For bike packing first timers, this three day trip is loads of fun, with incredible views and remote wilderness, but with enough comfort points and helpful luggage delivery along the way to get even the least enthusiastic mountain biker excited to get out exploring.
The route looks like this:
Meretoto- Camp Bay 28km,
Camp Bay- Torea Saddle 25km,
Torea Saddle to AnaKiwa, 20km,
There is a final (optional) day to Picton, which adds another 26km. You can take a boat for the last bit if you don’t have time or are too tired.
We used rental bikes and luggage shuttle services with a company based in Picton called ‘Marlborough Sounds Adventure Company’, who also shipped us to the start of the track and provided mechanical assistance if needed.
We went as a group of 6 friends, with varying degrees of cycling experience between us. Joanna and I are experienced cyclists but not mountain bikers. Olly, Tim, Piotr and Sven had done bits and pieces of touring and off roading but not often. Luckily the shortish distances by day, easy navigation and lack of anything super technical made the route a challenge without being a struggle.
On the first day, we picked up our bikes from the hire shop in Picton, and jumped aboard the ferry which takes you from Picton to Meretoto Cove, the start of the track. It’s a gorgeous sail, with green mountains all around. Even better, they give you complimentary coffee or tea on board, which as Brits we were delighted by. Nothing like jetting up the wild fjords of NZ with a cup of tea in hand.
Once you arrive at Metetoto Bay, there are a few memorials to the spot where Captain Cook and the Maori first interacted with each other back in 1770. New Zealand was one of the last places in the world to be discovered by the west, and it’s purity and nature is testament to this.
We were in great spirits, and set off with great speed upwards on a trail which was surprisingly steep and gnarly. Within minutes we were pushing and sweating, bumping our bikes up and up over the first saddle. I hear that this section has been levelled out so it’s easier now, but it was a bit of a shock to the system for us. The forest is jungle-like and intense in this section, with tall ferns, palms, pohutukawa and beeches threaded together with vines and cabbage plants. The steep slopes of the sounds are bursting with life, trees crowding together right down to the water edge.
After sweating uphill for a good half an hour, we reached a wonderful first summit- beautiful views through fern leaves out over the blue and green Resolution Bay. After this, the trail follows a gentle down and up through Resolution Bay and over to Tawa Saddle. The track was wide, gentle, and has amazing views on both sides. Around each corner, there is a tantalizing glimpse of rocky, pristine coastlines, remote islands and blue mountains stretching their arms out to sea. We stopped frequently to look at the views, eat trail mix and talk excitedly and laugh at Sven’s awful cycling technique (he doesn’t believe in gears)
Tawa Saddle, the second climb of the day, gave us stunning wide vistas over the Endeavour Inlet, where you realize you can’t see any other houses, boats or buildings. It’s a true wilderness. It also offered an exciting ride down into the first night time stop of the trip.
We camped for the first night there at the DOC campsite on the shores of inlet, enjoying the fact that our bags had already arrived by boat, stocked with the evening’s food. We cooked in a glowing sunset, surrounded by the gentle calls of birds and under wide fern fronds waving in the growing darkness. We cooked our dinner on the beach, but watched it closely in case any cheeky wekas got too close and stole something. One of our friends, Piotr began to claim he felt sick and went to bed early, which turned out to be the first victim of a norovirus that tore through the group over the next few weeks. The rest of us, unaware of exactly how sick he was, laughed at him- he’s always worrying he’s sick with something, sadly this time it was real! He’s a true boy-who-cried-wolf. We got our comeuppance later in the week though!
The next day we woke to a beautiful blue sky. We had porridge again on the beach, and then started out on the 25km to Torea Saddle. It’s a hilly day, climbing and descending a few ridgelines that took us over to Camp Bay.
