Sunday, June 8, 2014

National park to ohakune

national park to Ohakune
well im a year older today- yep its my birthday today. where has the last 7-8? years gone (from when I stared to live on the road full time to now-time fly when you having fun : ) once i pack up my gear and get on the road I head into the town of national park to find out if there is any new info that I should know about the old coach road trail that i will be riding for part of today and to stop at a cafe - at the cafe I end up chatting for a bit to some one on a road bike who is in nz doing a few bike rides using the bus to get around - the rider run's some bike tours over some of the pass's the big cycle races do . leaving town I turn onto S.H.49 where after some up and down riding come the decent/climb of the  
makatote viaduct where the road drops down to near river level before heading back up to the level of the railway. after a few more rolling hills I get to horopito and the start of the old coach road trail - the trail uses parts of the old coach road that was used for a few years to jone the two ends of the (at the time unfinshed )railway it went from the makatote viaduct to the town of ohakune - a few years ago parts of the trail was reopened as parts of one of the off road nz cycle trails - this trail is for mt bikes and walkers . at the start of the trail i chat for a bit to some mt bike riders to ask about the trail - i did ride the trail not long after it opened - it was very muddy in places back then. once on the trail the trail runs along farm land for a bit before entering the bush - the first part of the trail in the bush is along new pathway passing next to then under one of two old viaducts on parts of the old road before running beside and crossing a stream and passing under a new viaduct - when parts of the railway was upgraded for power some parts of the railway was replace with new cuttings and bridges. the trail then climbs back up to old road crossing over the railway in one place. along the trail there are sighs that talk about what it was like to work on the old road and building the railway around 100+ years ago. riding the trail i get to a turn off to the 2 old viaduct that has been restored with the trail running on it . after taking some photos i get back on the main trail passing a old train tunnel along the way before starting the long down hill to the end/start of the off road part of the trail then there is some road riding to be done before i get into the town of Ohakune where after i do some food shopping i head for the doc camp ground a few km up the ski field rd where i stay the night































 

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