An Easter trip on the spectacular Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail

The South Island's Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail takes you through some incredible scenery. I cycled the first half with my friend Charette over Easter weekend, 2023.

Day 1 Tekapo to Braemar Station

Our trip started in Tekapo on Thursday afternoon. It was a bit later than planned but we’d been fluffing around in Christchurch. Charette’s bike had fallen off the rack on the way to pick me up and I had to collect my rental from town so it was after 11.30am by the time we left town.
 
After a lunch stop in Geraldine, changing clothes in Tekapo and putting everything in the panniers it was 3.55pm! I didn’t have a map of the trail so we asked a dusty-looking man in crocs eating a pie beside his bike and he pointed us in the right direction: cross the road and follow the signs. We pedalled beside the canals past late afternoon fishers trying their luck; although the sun was shining sometimes the wind caught us and it was freezing cold at others there was no wind and we overheated. That’s autumn for you!
 
Following the canals down to the edge of Lake Pukaki, we turned right, up a rutted metal road towards our accommodation at Braemar Station. What amazing views we had of Aoraki with the late sun turning it blush pink. By 5.30pm the sun sank behind the hills and by 6pm it was starting to get dark and very chilly. We rang Braemar Station at 6.10pm to see how much further it was (luckily we had reception).

Julia answered after a couple of rings. “I was just starting to worry, you’re quite late for cyclists!” she said. She’d just dropped our dinner off at Pine Cottage ready to go in the oven and it was five kilometres from where we were. Thank goodness. Our fingers and toes were starting to freeze.

We pedalled as fast as we could in the semi-dark, trying not to slip on the shingle and break any bones. In no time we were powering up the driveway and there was our cottage all lit up in the dark. Inside was cosy and warm, dinner was waiting, and a couple of minutes later Julia arrived and lit the wood burner for us. We watched the Great British Sewing Bee, got out our knitting and couldn’t have been happier. 

Pine Cottage at Braemar Station on the shores of Lake Pukaki, our first night's accomodation.

A scenic spot for the hay shed. 

All rugged up for our second day's ride to Twizel.

We woke to a cloudy Good Friday morning at Braemar Station; after several smoky attempts we got the fire going and made coffee. Julia pulled up on her four-wheeler about 8.30am and dropped our lunches off in brown paper bags – sandwiches, fruit and a slab of golden anzac slice. Half an hour later we were still drinking coffee when an SUV pulled up and a wedding party hopped out with bride, groom and photographer and started taking photos. Apparently Braemar Station regularly gets requests to use it for photos, which was entertaining to watch out the window, though it turned out they hadn’t gotten permission from Julia, who came down and told them off for disturbing our peace. By 11am we’d packed up our panniers and headed back the way we’d come, bumping down the rutted road, hats and gloves on as it was still cloudy and cool.
 
After an hour and a bit the sun came out, the hats and gloves came off and we came off the metal road and onto tarseal, and then a smooth cycle path that wends its way along the top of the lake but set away from the highway so there’s no traffic noise. With the lake on one side and grassy ledge on the other, this is a lovely section of the trail; there’s some superb spots to stop and sit down on the rocky shore for lunch and even a swim. Just past the salmon farm you go over a bridge, then cross the highway and pedal away from the lake across the broad Mackenzie basin towards Twizel. The land is mostly flat and brown with the occasional pine tree.
 
On the outskirts of town, we found our airbnb, a new and very nice two-bedroom place in a rural setting with a west-facing veranda looking over paddocks to the Ben Ohau range. We cooked spaghetti for dinner and went to bed at 9.30, tired after two days of bracing fresh air and pedalling.

Our lunch spot on the shores of Lake Pukaki. We weren't brave enough for a swim but some others had a quick dip.

My trusty steed! Autumn is a great time to do this ride as the weather is generally pretty settled.

Riding though the expansive Mackenzie Basin.

Overnight there was a frost and it stayed white and misty until the sun burned it off. Woolly hats, gloves and scarves went on when we biked into town at 10am. To our surprise there was a big Easter Saturday market in the square! Twizel was pumping, there was live music, stalls, hundreds of people and a twenty-minute wait for our cappuccinos.
 
Then we biked onwards to historic Lake Ohau Lodge, riding on an easy trail around the lake edge which also had some good spots for lunch, though not as spectacular as Lake Pukakai. It’s a narrow trail with a few windy bits and it was quite busy; we nearly wiped out when a woman sped past at top speed without slowing or moving to the side. But she was the exception and on the whole people were pretty respectful of each other.

It was 2pm when we cycled up the tree-lined driveway to the lodge, the perfect time to check in, plug in our bikes, grab a chair on the deck, sit in the sun and read. Our rooms had baths so a long soak before heading up to order a drink from the bar and then sit on the big leather sofa in front of the fire before being seated for dinner.

There was a three-course meal that was absolutely delicious from start to finish. We were seated with other guests staying at the lodge and at our table we had Carol and Neville from Westport who were biking the entire Alps to Ocean Trail; and Larry and Anita from San Francisco doing a month-long roadie around the South Island so there was plenty to talk about. It was a fun dinner!

Twizel was buzzing with an Easter Saturday market.

View from Lake Ohau Lodge.

Dinner menu at the lodge.

 

The final day was very bumpy for about two hours. It is tagged as being intermediate level and it definitely is much harder than any other part we’d done. Charette’s carrier which was holding her panniers broke off completely halfway along and we had to get the bungy cords out and strap it into place. After the long bumpy section, we came onto a metal road and took a very dusty detour to see the Clay Cliffs. It was a 7km ride to get there and so many cars drove past at top speed showering us in dust! Very rude, and at one point I slid in the gravel and fell off my bike, luckily just a bruised leg. Gosh. We had lunch at the clay cliffs sitting among the rosehips watching all the tourists pulling up in their cars, then biked back and finished in Omarama. My seat came loose just before we arrived in Omarama but we loaded up the bikes onto Charette's range rover (twice actually as we left the boot open the first time and then couldn’t close it – rookie mistake!) We put on an upbeat playlist and headed home and arrived back on Easter Sunday about 7.30pm, very tired but very satisfied. Unfortunately, my loose bike seat had fallen off on the way! I should have bungyed it into place!

Notes

• The complete Alps to Ocean Trail is 300km long (we just did the first half.) The A2O website is a handy site to visit for planning your trip. 
• You can take a different route from Tekapo to Braemar Station than the one we did, which is shorter and avoids going up and down the same lakeside road. Check with Braemar Station about this.
• Definitely do this on an e-bike. Even though it’s considered mostly easy, there are substantial climbs and hilly sections and even going over rutted roads can be quite an effort, especially if you are doing this with panniers.
• However, panniers are a great way to avoid doing the luggage transfer and there was plenty of room to carry clothes, toiletries and snacks for our four days.
• The car relocation cost us $270 and it means your car is there ready for you when you finish and you don’t have to wait for a shuttle. Cycle Journeys offers this service. 
• Autumn is a spectacular time of year to do this ride, but summer would be great too as there’s lots of lovely spots to jump in the water and cool off.