To my surprise, my bike was assembled from its travel bag and I was ready to leave Nelson by half-eight Friday morning. I was well excited to be going on my first solo tour of more than a few days for over six years. A small bikepacking event over the weekend was drawing me finally to Golden Bay, and after that I was looking forward to a couple of weeks on the West Coast riding some of the long backcountry trails that the area is blessed with.

First, to Takaka; with a whole day, biking there was the logical choice – even with Takaka Hill in the way. Much easier than organising a bus anyway. Flat cycle trail took me out of town, skirting the estuary and past a large sawmill. I missed the reopening of the Mapua ferry by a day, so was left to find the quietest route west on the fly. The backroad to Motueka wasn’t that desolate, but it wasn’t a highway.

After a few spits of rain, the day cleared nicely.

Hitting Motueka for an early lunch, I made sure to fuel up for the 900 metre climb. I didn’t get far into it and found a complimentary/compulsory shuttle through a lot of roadworks, so that cut out a couple of hundred metres of climbing – which I was both pleased and disappointed by.

Almost at the top of the road, a short side trip for the view.

Yup, the hills certainly climb away from the coast very quickly.

Near the summit of the main road, I turned off north and continued to climb before eventually dropping to Canaan Downs. So many rocks everywhere in the paddocks, and a little native bush to ride through. It looked a sweet place to camp as the downs opened up, and I found a cheeky bit of singletrack to ride, confusing the sheep and avoiding orienteer scouts, before the Rameka Track started.

A very old track, as far as NZ European history goes, that’s been revitalised – it was great to work my way down to sea level. A loaded rigid bikepacking bike may not the best stead for it, but I was thrilled with the descent through the bush. Occasionally the views opened up, but I was having too much fun to stop much.

Before long I’d lost all the altitude and was rolling into my Airbnb on the outskirts of town; a top day getting to Takaka and moving the legs a little before the weekend’s challenge.