The North Island had been a blast. We’d spent some time with friends, met some cool people, had some great adventures, found some fabulous scenery and riding roads and made my son super cool with all his friends! Now the second half of the adventure begins, we caught the ferry across to the South Island and were about to head up into the Molesworth – a region that has a part to play in New Zealand’s wilderness history – check it out on the Department of Conservation website. This is an area Steve and I had both individually wanted to go for some time, so when Steve said he was going to do it on his way back from our catch up with our mates I quickly told him he’d better not consider doing it on his own!!
We unloaded off the ferry and went to spend the night with my folks in Renwick, just outside of Blenheim, but not before having a pot luck dinner with their climate change group. We arrived and were immediately stars of the party, probably mostly due to being different faces from the normal crowd, but there was a lot of interest in what we’d been up to and what we were up to next. Accordingly conversations drifted towards our Black Sea adventure, the atlas came out, and we talked about a bunch of our experiences from the trip. We were a little like second rate rock stars, kind of famous but not really! But it was really cool to reminisce and to chat about our achievements with people who were interested in what we’d done – although probably not in alignment with their ethos on use of petrol and such – oh well!!
The next morning bloomed with bright blue skies and excitement, followed by realisation that we needed to plan a little bit due to the distance from civilisation and petrol stations. We were going to have to pop out to Hanmer halfway though to fill up again, and we needed a bunch of food as we were going to be camping the next two nights. So following the supermarket and petrol station we got on the road. Dad had told us about a little warm up ride over Taylor’s Pass, a shortcut over to the Awatere Valley, and a bit of gravel to get us in the mood. It certainly warmed the cockles and we really starting filling up with the vibe for the next two days – windy roads, ups and downs, gravel, brown hills and blue skies.
Once we hit the Awatere Valley road and started heading south it really hit us what we were heading for. The Inward Kaikoura mountains loomed up on our left as the valley rose up in front of us. We followed our way up the Awatere River as it cut its way through the steep sides of the valley, cutting out gorges with plenty of rapids, it was beautiful. And this led to roads that wound their way over ridges and down into valleys where high country stations ruled the roost. As we rose higher, it just got more spectacular, and the big blue skies really framed the landscape, we were lucky to have it so clear and the forecast was perfect for the next couple of days.
We were making good progress and having plenty of fun, so when we stopped for a quick break and Steve saw a small hill, just before the turn-off to Muller Station, he suggested we go park on top to have our snack. It sounded like a great idea, the view would be spectacular. So he fatted off up the top with me not far behind, but as I hit the steepest part I got bounced slightly off course by a small bramble bush which headed me straight into a bunch of rushes…and over I went. No major, I just needed Steve’s help to get the bike back up as it was pretty damn steep, we got the bike heading across the slope and got her going again.
Now do you remember what I referred to back in Part 1 as we were blatting down the South Taranaki Bight, if you don’t go back here to read about it. I was starting to get a bit of loss of power at the top of 5th gear, especially when the engine got hot. If I’d known a bit more I might have realised that the clutch might be wearing a bit, but I just hoped it wouldn’t be a problem during this trip. Now in this situation on a steep slope, with rushes everywhere and the bike loaded up the clutch got a workout and….confession time…..I had it in second, not first (the bike going over must have knocked the clutch lever and changed her into second) so I might have fried the clutch a little bit!! Basically she was going nowhere because the clutch was not grabbing at all. Bugger!! Big big BUGGER!!
We turned her around and rolled her back down to the road. Once I got back onto the road, she still had a little bit of drive but not enough to get above about 20km/hr. We stopped at the gateway to Muller Station, a really stunningly beautiful spot by a river and started a debrief to consider our options. I’m not sure how much we’ve referred to this before, but neither Steve or I are particularly mechanically minded so it left us in a bit of a predicament. While we were thinking about options some local farm boys came by in their ute and we waved them down had a bit of a yarn. They confirmed they thought it was the clutch and their best idea was to let the clutch plates cool down and hope that it wasn’t completely stuffed. So, with fingers crossed, we sat down to some lunch and a few games of cards. I then poured some freezing mountain water from the river nearby over the engine to help in the cooling. After about 90 minutes we turned her on and gave her another try, no change at all, mmmmmm not good!!! We tried heading off up the road hoping she might have enough go to get us to Molesworth Station, about 10km up the road before sundown, I didn’t even make it up the first small slope. Mmmmmm, we were stuck here, what were our options?
We discussed things and the only option we saw was to get the bike back out to a mechanic, probably in Blenheim, and hope that they might be able to fix it quickly so I could get going again and meet Steve somewhere, unlikely but we were hopeful. We knew Dad had a 4WD and a trailer, and as Steve said “Dad’s love saving their sons, no matter how old they are!” I hope this is right Dad!!! We decided this was the only real option so Steve headed up to Molesworth Station to use the phone there to see if Dad could come and get me in the 4WD and take things from there. He arrived back about an hour and a half later with good news, Dad was on his way.
