal and paid a bargain $9.50 for a pint and a half of Speights.

Left at 8:35 and arrived in town at 2:55. Time in saddle: three hours 10 minutes.

Alex Hallatt 4/8/21 Alex Hallatt 4/8/21

Living in New Zealand: Alps2Ocean on an Ordinary Bike: Day 4: Omarama to Otematata

By this point in the trip I had learned that it was a good idea to let the big groups of electric bikers past me at some point. Before we got to Lake Benmore I took my first tea break and let them ride on by.

This section had a lot of squeeze barriers that you have to get off your bike for so it pays not to be behind a lot of riders.

Like a lot of lakes in New Zealand the edges are thick with introduced willow trees

The newest, trickiest and most fun part of the A2O trail is the section between Sailors Cutting and Lake Benmore dam. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind one very wobbly rider who was not confident enough on her electric bike to stop to let me go past, even though there were plenty of passing points. So I stopped for an extra long tea break at the next peak that had stunning views over the lake.

Then it was a fun, winding ride around. The track is at least 1.5 m wide and there is fencing along the steepest drop offs so I was never afraid. And I'm a real scaredy-cat.

After my spectacular skinny-dip it was a bit of a climb to the top where you could look over Lake Benmore dam and down over Otematata. I stopped for lunch at the top.

After I freewheeled down to the town I stopped for a last swim in the lake below. Swam out to a raft with a white heron on it. I meant to leave it alone but it flew away so that I could go and dive from it. And an apple tree beside it had sweet little apples to follow my flask of tea and chocolate.

It was worth stopping a lot this day, because there isn't much to Otematata apart from a friendly pub. We stayed in one of the apartments behind for $110.

Forgot to put down my times, but it wasn’t too much.

Alex Hallatt 4/7/21 Alex Hallatt 4/7/21

Living in New Zealand: Alps2Ocean on an Ordinary Bike: Day 3: Lake Ohau Lodge to Omarama

A good place for a cup of coffee on a cool autumn morning before starting off from Lake Ohau Lodge

This was the part of the trail that I was dreading. When you look at the elevation map, it looks like an incredibly steep climb followed by an incredibly steep descent and it was all off road. But I needn't have worried as there are worse hills in Lyttelton. If you can take your time, you can really enjoy it and the views over the Mackenzie country are incredible.

Rain clearing and a rainbow to see us off

The only real issue was ebikers passing and then stopping, often in the middle of the track. The track is rough, but not technical, just rocky, so I had to go slow and stand on my pedals downhill. There were lots of distractions uphill, which made it much easier to bear. I saw a falcon fly across my path a few feet from my face.

Burnt bush over the Mackenzie

There are a few easy fords to ride through

It’s a beautiful ride down through the grasslands

I had lunch at the old woolshed and was left on my own, which gave me more of a chance to explore. Yay.

Quailburn road was my least favourite part of the trail. It is a long shingle road, shared with traffic and though there aren't many cars, the problem is you can't hear them because of the gravel. And it is hard to stay left as when you get towards the side of the road the gravel becomes deep and I found my back wheel sliding all over the shop.

I didn’t take the side trip to see the clay cliffs. It’s a very rutted dirt road with lots of traffic and a 14km round trip. To see dirt. So onward to Omarama via the Ahuriri (great to see the community work on remediating the waterway by replacing willows with native plants).

We stayed in a cabin at Omarama campground for $85.

Left at 9 am and arrived at 2:30. Time in saddle: 4 hours.

Alex Hallatt 4/6/21 Alex Hallatt 4/6/21

Living in New Zealand: Alps2Ocean on an Ordinary Bike: Day 2: Twizel to Lake Ohau Lodge

The centre of Twizel is a little confusing in a Land Rover because of the way the road snakes around it. But it is really easy to walk or bike around and the central village square has a great café called Hydro. Next to it is a tiny little bookshop and an awesome independent shop called Jake’s. Jake’s sells everything you might need. They have more biking gear than my local cycling shop, plus hardware, toys, gardening stuff and a lot more.

The weather forecast was bad with rain and wind. It was windy with gusts and we had some small rain showers, but it wasn’t that bad and we had good views. Early on in the day I stopped at Loch Cameron to swim. I wish I had decided to swim every day on the trail as there were amazing wild swim opportunities. I regretted not swimming at Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau.

I met Sue at the loch. She was only a year younger than me (50) and was also doing the Alps to Ocean on a non-electric bike. She had a mountain bike with suspension, but more gear, as she was bike-packing and camping along the way.

Good purpose-built track around Lake Ohau

We stopped at the Maori pou for lunch but should’ve stopped 100 yards ahead where there is a picnic table. The lake was beautiful and there was almost enough surf to swim in. The only other riders I encountered on this day of the trail were in a group of twentysomethings who insisted on broadcasting their music from a phone as they rode. Very annoying and I’m glad we weren’t riding with them. I was mostly riding on my own but occasionally stopped with Sue.

It was a day of beautiful mountain scenery, fantastic clouds and lots of birds (very few native).

You could see where there had been the massive fire. There was a lot of green regrowth and now finally people are taking down the big pines around buildings. Maybe they will plant some natives that are less likely to burn.

Because of the poor weather forecast, we had changed our camping plans to the basic accommodation at Lake Ohau Lodge. $125 got as a fantastic little room with an ensuite. And the lodge is great fun with a good bar (beers are less than $10 a pint and a big plate of nachos was $15) and hot tubs that you can use even if you are camping. Unfortunately I shared the hot tub with a very unfriendly woman from Blenheim (originally French, "from all over France"). When asked what she likes to do in Blenheim, she answered, “lots of things”. Every question was viewed with distain and answered so that she gave nothing away. Which was a shame, as she was walking the length of the South Island on Te Araroa trail. But I guess she was doing it to get away from people.

The lodge was one of many businesses along the trail that have been kept afloat by the Alps2Ocean. Otherwise its main business is the ski season.