Alps 2 ocean
Watch the full episode in Timaru and Alps 2 Ocean on SBS on demand here.
Our adventure began at the small and funky seaside town of Timaru. About 3 hours south of Christchurch, it’s a sort of gateway town for the Otago region of NZ famous for glaciers, skiing, adventure sports and of course, bike riding. It’s also the gateway town for this unbelievably beautiful episode, the Alps 2 Ocean. Gateway towns are usually somewhere to fill up the car, smash a pie and have a loo break. DON'T just do this in Timaru. We stayed a night and explored the town and its surroundings - what a cracking little surprise it was. The riding is way more connected than I had imagined. From the centre of town, where the rail line meets a deep water port, runs the coastal Caroline Bay trail which follows the coastline, with black pebble beaches, past an historic lighthouse and runs for about 10kms. It’s stunning. Vandy and I stopped a dozen times just to say to each other…wow…this is so beautiful.
Then there’s a turn off through the beautiful wetlands, teeming with bird life, and following this trail takes you all the way to Centennial Park. In this park is a great little old school MTB park, with trails that follow the river, mostly grade 2-4, with a couple of features that turn a few into a 5 in the odd spot. Vandy and I reflected that it was a sort of classic MTB park from the days when berms were rare and skills riding off camber were needed. Part of Centennial park was a quarry where the blue stones that built Timaru were mined. The old rail line is still there, hidden in the thick bush, with a trail that follows it over and around the creek. Brilliant. Timaru then is a quick roll over the hill, and we found meandering through the town was as much fun as any trail. It’s a properly built town. Big strong buildings, built from bluestone, heaps of history and some edgy culture pooping up all over the pace. Absolute must visit locations are Speight’s Ale House, located in the old WHARF building, built from the very bluestone we rode on at Centennial Park 160 years before. I put WHARF into capitals because I took great joy in education Vandy that WHARF is actually an acronym as well as a noun….WareHouseAtRiverFront - well at least that’s what the guide on my Thames River cruise in London told me…Anyway, Speight’s is a cracking brewery, we loved it. The other cracking place is Hector Blacks…imagine a posh club from 100 years ago - it’s like that and they do some really lovely cocktails too. After our wonderful stop over it was time to tackle the Alps 2 Ocean Trail.
Oh boy..I mean...wow! WOW! This has gotta be one of the most beautiful trails in the world. The experience Vandy and I had riding the 300 kms from the Tasman Glacier, down through massive grass covered mountains, glistening lakes, stunning accommodation, on a trail that is clearly marked and beautiful maintained…all the way to the funky town of Oamaru on the Pacific Ocean was …and I mean this…life changing. So many moments of sheer joy, wonderment at the beauty of NZ, the trail constantly changing every 20 or 30 kms, with features and places that amazed and delighted us. It’s best to just laundry list them and say…watch the episode because it’s so hard to express in words the beauty we experienced. So here I go. Ice caves, glaciers, towering snow capped peaks, turquoise blue rivers, rock strewn and rough, winding trails through grassy valleys, deep lakes teaming with trout, charming, welcoming locals, smiling riders everywhere, elephant rocks strewn on impossibly green meadows, deep gullies with ferns etched into cliff sides, tunnels where trains once ran, so dark it was impossible to see the hand in front of your face, starry nights on mountain top, through telescopes seeing galaxies, learning Māori legends from local legends, incredible places to stay and relax, to the town of Oamaru, SteamPunk HQ of NZ, in it’s 1870’s grandeur of bluestone buildings and funky punky shops, alleyways, dripping with history and trains running on the water’s edge to penguin colonies with a breakwater barely resisting the Pacific Oceans La Nina swell. If you only ever do one great ride…You’ll guess the rest…
