Here it is, my ride report from my weekend’s leave pass when the dreaded mother in law was in town, and the Royal wedding was on tv for hours, a perfect excuse for a weekend getaway.
I hooked up with Ben (Topo) to accompany me on my trip into the little explored areas around Lake Brunner and Buller backroads.
We based ourselves at the Brunner Country Motel, choosing the cabin option, with full kitchen facilities right next door.
http://www.lakebrunnermotel.co.nz/ho...home-park.html
A nice clean place with friendly proprietors, even helpful with offering advice on 4wd adventure areas.
Lake Haupiri to Lake Hochstetter - Topo Map BU20 Moana
This route needs some care these days with route finding and IMHO, carrying topo maps wouldn’t be a bad idea. There are several places where trees have fallen over the track, completely blocking access via that road, requiring backtracking and taking a different route.
We chose to make a navigation decision based on following a bearing towards the next track and hoping the roads would link up, but had to detour again past yet another fallen tree, so ended up following a 4wd track through to it’s end above the Flagstaff Flat area.
It is a reasonably formed track, but got narrower and more overgrown the further in we got, ploughing on for several km’s into no man’s land. Near the end, we rode past a massive slip, where the whole track edge had fallen away towards the Ahaura river. I’d say it would have been 100ft drop or more, pictures just don’t do it justice.
Our track seemed to end in a peaty bog, not much further on, with no obvious route out apart from the way we came in.
After a bit of roosting through the bog, we backtracked along the same route back to Moana, so to ensure we didn’t run out of fuel.
Bloody good riding in all, but without a topo map set on my GPS, choosing the right track was a bit of a gamble.
135km round trip, approx 3 ½ hours
After a great lunch of gourmet steak sarnies at the Station House Café in Moana, we gassed up and headed off into the hills for our next section.
Maori Gully Rd, Mt Fox, Marsden, No Name Rd - Topo Map BU19 Kumara
This rough forestry road climbs Mt Fox (385m) with the option of a 2km side trip over to Mt Riley (365m). The road drops down into Dungaville with some great views over the Brunner forest area, and plenty of side tracks for the next trip down there. If you want to explore the Nemona forestry roads, access permission can be obtained from Aratika farm, a few kms from Moana, pending any logging in operation at the time.
From the end of Maori Gully Rd at a creek crossing, we took the sealed road down to Marsden and made the brief side trip up Limestone track, which compared to what we’d been through in the morn, wasn’t really worth the bother of the side trip.
So back to Marsden it was, and there the real fun started.
No Name Rd is where real adventure riding is at, fantastic riding through the southern Nemona Creek forest area.
For us Nelsonites, compare it to the Mangatapu track, then narrow it down, double the challenges, and throw in a descent down a rocky staircase and follow it up with several stony creekbeds to ride up. Yee-ha!
Sorry, this one was so much fun, I didn't get the camera out
Met a couple on mtb’s who confirmed we were on the right track and followed it to the end down onto the Kumara-Inchbonnie Rd.
I believe this track is best done From Marsden to Inchbonnie, as heading the other way up it might be a bit of a struggle, downhill momentum is your friend on this one.
We took the easy option home via the long and fast scenic section of gravel from Inchbonnie back to the south shores of Lake Brunner.
From there, it was the sealed Lake Brunner Rd to Moana where cold beers and hot showers awaited.
125km round trip, approx 3 hours
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Originally Posted by CrazyFrog
, some days you are the windshield 
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