Day 21. The big one. Queenstown to Mossburn

Colin Grierson
Dec 22, 2024
7 min read

The big day has arrived, the one I have worries about. The Earnslaw will ferry us to Walter Peak Station and from there we ride 110 km to Mossburn. Nowhere to stop. No easy way of backing out. If we get into trouble in the first half of the ride we can't even call for help. We will have the biggest climb of the trip - can I handle it? What will the wind be? We will be riding south. Even a light headwind will make the ride hard. A strong headwind will mean we don't make it. We have organized a shuttle to pick us up if we want it - but need to ride the first 65 km to get to a place where we can call him. Forecast is for showers :-( and a light, but favorable breeze :-)

We eat breakfast, pack and are at the waterfront by 8, about half an hour before we need to be, so we find the nearest coffee shop and relax.

The Earnslaw is docked and being loaded. A horse and cart are 'parked' beside it - and getting a lot of attention. Great publicity idea - this is how the Canyon brewery makes some of its deliveries!

We check in and stow our bikes. The sky is grey, it's cool but not cold, there is enough of a breeze to make small whitecaps on the lake - coming towards the township - southwest - not good :-(

I look outside and see we are underway, this is a very gentle boat.

I have a walk around and visit the engine room. I love this, and that they let people view the operating engine. It's a real steam engine. Triple expansion, and you can see moving parts such as the drive shaft and piston shafts. Nothing is hidden.

Model of the engine, it photographs better than the real engine

After a while Sau Keng comes out and we take our turn at the bow. The wind seems to have dropped :-)

As we near Walter Peak, which is on one of the 'corners' of the lake, the wind returns, but now from the forecast direction, Northwest, good for us :-) Big relief!

We are here. We use the freight gangplank to disembark the bikes, so don't mix with people visiting the farm. This is a much more quiet, private start than I expected.

We are ready to go, a person comes by, we get him to take a photo for us, and we are riding.

The road is gravel of course, but smooth enough. We make our way around the lake, there is about 10 km before we turn inland. It looks very good farmland here, but it's a fairly narrow strip. Mountains loom on our left and the lake is to our right. The road goes up and down a bit, there is a reasonable breeze but mostly across us - great for the direction we will ride later. Very nice riding.

A heard of cattle ahead, coming our way. This time we have plenty of room to move to the side, and there are only cows and calves. Good fun.

Continuing around the lake

Now we have turned inland, away from the lake. The test of my strength and fitness comes soon. I don't feel as strong as I did at the end of the north island ride - Then we had had hills almost every day of our ride. This time there have only been a few days with hills. The road climbs up to a narrow gorge, giving us our first view of the Von river.

This is a nice surprise. The narrow gorge opens out to a long flat valley. The road takes us down, it's easy riding here with the strong wind behind us helping us along :-)

We are riding quite slowly because Sau Keng wants to conserve battery power. With this wind behind me I'm hardly pedaling at all. We get a couple of periods when rain threatens and a few spots fall, but nothing comes of it. This is very easy riding. The mountain sides are steep, with quite a lot of active erosion - scree slopes and rocky gullies. What looks like a 'small' gully can disgorge a huge fan of rock and debris.

'Little' gully above. Big fan of debris below - it comes right out and across our road.

A ford! Not so big. I'll try it... No problem, the bottom is hard, I can ride through it. But the route I took was a bit deep - the motor of the trike might get wet... Good, here is a shallower spot. I guide Sau Keng and she rides across without problem. We are getting better at these :-)

The end of the valley is near... yes, the climb starts now.

I put pride aside and take it slow, stop several times to take photographs, ride some more - and we are at the top :-) I'm tired but will recover quickly. Time for a bite of lunch.

