Well, well , well – welcome to Part 3 of another epic GAS adventure. We’re away from home for 6 days, riding the fantabulous West Coast of the South Island, NZ – hitting both the most southerly and northerly roaded parts of The Coast.
So, as day 4 of this crazy adventure dawns we are looking forwards, and not back at the challenges and delays of day 3. It’s ok to look back at the way we dug ourselves out of a hole and to retain that feeling of adrenaline fueled energy we found when we’d resolved the issues of the day, but let’s not focus on the negative – day 4 is a new day with new possibilities.
In the end, what can we say except – thanks Mackley Track, thanks a bunch – you were crazy, epic and fun and we’re glad we’re heading on to the next part of this adventure, even if we are a little more scarred, but maybe also a little more battle savvy than before!
And we’ve still got some unresolved questions to answer: what lies beyond the Mackley – we still have to make it to Guardian Post #2 at Totaranui – will we make it? And what about Anatori? And what lies ahead with West Coast Fever?
The questions reduce as the craziness racks up – but we’re making forward progress and that’s the main thing. So, here we are waking up on the side of Canaan Road on the top of Takaka Hill, just off the main highway heading into Golden Bay. If you recall, we’d landed here about 11pm ish last night after a huge day. We had no idea where we were going to camp except that we wanted to get as close to Anatori as we could. We’d done well to get here and it seemed like a good idea at the time just to pitch up on the side of the road. But in the light of day we decided maybe we should pack up camp before getting told off by some grumpy person – but we were too slow. A couple of vehicles rumbled past, choking us in their dust, but fortunately they must have been on fun adventures too and had good vibes because no grumpy sods got out to scold us. Whew!!
On with the day, let’s go to a place neither of us have been before – Anatori. I suspect Anatori is a little like Oparara that we hit in Part 1 – unknown or at best extremely under appreciated but yet exceeding beautiful, but for the first time we could go and make this call for ourselves. And what better way to start the morning than with a quick jaunt down Takaka Hill – before we knew it the grins inside our helmets were at full brim, the joy was bursting from our core, it was a miraculous morning wake up call. Full of the vibes we cruised on down to Takaka for some breakfast, we had to set ourselves up for the big day ahead. Little did we know… (ever heard that before?!?)
So, we left Takaka with a belly full of breakfast, coffee and good energy – we were ready for more epic adventures. We raced along the Golden Bay coast line and filled up in Collingwood before heading on to the turnoff at Pakawau. We’d hit new territory, and it was marvelous and such a great feeling to be somewhere new. Do you find that when you’re travelling down a new road time seems to slow right down? You become very conscious of your surroundings and are focused on taking everything in, and it seems like it takes forever to get anywhere. This is further highlighted by the return down the same piece of road, now not so new, and it seems to take half the time!!
Anyway, we quickly changed from the long open beaches and gentle waves of Golden Bay to the calm tranquil waters of Whanganui Inlet. This had many shades of Abel Tasman and the Marlborough Sounds about it – it was spectacular, but the road was a drag. It turned to gravel just after Pakawau and had recently been freshly graded. If we haven’t said before, freshly graded gravel roads on a motorbike suck the big one!! But we battled on because we were high on life. We wound over ridges with fantastical views of the inlet, little hidden beaches and mangroves, the sandy road winding lovingly and invitingly onwards.
Now a quick question, should I mention the weather? Who likes a good weather chat? Come on, admit it, we all like a good weather chat – so here’s our first serious weather chat, GAS styles – it was cloudy, but not overcast and not too serious or ominous, and it was warm. Maybe there was rain in the air, maybe there wasn’t – who could say – but we were heading for the West Coast so you must ALWAYS keep an eye out for some rain. There we go, good weather chat – NB this may be relevant later, or it may be that we like good weather chat just as much as the next bloggers!!
Anyways, on with the story – we left the other end of Whanganui Inlet, passing through Mangarākau before heading out towards the coast at Paturau River. The landscape changed dramatically from tranquil inlet to rough rugged coast line. It was farming country, so lots of paddocks but it wasn’t the soft undulating paddocks we were used to around other parts of NZ, it was steep and rugged. And in addition, every now and again a huge West Coast bluff would jut out of the landscape, with little bush groves clinging to spare exposed bit land or little oasis that they could find.
