NZ week 6 heading North, more MTBing
At Nasby on our first day heading North back to Christchurch.Nasby is a small town with maybe 50 permanent residents but it was once the capital of Central Otago. The local forest has a recreation area which has some good mountain bike tracks so it was a destination we had to try. The weather was cold and bleak when we arrived lat Sunday morning but we finally got out riding. The tracks were a bit difficult and poorly defined around the gold diggings were we headed first as there was no real MTBing map or clues as to where was best to ride. It wasn't until our second session after a late lunch and the snow shower had passed that we found the better tracks on the far side of Wet Gully Road near Hoffmans Dam. The "cover" photo is in the "Sandpit" area which was relatively flat and full of (ball-bearing like) pine cones but a fun little area.
Nasby: snow on the mountains behind. looking across at the better tracks and on the better tracks in Hoffmans Gully
Monday morning we headed straight to "Hoffmans Gully" on the other side of Wet Gully Road and found some more well defined though still neglected tracks including a large wooden double berm. After quite a few hours of fun including another hour in "The Sandpit" on mostly unridden tracks. In the afternoon we drove over Dansys Pass and on through Omarama to a DOC camp we'd been told about called Quailburn Woolshed just off the "Alps to Ocean" (A2O) trail.
Tuesday we rode a short section of the A2O trail over the Tarnbrae from Quailburn Road to Lake Ohau, a section which was mostly off road on a MTB path. Great scenery and easy riding we did a bit over 50km on the over and back ride. This included an hour and a half for morning tea and views at the Lake Ohau Lodge.
Wednesday morning it was raining. We had driven from Quailburn up past Lake Tekapo to sleep on the roadside past Geraldine. We drove on in th rain to Mt Hutt hoping it would clear, it didn't. Nevertheless we got going before breakfast for a ride on the easy XC track before tackling the "Backdoor" up to higher elevations. Finally a fun muddy run back down to our car via "Bang 4 Buck" to complete an 11km wet ride before heading on to Christchurch to attend to car jobs.
Nasby: snow on the mountains behind. looking across at the better tracks and on the better tracks in Hoffmans Gully
Monday morning we headed straight to "Hoffmans Gully" on the other side of Wet Gully Road and found some more well defined though still neglected tracks including a large wooden double berm. After quite a few hours of fun including another hour in "The Sandpit" on mostly unridden tracks. In the afternoon we drove over Dansys Pass and on through Omarama to a DOC camp we'd been told about called Quailburn Woolshed just off the "Alps to Ocean" (A2O) trail.
Tuesday we rode a short section of the A2O trail over the Tarnbrae from Quailburn Road to Lake Ohau, a section which was mostly off road on a MTB path. Great scenery and easy riding we did a bit over 50km on the over and back ride. This included an hour and a half for morning tea and views at the Lake Ohau Lodge.
Wednesday morning it was raining. We had driven from Quailburn up past Lake Tekapo to sleep on the roadside past Geraldine. We drove on in th rain to Mt Hutt hoping it would clear, it didn't. Nevertheless we got going before breakfast for a ride on the easy XC track before tackling the "Backdoor" up to higher elevations. Finally a fun muddy run back down to our car via "Bang 4 Buck" to complete an 11km wet ride before heading on to Christchurch to attend to car jobs.
