Hazel, Lynley, Christine, Owen and Wayne met at the Aoraki Stadium carpark and set out to walk the new section of planned Timaru to Tekapo bike trail. This is a part of the bike trail that will join Cave to Fairlie.
We met at 9am on a beautifully warm, sunny morning – the day was looking great. We drove up past Albury and near Cricklewood we turned right and drove up Rockwood Road to a new carpark and the start of the new section of track. The track looked good right at the start, wide, flat, well gravelled, with fresh native plantings in places along the sides. The walk started with a gentle climb up a small hill to a low saddle at about 300m with a fantastic view of a green valley below and the snowcapped Four Peaks Range in the distance.
The track descended down the other side with a zig-zag, so there was a gently gradient up and over the hill. From then on the walk was almost flat as we followed a small side stream down to meet the Opihi River right at the Fairlie end of the Opihi Gorge. The distance to walk was about 5km each way. There were two new bike/foot bridges right near the end of the new section of track where it joins the Fairlie to Opihi Gorge Road and the Opihi River Walk. We stopped here beside a small creek for a brief drink and snack.
Then we turned right onto the older Opihi Gorge track for a brief look at the start of the gorge. We decided to only go as far as the bridge over the Opihi River near the start of the gorge – expected to take about half an hour each way. The track here was narrow, undulating, rocky at times with some slippery patches – we took our time. The scenery in the gorge itself was impressive, narrow, steep rock walls on both sides, a fast flowing river below and a wooden walkway around a steep rock bluff. It took about 30 minutes to reach the bridge, and it was worth the walk. The bridge was a fairly new solid wood and steel structure high above the river below. Downstream below the bridge there was a large tree trunk wedged between the sides of the gorge well above the current water level giving some indication of what the power of flood waters in narrow spaces can do. We looked at a welcome swallow on a nearby damp face, possibly gathering mud for a nest. On the true left side of the bridge the track took a very steep ascent up a sturdy metal ladder before disappearing into the surrounding scrub.
We turned around at the bridge and made our way back out of the gorge onto the cycleway and back to the car. It was still a beautiful sunny spring day. We make it back to the car in good time, had a brief rest and a second snack before driving back to Timaru.
Thanks to Hazel for organising the day, and Owen for the transport.