So on one side, the waves were crashing in, although it was a remarkably calm West Coast day, and on the other the hills getting steeper, more pronounced and more bush clad as they rose above into the Wakamarama Range, part of rugged and beautiful Kahurangi National Park. This led to a series of rises and falls where the gravel road, now less graded and much more fun, reached out invitingly into the distance, giving great vistas of the countryside – it was just stunning. So much so we unintentionally relayed past each other, taking a few videos of us riding this remarkable country as the videography material was top notch. So check out this series, it just demonstrates so well what we were riding through – and as you can imagine, we were in heaven. This was our element – we were well out there, seeing new things and having a great adventure – what could be better 🙂
Wow – what an area and as we rode on the feelings of isolation grew. We knew we were heading for the wop wops. Then, all of a sudden, we crested a ridge and Anatori River lay there in front out us. We’d made it to Anatori, it was a really cool feeling as we rode down to the “end” of the road. We were happy as, and took a moment to enjoy where we’d got to – we live in Dunedin and there is not a place you can get to by road that is further away than we were right now. We were at the end of the line, or were we…?
Now, more weather chat… You hear I mention some potential rain in the above video, we are aware that the forecast suggests some rain coming at some stage and the clouds may have thickened up a little, but all in all it’s not too bad. Should we be concerned? No, probably not, but this is the West Coast so as Mr Baden-Powell says, be prepared…
So, the road ends, well kind of ends – it runs down into Anatori River and then actually carries on a bit further south down the coast from the other side of the river. Woohoo, we’ve got more opportunity to explore. Our research suggests that there is an opportunity to get onto the beach a bit further down, and possibly ride quite a long way down the beach – maybe all the way to Kahurangi Point and the lighthouse there. Let’s see what we can achieve as the day is still young enough and we’re full of energy and still seeking adventure – what a scenario for exploration. But first let’s stop and have a break, as the tide is high which means the Anatori River crossing is too deep and too swift to consider crossing right now. Steve has a look at his bike, we have a rest and then wander over to the small campground as one of the guys had caught our eye while we’re eyeing up the river crossing.
We say hi and he’s immediately into a conversation. Just a super friendly bloke lapping up the super chill vibes of Anatori, and some new company! They’ve got a sweet little campsite set-up and they are busy cooking up a storm (that a food storm rather than an actual storm…). As we chat, he invites us to join them and have some lunch while the river level drops. It is lunchtime and he does seem super friendly so we are happy to oblige. He introduces us to his sons and we hear about what they’ve been up to. They come over here regularly from Motueka in Tasman Bay (my old hunting ground from when I was a kid) because they like the ruggedness, the remoteness and the solitude. They bring over all sorts of toys – small bikes, fishing gear, diving gear and then start to show off some of their haul from the morning and yesterday. We’re in for a feast – they have fresh snapper and cod and fresh kina – along with some other yummy bits and pieces.
Now kina is an absolute treat – and not something either Steve or I have had before but full of life and adventure, we take on another new adventure and give the raw kina a shot. It’s gooey, creamy and sea foody, and all soft with some more textured bits – it’s unique and reasonable tasting – but can’t say I’d be jumping outta my skin for kina at any opportunity. But the snapper and cod is A.MA.ZING!!! And what a treat just to chill with some some really friendly folk and chat about life and adventure and the beautiful remote world of Anatori. Full of friendship and good food we say our goodbyes as it looks like the river might have regressed enough for an attempt, reinforced by a local farmer cruising past in his ute and not even bothering to slow down as he plowed across the river.
Game on – it’s go time! And with our new hard earned river crossing experiences from yesterday we do a good walk of the river first. It’s definitely not too deep now, but it is flowing fast – so we come up with a strategy. We each ride our bike while the other supports us on the down river side to provide support against the current and keep the bike upright. It’s actually pretty easy going and we make it across without any concerns and kit back up on the other side. We’re now south of Anatori River and a huge playground awaits us, the feeling is actually pretty unique – knowing we are well out there now… and the only way out is back across the river.
With the playground awaiting us we continue south along the last bit of gravel road – a few kms down to Turimawiwi River and another river crossing. This one is not too bad, not that deep, but has some quite quick current in places and a few big rocks that need avoiding but we safely make it across and that’s it, the road ends at a farm house. Where do we go from here? There’s one really obvious clue, we go where all the other motorbike trails go – duh!!! The trails first lead to a big mud pit with an old fire, it looks like a place that has had some raves in its time – that would be pretty wild way out here!! But beyond the rave pit is the sand dunes – this is what we’ve been searching for, sand dunes led to beaches which leads to the opportunity to head way further south.
