Petone to Eastbourne

We hadn’t biked to Days Bay and Eastbourne for quite a while, so on Tuesday 21 March, we decided to ride from Petone to Days Bay for lunch. We parked in Petone, in the carpark at the western end of the Esplanade. A few weeks earlier, the short gravel track between the parking reserve and the Petone Wharf had been sealed, and made wider, which makes it much nicer to ride on.

The beach-side track has been widened and sealed (photo by John)

I had hoped that the narrow, gravel track in the Hikoikoi Reserve, that runs along the Hutt River estuary, might also have been improved, but it hadn’t.

Crossing the bridge over the Hutt River is always a little hazardous. It is narrow, and often there are people fishing, who leave their paraphernalia on the path, and sometimes they leave their fishing rods propped up half-way across the path. I always worry that one day a fishhook will either give us a puncture, or worse, may be flicked back and hit one of us in the face.

The path across the bridge is narrow, and often clogged with people fishing (photo by John)

We continued on the track alongside Seaview Road, and past the marina, where we didn’t take any pictures this time – just for a change. Onto a stretch of cycle path between the boat launching ramp and the Point Howard Wharf.

A cycle path heading towards Point Howard (photo by John)

For the first few kilometres around the eastern bays, there is a sort-of protected shoulder on the seaward side of the road, but from Lowry Bay, this disappears and we had to cycle on the road.

There is a protected shoulder of sorts for some of the way … (photo by John)

… but from Lowry Bay we had to ride on the road (photo by John)

At Days Bay, we stopped for lunch at the Chocolate Dayz Café. Directly behind the café is the Southlight Studio, where photographer Simon Hoyle specialises in family portraits. We had some wonderful family photos taken by Simon about 17 years ago. He took us to the Eastbourne Wharf, where he took some lovely relaxed photos of us all. They are much treasured.

John liked the contrast of the orange chairs with the blue of the view beyond (photo by John)

The Chocolate Dayz Café, with the Southlight Studio at the back (photo by John)

After lunch we continued the ride towards Eastbourne, as far as Burdan’s Gate, which is the start of the track to Pencarrow. We didn’t carry on to do the Pencarrow ride, as I was still a bit reluctant to tackle loose gravel (after my fall on Ocean Beach Road several weeks earlier). But we sat in the sun and took pictures.

The Eastbourne Domain (photo by John)

We noted that they had changed the gate for pedestrians and cyclists since the last time we were there. It was a very awkward narrow zig-zaggy gate. Now the gate is somewhat easier, but I think it would still be a bit of a mission to get the e-bikes through. We watched a couple of cyclists coming back from a ride, and they had to raise their bikes onto the back wheel to be able to walk them through the narrow gap.

The gate (with the chain attached) is still very narrow and tricky to negotiate with a bike (photo by John)

Looking north ... (photo by John)

... and south, towards Cook Strait (photo by John)

By the time we got back to Petone, we had done a very relaxed 28 km.

Petone to Eastbourne

On Tuesday 29 September, we decided on an easy ride from Petone to Eastbourne. Although the ride was all on the flat, we took the electric bikes, as there was a brisk breeze.

We parked at the motorway end of Petone and biked to Days Bay without stopping. There is a bit of a cycle lane on the seaward side of the road in most places, but at times we had to cross and ride on the road. We stopped for coffee and a scone at the Chocolate Dayz Café.

Fortified by coffee at Chocolate Dayz (photo by John)

It was a pleasant ride round the bays to Eastbourne. It seemed to us – but we may be mistaken – that the shape of the beach had changed since were last there. It seemed more ‘scalloped’ somehow.

We thought the beach had changed shape (photo by John) 

The same stretch of beach, seen from the other end (photo by John)

We biked to the end of the road, stopping at Burdan’s Gate, the starting point to the Pencarrow Lighthouse track. We did not want to bike there today – in any case, the silly gate which gives pedestrians and cyclists access to the track is too awkward to manoeuvre the e-bikes through. And these bikes are too heavy to lift over the main gate across the road.