I thought this would be a normal saddle and we would immediately go down again, but there is a sort of plateau here - or a wide valley surrounded by yet more mountains. The road is pretty flat except for the odd gully where streams cross the road. I ride these much faster than Sau Keng, zooming down to get speed to help me up the far side. Sau Keng does not zoom on the trike, and with a motor is much less concerned about making climbs easier. After one of the gullies she calls me, the battery status is showing red. Our largest battery has lasted only a little over 30 km and we have 80 km to go - but there has been a really big climb in that 30 km. Sau Keng still wants to nurse her power to ensure she will not run out. I'm not worried . We have mostly gentle downhill to come and the wind is still with us. It will be easy riding. (Von hill was not the top, we were actually still in the Von river catchment and crossed the river again in one of the 'little gullies'. Over the far side of that gully we were in the Oreti river catchment)

Another ford. Sau Keng handles it with aplomb :-)

The road is gravel, but smooth and easy riding. We have a strong tailwind and the road is slightly downhill as it follows the stream - riding is effortless. It's not cold. The views are fantastic. It does not get better than this :-) The odd round the mountain sign reassures us we are in the right place.

An odd shape vehicle is approaching us. Slowly? When it gets closer we can see it is a grader, leveling the road. This is a pity, before it the road was smooth, now it's rougher, harder to ride.

We cross the valley and the river we have been following. It's the Oreti river! We will follow you to the sea over the rest of our ride.

We have reached the Malvora lakes turn off, (I thought we were going to ride past the lakes). Not quite half way in distance. More than halfway in effort.

15 kilometres past the Malvora lakes turn off my phone beeps and chimes. We have cell phone coverage. I send a text to cancel our backup pickup. We will be fine. It does not feel so closed in by mountains here. They are on our left - fair enough, this is the round the mountain track - but further away, and the right is open.

We stop to take a photo, to rest and to redo sunscreen. Start riding again and I speak to Sau Keng. "Your Glasses!" She exclaims. I took them off and put them on my pack when I applied sunscreen. Ride back, fortunately we can recognize where we stopped. Sau Keng spots my glasses in the road gravel. Big thanks dear.

We are getting close now, just 32 kilometres to go. Soon we may be riding on asphalt :-) Nope. The round the mountain route leaves the road here, drops down to the river and continues on a dedicated cycle track. Gravel of course - but with smaller stones and smoother than the road. Here is the Oreti river again, we left you for a while to follow the Mararoa river when we veered towards the Malvora lakes. You are bigger now, we won't leave you again.

(the Mararoa river joins the Waiau river, which drains lake Manapouri - or would if it were not dammed - we are surprisingly close to Te Anau and Manapouri)

Round that mountain in the distance should be Mossburn :-)

Very gradually the angle on my target mountain changes and we ride into farmland. A spur extends from the mountain, we have a bit further to go before we can turn around that.

We leave the riverbank and the farmland keeps getting better. There are young dairy cows here I think, dairy cows normally get the best land. Sau Keng stops to look and draws a crowd, as usual.

Mossburn is southeast but our path turns this way and that, occasionally we are riding into the wind - WOW, what a difference that makes. We have been very lucky and riding has been super easy - Sau Keng is still on battery two, it looks like it will take her the whole 90 km to Mossburn. In the distance we can see the road, it has been visible for a while now, there is a 'lot' of traffic (by our new standards, not city standards) I'm happy we are on this track even though the road would have been a bit more direct and faster. Back by the river again, we can see around the corner now, more, new mountains are visible and a valley heading back towards Kingston.

Finally we turn onto a road, gravel, and ride into Mossburn. It is 6:45 pm, we have ridden 105 kilometres since 10 am. Here is Mossburn's iconic Stag, uncharacteristically Sau Keng carries on, not interested in a photo, it's been a long ride even if it was relatively easy most of the way.

We are staying at the Railway hotel at the far end of town - but this is a very small town and here it is. I 'check in' - i.e. walk into the bar and find the manager, who gives me two keys for unit 2. We are staying across the road in Wheels and Reels. There are three doors, no numbers? Two must be in the middle door :-) No. Try the left door, no. Middle again, no. Right, the second key works :-) Our unit is clean, spacious and comfortable. We will be here three nights.