Hawke’s Bay Trip – Day 3

It’s over a week since I wrote up Day 2 of our Hawke’s Bay trip, but I still have to post Day 3. I’ve been a bit busy, with visitors staying, a big birthday to celebrate (John’s), and a quarterly journal to edit. Now we’ve got time to breathe, and tomorrow looks like it will be fine – at last! We may go for a ride, so I’d better get Hawke's Bay Day 3 written up. (I started writing this on Monday, and we've already had that ride yesterday.)

On Monday 1 December, the forecast was for changeable weather, and possibly showers from late morning, so we made an early-ish start. We planned to do the Wineries Ride. We’re not particularly interested in wineries or wine tasting, which is just as well, because everything was closed on a Monday morning. But the scenery is lovely.

We drove out to the Hastings Golf Course, and parked the car opposite the Bridge Pa Aerodrome. The track is basically a big square around the wine growing area, and we rode it clockwise.

Somewhere on Ngatarawa Road (photo by John)

Near the Ngatarawa Winery we came upon a little family of ducks, waddling across the cycle path. We were worried that they would run onto the road and get hit by a car, so we rode past them v-e-r-y slowly. In fact, John stopped and waved at an approaching car to slow down. It actually stopped, and the ducks safely crossed the road. They are so cute to watch – funny how they all change direction and move at the same time.

Ducks about to cross the road (photo by John)

The track turned right at the base of the hills. The sky was darkening to the north. (photo by John)

From Ngatarawa Road, the track turned right to run alongside SH50 – a long very straight stretch. We were able to get a close-up look at the vines. Behind us, we could see the rain advancing towards us over the hills.

A long straight stretch between the vines and SH50 (photo by John)

The vines, seen from up close

The rain is coming … (photo by John)

Somewhere along this road, we spotted the Roys Hill Restoration Reserve, across the road. We powered up the steep drive to take a look. There wasn’t much there apart from a look-out shelter, and we couldn't see what the reserve was supposed to be restoring, but the view over the vineyards was beautiful.

Roys Hill Restoration Reserve – the look-out shelter (photo by John)

View over the vineyards (photo by John)

We diverted off the highway onto a path that took us along the Ngaruroro River – according to the map, that is, because we couldn’t actually see the river.

Diverting off the highway (photo by John)

On top of the stopbank, after the turn-off

This is where the rain caught up with us. So on went the parkas. We could see the clouds scudding along in patches, and we decided to try and outrun this patch of rain. We cranked our e-bikes up to level 5 assist, and belted along at about 30 km/hr. Wheee! We have no photos of this, as John put his camera away. We got quite wet quite quickly.

We came to a junction and followed the instructions on the sign post, continuing on top of the stopbank. But part-way along, we felt we might have got it wrong. We met a man going in the opposite direction and asked where this bit of track was leading. It turned out it went to Clive. So yes, we were on the wrong track. We turned around back to the junction. We think that the fierce winds of recent weeks had probably twisted the whole lot of arrows around, so they were all pointing in the wrong direction.

Some cattle sheltering under a tree below the stopbank

Luckily the rain had almost stopped by now – down to a few spits …

We headed off towards Oak Avenue. We rode along the road for some distance, then John had to stop to take his camera out again. Oak Avenue is a mile-long avenue of oaks that were planted in 1874. The road is actually called Ormond Road, after a Mr Ormond who planted the oaks, but it is locally known as Oak Avenue – deservedly so. It was the driveway to the Ormond homestead, back in the day. It is beautiful, the trees are magnificent and very impressive.

The start of Oak Avenue (photo by John)

Oak Avenue (photo by John)

The oak trees are most impressive (photo by John)

Near the end of Oak Avenue, I was intrigued by some agricultural implements by the side of an apple orchard. They look like jet-powered space-age machines. Upon looking for the brand name "Cropliner" on Google, I found out that these are machines for spraying crops. Thank goodness for the Internet. How did we ever use to find out anything before Google?

Crop spraying machinery

As we were making our way back to the car from there, the rain threatened again, so we cranked up the e-assist level, and made it back just as the large drops were starting to fall.

We headed to Havelock North for lunch, and pondered whether to stay for another day or go home. We had originally planned to go back to Wellington the next day, but as the weather was starting to pack up, and the forecast did not look too hopeful, we figured that more cycling was not on the cards. We had done 35 km that morning, which was enough, so we decided to call it a day, and head back to Wellington. We were home by 6:30 pm.

We had the prospect of visitors arriving from overseas and from up north too, and I had a zillion things to do before they came. Visitors are always a good catalyst for doing some extra tidying and cleaning around the place, aren’t they? But we were glad to have been able to fit in a few days’ cycling before things got really busy.