Coming back through Eastbourne, we took a little detour onto the wharf.

The Eastbourne wharf (photo by John)

As we were riding along the riverside track at Seaview, we saw, up ahead, the little yellow tug Kowhai pushing along the dredging barge with a digger on the top. John raced along to catch up with it so he could take a photo.

The tug Kowhai, and the dredging barge (photo by John)

On the Waione Bridge across the Hutt River, there are always people fishing, causing a bit of an obstruction on the narrow foot/cycle path. Sometimes they have a bike or paraphernalia near them on the footpath, so you have to dismount to get past. This time, when we rode past one of the anglers, something wet and slimy hit me on the side of the face. I don’t know what it was, it didn’t hurt but it was pretty icky! At least it didn’t smell!

The rest of the way back to the car was uneventful. We had done 33 km – a reasonably respectable ride.

Pencarrow and Baring Head

Wow, what a day! Today we rode to Pencarrow, and beyond to Baring Head. It is a ride that we’ve been promising ourselves to do for a while now, and it was glorious.

The start wasn’t too promising, actually, because despite the weatherman’s promise of “light winds”, there was a fairly brisk breeze from the south as we set out from Burdan’s Gate, near Eastbourne. My knees were still aching from Wednesday’s 31km ride, and pushing against a headwind, on gravel, I thought “this isn’t going to be much fun (grump, grump)”. But I soon got myself into a rhythm, and then I was fine.

With the wind in my face, I could understand why many cyclists wear these über-cool, yellow wrap-around sunglasses. I don't know about the yellow (or orange!), but the wrap-around would keep the wind out of their eyes. I have regular glasses, with clip-on sunnies (but not the flip-up ones!), and the wind manages to get around them and make my eyes water. I had tears streaming down my face!

The gravel road had been topped up with new gravel, relatively recently by the look of it. The many potholes had been filled, which was good, but the extra gravel made riding a little more skiddy, so you really had to watch where you were riding.

The gravel had been newly topped up (photo by John)

As we have cycled to Pencarrow a few times before, we didn’t stop for photos until we got to the  lighthouse. It is always a thrill to get there, it is such a beautiful building and such a beautiful coast. And nearly 10kms under our belt!

The Pencarrow Lighthouse. The haze in Cook Strait cleared later in the day (photo by John)

Somewhere along the road there is a cattlestop, and because our wheels are smaller than most, we got off our bikes and walked across. Just then, a woman jogger passed us with her dog, and I wondered how the dog would cope with the big gaps between the bars of the cattlestop. We were amazed to see how deftly the dog put his paws on the bars, and didn’t miss a beat! He’d obviously done that before!

We kept going, past the lighthouse, past Lake Kohangapiripiri, round to the next bay and to the second of the Parangarahu Lakes, Lake Kohangatera. A large information board by the gate giving access to this lake had a sign tacked onto it, advising that the Lake Kohangatera /Gollans Stream boardwalk has been removed. Apparently, this was because flooding from storms had pushed a large mat of vegetation against the boardwalk which could cause more flooding. The sign also said “ Due to severe drowning hazards do not attempt to cross Gollans Stream Wetland”.

Lake Kohangatera (photo by John)

This lake is larger than Lake Kohangapiripiri, and equally beautiful. I spotted some shags sitting on the water’s edge. Apparently there is a large colony of black shags on the northern shores of the lake.

Large shags resting by the water’s edge

Soon after the lakes, there was a sign saying “Pencarrow Station” and warning us that this was now private land.

A little way down, we came across the rusting hulk of a ship, on the edge of the road. On this wild coast, there have been more than 40 recorded shipwrecks over the last couple of centuries. Most of these have long since disappeared, but this one was the remains of the small steamer Paiaka which was wrecked in July 1906, fortunately with no loss of life. It lay buried in deep sand until 1987, when it was excavated by the Eastbourne Historical Society, and placed by the side of the road.

