Rimutaka Cycle Trail - Encore

Earlier this year we had attempted to do the Rimutaka Cycle Trail from Petone to Featherston.  The total distance  of the  trail to Cross Creek is 60 kilometres and then add another 12 kilometre to Featherstone from the Cross Creek car park.  B and I figured that we were up to it and waited for a nice day in the week after Easter to do it.  That proved a real waiting game, but on Saturday the weather gods smiled upon us.  A light southerly was forecast and it was to be dry.

We rode from my apartment down to the railway station in Wellington and took a unit to Ava which would cut off about 1 kilometre of the journey.  The idea was to have a slightly different route.

The ride up the Hutt Valley was very pleasant and soon we stripping off a bit of clothing as we were heating up.  At Lower Hutt we had to negotiate people on the shared path but they were very co-operative.  The noticeable difference from our last ride was the amount of water in the Hutt River which a bit muddy and swollen from the recent rain.

We took the right bank from the Totara Park Bridge and followed a not well formed track to the Birchhill Bridge where crossed back to the left bank of the river finally emerging at Te Marua.  This time I knew which way to turn, that is towards Maymorn.  The sign that pointed the way to the cycle trail was out of eyesight at Te Marua but a kilometre down the road there was one.   It took us about two and a half hours to get to Maymorn.  By that time we were a little hungry and aware that we still had another 30 odd kilometres to go.  We found another sign pointing to the trail and after lifting our bikes over a gate we attempted to ride up the hill but having not got it into the right gears and with legs a little jelly like we both walked our bikes up the steep incline.  It leveled out and the first tunnel of the trail appeared.  We were back on the trail which from that point sort of followed the old railway.

At the end of the Maymorn Tunnel there  was nice open space with picnic tables.  We had brief stop there to eat and drink a bit more water.  It also gave the legs an opportunity to recover a bit from the almost non-stop riding that we had been doing. 

Lunch time

The trail seemed to follow what I assume was the old railway although it was now a forestry track.  It was a gradual incline and after about four kilometres or so we climbed a hill, descended and then it was onto a sealed public road until we reached the rail trail section.

Railtrail beginning

The track wound its way along a valley following the Pahuratahi River.  The old railway bridges were still there.  It was a very pleasant ride as it had warmed up nicely.  We then began to climb gently toward the Summit Tunnel.  I found it much easier than B who complained about the comfort of the seat and the amount of pedaling she had to do compared to me.  Bev had an old mountain bike that was at least fifteen years old.  Compared to the hybrid or trail bike that I had,  the cogs were much smaller.  The tyres were wider as well.  All conspiring to make it a slightly harder
ride.

The biggest bridge on the trail

We got to the Summit Tunnel at about 3:30pm which left us with about two hours to descend the incline and then ride the 12 kilometres to Featherston.  We paused for a few minutes at the summit as there were remains of it previous life as a railway junction.  It is very remote but there was a small community that lived there to service the trains that came up the other side of the Rimutakas before the tunnel was pushed through in the fifties.

Remainders of life at the Summit

After the Summit Tunnel the trail descended following the Rimutaka Incline.  It feel steep going down and it is hard to imagine what it would have been like having a train going up down it.  The incline is 1:15 and the information said that trains today have difficulty going up a 1:30 incline.  For nearly a hundred years the trains were pulled up by a couple of Fell locomotives that gripped a centre rail.  It was a slow journey apparently with people able to get off the train and walk with it.  The engines also belched smoke and sparks which would often set off major forest fires.  Now of course the hills are regenerating the forest cover.

Summit Tunnel

After leaving the Summit Tunnel we went through two more tunnels before getting a point where we had to walk the bikes.  It clearly was not part of the railway as you could see where it ended on a cliff.  This place was called Siberia.  I assumed there must have been a bridge there that had fallen down.  After picking our way across a small stream we saw a big pylon which I assumed must have been for the bridge.  However we discovered a little further on, on one of the many information posts that there had been an embankment crossing the stream but it had washed away.  The pylon was designed to deal with the erosion debris.