Hawke's Bay trip – Day 1

We went to Hawke’s Bay for a few days’ cycling the trails from Friday 28 November to Monday 1 December. It was a bit of a last minute decision to go, as there were other things happening around us that made forward planning awkward. But the forecast looked good, and so off we went on the Friday.

The kind people at Arbor Vitae in Hastings were able to have us stay in their self-contained cottage again. We stayed there around this time last year, and found it to be perfectly placed for a cycling holiday.

We arrived in Hastings in the mid afternoon, and after settling our stuff in the cottage, we took a drive. John wanted to check out the road of the Tukutuki Loop, thinking we would perhaps ride it the next day. But is was so long, and so convoluted and up and down, that I decided I did not particularly want to ride that after all, not even with the help of an electric bike. We did ride it last year, and found it to be quite hard work.

The weather has been quite unpredictable and a bit unusual this spring. We are having lots of very high winds, which are rather frustrating. A surprise, that Friday night, was a sudden tremendous downpour accompanied by thunder and lightening. Fortunately it didn’t go on for too long, and the next day was fine.

The view from the lounge of the cottage during the deluge

On Saturday morning, we set out from the cottage on our bikes and headed towards Havelock North. The wind was fairly strong already, and it got worse as the day wore on.

Along the Havelock Road, there is a great cycle track, where there used to be bollards in the middle of the track, on either side of driveways, as a warning to both cyclists and motorists. These have been removed. I read a report that the wife of a Hastings Councillor had come to grief against one of them while riding her bike, and consequently they were deemed to be “dangerous” and have been replaced by green lines and bike symbols painted on the track at each driveway.

I wanted to visit the Black Barn Vineyards Growers’ Market, which is supposed to happen every Saturday morning in the summer. But when we got there, there was no-one around. No market. It turned out it wasn’t starting till the next weekend. I had wondered why there were so few cars about (they belonged to workers in the vineyards). Of course, “summer” officially starts on 1 December, and today was only 29 November! Duh!

Coming down the Black Barn Vineyards drive (photo by John)

The circular market place under the trees looks lovely – but there was no market! (photo by John)

The amphitheatre where concerts and events are sometimes held during summer

We had planned to have coffee at the market, but since that wasn't an option, we stopped at the Tandem Café instead, only a little bit further down the road.

Coffee at the Tandem Café (photo by John)

We carried on to do the Landscape ride, on the southern bank of the Tukituki River, towards Clive. A short distance in, we noticed a large collection of campervans. It piqued our curiosity as it was not an actual camping ground. It turned out that it was the annual Christmas rally of the Hawkes Bay Motorhome Club.

The Motorhome Club’s Christmas rally (photo by John)

Well established vines contrast with newly planted ones (photo by John)

I like the perfectly straight lines of the new vines (photo by John)

It was lovely riding on the stopbank, despite the wind. The electric assist was wonderful. It didn’t feel as if we were struggling into a headwind. One wee problem was having to negotiate the many gates. The back of the bike is quite heavy because that is where the electric motor and battery reside, and it makes it tricky to manoeuvre around the corner. I also found that I had to be very careful not to accidentally tweak the throttle while holding the handlebar with my left hand, while my right hand was lifting the back of the bike. In a stationary position, the throttle makes the bike rear up, which is very disconcerting!

Negotiating one of the many gates (photo by John)

At Black Bridge we crossed to the other side of the river. We were pleased to see that there was now a much safer path for pedestrians and cyclists, protected from car traffic by a substantial barrier. When we rode here last year, John found it so bad – narrow, unprotected and poor surface – that he didn’t feel safe cycling across because of his balance problem, and had to walk.

The much-improved pedestrian and cycle path on Black Bridge (photo by John)

From here we rode through a wetlands area, to get to the road that would take us from Haumoana to Clifton.

People fishing off a spit of gravel near the estuary (photo by John)

The wind ripples the water in the wetlands (photo by John)

The nor’westerly wind was pretty severe. Certainly the electric assist made quite a difference. It meant that battling against the wind was not such a hard slog. We pedalled along, with the assist level at 3 most of the time, which worked out well.

As we drew near the Elephant Hill Winery we debated – very briefly – whether we should have lunch there, but decided against it, as it is rather expensive. Instead we pushed on to the Clifton Café, where we had a much more reasonably priced lunch.