I think this is a good time to remember that situations like this are part of why we like to challenge ourselves. It’s not all about the amazing scenery, wonderful riding roads and great people, it’s also about the challenges that crop up while you are out there and completed exposed. It’s about how you deal with these challenges when they arise, how you cope with the adversity and the spiralling emotions and the reward you get from working your way through it. Now, I do feel like I’d copped out a bit by getting my Dad to come save me in this predicament, but, hey, you use what options you have available given the situation and he happened to be the best of the lot this time round. He certainly wasn’t an option while we were in the back blocks of Russia so that gives me a little balance.
Steve also arrived back with beer, the good man that he is. He’d cried wolf to the farmhand at Molesworth and managed to score a couple of beers for while we waited. Love your work Steve! We decided that waiting at the top of a little knob while the sun set would also be a good option to fill the time. So beers, views, sunset and talking about future GAS adventures – not bad given the predicament my bike was in.
Dad arrived and after a bit of consideration we managed to squeeze my bike onto his trailer. It had a bar across the top at the back and that made it slightly difficult to get her in, but we found a solution and tied her down. We said our farewells to Steve, with a glimmer of hope that we might be able to meet back up tomorrow and started heading back down the valley. A bit of a downer really, heading back down the road we’d just ridden up and Steve had to head off on his own up to the historic Molesworth Cob Cottage. This was not what we’d planned but we were trying our hardest to take it on the chin. A couple of hours later we arrived back at my parents and I had a late dinner and hit the sack – a tiring last couple of hours and I was feeling pretty low.
The next day dawned to ice and frost on Steve’s tent and ice and frost on my mood in Renwick. Steve had a day of heading on through the Molesworth and then up through St James Station and out over Rainbow Station. Our plan was that if I could get some miracle sorted I’d head up the Wairau Valley and head into the Rainbow and see if we could have a bit more fun. So I was on the phone as soon as things opened and Brendon from Marlborough Motorcycles happened to be on his way out to Renwick, like a true legend he offered to pop in and have a quick look. His analysis was that my clutch cable was super tight, way too tight and this was putting a huge amount of load on the clutch. He loosened it off a whole lot – a 5 minute job – the engine starting grabbing, we were even able to stall her and he was pretty confident it’d be fine to take her back up and through the Molesworth, as long as I didn’t overload the clutch. Wow, really, you’ve made my year buddy – what a legend!! It’s moments like this that you cannot get without some adversity first. He did suggest I’d need to clutch fully checked once I got home though!
I took her for a test ride and there was still some slipping in 4th and 5th, I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to go up in there and have to ring Dad to come and get me again. I was still feeling a bit funky and indecisive!! Steve called and was in Hanmer and in a great mood. A chat and a quick pep talk later pushed me out of the funky indecisiveness and I was going to give it another go. The plan was to head up the Wairau Valley, which is all slightly uphill so if things didn’t go well I could turn around and ride her back downhill to Renwick again without too much issue.
So I loaded up and headed off up the Wairau, beautiful countryside with long open country roads, heading up to St Arnaud and the Nelson Lakes. My little beauty held up very well and even once hot still coped well, just no extra power for quick overtaking around 110km/hr, otherwise no concerns. I reached the Rainbow turnoff and stopped, time to make a decision. It wasn’t hard as the day was stunning and I was totally pumped again to be on the road. So off the isolated highway and onto the far more isolated Wairau-Hanmer Springs Hydro Rd (the Rainbow Valley Road) I went, if I broke down now it might be hours to see another soul – although I knew Steve would be coming down this road eventually, but the goal was for me to get as far in as I could so we could turn around together and head back through to Hanmer.
The Rainbow Valley is spectacular and soon I hit the gravel again – WOOHOO – and then the beech forests, and then the concreted fords and then the deep rocky fords. I made it through what turned out to be the toughest one pretty early and fairly easily, and it just reminded me how far I’ve come with my bike riding, and how much I love my small manoeuvrable DR650. I also ran into a mighty friendly South Island robin, or as my son would say a toutouwai. I got my phone about 10cm away before he decided I was a bit close for comfort. So on I went loving the moment and arrived at the Rainbow Station Toll Gate. This is actually a private road but Rainbow Station opens it at the same time as the Molesworth Road so you can go all the way through, but they charge a small fee to help maintain the road, only fair really and I was happy to pay. What was funny is that Steve arrived about one minute after me, thus had to pay too – if I’d got another 100m up the road then he wouldn’t have had to. Oh well, good cause.
We had a snack and a good yarn with the toll collector while we were there, what a life, he’d come up here for two weeks of solitude and an infrequent quick chat with adventurers as they pass through. We also sampled some of the local sourced honey he had on display, smooth and delicious. Fortunately I had some cash to be able to take some home to try and keep the missus happy!! Steve did the same!!