Crossing the stream at Siberia

The incline does not look very steep - Information Posts

While 1:15 gradient may not seem like much, it certainly challenged us as there was thick gravel on the trail much like the ballast they have around modern railway lines.  So for nearly five kilometres the brakes got a very good workout.  It was quite an effort of braking correctly to ensure we did not tumble off due to getting something wrong in the gravel.  Apparently the brakes on the Brake Vans on the train had to be replaced after each descent due to the amount of wear on them. I am not surprised as we were certainly using lots of rubber to stop us hurtling to a painful demise. At Cross Creek we saw again the old areas such as the turntable.

The trail left the old railway line at that point and followed a relatively narrow track to the Cross Creek car park.  Riding on the sealed road was very easy.  It took us about half an hour to ride the 12 kilometres to Featherston.  We arrived with minutes to spare.  What had taken us nearly seven hours to ride took a mere hour in the train.

The Rimutaka Incline

We were too tired to ride back to the apartment  so we took the Cable Car.  it was two grateful bodies that gratefully got into the shower.  Then it we walked up the hill to friends who fortuitously were cooking dinner for us and other friends.  We only had to supply some wine and cheese. 

Day 4 - Portage to Anikiwa

View from our unit at Portage

We discovered a water problem shortly after we got up for the final part of our walk.  The water was brown and rusty and we wondered what we were going to do about water for the walk as it looked quite unpalatable. 

After a very nice breakfast  I asked the hotel manager whether the water was potable and told that it was not.  So I asked for some other water and we were supplied with some bottles of water. 

Portage and beyond

While we packed bags for transport back to Picton T took the shuttle to the start of the Portage to Anikiwa section of the track.  B and I set off about half an hour later.  It is a steep climb from the Torea Saddle.  There are nice views of both Queen Charlotte Sound and Keneperu Sound as the path winds its way up the ridge.  There was a very cute seat cut into the side of the path to provide a place to rest on the way up.  Finally we popped out at the top to a rather nice panoramic view of both sounds. 

Respite from the first climb of the day

We caught T about two and a  hours after  leaving Portage. While we having having drink and chatting weencountered an Israeli man on a mountain bike who had biked the whole route.  I don’t know how these people do it as it is really steep in many places.   

About 500 metres on  we came across Charlie who told us he was responsible for making many of the rest stops along the route from Camp Bay to the Te Mahia Saddle.  He came from Alaska about thirty years ago and had lived in the area for a while.  He offered, and we accepted, apples that he had picked from his trees the previous day.  While we were talking with him  a group of Swiss riders arrived.  He regaled us with some of the history of the track, and his

Charlie regaling us all

concerns about operators who do not sell track tickets to help with the upkeep of the track.  He was very interesting and I would have happily spent more time talking with him but we had a boat to catch at 4pm so we needed to push on.

Charlie suggested we walk up a lookout about ten minutes away.  B and I debated it but in the end she decided we ought to and so I left my backpack at the beginning of track and we climbed up the steep track.  It kept going on and on.  Finally we reached the top but the view was obscured by vegetation so not as good as it could have been.  It was a very good workout though. One part I did enjoy of that diversion was coming down as I almost ran down. It seemed easier, perhaps because of the intense concentration required to ensure that the feet were placed in the right place and keeping balance while all the time moving.

The roots designed for twisting ankles

After a fast descent to the track proper we continued toward Mistletoe Bay.  There is a track down through a mature beech forest that we had another debate about doing and in the end we made the decision to go down it.  It was very steep and the track  was not well formed.  One needed to be careful about ankles due to the roots.  The birdlife was prolific and noisy.  It took us about half an hour to quickly negotiate our way through the bush before climbing back up the road to the Te Mahia Saddle.  We were ready for a rest and some lunch by that stage.  About fifteen minutes along the track we found one of Charlie's rest stops. 