Waiting for our lunch at the Clifton Café, and having to hold onto the number to stop it blowing over (photo by John)

Cape Kidnappers seen from Clifton (photo by John)

On the way back, we stopped at a side track, from where there was access to the beach. John decided to go down to the beach to try to fly the little kite he always carries in his pannier “just in case”. But it was too windy for it to fly properly. It kept spinning around on itself on the string, and John made me hold the line while he untangled it. I snapped a shot of him just as he was releasing the kite again.

It was too windy for the kite to fly properly

Time for a rest and a mini-slab of chocolate (photo by John)

Wonderful textures of water and reeds (photo by John)

After enjoying an icecream from a dairy in Clive, we continued on the cycle track along the Clive River. When the track left the river near Whakatu, it followed a railway line between orchards on one side and cold stores and fruit packing sheds on the other.

Beside the Clive River (photo by John)

The track ran between orchards and the railway line (photo by John)

Stacks of fruit crates ready for the packing season (photo by John)

As we were turning into a road to get back to Hastings, John spotted in the distance a game of polo being played in a sportsground. Being keen on horses, I wanted to have a closer look, so we pedalled down Ellwood Road to get as close to the action as we could, and leaned on the fence for a while to watch them playing.

A polo game in progress (photo by John)

From here it was suburban roads to get back to our cottage. It had been a long ride – 62 km – much longer than we had planned. The e-bikes had done us proud, but still our legs did feel the effects of a long ride.

We finished the day by driving into Ahuriri to have dinner at a Thai restaurant with some friends. They claimed that this place served the best Thai food in New Zealand. It was very nice indeed, and we had a very pleasant evening. On the way home, we stopped at the supermarket to get some icecream to go with the freshly picked raspberries our hostess had given us when we got back from our ride. A delicious dessert and a perfect end to the day!

Dinner at a Thai restaurant in Ahuriri (photo by John)

Hawke's Bay Cycle Trails – Days 5 & 6

Recently we went to Hawke’s Bay for a few days’ riding the wonderful cycling trails in the region. This post is about day 5. You can check out days 1& 2 here, day 3 here, and day 4 here.

Day 5 – Monday 2 December
The Puketapu Loop, and a drive to Waimarama

In the previous three days of cycling, we had ridden 120 kms, so on this last day, we decided to take it a bit easier, and bike the Puketapu Loop, which is only 18 kms.

We rode this track last March, when I had only just started biking, and I had such a lot of trouble with the hill by the Puketapu Pub, that John thought that we should do it the other way round this time, and avoid the worst of the hill.

The track starts at the Pettygrew Green Arena, from where we headed onto the stopbank, turned right, and crossed the bridge.

This is a really lovely trail. The landscape is quite varied, from river, to corn fields, to crops of various kinds; orchards of apricots, cherries, and kiwifruit; vineyards; and also trees and bush.

It was not very windy, just breezy enough to stop it getting too hot. In some places, clumps of trees near the track looked very inviting, and I thought that we should have brought a picnic rug, some lunch and our books. It would have been nice to lounge and read under the trees for a while …

It would have been nice to lie in the shade of these trees, with a good book … (photo by John)

Other bushy areas were just very pleasant to ride through, even if we had to negotiate a fallen tree.

The track ran under lovely trees (photo by John)

I wonder if this tree came down in Saturday’s galeforce winds (photo by John)

It wasn’t long before we arrived at Puketapu – a small settlement with a pub and a store – the half-way mark of the Puketapu Loop. John suggested we stop at the pub for a coffee, but I remembered the definitely mediocre coffee (and very so-so lunch) we’d had there in March, so we opted for an icecream cone from the shop instead. 

Icecream cones in front of the Puketapu Store (photo by John, with his camera fixed on his bike!)

We sat on the seat in the shade in front of the shop, and enjoyed our icecreams. I looked at the gradient of the road in front of us, that had caused me so much trouble last March. It now didn’t seem to be so terrible. I have definitely progressed!

Quite soon after Puketapu, we came to a beautiful park with a small lake, with a jetty and several small islands, and grazing sheep. It looked so lovely we crossed over the cattle stop and went in for a look. We thought we might be able to ride around the lake. There was a picturesque stone bridge, but as we rode over it, and headed up the track beyond it, we suddenly became aware that this was probably not a public park, but a private property. There had been nothing to say so at the entrance, but we thought we had better not go any further.

Such a pretty little stone bridge (photo by John)

Oh, to own such a beautiful property! (photo by John)

We have just used Google Maps on “streetview” to look at the entrance, and we discovered that the property is called “Bridgewater”. The name is on the fence by the entrance, but we didn’t notice it at the time. Isn’t Google amazing?

So back on the track, which soon crossed the road, and went back onto the stopbank, past vineyards and orchards, and into more lovely shady lanes.

