Ghosts of Goldfields

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The West Coast Wilderness Trail starts in Greymouth. It’s nice to see that wild coastline.

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Greymouth. I stayed in a zoo themed hostel. I got the zebra room.

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It was a wet few days heading west through the old gold fields of the west coast.

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The weather finally broke and I made a dash for reefton tailed by that storm.

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It rained non stop for a day or two in Murchison so I dried out in a motel.

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The plan was to camp at Lake Rotoroa, but the sandflies had other ideas. This place is clearly the mothership of sandfly existence and the thought of trying to dodge these guys all night had no appeal so I kept on riding to stealth it amongst the trees.

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Following the trails out of Nelson through the golden fields of hops and beautiful luxury gravel, everything was feeling syrupy. After stopping for a pit stop coffee I was reminded of my proximity to the west coast, where the sand flies rule the out door spaces. There really is nothing quite like sandfly territory. Let’s just say this was a quick cup.

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Nelson is a gem of a city. I spent a day or two waiting on a new tent to arrive and made the most of the coffee and beer options.

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It didn’t take long to get down from the saddle although riding through the boulder field was pretty rugged.

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There’s a spot just below the saddle that had a fire pit and dry wood, so I decided to camp there for the night. Right next to a spot called Murderers Point, the site of an ambush of 4 gold diggers in the 1800′s.

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The last thing I heard Eric say as I rode off was enjoy the climb!’ He was being sarcastic because it was brutal. I wanted to make it up without a stop but it got so rocky and steep I literally lost everything here and fell off right here. A couple in a 4x4 and 2 guys on dirt bikes both passed me and came back saying it was not passable. There was a fair bit of pushing for the last few K’s up here, the first few days of the trip and if the rest is like this I better get strong quickly.

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After leaving Pelorus Bridge cafe where I bumperd into a TA organiser having a coffee, I hit the gravel for the first time on the trip. My bike was feeling good and it was pretty chilled riding, I even got a swim in before the climb up Maungatapu Saddle. I think he was called Eric, told me it was the biggest climb of the island so I got stuck in to a grind.

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Pelorus Bridge has a huge swimming hole, and no-one else there. A good spot for my ultralight seasoning.

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Things looking tropical on the way out of Picton.

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Day 0. Crossing between the North and South Island of New Zealand on the ferry. Already looking for the charging points and eating chips. 

Heading south along the TA route from Picton to Bluff while the cars are at an all time low, with international borders being closed due to covid. 

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Thanks for having me Casey and Janine. Love starting a trip on a ferry. Wellington to Picton let’s go.

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My plans to ride the full Tour Aoteroa slightly scuppered by some work I couldn’t turn down, my ride through the entire country of New Zealand become a tour of the South Island. Having about a month before needing to be back in Auckland for work I drove South to Wellington in my van, packed with a surfboard and my bike with most of the things I needed to ride the 1500 km’s from Picton to Bluff.