Well, we finally did it. We went away for a few days’ cycling in Hawke’s Bay, from Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 May. The weather forecast looked favourable, and we were able to book our favourite accommodation near Hastings for four nights, at short notice. We stayed at “Arbor Vitae” where we had stayed twice before, and loved it. The cottage is separate from the main house in its own little garden, and looks out on a small orchard/paddock with half a dozen sheep, and a view towards Te Mata Peak. Quite idyllic.
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| Half a dozen sheep in the paddock/orchard. Te Mata Peak in the background |
We travelled to Hastings on Friday 5 May, over the Rimutaka Hill Road, because the more usual route was not usable. The Manawatu Gorge road had been closed a couple of weeks earlier by a huge slip, that will take many weeks to clear.
It was a lovely day and we had a smooth journey, stopping a few times along the way, and arriving at the cottage in the late afternoon, just as Mark, our host, arrived home from work. It was two years since we had last been here, and we were amazed at how much the olive trees in the cottage’s garden had grown.
After an evening enjoying some old sitcoms on Sky TV (which we don’t have at home, so this was a rare treat), we had a comfortable night’s sleep, and were ready nice and bright the next day for a long bike ride.
Saturday 6 May
It was a perfect, crisp morning as we set off on our bikes from the cottage towards Havelock North. We planned to bike to Clifton, 30 km away on the coast, and back. Havelock Road has beautiful wide shared foot/cycle paths on both sides of the road. We stayed on the sunny side, as it was quite chilly in the shade. The trees along the road were glowing in their autumn colours, and fallen leaves were scattered on the path.
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| There are lovely wide shared foot/cycle paths on both sides of Havelock Road (photo by John) |
At the first roundabout in Havelock, we wrongly took the first road to the left, Napier Road, instead of the second, Te Mata Road. A bit of a detour, but we got to see a bit more of the suburb. We discovered a pretty link track between main roads, which eventually got us to Te Mata Road.
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| The link track (photo by John) |
At the bottom of Te Mata Road, we stopped at the Chalk’n Cheese Café. This is now run by Origin Earth, a small cheese factory next door. The last time we were here it was called the Tandem Café, and the time before that it was the Tuki Kitchen. We enjoyed our coffee and scones at a table in a sunny spot in the courtyard.
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| The Chalk ‘n’ Cheese Café |
A bit further along from the café is the start of the cycle track on the stopbank, alongside the Tukituki River. It’s a nice wide track of firmly packed lime sand, pretty smooth to ride on.
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| The track on the stopbank is wide and smooth (photo by John) |
On the left of the track were vines and orchards. Most of the apple orchards were empty of apples, but some had drop cloths under the trees – to catch fallen apples, I presume.
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| Drop cloths under the apple trees (photo by John) |
A few orchards still had some apples on the trees and lots of fallen apples on the ground beneath. In one orchard there were bins full of apples but nobody working. Do they not work on Saturdays, even when there is harvesting to be done?
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| Apples in the bins and under the trees |
The vines had all been harvested and the leaves were going yellow or brown. There were a few former vineyards that were empty, posts and wires still in place but no vines growing, not even pruned stumps – nothing. Some places had been given over to pasture, and some even to weeds. We recognised the place where the Vineyard Bivvy was, a lovely place with a coffee caravan where we stopped on our previous visits to this area. But of course it was not there now, since the summer is over. In fact, I wonder if it would have been there this last summer, as the wooden picnic tables were not there, and the very next field was no longer in vines either. Has it been a bad year for vines?
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| The field next to where the Vineyard Bivvy used to be had been given over to weeds |
On the right of the track there were trees, pasture, a few cattle, a large puddle or two, and the Tukituki River beyond, out of sight.
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| A few cattle on the river side of the stopbank (photo by John) |
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| Some large puddles bear witness to recent heavy rains (photo by John) |
Soon after the Bivvy, we got to Black Bridge, beyond which the track to Haumoana and Clifton started, through some wetlands and then alongside the beach. There had been a fairly brisk southerly when we started out biking, but when we were on our way back after lunch, the wind had turned to the north west.
