Clutha Gold Trail and other adventures – Part 1

We recently made another trip to the South Island, from 17 to 29 April 2019. There were two reasons: one was to attend a three-day Scottish Country Dance school during the Easter weekend in Owaka, in the Catlins; the other was to bike the Clutha Gold Trail, from Lawrence to Roxburgh. We also did a bit of cycling around Owaka, and some touristy drives around the Catlins. On the way down we biked in Christchurch, and on the way back we biked in Dunedin.

We were away for 13 days, so I wrote up this story in four parts. Here are the links for Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Wednesday 17 April – Wellington to Christchurch

On Wednesday 17 April we boarded the Bluebridge ferry to Picton. It was an uneventful crossing (unlike our return trip, but more about that later). Along the Kaikoura coast, we briefly stopped at Ohau Point, where there is now a very impressive new lookout, from where one can view a seal colony.

The new lookout at Ohau Point

This area suffered some of the worst damage during the Kaikoura earthquake in November 2016, when more than 100,000 cubic metres of rock had come down and covered SH1. The repairs and improvements that have been made since then have been phenomenal. 

Seals basking and swimming. The white parts of the rocks were pushed up during the earthquake (photo by John)

Along the newly repaired road there is the beginnings of a cycle track. Hopefully it will one day extend from Ohau to Kaikoura, 25 km further south. There are still a lot of roadworks going on along this stretch of coast.

The future cycle track is on the left of this photo

Thursday 18 April – Christchurch

We stayed in Christchurch for two nights so that we would have a day to cycle around the city. We set off from our accommodation in Riccarton, and rode through Hagley Park and the Botanical Gardens to the city. At this time of year the trees in the gardens were showing their beautiful autumn colours.

Autumn colours in the Botanic Gardens (photo by John)

It is just over five years since our last cycling visit to the central city, and much has changed since then. In 2014 there was still a lot of evidence of the February 2011 earthquake, with damaged buildings everywhere, “deconstruction” and rubble clearing still very much ongoing.

Even now, there are still a few historical buildings that have not yet been repaired, nor pulled down. One of these is the Old Municipal Chambers on Oxford Terrace, a Category 1 heritage building, registered with Heritage NZ. Built in 1885, the building is also known as Our City Otautahi. It is closed, and braced, and still awaiting decisions as to its future.

The Old Municipal Chambers on Oxford Terrace (photo by John)

However, today, many new buildings have sprung up to replace the damaged ones, and a lot of construction is still happening. There is now a beautiful City Promenade alongside the River Avon, perfect for pedestrians and cyclists, though every so often they have to watch out for the Historic Tram that runs through there on its circuit around the city centre.  

New buildings line the promenade. On the left is the new “state-of-the-art” Convention Centre,
due to be opened in October 2020 (photo by John)

The City Promenade is on the eastern side of the Avon River, and extends for two kilometres. Towards the end of the Promenade, we carried on along Oxford Terrace. We meandered along, following the river, and looking for the cycle track that would take us to New Brighton.

We came upon a road closure – a gate across the road, a big sign “Road closed”, but a gap left for pedestrians and cyclists. We had found the beginning of the trail.

The orange sign says “Pedestrians, cyclists and authorised vehicles access only” (photo by John)

The reason the road was closed to ordinary traffic was that it was “munted”, i.e. badly damaged during the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. There were stretches of cracked asphalt, and areas of gravel, potholes, footpaths that were broken up and taken over by weeds, a few fences and leaning lampposts. To the left of us was the River Avon, to the right were large areas of grass, dotted with trees. It dawned on me that this must be the “Red Zone”. 

The quake-damaged road (photo by John)

I stopped to talk to a gentleman walking his dog, and asked if this was the Red Zone. He confirmed that this was indeed the zone that had been abandoned after the quakes. He told me that thousands of tonnes of silty soil had been removed from the area where “liquefaction” had bubbled to the surface. Hundreds of houses were bulldozed, and the damaged land eventually levelled and grassed. Only the trees that were in people’s gardens remain. (There is poignant article about the red-zoned areas in Christchurch here)

I talked to this gentleman about the “Red Zone” (photo by John)

Now the abandoned roads alongside the river are being used by pedestrians and cyclists, and is now called the Avon Trail, or Te Ara Ōtākaro. The logo of the trail is very clever – symbolising the river as well as a footprint. Some of the time, the track runs atop a stopbank between the river and the road. There is a good map in this link. 

