Featherston to Wellington

Day 19 - Tuesday 16 March 2010

Dist: 83 km. Av. Speed: 21.2 km/hr. Cal: 1630. Ride Time: 3 hrs 54 min

The sound of hoof beats just managed to drown out the ’dawn chorus’ (of heavies on the highway in the distance) as my alarm woke me at 6:30am. It was a clear, crisp morning with fog hanging over the race track as the trainers put their horses through their early morning workouts.

I packed up quite efficiently this morning and was on the road by eight, making my way back to Featherston for breakfast at Sass Café. The friendly staff whisked up wonderful bacon and eggs and even took the time to ask “would I like my cup of tea during or after the meal”, the first time this has happened on this trip - well done Sass Café.

After filling my water bottles at their cooler I headed toward the Rimutakas, but swung left toward Ferry Landing at the western end of town toward Cross Creek Road and Lake Wairarapa. Cross Creek Road is the eastern access point for the Rimutaka Rail Trail which is the historic rail link between Wellington and the Wairarapa via the Rimutaka Ranges. The track begins with an impossible ‘chicane’ that forced me to take all the bags off the bike - lift it over and around like a Rubik’s Cube - then put all the bits back on again! It didn’t get much easier for the next two km which was all tight gravel single track with some rough gnarly bits and steep drops. It would have been a blast with no gear but was marginal (but still good fun) fully loaded and with slicks. This is just a connector track that takes riders through to the beginning of the 18km Rimutaka Incline Rail Trail proper. Once on the trail it widens to 4WD track standard and the consistent grade soon has you winding deep into the ranges. There’s very effective interpretation signage telling the story of the Fell Engines that once hauled heavy trains up to the summit for the ’normal’ locos to hook up and pull them in to Wellington.

There was one steep-sided creek crossing and three tunnels to negotiate. My bike light is a bit random so luckily the unlit tunnels weren’t too long.

After battling the cold south westerly head wind up the 1 in 15 incline for nearly an hour, I was glad to reach the summit and start making my way downhill to the Hutt Valley.

On the way down I bumped in to a young bloke who’d just finished a Reinga to Bluff trip- it only took him 22 days though but he’d free-camped the whole way!

Headwinds slowed progress into the Hutt Valley a bit but after 54km I eventually found a lunch spot in Upper Hutt to re-fuel and rejuvenate.

By this time the wind was abating and had swung to be more on my back so I abandoned the idea of taking the Hutt River Trails in to town and instead went for the ‘ wind-assisted’ highway option straight down SH 2. There was obviously more traffic but it has a huge shoulder, smooth bitumen and a bike lane in some places so you can go really fast. I’d no sooner pulled out on to the main road and got up to speed when my old friend John F (who’s place I stayed at) pulled on to the road as well, having come from the opposite direction. Small world.

I shot into the city at excellent speed and arrived at Wellington Station at 2:15 - buzzing - realising I’d just ridden a damn bike and paddled a canoe 1200km from Cape Reinga for goodness sake!

John was there to pick me up from platform 9 ¾ then we made our way around to Breaker Bay to catch up with Joris and sort a few things for the ferry crossing and ride to Renwick tomorrow.

John, Jan and I enjoyed a great evening with a cracker dinner, cold beer and good wine, and John was able to show me heaps of good photographs and give me some good insights into the South Island gravel passes I’ll be tackling over the next 10 days.

Thanks heaps J & J for your wonderful hospitality and taxi service - it is very much appreciated and was great to catch up with you guys. Rainbow Rage 2011 John J