We decide that the best idea from here is to stash our gear – why carry all that extra load when we know we have to come back through here anyway? So we stash the gear in the bushes close to the rave pit and scout the dunes. Now I’m sure it makes sense that sand and motorbikes are not the best of friends, they can co-operate, especially when the sand is a bit firmer, but at any given moment the budding friendship can end in a soft pile of going nowhere. We found a way onto the dunes and tried to follow some other bike tracks towards the beach – I’d say the likelihood is that we’re on bikes that are quite a bit heavier than the other being ridden around here…
We decide our first route is not the best option and scout out some other possibilities. Going over the dunes doesn’t seem likely, going under them is definitely not going to happen, so we check out the going round them option. There’s a little lagoon that’s separated from the main river while the tide is low and right along the edge is some firmer sand – water makes sand firmer – looks like a good option. So we drop down off the dunes and skirt the lagoon – it works perfectly and we make it out on the beach. The waves crashing in, the beach reaching as far as the eye can see south – it is beautiful!
Riding along the beach does take a little getting used to as the sand is just soft enough to make you wonder if you front wheel is going to fall into a soft sand hole at any moment, but as we cruise on the confidence grows. The vista is sensational, this is territory we have not delved into – riding down a beach miles from anywhere, and the last bit of road disappearing quickly behind us. In all our adventures, this certainly rates up there in where we’re heading and the adventure vibe is enveloping us, drawing us in and intoxicating us. What a wonderful feeling!!
As we head south we know there are rivers between us and Kahurangi Point, and we have no idea what is possible. But we’re happily winging it as we go, so when we reach Anaweka River we stop and take stock of where we are. Firstly, we establish it is beautiful and so remote – tick. Secondly, we establish that the river appears to be uncrossable, tick. Thirdly, we establish that we are not alone as two separate bikes turn up to the Anaweka as well, tick.
The first guy is on his own and cruising around in jeans and an old holey knitted jersey on what appears to be an old farmbike from the 1970s – good styles. It’s spitting out all kinds of not great coloured smoke, and seems to ride pretty low with this big dude on board. It’s like he’s on a cruiser, except it’s an old farm bike. Just classic! And the other bike has a couple on it, younger and clearly adventurous types. They’re on a bike that is much more set up for this terrain and they are flying around.
We introduce ourselves and chat about our afternoons. We’re all in the same boat, having fantastic adventures and just wanted to keep pushing the boat out a little bit further. So, after establishing that someone had driven their 4WD into the Anaweka and misjudged how deep it was and sunk it, we got on with the task of working out whether it was achievable to get to the other side. While we shared a couple of beers one of them had in their bag, we ummmed and ahhhed about what to do. There was a bit of one upmanship going on, who could we convince to give it a go?
Eventually the dude on the old farm bike decided it was worth the risk and he committed. We scouted out a potential route right down near the shoreline, trying to find the balance between the deep river shallowing out on the beach to reach the ocean and the waves crashing in from the ocean itself. So off he cruised, his little bike bouncing along under his big weight. What eventuates is stuff of legend, our scouting is perfect and he hardly gets deeper than his axles as he comes out the other side – although he’s a good 300-400m from us, the river staying shallow all the way across. What a legend!!
So he decided to ride all the way back to us to join in the procession across the Anaweka River. We all bounced, bounded and whooped across the wide but shallow river bed and felt the sense of freedom and remoteness on reaching the other side. We were well out there now, leaving the end of the road and crossing sand dunes, long expanses of beaches and now a full flowing river.
But hang on a minute, is it time for a weather check? We were headed south and ahead of us were definite signs of a darkening in the skies. You can pick it up in the images and video above – was this a concern? Well maybe, but how bad could it be? It wasn’t really a concern in our minds as we were having too much fun, making friends and going places. The adventure spirit was super high, we had wide grins on our faces and were full of joy. What a feeling!! It’s this type of feeling that we go searching for! Now remember how good this feels, especially after periods of adversity leading up to these spectacularly high moments. The lows make the highs even higher – and we were flying high!!!
So, here we were south of the Anaweka, and the beach reaching further south, so we attacked it with vigour. Before we knew it we’d reached the next river, Big River – and sometimes you wonder how a name comes about, in this case, there wasn’t too much wondering required. Big River was pretty big, not massively wide but the depth was the issue. We arrived at the final peninsula of sand, and felt pretty quickly that this was the end of the road, well the end of the beach road. We searched up and down the river a little, but it was pretty clear that we would be going no further. We discussed rumours we’d all heard about being able to cross somewhere higher up the river nearer the bush line, but the lull after the storm of joy had hit us. None of us felt the urge to push it further.
So we celebrated reaching this point by all doing some donuts in the sand and generally ripping the place up a little bit, great fun. Then a obligatory group photo and drinking the final beer and sharing some snacks. Another wonderful little moment with a few strangers come friends, brought together by the adventure feeling we were all seeking. We strived to hold onto that adventuring high a little longer by sharing the moment together…
…AND THEN IT HAPPENED…