Hurunui Heartland - Waikari to Christchurch

Over the Christmas break, we decided to push ourselves with some longer bike rides to prepare us for our North Island trip. The first of these was from Waikari to Christchurch.

The ride is part of the Hurunui Heartland Trail, which runs from Kaikoura to Christchurch via the inland road to Mount Lyford and on through Waiau, Culverden, the Pyramid Valley, Amberley and Rangiora. The full trail is 260km and requires several days’ cycling.

Our son Alex kindly agreed to get up early to drop us at Waikari (actually, we had to wake him up) so we could get a good start for our cycle back to Christchurch. From Waikari, it was only a short ride to connect up to the trail at the Pyramid Valley turn-off.

There are several distinct sections to the ride:

• a gravel hill section through the Pyramid Valley and Waipara Gorge

• a gradual descent through sealed back roads to Amberley

• a short jaunt through private farmland to a (dry weather) river crossing, which takes you to Leithfield

• a mix of (quiet) sealed and unsealed rural roads to Rangiora

• sealed cycle path on to Kaiapoi (the Passchendaele Memorial Path) and then Christchurch (the Northern Corridor).

For me, the best bit is the first section - it’s the most picturesque with its rolling hills, limestone outcrops, and views back to the mountains and into the secluded Waipara Gorge. This section also provides the greatest challenge with some steep climbs followed by some fast descents - which can be a bit nerve-wracking on gravel roads. Thankfully, the road is very quiet and we were passed by few vehicles (three cars and one tractor) so were free to ride in the middle of (our side of) the road and enjoy the views.

Things changed when we reached the sealed roads. A local winery was hosting a New Year’s Eve music festival so there was a constant stream of cars full of young dudes and dudesses on the road all the way back to Amberley. I suspect the roads are usually a lot quieter, but Amberley is a service town for the surrounding rural area so there was some local traffic too.

Amberley was roughly our half-way point so we were keen for a coffee stop at the Nor-Wester Café. Happily, we arrived after the rush of young partygoers, which the staff were only just recovering from.

From Amberley, it was a short ride to the river crossing (barely ankle deep) and on to the next rural section from Leithfield to Rangiora. I also enjoyed this part of the ride because we were cycling through gently rolling countryside along quiet back roads that we had never explored before.

Arriving into Rangiora, the traffic was a bit more frenetic, but there is a separate cycle track for the last few kilometres and over the Ashley River, and then on-road cycle lanes through Rangiora to the cycle path to Kaiapoi. From there, it’s a smooth ride all the way back to Christchurch.

Overall, it was a great day out and we would definitely do the ride again. We were lucky with the weather - sunny and dry, but not too hot and not too windy - so arrived home in pretty good shape. While tired, we both thought we could have cycled further - not bad considering we finally crossed the 100km mark, cycling 105km in five hours (or six hours and five minutes if you count breaks).