Whites Bay via the Bluebridge Ferry

There’s nothing like being stuck in commuter traffic at 6:30am on a Friday morning heading into the Windy city. It wasn’t helped much by the fact that I had the family in the van and the caravan swaying out back and was getting pretty stressed that our impromptu Anzac weekend away across the strait to Whites Bay was about to get seriously delayed.

There must have been a few Wellington commuters also out of their normal Friday morning routine, as the log jam quickly cleared and we “sailed” straight into town to greet a stunning sunrise on a surprisingly calm harbour. Now the adventure had really begun.

The Plan. Pack a family (me, wife Rhiannon, girls Elodie 11 and Willow 9), three days worth of supplies and bikes into the caravan and drive onto the Bluebridge Ferry, sail, then off in Picton and drive 30 minutes to Whites bay on the east coast.

Play board games, take long bush walks, ride bikes and run around on the beach.

But the plan failed. I realised taking all the bikes and trying to convince my kids to have a biking holiday would end in more tears than whoops of joy so only one bike got packed. Mine of course.

Plan B. Have a great riding weekend (me) and a great bush and beach weekend (us). And what a treat plan B turned out to be.

And who was on the same ferry with the same destination? My good friends Ash and Kah from WordNZ with eight assistant WORD instructors, so a plot was hatched.

We arrived at Whites bay to find a quiet campsite nestled in the native bush on a still perfect day. We set up camp and explored the area and tried to exhaust the kids with games and frolicking and climbing trees and hills. Then it was an early night with dreams of hot coffee with pancakes and the trails to come.

Saturday. I sneaked out of the caravan to a brisk morning with a hint of rain to come and got all my riding kit ready as Ash and the gang were to arrive at 9am for the four hour Mt Robertson trail loop. We drove up the road to the start of the loop and left the van there to be collected after the ride. You don’t want to ride this section as it’s very steep and rutted and it’s, well, a gravel road.

Nearly two hours after we set off, we arrived at the summit to be rewarded with stunning views back down to the plains of Blenheim and the Wellington south coast. Too steep to ride up in most places, it was still a great ascent through different beech forests, and we had a cool breeze to keep the heat off. The descent back to Whites bay is an incredible trail. Just the right mix of technical root and rock infested singletrack with high speed, hard packed flow in between. We got back to the bay as the weather cleared and another stunning afternoon presented itself.

The WORD team left me to my family as they had just returned from a two hour explore of the local walk tracks, and we fooled around and achieved absolutely nothing as you can only do on holiday.

Sunday. We woke to another cool morning, which quickly warmed up into the perfect day for more exploring. We jumped in the van and drove north to explore the next few bays where we discovered an old historic shack from the late 1800’s. We returned to base camp and then headed south on foot towards Rarangi bay. Realising that we may have bitten off more than my tired legs could chew, I came up with the cunning plan to turn back for the van while Rhi and the girls carried on to Rarangi where I would meet them for a picnic lunch.

They enjoyed a zigzag walking track down to the beach, while I went off piste straight down the hillside back into Whites Bay. We met up 40 minutes later to explore the many cliffs and caves around Rarangi and Monkey bay. What an incredible coastline with beautiful beaches and craggy rock formations reaching for the sky.

After our picnic we drove back to camp for more running about (kids), relaxing and reading (wife) while I got back on my bike and headed off to ride the Whites Bay loop on my own. It had rained overnight and things got a little hairy on the way down with the moisture laden beech roots laying in wait for over eager fools like me, but I survived unscathed and enjoyed another evening in camp with easily prepared food and games and deck chair lounging.

As dusk settled in we donned the headlamps and went searching for the glowworm grotto the camp ranger had mentioned to me earlier. In a dark high banked curve of the camp stream we were rewarded with hundreds of worms packed onto the bank where we sat in the dark next to the bubbling brook and imagined pixies and toadstools and opossums and goblins….right, lets get back to the caravan.

Monday. Not too surprised at another primo day, a leisurely pack up (just throw everything in the caravan) and the short drive back to Picton, with a brief stop and the Wairau Affray historic site to learn a little more about the history of  the local Maori and European settlers.

We couldn’t quite believe it but another super calm sailing day awaited us as we drove onto Bluebridge’s Strait Feronia and settled into our family cabin for a wee snooze while the kids ran amok eating pies and icecream.

Then another short drive home to the Kapiti Coast and it was all done and dusted. Such an adventure to a different world only 60 kms away, but because of Cook Strait, not previously on my riding radar. We are so looking forward to exploring the tip of the South Island some more. Next time kids, we’ll take everyone’s bikes ...promise! 

Rod Bardsley