The rusting hull of the Paiaka, which was wrecked on this coast in 1906 (photo By John)

The remains of the Paiaka (photo by John)

After the “Private Land” sign, the road surface deteriorated. It was very rough and stony. I guess the farmer is not likely to want to ride a bike down this road, and it is fine for 4WD farm vehicles.

Once on private land, the road surface deteriorated (photo by John)

The road surface gradually got worse, until we got to the end of the road, where the “track” became a deep bed of coarse sand on which a four-wheel-drive vehicle, powered by a big engine would have trouble making progress, let alone a two-wheeled contraption, powered by two mere human legs!

Just before we gave up biking, we rode past a huge rock, where a bunch of people were practicing their rock climbing skills. That's something that would scare the bejeezus out of me – I don’t much like heights – but it looked impressive.

The perfect rock for a spot of climbing! (photo by John)

 

Is he hanging off, or climbing up, the overhang? (photo by John)

We parked the bikes at the edge of the track – we had to find a rocky spot for them, as the bike stands were sinking into the sand – and walked the 200 or so meters to some spectacular rocks.

Spectacular rocks at Baring Head

We scrambled up them (no need for ropes here!), and from the top we had a grand view of Cook Strait, and a walking track that is part of a network of tracks leading eventually to Wainuiomata.

The view from the top of the rocks (photo by John)

It's not hard to see why these rocks are popular with rock climbers (photo by John)

The walking track on the other side of the rocks (photo by John)

Above us, but hidden by the brow of the hill, was the Baring Head Lighthouse. We could just see the automated air sampling station, where atmospheric carbon dioxide monitoring is carried out. The huge trunk of driftwood in the foreground of the photo below, is testimony to the fierce storms that this coast is subject to, judging from how large it is and how far it is from the water’s edge.

The Baring Head Lighthouse is up there, just out of view behind the brow of the hill (photo by John)

It was after midday, and the wind had dropped to a gentle breeze. It was pretty hot out there, so we headed back, and looked for some shade for a rest. With the sun straight overhead, there wasn’t much shade to be had anywhere until we came to the only clump of trees we had seen along this coast. They were clustered by a small stream. We had a grateful rest in their shade for a little while, and ate our snack.

A few trees by a small steam provided welcome shade for a rest (photo by John)

On the way we had to go through several farm gates. At one of them, I was amused to see the bit of Kiwi ingenuity used to make one of the posts stay upright – with rocks behind it, bits of wire, some string, and a lump of driftwood!

A bit of Kiwi ingenuity keeps the gatepost upright (photo by John)

Between here and Lake Kohangatera, there were patches of deep gravel, one of which caused me to come a cropper. I was just thinking it was getting too dodgy, and I should get off, when I skidded and landed in a heap. One bruised knee and a skinned elbow. Ah, the joys of cycling!

Near Lake Kohangatera there is a woolshed, presumably belonging to Pencarrow Station. It looked quite deserted, and as if it hadn’t been used for a long time, though the fences of the yards were in good condition. John walked a little way up the very steep track alongside it, which perhaps leads to the homestead. From there he had a great view over the area.

The Pencarrow Station woolshed, with Lake Kohangatera in the background (photo by John)

The view towards Baring Head (photo by John)

From here we rode with only a couple of quick stops for photos, until we got back to Burdan’s Gate.

I like these vertical slabs of rock …

… and the curve of the road, just around the corner from the Pencarrow Lighthouse

When we got to Burdan’s Gate, the booth hiring out bikes and selling icecreams, Burdans Gate Bikes, had obviously been doing a brisk trade. We met a lot of cyclists on the road from Pencarrow, including whole families with kids, many of them apparently on hired bikes.

We loaded our bikes into the car, then spread out a picnic rug under the trees, and enjoyed a well-earned icecream. We were very satisfied with our 28km ride. My fitness must be improving, because, apart from the fall I had, I did not have too much trouble with the gravel road. And the padded bike pants work a treat!

