After a good feed, a couple of beers and our nights sleep in our maroon red workers cottage behind the pub at Ikamatua we were back into it, riding roads heading to Greymouth.
We stopped at the Pike River Memorial - what a sobering stop.. I had ridden past mines, memorials, urupa’s and cemeteries from yesteryear but this was an event in my lifetime I knew some of the story, the youngest was 17 and many were around my age. The memorial sits next to a power station beside a river but it’s at the start of the road and looks towards the hills and the mine.
I feel outside the West Coast coal has lost its power we don’t see or smell it that much but in the west coast valleys you do. You can smell it still lingering and burning, warming homes in the morning the distinct smell filling our nostrils as we rode through.
Now I don’t have any connections to these miners, builders and geotechs still underground, but my age and the bits I saw on the media. A white cabinet full of the miners name tags was mounted to the shelter, this stuck with me, Normally they would remove their tag to show they were out of the mine their cards will never be removed and will only fade in the sun their shifts never to be completed…
We rode on contemplating the memorial and warming in the sun…
Blackball was to be out next stop, Chris was ready to declare that the hill was to steep and 1.5km to far to go to get breakfast but we rode in. We have both tried to spend our money at little towns and shops knowing that our $ are going to support local communities, every where has been hit with covid and the West Coast with the changing industries as mining and farming get more restrictive. So I suggest you get out near or far and visit some of these little towns and well used pubs as the feeds and hospitality have been awesome. Anyways back to Blackball we went into the Blackball Inn and Cafe, we received a big welcome as we stood a little dazed just taking in the entrance to the Inn it felt like we had entered into someone’s living room furnished from the 50s but with a bar. Chris ordered the muesli and me the pancakes.
As Chris’s muesli approached the picnic table we sat at we assumed it was both our breakfasts Chris nearly fell off his chair when he realised that was just his, with a large bowl of home made muesli a bowl of fruit, bowl of yogurt and toast to come. Will this be Chris’s most memorable meal of the trip? My Pancakes were pretty good too we chatted to the Ladies filled our water bottles and with full bellies got back on the road this was going to be our longest day.
We rode to Greymouth quick stop at Countdown and on to the West Coast Wilderness trail I’d previously ridden this trail as a family over 4 days and we were going to get the 84kms to Hokitika done today. The trail is very well formed gravel MTB highway, our first stop was Kumara where I brought a pie ate it in 5 bites then went in and brought another before they closed, it’s hard getting enough fuel in on this trip you feel you’ve got to keep eating and most of the easy stuff is very sugary so a savoury feed is always good. We saw Kate here drinking a wine at the bar in the sun, but back on the saddle we couldn’t stop. Up into the hills we rode through gravel roads and MTB tracks a refreshing dip in the cool clear river more food and onwards.
Riding up through the highest point and into the best trails either side of Cowboys Paradise. Yes there are rundown ranches in the middle of the West Coast Trail, it’s like the owner uses the trail as leverage for what ever is going on up there. The stories of this place are long talked about before and after by everyone and whilst I previously had a good nights stay there you’ve got to question whether you want to support the ideals of this place. It is in such a great spot though…
We raced through the twists and turns as we left Cowboy Paradise and onto the gravel road playing the Alphabet game to make the hills feel easier. We rode into Lake Kaniere for a quick photo and fuel up. The trail from here is tight following an old water race which takes water to a small power station we raced down these trails with the water race flowing along side, under us and even across bridges over other water ways as we sped next to it racing the darkness. We were buzzing through here as we descended to Hokitika pulling into the campground and Kate waiting with a hot dinner and cold ciders, another great day done!! Thank you Kate…
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