Beautiful gum trees … (photo by John)

… and shady lanes (photo by John)

It was an easy 18km ride, very enjoyable, and by 12:30 we were back at the car. We went into Havelock North for lunch, and then had a walk and window-shop around Havelock. It really is a very pleasant small town.

With the afternoon ahead of us and no biking to do, we drove up to Te Mata Peak. Driving up the section of Waimarama Road that was part of the Tukituki Loop which we had biked two days earlier, it actually looked worse than when we were riding it. Perhaps it was just as well that I hadn’t been up there by car before biking it, because I am sure I would have told John to “forget it!”.

From Te Mata Peak, the highest point of the Craggy Range, the view is spectacular, over the river and the hills and the sea beyond. We looked down onto the Tukituki River, and much of the Tukituki Loop that we biked. Actually, I felt quite impressed with what we had done. That trail sure was a challenge, but seeing it from the top, it seemed quite amazing that I actually did it. We identified the hills where the road wriggled in and out of gullies that were such hard work.

The Craggy Range seen from its highest point, Te Mata Peak

From Te Mata Peak, we could see the Tukituki River, and beyond the hills to the sea. Craggy Range Winery is at bottom right of the picture (photo by John)

Red Bridge, from where the Tukituki Loop returns back down the valley (photo by John)

While we were at the top of Te Mata Peak, we talked to a retired Swedish couple who had walked up (wow!). They told us that they come to enjoy Hawke’s Bay’s summer for five months every year, to escape the Swedish winter. Rather nice!

We then carried on up Waimarama Road, and drove to Ocean Beach, where we took a walk along the water's edge. We are not really swimmers, and I certainly don’t like swimming in the sea (I hate the thought of being touched by creepy things floating about). But I took my sandals off and walked in the shallow water, until John noticed that there were jellyfish on the wet sand at that part of the beach. I made a quick retreat onto the dry! They didn’t seem to be everywhere though. It did look like a nice beach for surfing, and there were a few people swimming and playing on the beach.

Coming down the road towards Ocean Beach (photo by John)

Ocean Beach (photo by John)

Then back over the hill to the next beach at Waimarama. There is quite a settlement there, some 1960s or 1970s style houses, and some brand new big ones. Not a terribly attractive place, really, but I believe the beach is a very popular one. However, at the place where we turned around, by the exit of a stream, there was a sign warning that this part of the beach was dangerous for swimming.

Waimarama, but this part of the beach was not suitable for swimming (photo by John)

Bare Island, off the coast near Waimarama (photo by John)

On the way back, another view of Te Mata Peak (photo by John)

It was lovely driving in the countryside. New Zealand really is such a beautiful country. I can understand why overseas visitors rave about it. And aren’t we the lucky ones to be living here!


Day 6 – Tuesday 3 December
Going home

On Tuesday we made an early start on our way home. The trip was uneventful, except for a stop at the Clock Shop in Waipawa. The outside of the shop is very appealing (in a “twee” kind of way), and it caught our eye when we came through here in March. But it was closed that day, so this time we just had to stop and take a look inside.

The Clock Shop in Waipawa (photo by John, March 2013)

Wow, I don’t think I have ever seen such a huge variety of clocks and watches – ranging from very modern and colourful, to the kitschy and gimmicky, to cuckoo clocks of all kinds, to the old and venerable grandfather clocks.

The shop is owned by Jim and Anne Greeff. Jim is a British-trained horologist, and he repairs and restores clocks of all descriptions. He took time to talk to us, and show us around, telling us about some of the clocks. He showed us one grandfather clock of which he had repaired the movement. Sadly, the owners had got the case spraypainted a shiny jet-black, to fit in with their décor. It had once had a beautiful grain which was still visible under the paint, and I could tell from the way he talked that Jim did not approve of what they had done to the clock.

Jim and John got to discussing clock repairs and clock innards, and he told John that he was currently trying to fix a cuckoo clock with an electronic movement. It had fallen off the wall, and he was trying to figure out the mechanism that made the birdie come out, so he could fix it. He took John into his workshop, and the two of them pored over it, with John offering suggestions (he has a lot of experience with things electronic). I wanted to take a picture of them while they were both bent over this clock, but unfortunately Jim looked up at just the wrong moment.

How to fix this cuckoo clock? Jim looked up at just the wrong moment

After an interesting half hour in Waipawa, we headed to Woodville, where we had an early lunch at our favourite lunch stop – the Bridge Café – just before the Manawatu Gorge. Then, home. It had been a great holiday.

The Bridge Café, across the bridge, just before the Manawatu Gorge (photo by John)