Day 7, Friday: Ashburton. No ride day
Day 8, Saturday: Ashburton – Hinds – Geraldine – Fairlie – Cave – St Andrews – Waimate – Dunedin
Today’s plan was to get from Ashburton to Dunedin so we could get showered and changed in readiness for a 21st birthday party that started at 7:00pm. Beyond that, our day would only be limited by the choice of roads that made this transition possible.
After saying our farewells to Mrs H’s folks, we were off.
Another pretty nice day was in the offing. Blue skies broken by the occasional patch of spring cumulus and light winds. We were pleased to exit the interminably boring and traffic-ridden SH1 at Hinds, turning right and then almost immediately left on the Hinds-Arundel road, which is largely a dead straight run up towards the foothills. These were still well covered with snow and glistening in the sunlight. We had travelled this road before on bikes yet today we were surprisingly restrained, perhaps because of the scenery on either side of the road.
Saturday is market day in Geraldine but we did not stop. The day was too nice and the lovely winding and undulating stretch of road from Geraldine to Fairlie beckoned. This stretch is another wee treasure of motorcycling road but is part of the popular self-drive tourist route, so was punctuated frequently by loitering rental Toyota Corollas and campervans, and the occasional coach.
Cresting the hill at Allandale, the lush Opihi valley was spread out before us, with magnificent views across to the snow-topped Hunter Hills and the Southern Alps beyond.
Fairlie required a fuel stop for ourselves and for our cycles. The courtyard where we supped our coffees was bathed in spring sunlight and it would have been easy to loiter, but we were aware of our evening’s commitments. Tempting as it was to turn right and head for Tekapo, such was the splendour of the day we knew we would be unable to resist the temptation afforded by a ride up to Mt Cook. Such a diversion would have made us unpopularly late. Instead we decided to head left towards Timaru.
This road down the valley floor is flanked on one side by the bed of the former Timaru-Fairlie branch railway line. Looking at the effort invested by our forebears to create such amenities I think that it is tragic in some ways that these facilities have been made redundant by the truck and trailer units that clutter our highways.
At Cave we took a punt and took a diversion that eventually brought us back out onto SH1 near St Andrews. And we were well pleased we did. This road from Cave winds steeply up a hill and then down into a pretty valley of mixed cropping and sheep farms. It is well surfaced its entire length. It then winds up and along another ridge before descending onto the coastal plain. At one point the road runs along the base of a hill that is covered with about 1,000 or more native cabbage trees. I didn’t have the necessary photographic hardware in my bag to do justice to this spectacular vista.
Our return to SH1 meant a return to traffic and to wind. A northeaster greeted us, but a tailwind is always preferably to the head-on variety.
We turned in to Waimate, a strangely located and surprisingly large South Island town. Its major features are its white horse (a limestone feature on the hill behind the town) and its very large Catholic church. We found a main street café open for business and enjoyed a most excellent cholesterol bun (bacon, egg & chutney).
The remainder of our journey to Dunedin was uneventful. Needless to say the weather and late afternoon sunlight displayed North Otago at its finest. I really enjoy riding a bike with horsepower, and the ascent up the Kilmog hills guarding Dunedin’s northern aspect was effortlessly handled in top gear.
We arrived at Mrs H’s brother’s residence at Waverley with more than enough time to unpack, unwind and sanitise ourselves before the evening’s scheduled festivities.
Day 9, Sunday: Dunedin. Another no-ride day.
Twenty-first birthdays are always special occasions, particularly when they involve family. Mrs H’s niece was the celebrant of this milestone last evening, but the actual day was today. During last night’s festivities, 21 Niece had announced her intention to tandem skydive today (weather permitting). Hearing this news, Mrs H says “Gosh, I’ve always wanted to do that!” At which point 21 Niece says “Consider it arranged.”
Too late to back out, not that Mrs H, ever heroic, flinched or faltered. I, on the other hand, went directly to trembling coward denial mode. I should have kept my powder dry as it later transpired that there is a 90kg weight limit for tandem skydive passengers that I would have effortlessly surpassed! Sigh.
So today was the day that Mrs H exceeded 200kmh legally en route to Taieri airfield. She has pledged to repeat this performance, next time from 12,000 feet rather than the comparatively tame 8,000 feet, thus doubling the time spent in freefall. My hero!
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Originally Posted by Lynda Blair
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