We have been very active today, biking 40 kilometres in total. My bum isn’t sore but my thighs feel the burn.
On the recommendation of our Havelock North family, we arranged to hire two bikes today and take a shuttle to Pokaka Road, to start the Old Coach Road trail.
Our shuttle driver was an interesting chap. He does a lot of work doing various odd jobs in the film industry, including on all The Lord of the Rings films. He spends some of his time in Wellington at the film studios there, and at Hobbiton. In his current work as a shuttle driver he takes people in and out of the Whanganui river on various tours; he was very surprised to hear our trip had been called off. He’s been taking groups there all week.
We rented e mountain bikes that were perfect for the job. We had them on a low setting for most of the day, and in fact both our bikes had full batteries when we returned them. But it was lovely being able to turn up the assistance for the occasional steep bit.
The trail was wonderful and varied, and excellently maintained. The region has put a lot of work into diversifying their attractions, as the snow has become less reliable. The lady in the bike hire shop said it would take us four hours but we were done in under three. We could have stopped there, but there was the option of also doing the Te Ara Mangawhero ride, an incomplete trail that runs parallel to the mountain road that goes up to Turoa ski field. We weren’t sure if we’d be up for it so decided to have lunch first and then decide. We found a cute lunch place called Franks up near Ohakune junction, where we had an excellent lunch of halloumi burgers and corn fritters. We felt sufficiently recovered after that to tackle the mountain ride, 15 k in total. Again, it was very beautiful, but obviously had a lot of up on the uphill leg, so thank goodness for the e bikes. Downhill was much more fun.
To the Powderkeg for dinner, preceded by a swim in the warm indoor pool at the Powderhorn. We both love the building, with its log cabin vibe. It has some connection to Simon’s family but I don’t know the details.