We decided to flag lunch, as it was likely that the cafés in Days Bay would be very busy, since it was such a glorious day, and on a weekend too. In fact, when we drove through Days Bay on our way home, we saw that there wasn’t a carpark to be had, all the cafés seemed to be bursting at the seams, and there were masses of people enjoying the beach.

Instead we stopped at the Mojo coffee caravan on the Petone foreshore, for coffee and a biscuit. We sat on a bench and looked out at the beach and the gorgeous sparkling harbour, where it looked like a yacht race was in progress.

A yacht race on Wellington Harbour (photo by John)

While we were sitting there, a young couple arrived, with a twin buggy, in which were two cute little girls wearing identical hot pink sunhats with big pink daisies on them. They had a young puppy on a lead with them. While they were waiting for their coffee, the puppy hopped into the tray under the buggy to get out of the hot sun. Then when they continued on their walk, he stayed in the tray, and enjoyed the ride. He’d got it all sussed!

The beach at Petone was not as busy as the one in Days Bay

Pencarrow Lighthouse

Last Monday, 8 July, was another fine calm day with a forecast of deteriorating weather in the next few days, so I skipped my Zumba class, and we went for a ride instead.

Having “documented” the storm damage and its clean-up on the Wellington south coast last Thursday, we thought we would see how the Eastbourne and Pencarrow coast had fared. It turned out to be a much longer excursion than we had originally planned, nearly three and a half hours, but not all of it was cycling. And it wasn't all about storm damage either.

On our way to Eastbourne we drove through Seaview, on the eastern side of the Hutt River mouth. The storm ravaged this area too. Photo number 2 on this news website  shows how much debris was thrown up onto the roadside path and gardens. It had all been cleared away, but the damage done to the foot/cycle path we have ridden on a few times, is considerable. 

The foot/cycle path along Port Road in Seaview

At Eastbourne, we unloaded the bikes near the wharf, and rode along the road and Marine Parade. Already, right at the beginning of the Marine Parade, there was evidence of huge amounts of beach sand having been tossed up onto the road and onto the gardens along here. The centre of the path had been swept clear, but sand was heaped all along the edges. The council had swept much of it into large piles in several places too.

The storm-dumped sand was piled up after the clean-up

The footpath between the end of Marine Parade and the bus terminus was quite ripped up, but I was pleased to see that the Wahine Memorial seemed to be unscathed.

Damaged footpath near the Eastbourne bus terminus (photo by John)

We had to lift our bikes over the gate to the Pencarrow track, because the narrow gap for people and bikes to go through, had suffered – the metal framework had been distorted, so that there was no longer enough room to manoeuvre a bike through the gap.

In every bay that was exposed to the south, the road had been covered in sand, fine gravel and presumably driftwood and other debris. It was obvious that a grader had been through, pushing sand and debris to the edges. The sand was very coarse – quite different from the fine, fly-away stuff that littered Lyall Bay (refer previous post).

Sand and debris had been pushed to the edges of the road by a grader

The sand and gravel made the surface very skiddy, much harder to negotiate. You had to be careful not to get into drifts of it, or you’d lose your grip and go for a serious wobble. John’s advice: “Go slowly, use a low gear. Actually, it’s good for your balance”. The most treacherous bits were the potholes that had been filled with sand, as they were not obvious until you hit them.

The extra sand made the road tricky to ride in some places. This photo was taken on our way back, in the late afternoon, hence the pinky-gold light and strong shadows (photo by John)

The beach that I had described as “wide, smooth and empty” in my post about Eastbourne last month, was now strewn with driftwood and seaweed, and the whole contour of the beach had changed, having been scoured out right at the back, near the road. Not surprising, considering that record wave heights of 15 m, peak to trough, had been were recorded by a buoy offshore from Baring Head (further round from Pencarrow) in Cook Strait. Most of these waves would have crashed right into these bays.