As with the day before, the going was medium- some steep climbs mixed in with ridgeline flats, rough downhills and beach side trails darting through the shrub. It was gloriously beautiful all day, and the tough gradients are made up for the most incredible views from the top. We especially enjoyed Eatwell’s View, which has some fun sign posts showing how far it is to every capital city in the world, as well as far reaching views over private inlets, azure seas and vibrant, dusky mountains fading out into the afternoon horizon. We spent time traversing the ridgeline that divides the Queen Charlotte Sounds and the Kenepuru Sound, so all day we were surrounded on both sides by blue panoramas of mountains, sea and wild coast lines. We also traversed a lovely mix of cool beech forests, interspersed with manuka bushes and tree ferns.
Piotr was suffering terribly this day- throwing up and barely saying a word, which for him is definitely a sign he’s not right! Still, he heroically pushed on, and we all did too, cruising into camp at Torea Saddle with sore thighs and sunburn but huge smiles.
The final descent was rather gnarly- rocky, uneven, twisting, and steep, the track clings to the steep hillside, with a drop plunging down on one side. We were getting a little over confident at this point, and on the final downhill, we had two crashes. The first was me- I was bumping over a rocky section and lost my footing. Unfortunately, I fell to my left, which happened to be down the steep- almost vertical- hillside. I fell at least several metres, slid several more and came to a rest with the bike on top of me in a small stream. All was fine, and I climbed back up in laughter- but then only 10 minutes later, Sven did exactly the same thing! He came off, went sliding down the hillside, and emerged from the bush with tyre tracks across his chest where the bike had hit him.
Still, a great day, and another wild camping spot with no light pollution and nothing but the gentle lap of waves to soothe us to sleep.
The final day was hot and beautifully blue again. We woke up to the gentle, disturbing noise of several tui birds in the trees above us, creaking and hooting and making the same noises the internet used to make in the 90s. We climbed out of the tent, had porridge and tea, and set off into blistering sunshine.
The first bit of the day was a steep, long climb up onto the top of Torea Saddle. We pushed up a lot of it, but were rewarded with more wonderful views from the top.
The day after this was filled with hot climbs, great views, deep ancient bush mixed with old farmland. On the top of one hill, we stopped for a rest to admire the azure waters of a particular inlet. A middle aged couple came sweating up after us and stopped too. “Are you British?” they asked curiously, after listening to our conversation for a bit. Turns out they were too, but emigrated to New Zealand over 20 years ago.
“Never looked back. It’s amazing here, the best place in the world!” The man told us proudly. We exclaimed how jealous we were- we’d love to settle here! Things turned a bit sour though, as a few moments later, they began to moan about how many eastern european immigrants the UK has- ‘You can’t move for Polish people! That’s why we moved’ the woman told us. Seeing as Piotr is a joint Polish and British citizen, we didn’t exactly agree with her. Things turned awkward, and so we quickly set off and pedalled fast so as to leave them behind. Can’t escape the racists even in a paradise like this!
It was a beautiful day though, despite this encounter, with the sea glowing an unreal blue, the steep, verdant fjords steaming with life and glimpses of rocky golden coastlines framed by the unfurling arms of silver ferns. We whooped our way down several tracks, and pedalled up others, still chatting and laughing as we went. We ended the day in Mistletoe Bay, a gorgeous, silent paradise, gazing out at still, green hillsides and mirror like reflections in the water. There was a shop nearby, so we filled up on beer and icecreams, and enjoyed a golden sunset and campfire there. Later that evening, we were greeted to a bounty of stars and the milky way bright in the sky.
We could have got a ferry back at this point, but instead we cycled on the road back to Piction, which was great fun- only 20km, and quite an easy ride. As we pedalled into Picton, Tim and Olly suddenly announced they weren’t feeling too great… Within a few hours, on the winding road to Nelson, we found ourselves pulling over to let them spew and poop their guts up on the verge side. I think Piotr felt vindicated for our teasing earlier in the week!
Norovirus aside, it was a wonderful ride- with hourly beautiful views and a remote wilderness that is accessible enough to provide luggage ferrying along the way. The track was easy to navigate, and didn’t have anything so technical we felt we couldn’t ride. All in, a great way to see a part of New Zealand that still feels untouched.