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| The wetlands near Clive, and the sea beyond (photo by John) |
After the wetlands, we rode through Haumoana residential roads, then along on a beachside track. Here we had quite a few midges flying into our faces, which was a bit unpleasant. But soon we got to the Clifton Café, where we stopped for lunch.
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| Bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus) in front of Clifton Café (photo by John) |
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| John was quite taken by the swathes of bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus) (photo by John) |
We rode back the same way we had come. But now, the midges along the foreshore of Haumoana and Te Awanga were fairly relentless on the track by the beach – flying at my face, around my glasses, into my nose and once into my mouth. Not nice. So we crossed and continued on the road instead, which was a bit better.
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| The track along the beachfront at Te Awanga, where the midges were at their worst (photo by John) |
Back on the stopbank, we paused briefly at the seat overlooking the Bivvy, ate a couple of wedges of apple that I had brought along, and carried on. I was getting rather saddlesore by this stage. When we got back to Havelock, we stopped at the supermarket to get some bread, and other bits and pieces. Then back to the cottage, going down the wrong road for a distance, but we soon turned around to find the correct road. We got back to the cottage having done 60.5 km in 4.5 hours (excluding our stops), and feeling pretty tired but quite satisfied with our ride.
Sunday 7 May
We planned to ride along the Napier waterfront, and then continue past Westshore, to ride the part of the “Water Ride” that we missed riding last time we were in Hawke’s Bay.
It was late morning when we headed towards Napier (by car), but we first stopped briefly at the Hastings Farmers’ Market. It’s obviously very popular, as there were lots of people there. We did a loop of the market, but didn’t buy anything. While I perused the local produce on offer, John took some photos of a pond alongside the stalls.
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| The Hastings Farmers Market (photo by John) |
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| The stall selling plant seedlings was right beside the pond (photo by John) |
Then on towards Napier. We parked about 5 km south of Napier’s i-SITE. The weather was glorious, not a cloud in the sky (until late afternoon). The concrete walking/cycling path was beautifully smooth. There is a lot of new development along the parade, as you get closer to central Napier. A large area for a children's playground – sensibly fully fenced all the way round, presumably to stop kids wandering off and heading for the treacherous beach. Within the fence were a couple of shaded areas with picnic tables, for the adults watching their kids.
Where Marineland used to be, there is now a skate park. The grandstand is still there, and overlooks a "roller hockey" area. Just like ice hockey, but on in-line skates (or roller blades). They were using pucks, and the concrete looked very smooth.
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| “Ice hockey” but on in-line skates and no ice (photo by John) |
We stopped briefly at the i-SITE to see if they had any updates on the cycling map that we had from last time, but the one they offered us was exactly the same. So on we went. We thought of having coffee near Ahuriri, but it was so busy, we decided to flag it. Of course, it was Sunday, and half of Napier was on the move — families with kids riding their bikes, people biking, and walking, having coffee or brunch, and generally enjoying a sunny weekend.
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| It was busy, with lots of people walking or cycling (photo by John) |
Another new structure is the Napier Viewing Platform, which juts out over the beach, and affords great views back towards the city. Apparently it has come in for some criticism from locals. It’s been called a “pier to nowhere” because it does not go far enough into the sea. "You can't even fish off the end" some said. In fact, its purpose is to aesthetically cover an ugly two-meter diameter storm drain that goes into the sea. I actually think it is quite a beautiful structure, and we did take some nice photos from there.
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| The Napier Viewing Platform |
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| A very stylish canopy (photo by John) |
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| The locals think the “pier” does not go far enough into the water |
We carried on towards Westshore and eventually made it to the Snapper Café, where we had lunch. There is a lovely garden but it is shaded by a lot of trees, which would be very welcome in the summer, but not now that it is getting cooler. We picked a table with a tiny bit of sun on it, but moved to a table in a sunnier spot when it became available.
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| The garden at the Snapper Café (photo by John) |
There were lots of cyclists there, mostly “old”, like us. And quite a few of them on e-bikes. John had a chat with one couple who had full-size SmartMotions. And when we left, I noted that another couple also had e-bikes. The woman said that she wouldn't have been able to ride all this way without the electric help.
