Otago Harbour, New Zealand  

Morning cycle ride - Carey’s Bay to Aramoana and back.

This is an easy and picturesque ride out of town. We park the car across the road from the Historic Carey’s Bay Hotel – strategic planning for our return and unload the bikes and helmets. Carey’s Bay is still home to a few inshore fishing boats, pleasure boats and yachts, and a favourite stopover for yachts sailing to and from Stewart Island. The pub sits quietly mulling over its future and enjoying its past.

The road to Aramoana is basically flat and well sealed, but winding and sometimes a bit of a squeeze for two cars and a bicycle. Motorists however seem courteous and patient. We soon pass by Deborah Bay, an historic site and good alternative place for parking. Here is the Torpedo Boat Mole, a site gazetted for defence purposes in 1887. The function of the boats stored here was to carry a bomb to the enemy ship, set it and then rush away. Later gunpowder was stored here to be rowed across the harbour to Taiaroa Head in times of need.

We pass by Mr Lewis’s tiny house tucked in beside the sea, smoke wisping from the chimney even on a sunny day.

Birds watch us ride by – shags drying their wings from any vantage point of mooring post or rock or shipping lane beacon. Red-legged gulls, black backed gulls with their young, pied stilts and oyster catchers investigating sandy inlets, black swans, and white faced grey herons standing, waiting, watching.

The road takes us through Te Ngaru, a colourful allsorts mix of homes and holiday baches, and past the quarry where great rocks were taken to build the mole out into the sea at Aramoana. Ahead, the hillside rises steeply with a track barely perceptible in the long grass that takes you to the magnificent wildlife reserve at Heywards Point.

But we are still on the road with the marshy saltwater flats beside us and finally we come to the township of Aramoana, a collection of houses and lean-tos, old buses and stuff. We see Taiaroa lighthouse and the sea opens up before us with the sound of waves crashing and rolling along the length of the beach.

And as all ends come to a good thing, this end has the Bean Around  mobile café with fabulous coffee or for a quick calorie fix try a hot chocolate swimming with mini chocolate fish.

 Now do we have a swim? We’d be the only ones in if we did – ok, not today. We return the way we came but now with views of Port Chalmers, the big ships and the woodchip pile. The ride has been 21km and a pleasant morning to be highly recommended.