So we headed off together again, it certainly didn’t feel like that’d be the case about 18 hours earlier, and we were in heaven. This place was stunning, the Wairau River winds up the Rainbow Valley as the mountains close in until you hit a little gorge called Hell’s Gate. I’m not kidding, this is not Hell, in fact, somewhere at the opposite end of the spectrum really. And the autumnal colours just added an extra special tinge to the whole thing. It really felt like the high we were having now was that bit extra due to the challenges over of the last day (jeepers, it feels like a week – but it is only a day!). Summary: challenge + adversity = higher highs.
We continued to climb up into alpine terrain and I finally, FINALLY arrived at Molesworth Station. It was worth a wee celebration, but as dusk was falling we headed on towards Lake Tennyson campsite and get our tents set up. A quick stop at Sedgemere Lakes as the moon rose over the mountains, just another moment for us to marvel at. And on over Island Saddle, the highest point we’d reach on this trip, and the point where I felt would be the worst to break down and ask Dad to come get me, luckily nothing of the sort happened. So we arrived at Lake Tennyson on dusk and it was spectacular. The lake was so calm and glowing with moonlight, we pitched our tents, had a feed and settled in for some good whisky and yarns, while wrapped up in our sleeping bags to ward off the icy mountain air. It was our last night together for another undetermined period, but hopefully another adventure is on the horizon soon.
The final day of our week long NZ mini adventure dawned to more stunning skies, and frost, lots of frost. It was really beautiful as the sun slowly came down the mountains behind the lake. So what better way to start the day than some breakfast and a swim. It was cool, very very cool, so I let Steve go first to ensure he didn’t have a heart attack from the shock. Once he survived I dived in as well. We were now ready for more dusty dry gravel roads, we didn’t have long riding together but both had big days ahead. We headed down the valley, where the Clarence River started it’s journey out through the Kaikoura mountains, through St James Station and out over Jacks Pass to Hanmer for brunch and farewells.
Steve headed off south, smashing out the kms on the highway and up to Tekapo for the night, arriving on sunset before spending an evening in the hot pools. An early start the next morning saw him head through Black Forest Station and out around Lake Benmore before heading on home to his family.
I headed off back to the gravel, over Jollies Pass which is far more rugged than Jacks Pass, and perfect for a bike! I was off through the actual Molesworth Station finally, after a bit of a detour! About 150km of gravel and plenty of sights to see and only an autumn afternoon to do it. I had to get a wriggle on but also wanted to thoroughly enjoy it too. It was the first time I’d really spent a large portion of time on a gravel road on my own, but I loved it. The freedom, the quiteness, the flexibility, the simpleness – it’s super good fun travelling with Steve, but it also reinforced that some time alone is also quite ok.
So at my own pace I headed up the past the Acheron confluence, up the Acheron River valley, past the old Acheron homestead, past the Pig Trough Suspension Bridge, through Red Gate, over Isolated Saddle, along Isolated Flat and over Wards Pass down to Molesworth Station homestead itself and the Cob Cottage. There is not much more to say than this is a must do. But if you ever do this road, hope like anything that you have a cloudless day, because if you do it is quite simply stunning!!
I stopped at the Cob Cottage and had a snack and got chatting to the volunteer DOC rangers there. They were from Wellington, a daughter and her 90-odd year old dad, just hanging out in the middle of nowhere, mountain biking, walking, relaxing and cleaning the cottage toilets. We bonded over their toilet cleaning and my dad’s septic tank cleaning (he had a job that involved coming up this road to empty all the septic tanks). They were a lovely pair, and we had some great laughs. I was really trying to ignore the fact I still had a lot of kms to go and the sun was just about setting behind the mountains already.
I said my goodbyes and felt the final buzz kick in. One final stop at the mound where I fried my clutch, just to reminisce and to put on most of the clothes I had left, as the sun was now down and it was going to get cold. It was still a thrill to be blatting along, on my own, in the wilderness, stunning mountains around me, but I certainly wasn’t a local. A farmer passed me in his ute when I stopped for a snack and I thought I’d catch him down the road a bit, but as I rode on I saw his dust disappearing into the distance. The final act of the Molesworth was for the full moon to rise directly down the Awatere Valley as I headed north and I rode straight towards it. Just one final spectacular moment to savour. It just seems to mean more when you’re on a bike and you get moments like this, you feel so much more exposed to all the experiences and sights you see. I was full of happiness, the lows of yesterday so far gone and I’d achieved so much since Steve kicked me out of my funk.
For a final blast I headed back over Taylor’s Pass, just to complete the full circle and arrived at Mum and Dad’s just in time for some dinner. Fortunately not quite fully frozen but certainly excited to thaw out a bit. As I write this a month later, I’m having cravings to get back into the Molesworth again already. I think that’s a pretty good indication of how much fun we’ve had!
And just to wrap up a great time away my partner and son came over from Wellington for 3 days with Grandma and Grandpa before they flew home and I headed off to the ferry for the very final leg of this journey. I rode into Picton to get on the ferry in the torrential rain, so it ended up being a trip bookended by getting absolutely soaked, and in the middle some outstanding adventures with great mates in stunning landscapes. Bliss!!