An information board about Te Ara Ōtākaro (photo by John)

The Te Ara Ōtākaro logo is painted on the road at intervals (photo by John)

The trail follows Oxford Terrace, at Fitzgerald Avenue, it crosses to the other bank and follows River Road as far as Swann’s Road, where it crosses back onto Avonside Drive. As shown on the logo, Avonside Drive follows two large loops of the river. All the land within the first loop is now red-zoned. Halfway around this loop we came across the twisted remains of the Medway footbridge, which illustrates the devastating power of the quakes.

The ‘munted’ remains of the Medway footbridge

Information board about the bridge

After the second loop, the trail takes a shortcut through Porritt Park, then picks up Avonside Drive again. Round another bend in the river, and the trail crosses Avondale Road and becomes Hulverstone Drive, until you get to Anzac Drive. From here the trail is on cycle paths alongside main roads – Anzac Drive, Wainoni Road and bridge, and New Brighton Road, which leads you to the New Brighton shops and Pier.

Close to the city, there are lots of trees – oaks, poplars and weeping willows – sporting their gorgeous autumn colours. Further out there are fewer trees. We saw lots of geese, and quite a lot of ducks, but the geese seemed to predominate. Half the time you could see only their white tails up in the air as they dived for food.

All along the way, there was the sad sight of abandoned side streets. No houses, weeds growing though the cracked surface of the roads and footpaths, all that remains is a few lampposts still standing, the street signs, and the redeeming features – the trees.

Postscript

On 28 September 2019, a beautifully reported documentary about the Red Zone, entitled "Red to Green: The stark evolution" was published online. In August 2019, The Government announced a  recovery plan, entitled "Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan", which looks very exciting. I do hope it will all come off as planned, though it may take many years ...

Ogilvie Place, off Hulverstone Drive - one of the many abandoned streets (photo by John)

At New Brighton, we looked at the Pier, had lunch at the café at its base, and had a wander around the shops. The shopping centre seems fairly depressed – not as bright and breezy as I remember it from over 45 years ago when we lived in Christchurch and this was the only suburb to have Sunday shopping. After that we returned the way we had come.

On the way back – seven kilometres to the central city (The whole trail is 11 km each way)

One of several pump houses along the river. The torn-down sign on the ground says
“Tell us how you would reuse the Bangor Street No 3 pump house” (photo by John)

Back to civilization, and the City Promenade or Te Papa Ōtākaro/Avon River Precinct. We rode past the new Margaret Mahy Family Playground. Being the school holidays, it was very busy with excited children and parents/grandparents. Opened in December 2015, it is full of innovative play equipment, with some of the designs having been suggested by the children of Christchurch. It is named after the famous Christchurch children’s author, Margaret Mahy. We did not venture into the playground, but I took a photo of the information board.

The Margaret Mahy Family Playground

All along the promenade there were beautiful mosaics of Māori weaving patterns embedded in the footpath. These are the “Woven Mats of Welcome – Ngā Whāriki Manaaki”. They refer to the whakamanuhiri process of welcome for all visitors to Christchurch. The weaving patterns were designed by expert weavers and adapted using stone pavers.

This is pattern No 12 – “Hapū, from the mountains to the sea”

Further along, we came to the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial – a beautiful, peaceful area on the south bank of the river, with a wall of pale grey Carrara marble, engraved with the names of the 185 people who perished as a result of the earthquakes. At the base of the wall, small tokens of remembrance had been left by friends or relatives – flowers, stones, shells, chestnuts, photos and a teddy bear. A 50-minute video about the design process and construction of this memorial in this link is well worth a watch.

The Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial “Oi Manawa”

Names of victims of the quakes and tokens of remembrance

A special feature at the entrance to the memorial was a large greenstone boulder – kōhatu pounamu – mounted on a plinth carved with a with a river design. The pounamu was sourced from the a remote valley in South Westland and gifted by Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, a Ngāi Tahu sub-tribe. 

The Kōhatu Pounamu has water running over it to show up the beauty of the greenstone (photo by John)

Finally, we headed back to our accommodation and made our way along Rolleston Avenue, past the entrance to the Botanic Gardens and the Canterbury Museum. There, all along the fence, was another reminder of the ordeals the citizens of Christchurch have suffered – the shocking mass shootings at two of the city’s mosques on 15 March. The thousands of flowers that had been brought by mourners and well-wishers had been removed, a month on from the tragedy, but other tributes – cards, plants, painted stones and messages – were still there. A very moving display of sympathy and solidarity with the Muslim community.

Tributes to the victims of the mass shootings at two mosques (photo by John)

Messages of love take many forms

Feeling somewhat chastened by all this tragedy, we made our way back to our motel through the tranquil paths of Hagley Park. All up, we had biked 41 km.

West Coast Trip – Part 4: Greymouth, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura and back to Wellington

I have written up this trip in four parts, and here is where you will find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Day 9 – Thursday 6 December – Greymouth to Hanmer Springs

We drove out of Greymouth and took the scenic route to Reefton, stopping at Blackball. We wanted to have coffee at “Formerly” The Blackball Hilton, but the place didn’t open till midday. That was disappointing, as I had heard that it was quite quirky inside.

This hotel famously had to change its name in 1990 when the global chain of Hilton Hotels objected to this small hotel, in a tiny community of 300 inhabitants, being called “The Blackball Hilton”, which was obviously tongue in cheek. As if anyone would confuse it with the big Hilton chain! Pathetic, corporate greed on the part of the “big boys” with their American lawyers! 

"Formerly" The Blackball Hilton was closed – quite disappointing (photo by John)

We walked around for bit – the place looked pretty forlorn, there was nobody around. The most exciting thing was an encounter with a friendly black cat!

John loves to make friends with cats

We looked over some displays about the history of Blackball which is quite interesting:  Gold and coal mining, the 1908 Miners’ strike, the beginnings of the NZ socialism and the Labour Party. There was also a display about the Pike River Mine disaster, a mine explosion in 2010, which cost the lives of 29 men. Pike River was the next valley over from there. 

Back on the road, and we stopped in Reefton for coffee, followed by a walk around. Reefton is quite an interesting small town. It is reputed to have been the first town in the Southern hemisphere to have a public supply of electricity in 1888. It is also a former mining town in the 1870s, and its main shopping street, The Broadway, is full of charming, quirky old buildings.

Everyone will need one, some time … (photo by John)

The main shopping street in Reefton (photo by John)

The Fairlie R28 Engine, 1878 (photo by John)

While John walked around taking photos, I looked over the museum display in the i-Site. It was very well done – displays about the mines, flora (especially the southern beech, of which there are four varieties, I learnt) and fauna, pest animals, pioneers, and personal stories.

Back on the road, and after some time we started looking for a place to have our picnic lunch. We stopped at a lay-by but there was nowhere to sit. It was a lovely spot, with a stream and beautiful bush. But an empty carton printed with a beer brand and other rubbish made us wonder if the place had been used for other purposes, and thought we should be careful where we put our feet …

A pretty stream … (photo by John)

… and beautiful bush on the other side …

… but we wondered what sort of other uses the spot had been put to

So on we went, and a bit further along, we pulled in at Marble Hill Picnic area. John was intrigued by a long, low concrete wall in a paddock, when suddenly he realised that this must be Frank Evison’s wall. In this spot, one can see the Alpine Fault, and geophysicist Frank Evison designed this wall across the fault line, in order to see whether it was moving very gradually. It was intended to show that if there was any displacement, it would be sudden, not gradual. 

