Day 23 Winton to Bluff

We've stayed two days in Winton, at the Belvedere B&B. It's been very good here. Our hosts Debbie and Miles looked after us well and made us feel welcome and comfortable. Also the meals in the garden bar of the Top Pub are excellent.

We ride some of the heritage trail around the town on our way to dinner on day two. The town has a lot of old buildings, some very well kept. But what both Sau Keng and I noticed more, are the gardens, all through the centre of town, really good!

Today we will ride to Bluff, the end of the road, as far south as one can go on State Highway 1. It will not quite be the end of our ride though - after a rest day in Bluff we will ride back to Invercargill where we will meet our kids when they bring our car down from Christchurch. We have another fine day, the forecast is for higher temperatures today so I've chosen my summer kit.

Pack everything, farewell Debbie and we are riding again.

Perfect conditions for riding. The land here is amazingly flat - to an Aucklander anyway. In the far distance mountains, still with a few patches of snow on the tops.

Here are three views looking Northwest, same scene, different magnifications. When I am riding I can see this in any of these ways depending on what I am concentrating on. Interesting.

There is a lot of grass growing beside the road, outside of the paddocks. My father used to call this the 'long acre' on quiet roads the farmers could sometime let their cattle out to graze it. Here someone has cut the 'long acre' for haymaking, more than a kilometre I think. Fair enough, the grass might as well be used and it reduces the fire risk too.

We ride under two large power transmission lines. I presume these take power to Tiwai Point aluminum smelter, and maybe a bit goes to Invercargill too.

This is very easy pleasant riding. Flat. Warm enough. Light wind from the side. Quiet roads. So nice...

Wallacetown. We are very near Invercargill. This is a busy little town. I'm amused to see a real estate office advertising this as having the fastest increasing property prices in the country. There are lots of ways of interpreting that.

We have a short break and start riding again. Alas, this is not pleasant riding. We are now on SH99 and it's busy. For the number, 99, much busier than I expected, other 9x roads we have been on have been very much quieter. We have about 5 km to go before we turn off. I had considered alternate routes, but they were longer and still used SH 99 for a couple of kilometers. I was not expecting this much traffic either.

About a kilometer out of Wallacetown the road narrows as it goes around a corner with an embankment. There is no shoulder. Sau Keng stops, wanting the following cars to pass so she can wait for a gap. The cars behind stop, not having enough room to pass because of oncoming traffic. I'm perhaps not as understanding as I should be, we have to move, take a lane and ride across, the cars will follow us - it's just 100 metres. Sau Keng rides, the cars follow without complaint, and we are past the narrow section. A pause to regain composure and we ride again. It's not so bad now. ... We are very happy when we turn onto a back road again.

The back road is nice, quiet and relaxing, but geography forces us to return to the main road. It's okay now though, 50 km/hr speed limit, two lanes each way (space for cars to pass) and footpaths if necessary.

Wow! Four lanes! We have not seen a road like this for a month - we must be in Invercargill.

We find a garden center with a cafe and had a light lunch there. We don't get very hungry when riding. After lunch, and another kilometer along we come to the start of the track to Bluff. This will take us around the estuary behind Invercargill and on to Bluff. We have been here before and don't feel like exploring the town centre now. We start down the track.

There is a huge estuary behind Invercargill, the Oreti river feeds into it and the entrance to the sea is at the eastern end of Oreti beach. I did not know this estuary existed until the first time we rode this track.

A bit further along, "FH" - Fulton Hogan, who Sau Keng has been working for for the last couple of years. "What is this place?" asks Sau Keng. The smell is unmistakable, it's an asphalt plant.

We have left the industrial area and will soon pass the sewage treatment plant. Here there is a huge pile of oyster shells. I stop to look and photograph... and the owner, who was driving a front end loader, stops working, and walks over. We chat for a bit and I learn the shells are crushed and mostly used for caged birds, also that last Thursday they had the strongest wind for several years.

The wind has got up now, it is very noticeable when the track turns into it. Riding around the estuary is very nice, views of the water, birdlife, the farmland, lovely. Not so lovely is how the stream and ditch water looks - a violent brown. Is this pollution? Or something natural in the soil?

The estuary is lovely to ride beside, but it only takes us half way. Now we are riding beside SH1. So near to the end of the road one would expect it to be quiet, but no, Bluff is a working port and there is a lot of traffic, much of it trucks. This is a 100 km/hr road with a chip seal surface - even a light car passing us at 100 km/hr is LOUD!

Bluff hill is looking closer. Large and much sharper now.

Pity the white path is a farm driveway, our track is much more humble, and beside the road

We are riding around the inside of Bluff harbour. As the road rotates counter clockwise we head more into the wind. Riding is harder now but Bluff is in sight.

Finally, we are officially in Bluff. Of course we want photos and a selfie won't do this justice. I'm looking for someone around the factory, the office lady sees me, asks what I want and generously comes over to take our photos. Many thanks, it is much appreciated! (and she took some nice shots :-) )

The trucks turn off at the container port and the road becomes quiet, the town too - even though we can see many fishing boats here. There are lots of murals, some very good.

We've done it! This is Stirling Point, the very end of the road! We flag down a man about to drive off and he kindly takes this photo. Now I see a young Asian man with a selfie stick and offer to take his photo. Gratefully accepted.

Just across the parking area is a restaurant. Perfect. a great view of where we have come to. A beer, a meal.

A final couple of kilometres back to town. It will be easy with the wind behind us. But first we explore this area.

From the carpark we saw some curvy pieces of sculpture... Ah a chain, Why? It represents Maui's fishing tackle when he pulled Stewart Island for the sea... Now it makes sense and the sculpture works for me.

The path through the sculpture goes on, we follow it and find ourselves by the old signal tower, used to communicate with ships entering and leaving the harbour. (further out, on Dog island, there is a substantial lighthouse)

We take an unnecessarily hilly route to our accommodation - the navigator claimed they were exploring - but find the unit without trouble. Very comfortable unit.

We are here, relax. 😁

Statistics

Distance 74 km

Climbed 184 m

Time 5:15