Lunch stop

The track from thereon is very easy and I even thought thatI  might enjoy taking my bike along that part of the track as the climbs are relatively easy and then it is mostly downhill.  On the latter half of the track we came across  a number of bike riders who biked up from Anikiwa and then turned around and came back.  The young ones were especially reckless and it was only luck that walkers were not collected by them racing around some of the blind bends. 

Farmland looking toward Mistletoe Bay

We stopped for a break on a point about five kilometres from the end of the track that had a seat and a pleasant view of Anikiwa Arm of  Queen Charlotte Sound.  While standing there admiring the view a  person called out my name. I turned around and discovered it was a former colleague who had worked for me when I was at Justice.  So we caught up on what she had been doing for the past fifteen or more years.  Yes, New Zealand is a very small place. 

As a result of our diversion up a small mountain and down a steep track T had passed us.  We caught her again about a kilometre from the end of the track and we walked together for the last part of it. 

Anikiwa end of the track - we've finished

At the end the women indulged in a coffee and ice-cream while I contented myself with  an ice-cream. 

The coffee cart at Anikiwa

We had arrived with about fifteen minutes to spare and while getting the ice-creams the boat that was to take us back to Picton arrived.  It was three slightly  weary and but very self-satisfied trampers who arrived back in Picton ready for a well earned glass of bubbly (a Daniel Le Brun NV). 

I enjoyed the tramp and was pleased with my fitness which improved noticeably over the four days.  I was able to go up hills slowly but without wanting to collapse when I had reached the top of the climb.  While my feet were ready for a rest there was part of me that just wanted to continue on.  There is something immensely satisfying about the physical exercise and challenge that it provides.    

We were lucky that the weather had been good, not cold but not warm and while there had been some mist and drizzle about it cleared away to give us wonderful views of the Sounds.  One of the highlights was meeting some interesting people most of whom were happy to talk about themselves and the walk.  While not as spectacular as the Milford it is a lovely walk with an ever changing vista  that can be enjoyed when when not focussed on puffing up a hill.

Day 3 - Punga Cove to Portage

Signs to say where you are

This day is reputed to be the most strenuous of the days.  The distance is the longest of the four days.  Unfortunately there was to be no easing into the walk, there was climb out from Punga Cove along the road to the Kenepuru Saddle.  The day was cool and misty when we started out which was about an hour after T had left as she was considerably slower than B and I. 

The head of Kenepuru Sound

As we turned on to the track proper the mist turned to drizzle and then it was  light rain at which point I decided that I would put on a parka.  Of course two minutes after doing that it stopped, requiring yet another pause so that I could take it off.  The walk for the next hour or so was a gentle climb up a ridge until we reached a spot above Deep Bay in Endeavour Inlet where there was a table and toilet.  It was nice spot to stop for a moment. Bev caused a moments hilarity when she burst into the toilet where there was a man sitting there minding his own business.  

It was here that came across the first of a series of very cute hand painted signs that provided useful and not so useful information about aspects of the trac.  The ones at this stop described what was below us (Deep Bay) and the direction to various cities around the world. 

Walking through secondary growth

The next part of the walk was the most challenging with it being very steep and which  seemed to go on forever.  At times there were a few metres of respite and then we would go around a corner to find that we were climbing again.  However, there were thosesigns saying, for instance, that we were entering Pam’s Land and then another notice saying we were leaving it.  The worst of the climb peaked out at Eatwell’s lookout which we would have visited but due to mist obscuring the view we decided there was not going to be much to see which was confirmed later by some other trampers. 

Our next stop was the Bay of Many Coves Shelter where I changed my shirt as I was a bit chilly.  We had a snack and some water while chatting to some fellow trampers.  From there on it got a little easier.  We stopped for lunch at Manuka Lane about an hour after leaving the Shelter, where there was a seat providing a view over  the upper reaches of Kenepuru Sound. 

Lunch with the Weka

The track undulated from there on, traversing through land that has virgin forest on it as well as land that is in the process of regenerating after having been logged and burnt for farmland.  In several places there was mature native beech forest that now has other predators, namely the wasps that feed on the honey dew an important food source for our native birds. 

