Domestic Travel
E-biking my way through the South Island
Justine Tyerman is a New Zealand journalist, travel writer and sub-editor. Married for 36 years, she lives in rural surroundings near Gisborne on the East Coast of New Zealand with her husband Chris. In this piece, Justine tries her hand at e-biking in South Island.
My fingers were frozen to the handlebars and the driving rain stinging my cheeks felt suspiciously like sleet as we pedalled stubbornly onwards and upwards into a head wind whipping straight off the Southern Alps.
When we set out from Lake Ohau Lodge earlier in the day, we were determined to reach Tarnbrae Track summit on the Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail but we had failed to factor in the nasty barb on the tail end of Cyclone Debbie.
Even on our zippy SmartMotion e-bikes, it was no fun so after an hour of pure masochism, we admitted defeat, turned back and slunk into the lounge at the lodge.
As we jostled for position in front of the open fire alongside real McCoy cyclists who had battled the elements all day, we carefully omitted the letter ‘e’ while sharing biking stories and downing tummy-warming gluhwein.
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Luckily, no one spotted our e-bikes outside with their tell-tale grunty batteries.
Not that the disapprobation of the pedalling purists worried me in the least. During our two weeks of e-biking in the South Island, we had faced everything from ridicule to admiration. It’s water off my high-vis back these days. E-biking has revolutionised my life and I’m immune to the ‘why-don’t-you-get-a-real-bike-you-wuss’ insults.
Unkind jokes about the male anatomy have been slightly more difficult for my husband to cope with but he’d rather we shared active outdoor pursuits like e-biking on holiday than for him to have to relax on a beach or, worse still, hang out in cities, shops and cafes. He’d endure a multitude of insults to escape such torture.
Any activity that makes me want to leap out of bed at the crack of dawn and spend the whole day with my legs going round in small circles rather than atrophying under a computer desk at work has got to be positive.
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Our recent autumn e-bike adventure began in Christchurch where we picked up two Kiwi-designed SmartMotion e-bikes from The Electric Bicycle Company and a self-contained motorhome from JUCY Rentals whom we nicknamed "Lucy" after the buxom lady on the outside.
Then we were literally away laughing, heading for Hanmer where we explored forests pathways and St James Conservation area with its massive scree slopes, sparkling rivers and vast, open spaces.
At Tekapo we rode alongside the swift, silent turquoise canals that link the McKenzie country lakes in the massive Waitaki hydroelectric power scheme, whizzing along at 30km/h.
In Wanaka, we biked the Clutha River loop track from the river outlet to Luggate and back, a scenically spectacular route but a bit too steep and narrow for my noviciate e-bike abilities.
The entire Wakatipu Basin is a network of immaculately-maintained hiking and biking trails so we were spoilt for choice there. We cycled along the Arrow, Kawarau and Shotover rivers, crossing a variety of historic suspension and purpose-built bridges. The tall poplars were resplendent in their autumn regalia and the necklace of mountains surrounding us had their first dusting of snow.
The only time we rode on the open road was from Kinloch to the Greenstone Valley along the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Here we encountered one 4WD vehicle and a lone Frenchman named Hugo, who was walking the length of New Zealand on the 3000km Te Araroa Trail, The Long Pathway.
That’s impressive, I thought as we powered on up the steep hill that lay ahead of him.
The undulating gravel road took us across clear mountain streams and through dappled beech forests with the shafts of sunlight flickering like frames in an old movie. Lake Wakatipu is seldom like a mirror but that day, the whole lake was glassy calm.
We also paid a visit to Paradise Trust Lodge to see the rebuild of the property after fire destroyed the historic homestead in 2013, a few months after we had stayed there on our first-ever cycle trip with Matt and Kate Belcher’s Revolution Tours.
Manager Mandy Groshinski showed us the painstaking work undertaken to restore the place and how they had retained the three stone chimneys as a memorial to the original homestead.
Following Mandy’s advice, we cycled a loop track through the forest, past rustic cottages with outside baths and saunas to "one of the most breath-taking views on the planet" — a vantage point high above the Dart River as it carves its way from deep within the Main Divide. Here in Paradise, we were literally in the presence of the gods, surrounded by mountains named Chaos, Poseidon, Nox, Cosmos, Minos and Pluto.
We parked Lucy at Mrs Woolly’s super-friendly camping ground at Glenorchy, a temporary site, while an impressive complex — New Zealand’s first sustainable net zero energy campground — is under construction next door.
Opening in late 2017, Camp Glenorchy will offer affordable huts, cabins, tent and campervan sites and facilities for trampers, school groups, families, educational workshops and conferences.
The sky was studded with thousands of diamonds that night, heralding a clear, crisp dawn.
While at Glenorchy, we took a day off cycling and went horse-riding with Ngai Tahu Tourism-owned Dart Stables. It was a peaceful, scenic, relaxing amble along grassy country lanes and across the broad shingle flats of the braided Dart River.
Our only other cycle-less day was at Aoraki/Mt Cook where we hiked our favourite Hooker Valley track to the foot of the famous Cloud Piercer. She was hiding in a cloud shroud that day but her enthusiastic, mainly Asian fan club took photos of themselves with where she was supposed to be, regardless of the fact she was invisible. We were dressed in winter tramping gear and were astonished to see a couple of Japanese women shivering in street boots and flimsy dresses posing by the glacier lake.
That night, we parked at White Horse Hill campsite near the Hermitage. Thanks to Lucy’s super-efficient gas power, we had hot showers and prepared dinner in a cosy, warm environment without setting foot outside in the near-freezing conditions. Not so a pair of bedraggled-looking German cyclists in a tent nearby, trying to cook on a tiny gas burner.
We invited them to join us but they were happy doing their own thing. Next morning, they dismantled their saturated tent, packed their meagre belongings into a couple of saddle bags and pedalled off on the next leg of their quest to cycle the length of New Zealand on the 2500km Nga Haerenga Cycle Trail… in bitterly cold rain.
Very impressive, I thought as we turned on the heating, ate a hearty cooked breakfast, loaded the e-bikes onto Lucy’s study back and set off on the final leg of our journey.
Some time ago, we decided our days of roughing it were over and we needed a few creature comforts at our age. We love nothing better than to wander around the countryside in a comfy, self-contained motorhome with a couple of e-bikes on the back, going wherever the spirit wills and "the weather suits our clothes"… as the line from Midnight Cowboy goes.
We had no fixed itinerary or agenda, the only focus of the day being to find a scenic biking trail which, for the first time in my life, could include hills, thanks to the brilliant invention of e-bikes.
Transport: JUCY Rentals Casa motorhome