To return to Napier we rode the “Water Ride” track, which goes through wetlands and farmland. We had some encounters with black cattle, a big flock of geese, and of course lots of sheep.
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| The start of the “Water Ride” track (photo by John) |
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| A gaggle of geese made their noisy way across the track (photo by John) |
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| And of course lots of sheep (photo by John) |
The track meanders about quite a bit, skirting around the wetlands. It goes past the airport, and eventually gets back to Westshore. On one lonely stretch of roadway, we cranked the assist up to 5, and blatted along. Yeehaa! Actually, I was getting rather saddlesore, and wanted to get home.
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| The track skirts around wetlands …(photo by John) |
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| … and the back of the airport (photo by John) |
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| A lovely spot, but sadly there was no seat on which to linger (photo by John) |
At Ahuriri we stopped for an ice-cream. I sat on a low wall and watched the world go by, while John walked down towards the water to take some photos on the beach.
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| A dramatic shot of the beach (photo by John) |
Once past the i-SITE area, there were few people on the track at this time of the afternoon, so we cranked up the assist again, and sped along on level 4, back to the car, stopping only to take pictures of an amazing mural of a huge octopus on the wall of the National Aquarium. We had biked 45 km.
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| The mural on the wall of the National Aquarium (photo by John) |
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| The eye of the octopus and some of its tentacles |
Monday 8 May
Having biked over 100 km in the past couple of days, we decided on a shortish ride today – the “Puketapu Loop” – just 18 km all up. This is a lovely ride, through quite varied landscapes. Starting from Taradale, it goes up one side of the Tutaekuri River to Puketapu, and back down on the opposite side.
We parked near the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale. The track starts on the stopbank, but soon it goes through a lovely wooded area.
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| A nice wooded area (photo by John) |
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| Skirting a pretty stream (photo by John) |
More orchards and pastures, and then a deep throaty sound drew attention to the fact that we were passing a deer farm. A stag was roaring to assert his dominance over his flock of hinds, but they didn’t seem to take particular notice.
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| A roaring stag and his hinds (photo by John) |
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| I was quite pleased with this photo of another stag in a paddock a bit further along |
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| Farm gates (photo by John) |
Before long, we arrived at Puketapu. There is a pub where we had thought of having lunch, but it was closed. The lady at the shop next door told us that on Mondays, the pub doesn’t open until 3 pm. So we made do with muffins from the shop.
A new feature opposite the shop is a large picnic table under a canopy, and the provision of plenty of bike racks. Obviously this area is popular with cyclists, but today, we were the only ones there.
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| The picnic shelter at Puketapu (photo by John) |
This was the mid-point of our ride. The return journey took us through more lovely wooded areas, vineyards and orchards on a meandering track.
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| Another wooded area … (photo by John) |
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| … and a meandering path (photo by John) |
We were back at our cottage quite early in the afternoon, and just relaxed in the peaceful rural surroundings. We were amused by the antics of the sheep in the orchard next to the cottage, where they took turns at having a great scratch against an old plum tree and a stump next to it. First one side against the tree, then the neck against the stump. Then turn around and do the other side. The owner of the cottage said that because the sheep have quite a bit of fleece on them at this time of the year, they get hot and sweaty when it is sunny, so they enjoy a good scratch.
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| One sheep is having a good scratch against the tree, while the other waits her turn |
The next day, Tuesday 9 May, we were on our way home. This time, instead of driving through the Wairarapa and over the Rimutaka Hill, we drove the Saddle Road over the Ruahine Range, which is the alternative route when the Manawatu Gorge Road is impassable. It is a winding road, but it is in good condition, and though there were quite a few trucks, it was not too harrowing to drive.
The countryside is beautiful – rolling hills of very lush, green farmland, and a view of the Te Apiti Windfarm. The 55 huge wind turbines are a dramatic sight along the top of the ridge. As you get to the top of the hill, you get quite impressive close-up views of the windmills, and of course we stopped to take some photos.
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| Just a few of the 55 wind turbines along the ridge at Te Apiti Wind Farm (photo by John) |
After an uneventful drive, we got home by 2 pm, having had a very enjoyable short break, during which we biked a total of 120 km.