John walked quite a way through the paddock to take a photo of the wall

Evison’s Wall (photo by John)

Information panel about the wall (click to enlarge) (photo by John)

Apart from a huge truck and trailer playing “silly buggers” by tailgating us and overtaking with its horn blaring, giving us a big fright, the rest of the journey to Hanmer Springs was uneventful, arriving there in the late afternoon.

John zonked out on the bed and fell asleep for a while, then later we went into the village to find somewhere to have dinner. Being after 5pm, everything was shut, and it was pretty boring. The only place that seemed to be open was the Thermal Pools and Spa complex, but we weren’t interested in that. We ended up at the Roasted Bean, where we enjoyed our dinner with a glass of Riesling and a shared dessert.

After dinner, we went for a walk around a largish block, and thought we should have biked around the village, as it was actually quite pretty, so we decided we would do that the next morning before leaving Hanmer.

Day 10 – Friday 7 December – Hanmer Springs to Kaikoura

At about 8:30 we set off to bike around Hanmer, going to the other side from where we walked the previous evening, but that was soon done, so we also biked where we had walked. We had checked out the map of cycle trails around Hanmer, but they were all mountain bike trails – not our style of biking. But we rode 8 km around the township which was quite enjoyable.

Ready for a short ride around Hanmer Springs (photo by John)

Hanmer streets are quiet and very pretty (photo by John)

Back to the unit for a cup of coffee and we left Hanmer at about 9:30, heading for Kaikoura. I had wanted to go via the Waipara Valley, so that we could have lunch at a winery, but upon checking the various winery websites, I figured that most of their menus looked rather “pretentious” (and eye-wateringly expensive), so we decided to flag the idea.

We drove to Culverden, then Waipara, to join SH1 from there to Kaikoura. There were several places where roadworks were in progress (no doubt still left-overs from the Kaikoura quake), and the road was single lane, with either traffic lights or Stop/Go people in place.

One such roadwork area allowed us to stop briefly by an interesting limestone formation, which, as I found out later, was called Frog Rock. Using one’s imagination, one can see the frog crouching on the side of the road.

Frog Rock, near Weka Pass (photo by John)

A little while later we stopped at Fossil Point, a very nice café. A really pleasant, cheerful and modern-looking place – nice big carpark, pretty garden, seating inside and out. We had coffee and scones. We got talking to the woman who owned the café, and she mentioned that her passion was potting. I asked what her name was ­– Kim Henderson – and I mentioned my potter sister, Aimée McLeod, asking if she knew her. “Of course I know Aimée, she organised several of the conventions!”, at one of which (2013) she apparently won a main prize for her large vase. She showed us the folder that chronicled how they bought and did up the building, and made it into a café, and she also showed us the folder of her pots, and of the drawings (cartoon-style) she resorted to doing when the traffic bypassed their place for 13 months while the Kaikoura earthquake-hit roads were unusable.

Fossil Point (photo by John)

Kim Henderson’s folder (photo by John)

When we got to Domett, I could see on the map that there was a road to the “Cathedral Cliffs”, which eventually looped back to SH1 at Cheviot. I suggested going there to check it out. It was probably a winding road, but we were in no hurry, and we were there now, so why not do it?

The road was winding, but very pretty, and well worth it when we got to the Cathedral Cliffs, which were quite impressive.

Cathedral Cliffs (photo by John)

A close-up of the Cathedral Cliffs is reminiscent of
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Basilica (photo by John)

When we got down to the coast, at Gore Bay, it was the most beautiful view, and a beautiful surf beach (apparently one of NZ’s safest surfing beaches, according to the information board near the public loos in Cheviot).

Gore Bay (photo by John)

Gore Bay, a lovely wide surf beach (photo by John)

We reached SH1, the coast road to Kaikoura, and in various places there is still road building – or fixing – going on.

In November 2016 – at two minutes after midnight on 14 November to be precise – a magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook the Kaikoura region, bringing down huge landslides onto SH1 and the railway line both to the north and to the south of Kaikoura. With both the road and the rail line devastated, the tourist town was effectively cut off from the outside world. 

There were big celebrations in December 2017, when the SH1 was re-opened, although some sections were still being worked on.