We caught T a kilometre or so away from Black Rock Shelter.  By that time the mist had cleared and there were lovely views of both Kenepuru and Queen Charlotte Sounds.  Black Rock was a convenient rest spot before the last leg to Portage.  

Trampers resting at Black Rock Shelter

The climbs from thereon were relatively gentle. We passed through Rimu Grove where there were huge mature rimus to be seen.  Clearly it had been too difficult to harvest them in the previous 150 years and no doubt they are nursery for seeds that will, over the next millennium, spread out over the regenerating forest. Further along we came to a cliff where there was the rock was multicoloured.  It must have been quite a task for the settlers to cut through that rock. Later it was another beech forest where there was a mixture of beautiful bird song and the hum of thousands of wasps stealing the honeydew.  

Allports Island  near Picton

An hour later we were at Torea Saddle and after a short walk down the road we were at the Portage Hotel. The last hour of the walk was in some ways the hardest.  My legs were tired and I had to concentrate to ensue that I did not roll an ankle on the uneven and rocky surface.  However, there was a wonderful sense of achievement when we arrived and had a moment to sit down and admire the view from our unit.  I was especially pleased with my performance as I felt like I had lots of energy but also that I just enjoyed being amongst nature with the sounds of bird and the occassional intrusion of civilisation. 

Coloured rocky cliff

That evening we chose the bar menu of fish and chips which was the right meal after an energy sapping eight hour walk. 

Day 2 - Furneaux Lodge to Camp Bay

This leg of the walk is the easiest and relatively short.  As we had plenty of time we went for a walk to a waterfall behind Furneaux Lodge.  It was an interesting walk through mature forest although the waterfall had absolutely no water going over it.  In the forest there were mature Rimu trees some of which were in the loose embrace of the vine Rata.  It is an interesting plant as it exists as either a tree or a vine.  Sometimes it smothers the tree to become a tree.  The flowers are a little like those of the pohutukawa.  Where the forest had lost its big trees there were young rimu reaching for the sky.  It was very nice as there are few places outside of Fiordland and the West Coast where there are these beautiful pockets of what NZ must have looked like before Europeans arrived cutting and burning the bush to create farms. 

Mandatory coffee before beginning

The walk to the waterfall was over a barely formed track so we had to be careful not to twist an ankle making it quite challenging for that reason. 

After our return we re-joined the Queen Charlotte Track which is like a motorway in comparison. 

We stopped for lunch at the head of Endeavour Inlet by a jetty.  A couple of men were bringing spoil and rocks to repair some erosion near it.  One of the men told us that the bach had been in the family for three generations and that it was able to used by all members of the family. 

A family heirloom?

Apparently a trust was set up in way that they could only sell their share for the original price, so effectively there was no capital gain in selling out . I guess this would mean that the property in theory would stay in the family in perpetuity.

It was an easy walk along the western side of Endeavour Inlet.  We encountered sheep, a lost pig dog with his GPS tracker, the owner of the dog with his other dogs, and a man with a rifle and suppressor in camouflage gear.

First sight of Punga Cove

Punga Cove was delightful from the receptionist with customer service skills to the very nice room with a wonderful view out on to the cove.  After showering we enjoyed a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc while viewing our day’s photos. 

Dinner was quite late for people like us who had an appetite from a day's walking. While the dinner was somewhat expensive my venison was superb. The others found the food to be interesting and well cooked.  For Bev and Trish the dessert was the highlight. 

After a windy and drizzly afternoon we were treated to a calm and clear night with the moon creating a beautiful reflection on the calm sea.  It was also very mild.  Being Saturday night and Easter there was entertainment down by the water in the Boatshed Café.  The guitarist/singer was very good and had people up and dancing dancing including the three of us. Conscious that we had a strenuous hike the next day and the music stopping we headed off to bed. 

Our unit at Punga Cove