Day 50 | Invercargill to Bluff

We’re not Bluffing

Date: 19 March 2024

Our last day dawned chilly with clear blue skies and we set off from the Invercargill Holiday Park at the northern end of town at our usual 9:24 (you could set your watch by it – no matter what, we nearly always hit the road at 9:24). We skirted the city via a series of parks, and a shared path down the Waihopai River, to the industrial area where we had classic Southland cheese rolls at the very good Industry Cafe. Then it was cycleway all the way to Bluff – estuaries full of birds, acres of saltmarsh, and shimmering reflections on the glistening, still water of Bluff harbour, which we suspect doesn’t happen often. Even the sewage treatment plant looked attractive.

We arrived at Stirling Point to cheers from another couple who had just arrived, also having done a modified TA, and then we all cheered the next arrivals – three young, genuine, dot-carrying brevet riders. A bit of wine and beer may have been consumed by all.

We had a bit of momentum left after 3100 km so we dropped our bags at the Captain’s Cabin, and with featherweight bikes (and battery assistance) we shot up the steepest gradient of the whole trip to the summit of Bluff Hill. With today’s clear sky we had a stupendous 360° view of all of Southland and Stewart Island to the south.

Over an appropriately Southern meal of Bluff oysters, Blue Cod and chips served in paper at Stella’s, the conversation quietly changed from “well done us” to “what’s next?” I can’t wait to find out.

Supplies: Bluff 4 Square

Accommodation: Captains Cabin, Bluff

These videos are best viewed on a computer screen. Turning your phone sideways helps.

Battery use: 48% : 300Wh



 


Day 49 | Mataura to Invercargill

Cold, wet milestones

Date: 19 March 2024

There was nothing much to see on what, on a fine day, would be a pleasant quiet back-road route, so we celebrated the twin milestones – our first rainy day, and passing the 3,000 km mark – by scoffing luke-warm Jimmy’s Pies in the shelter of a pine tree hedge. The carrot of a hot cup of tea propelled us on last leg, which was a long straight slog into our old friend the sou’wester.

A note of caution when stocking up in Invercargill – it’s one of those archaic monopolistic Trust areas where alcohol sales are restricted to far-distant bottle stores. Bloody uncivilized practice.

Supplies: Mataura and Invercargill
only

Accommodation: Invercargill Holiday Park

These videos are best viewed on a computer screen. Turning your phone sideways helps.


Total distance: 52.8 km
Max elevation: 148 m
Min elevation: 7 m
Total climbing: 458 m
Total descent: -499 m
Total time: 03:49:12
Download file: day49.gpx

Battery use: 82% | 512Wh



 


Day 48 | Tapanui to Mataura

Mataura has a waterfall, and precious little else

Date: 17 March 2024

if you find yourself travelling south by car, bike, or even motorhome, today’s route is a great way to avoid the main roads. We didn’t take photos because it was damp – not raining but close – and we had a friendly southwesterly straight from the Antarctic blowing in our face all day, but it’s a lovely route with views and history you won’t find on the main roads. SH1 between Clinton and Gore is named the Presidential Highway, a dad joke from the 80s, no more amusing now than then, and we crossed it while deviating for a warming cuppa in Gore, to fuel the battle on to Mataura.

Poor unfortunate Mataura. In the 19th century it boasted a paperworks, dairy factory and freezing works and the falls in the middle of town were beginning to become quite a tourist attraction, but they were dynamited to provide more water for the local industry.

It’s worth making the effort to walk up the other side of the river from where, with a bit of trespassing, you get a view of the river and rapids emerging from under derelict warehouses like a scene from a Mad Max movie.

More recently the town became infamous for having vast amounts of toxic waste from the Bluff Aluminium Smelter stored in the now-defunct paper mill, right on the flood-prone river. (Now removed).

Check out the photo – this could/should be a tourist attraction in an otherwise dying town.

To paraphrase Flann O’Brien’s Third Policeman; as we went upon our way I was slightly glad that I’d been there.

Supplies: Mataura 4 Square

Accommodation: Mataura Falls Hotel

These videos are best viewed on a computer screen. Turning your phone sideways helps.


Total distance: 58.53 km
Max elevation: 234 m
Min elevation: 51 m
Total climbing: 705 m
Total descent: -834 m
Total time: 04:36:02
Download file: day48.gpx

Battery use: 89% | 560Wh



 


Day 47 | Miller’s Flat to Tapanui

You call that flat??

Date: 16 March 2024

From Miller’s Flat we crossed the Clutha to backtrack to Ettrick, where we turned onto the misleadingly named Moa Flat Road. It begins with a stiff 400 m climb, and Moa Flat itself is quite lumpy, but we were more focused on the snow falling on a nearby range, giving a distinct crispness to the air. Down the other side we passed through Heriot, once thriving, now a ghost town, and Kelso, another once-busy town, now completely gone, having been abandoned following a 100-year-flood in 1978 and another even worse in 1980. The site is now noted only by some signs at the side of the road showing the flood height – well above head-level, in a very wide flat valley.

We thought we were on our own taking this route, but at Tapanui we met a guy who’d been ahead of us – also on an ebike, with two batteries and 40 kg of luggage! (He had camping gear).

We had just settled into our motel room at the pub when a knock on the door revealed another mad keen cyclist who had spotted our steeds. Paul Jesson was a Tour de France rider for one season in the late 70’s before a serious accident left him with one leg, but he went on to a very successful career as a paraplegic rider and became a great advocate for sport for the disabled. He now runs the Whitechapel Gift shop in the oldest church in Tapanui. This biking lark sure shakes out some dead-interesting trivia.

Supplies: Tapanui 4 Square
Accommodation: Forest Lodge Hotel, Tapanui

These videos are best viewed on a computer screen. Turning your phone sideways helps.


Total distance: 53.32 km
Max elevation: 519 m
Min elevation: 70 m
Total climbing: 976 m
Total descent: -868 m
Total time: 03:24:53
Download file: day47.gpx

Battery use: 73% | 455Wh



 


Day 46 | Alexandra to Miller’s Flat

Roxburgh Gorge & Clutha Gold Trails

Date: 15 March 2024
Grade: 2, 3

These trails are among my favourite great rides in New Zealand – thank you John K. The Roxburgh Gorge is accessible only via the trail, and for the middle 12 km, only by jet boat. We did the trail from each end last time, so the boat trip was a first, and it is definitely worth doing. Laurence, our driver, zig-zagged down the river showing us old gold workings and miners’ shelters – overhanging rocks with stacked-up schist walls and stone beds. Many more of these troglodyte dwellings are sadly now under water, thanks to the dam downriver.

With fresh snow on the hills above us and a freezing headwind in our faces, the thought of spending winter here chasing a hopeful fortune did not appeal.

Back on our wheels at Shingle Creek; a few nice switchback climbs and drops to finish this trail, then we crossed the Roxburgh Dam to the start of the Clutha Gold Trail, which has a much gentler mood.

We stopped at Cafe 103 in Roxburgh for an Allpress coffee and lunch, thereby avoiding a couple of showers, then carried on down the river another 20 km to a very well equipped ‘basic’ cabin at the excellent Miller’s Flat Holiday Park.

Supplies: Roxburgh

Accommodation: Miller’s Flat Holiday Park

These videos are best viewed on a computer screen. Turning your phone sideways helps.


Total distance: 77.06 km
Max elevation: 249 m
Min elevation: 71 m
Total climbing: 1084 m
Total descent: -1235 m
Total time: 07:35:33
Download file: day46.gpx

Battery use: 93% | 580Wh My back tyre had been softening and was much flatter than I thought, creating quite a lot of drag.