It took a huge effort from vast numbers of workers over two years to restore the road and rail and to get traffic flowing through Kaikoura again. Just a few weeks before our trip (11 Nov 2018) we saw a documentary on TV One’s Sunday programme about the re-build and re-opening of the road and railway, so of course we were interested in seeing the progress for ourselves. The documentary is well worth a look, on TVNZ On Demand.

There were several places where work was still ongoing, and the road was reduced to a single lane, with lights or Stop/Go people managing the traffic. I was able to take several photos from the car as we couldn’t stop. The rail tunnels are being extended – i.e. concrete tunnels are being built to continue from where the original tunnels leave off – presumably to protect the track from further rock falls.

Road works were still going on

The road was reduced to a single lane in places

Huge concrete blocks and netting walls protect the road from rock falls

Existing tunnels were being extended

We arrived in Kaikoura in the mid-afternoon, and checked in at the Bay Cottages Motel, at South Bay, across the road from the beach ­– well, the seashore, as it was a fair distance to the beach itself. We got some information from the motel owners about cycling in the area and started biking almost right away.

First we went to the end of South Bay, where there is a marina for the whale watch launches. Though it seems that the harbour is back into full operation, we saw no tourist activity there. 

There were some amazing rocks all around the area, where the seabed had been lifted by more than a metre by the earthquake.

Looking from South Bay towards the end of the Kaikoura Peninsula. Most of the rocks you can see here have been pushed up by the earthquake (photo by John)

These amazingly jagged rocks are the raised seabed, pushed up by the quake (photo by John)

Looking towards the Seaward Kaikoura Range (photo by John)

Then we biked around the racecourse at the other end of South Bay, up a very steep path that got us to a track beside the State Highway, leading into Kaikoura.

We biked around the racecourse at South Bay (photo by John)

We biked right into the town centre, and stopped at The Craypot for coffee and Devonshire scones, with cream and jam. Yum! We sat outside on the deck across the footpath so we could keep an eye on the bikes. The town was busy and bristling with tourists, in cars and on bikes. Kaikoura was definitely back on the tourist map!

We went into the i-Site, where we picked up more info about cycling, then biked along the foreshore all the way to the end of the Peninsula, at Point Kean. At Fyffe Point we saw more amazing rock formations on the shore, all raised by the earthquake uplift.
 

On the Esplanade (photo by John)

Pushed-up rocks at Fyffe Point (photo by John)

Spectacular! (photo by John)

All this white rock was raised by the earthquake

A close-up of the shattered, uplifted rocks

After dinner in town, we headed back to the motel, but we diverted to the look-out from where we had a great view over both sides of the peninsula.

From the top of the look-out … (photo by John)

… we could see South Bay on one side … (photo by John)

… and the Kaikoura township on the other (photo by John)

Later, at around 8:45, we went down to the beach to look at the sunset. Beautiful, with interesting clouds and a vapour trail all lit up in orange and gold.

The sunset at South Bay (photo by John)

Day 11 – Saturday 8 December – Kaikoura and the Kowhai Trail

Having found out about cycling in the region from the i-Site, we set off at about 10 am to ride the Kowhai Trail. We rode to the reserve at the end of South Bay, near the highway, and found the track (it was a bit hard to find, as its entrance was hidden by shrubbery). It ran between the highway and the sea, but we couldn’t see either of them, because of vegetation beside the track. After some distance, the track ducked under a bridge and the highway, and we were into a wooded area – rather nice amongst the pine trees. The track was soft underfoot for a while, and I thought it would be nice to ride a horse there. But later it became very narrow and lumpy-bumpy with either stones or roots to negotiate.

The track ducked under the highway bridge (photo by John)

This bit of the track was lovely … (photo by John)

… but this is where the track started to be rather narrow and bumpy (photo by John)

At one stage we had to walk about 50 metres on the, by now dried-out, riverbed edge where the track had been washed out in recent rains. We had heard at the i-Site that there had been flooding on the track the week before.