Debris on the beach

Beach sand had been re-arranged by the storm (photo by John)

I wondered where all the huge trunks of driftwood might have come from, because they were not freshly demolished trees. They looked like they had spent a long time being tossed around by the tides. John thinks they may have originally come down the Orongorongo River, having perhaps been washed down in floods long ago. They may well have landed on other beaches, before drifting away again in the next storm. Some showed signs of having had bits sawn off them, for firewood presumably.

Huge chunks of driftwood were everywhere (photo by John)

Looking up at the hill side of the track I marvelled at the way the vegetation had grown into rounded shapes, in response to the prevailing wind. I think this is the NZ native matagouri. If I am wrong, somebody please put me right.  

The vegetation grows in rounded clumps sculptured by the winds

It seemed we arrived at the Pencarrow Lighthouse more quickly than last time. We decided to go beyond it this time and have a look at the Parangarahu Lakes.

The lower Pencarrow Lighthouse, looking South (photo by John)

Both the lower and upper lighthouses, looking North (photo by John)

Round the corner from the lighthouse were a couple of caves. On my photo, they look like the eyes of some huge, half-buried, lurking monster. The caves are actually not very high - not high enough for someone to stand up in. Not that I tried to take a closer look ...

The caves - they look like the eyes of a half-buried monster ...

We had visited this area at the height of the drought last summer and there wasn't much in the way of lakes to be seen from the road. This time, the huge shingle beach in front of the lakes had been so rearranged by the storm, that we could hardly see where the road was that leads around it. No matter, we took the track that led up the hill towards Lake Kohangapiripiri. We lifted the bikes over the gate, climbed over the style, rode a little way up the track and round the corner, and we were in for a fabulous surprise.

Lake Kohangapiripiri was like a mirror, reflecting the hills

There was the lake, with a surface like a mirror, with perfect reflections of the hills. Reeds grew along some of the edges, and in islands and fingers into the lake, its tips glistening in the sunshine. Stunning! And it was so still and quiet – not a sound, apart from the occasional warbling bird.

Perfect reflections on Lake Kohangapiripiri (photo by John)

Reeds growing along the shores of the lake (photo by John)

We rode up the grass track – a gentle slope towards the top of the lake. John took a picture of me, to show that I CAN ride up hills – very gentle ones … Though more seasoned cyclists might scoff that that track was “practically flat!”.

The gently sloping grass track (photo by John)

Here's proof that I CAN ride up (gentle!) slopes ... (photo by John)

In the distance, towards the right, I could see a sign post and a track leading steeply up the hill, and I said to John, “when it gets that steep, I’m quitting”. But that’s not where we went.

We came to a sign that pointed the way to the Old Pencarrow Lighthouse, on top of the hill. Twenty minutes, it said. “Noooo!” I said, “it’s too steep!”. “Aw, come on” said John, “it’s only 20 minutes”. Yeah right, pushing a bike up the hill, it was more like 35 minutes.

Twenty minutes up to the old lighthouse - more like 35!

But it was so worth it! The track wasn’t too bad, really. Too steep to cycle up, but OK to walk, and it was wide and smooth, on grass. On the way, there were several display boards providing information about the Pencarrow Lighthouse – when and why it was built, diagrams of its construction, what life was like for the lighthouse keepers and their families, and when and why it was finally decommissioned, and handed over to the Historic Places Trust.

One of the information display boards

Pencarrow was New Zealand’s first permanent lighthouse. It was officially opened in 1859.

The plaque on the Old Pencarrow Lighthouse

It originally had an oil-burning lamp, which was later converted to cheaper kerosene at first, and then to an incandescent oil vapour lamp in 1908. Because it was often shrouded in fog, a fog signal was added to the station in 1898 (the first of its type in the country) and in 1906 a secondary lighthouse was built at the beach below.
 