Walking the bikes along the riverbed where the track had been washed out a week earlier
 (photo by John)

The ‘track’ on the riverbed

After that, the track was quite challenging − narrow, very winding, and lumpy − and went on for about 10 km. It was a mountain bike track really, not our style of biking at all.

The track became very narrow, bumpy and overgrown (photo by John)

By now I was having grave misgivings about this track, and was starting to feel
 more than a little brassed off … (photo by John)

But we persevered, and eventually we came out on a rural road, which took us back into town. There was a topdressing plane doing passes over land to the left of us, and of course John had to stop and take pictures of it. He is very partial to topdressing planes, as his father was an aircraft engineer for a topdressing firm in New Plymouth.

The topdressing plane makes its approach (photo by John)

A nice photo of the plane as it flew over the paddock next to us (photo by John)

Camera ready to go back into the bag

It was nice easy riding on the road after that punishing track. It was about another 10 km back into town, but much easier riding on the quiet sealed road.

After lunch in town, we did a bit of a wander around the main shopping street, and I was pleased to see that the public toilet block had survived the earthquake unscathed. I like the mural on both sides of the block. On a previous visit, I had seen the artists in the process of painting the final part of it.

I really like the mural on the Public Toilets block …

… so I was pleased it had not been damaged by the earthquake

In fact, though there were just a few sites where buildings had been pulled down, there did not seem to be a lot of earthquake damage in the town itself. Most of the damage had been up on the hills on either side of the town.

We returned to the motel, and as it was hot and we were tired, we both dozed off on the couch for a while …

Later, at 8:15 in the evening, we drove down to the far end of South Bay, where the whale watch boats were, to watch the sunset. It was such a lovely evening − calm and warm. We were in an area where the rocks were amazing − all sharp, white, up-ended layers, beautiful. And at last we got a good sunset − on the east coast, while we'd had no luck on the west coast − and everyone knows that the sun sets in the west!

A dramatic sunset (photo by John)

The newly exposed rocks, and beyond, the boulders enclosing the new marina
 for the whale watch boats (photo by John)

The setting sun and the uplifted rocks (photo by John)

After the sun had sunk behind the hills (photo by John)

Day 12 – Sunday 9 December – Kaikoura and back to Wellington

We left Kaikoura at about 9:40. It was a smooth drive, though there were several lots of road works to negotiate. I took photos from the car, as one couldn’t stop anywhere. I’m not exactly sure where along the road north these photos were taken, but they show what a huge job was still to be completed.

Unfinished roadworks

A new raised platform on the left for the train track

Thousands of tonnes of rock had to be removed to leave this hillside safe enough
 to build a road and railway at its base

This bit is nowhere near finished yet

The first place where we were able to stop was at Okiwi Bay (I think). Here too, the shore had been raised by the earthquake, and there was a large sign prohibiting the taking of shellfish or seaweed as a measure to allow the marine life to recover from the devastation wrought by the quake.

The beach is wider than it used to be. The remains of a large landslip is in the background

No gathering of shellfish or seaweed (click to enlarge)

We stopped briefly for coffee at The Store at Kekerengu, a nice café overlooking the shore. I asked the woman at the counter whether they had suffered any damage from the earthquake, and she said that a bit of the foreshore had been raised by about a metre, but they had sustained no other damage. The only thing that hurt the business was the lack of traffic coming through. But they were able to stay open for business as they were catering for the road construction crews.

If you look at the Kekerengu blog and scroll down past the first few items, you’ll find a blog called “Introducing the Coastal Trail – the best silver lining”. Click on the title and there is a short video, which tells of plans to build a Picton to Kaikoura cycleway alongside the new road. More cycling options, yay! I do hope it comes off.

We had originally booked to cross back to Wellington on the 6:45 pm ferry, allowing time for a leisurely winery lunch and a visit Peter Jackson’s WWI aircraft museum in Blenheim, but we decided that we would rather try to get to Picton in time to catch the earlier ferry.

We were in luck – we were able to get on the 2 pm sailing. It was a smooth crossing, and we were home by 6:30 pm.

It was good to be home. It had been a great holiday, but as always, it's nice to get home again, to my own shower and my own bed. Bliss!