In 1935, the top lighthouse became redundant when NZ’s first automated light was built at Baring Head, further along the coast, as it was a more prominent landmark for shipping. Keepers remained on the Pencarrow site to tend to the fog signal until 1960. The lower lighthouse is still in use today.

After a fair climb we came to a gap in the hill, and there in front of us and below, was the view over the harbour, Cook Strait, and the Pencarrow coast road we had cycled on. What a magnificent sight.

The road that we had come from, and the lighthouse that we were heading for. (photo by John)

According to the information board, this had been the site of the lighthouse keepers’ houses, being the most sheltered part of this frequently wind-battered hillside.

The site of the lighthouse keepers' houses

But it was still a way to the lighthouse itself. From here the track became rough, and very steep. I refused to take the bike any further. I wouldn't be game to ride down it again, so there was no point in taking the bike up there. John worried about leaving the bikes unattended. But there was no one around – we had the place completely to ourselves! So he locked the bikes together with a cable lock – just in case …

This track was longer and steeper than it appears on this photo. John locked our bikes together.

From the hollow, the lighthouse had not seemed terribly far. Very deceptive. We went up, then down, then round and up again, and eventually got there. Just before we got to the top, I could hear a low rumbling, and guessed it might be the Interisland ferry.

When we reached the top - Wow! What a view! Below us was not just the ferry coming into the harbour, but also a cargo ship steaming out.

The interisland ferry Kaitaki entering the harbour, and a cargo ship heading out

We could see the coast road we rode on directly below us. To the north we could see the harbour with its islands Matiu (Somes Island) and Mākaro (Ward Island), and the Tararua Ranges beyond the Hutt Valley; opposite us the city; and to the south we could see the South Island, where we could just detect a small amount of snow still on the Seaward Kaikoura Range. While Wellington was suffering its storm, the Kaikouras received a big dump of snow, but the warm north-west wind of the past week has melted most of it again.

Wellington Harbour (photo by John)

Facing the other way, the hills, and below, Lake Kohangapiripiri with its gorgeous reflections.

Lake Kohangapiripiri seen from the Lighthouse (photo by John)

Of course we took loads of photos, only some of which I can show here. The lighthouse itself is a handsome white tapering octagonal tower with a balcony all around the light, and a weathervane on the top. That weathervane must be really strong, as it will have been battered by some of the worst winds NZ can muster, and survived!

The Old Pencarrow Lighthouse (photo by John)

It was about four o’clock by now, and it was time to get going, as there would only be another hour or so of daylight. Where we left the bikes, there was a stile, and a sign showing another track, to get back to the coast road. It was very steep, very rough and very narrow. John wanted to go down that track, as “it would be quicker”, but this time I put my foot down. No way was I going down that track – just walking it would do my knees in, and it wasn’t even wide enough to be able to walk beside your bike.

The bottom of the track I refused to go down

The grass track back to the lake was relatively easy to ride, though I did keep a good grip on my brakes. When we got to the bottom, the entrance to the lake track was in deep shade, but the water reflected the sky and the fenceline – quite magical.

Magic in the shadows (photo by John)

The way back to Eastbourne seemed like a long haul. A bit of a northerly had sprung up, and that didn’t help. Long before we got back to Burdan’s Gate, I was looking out longingly for the buildings of Eastbourne to appear, but there was always yet another bay to go round. My thigh muscles and my tail were suffering by now too …

The late afternoon sun made the hills glow in a beautiful golden light. By the time we got back to Eastbourne, the sun had just gone behind the hills, and we took our final photos for the day of the orange sky across the harbour.

The last of the setting sun (photo by John)

What a great afternoon we had – we had biked 25 kms, had walked for 45 minutes, and been out for a total of three and a half hours. It was nearly six o’clock when we joined the peak-hour traffic up Ngauranga Gorge, so we picked up some fish and chips on our way through Johnsonville. I didn’t have time to cook dinner, as we were heading out again soon. It was Monday, which meant Scottish Country Dance club night! I did sleep well that night …