We arrived at Pinders Pond just out of Roxburgh yesterday, it was a stunning afternoon and got about charging bike batteries etc for our ride along the Roxburgh Gorge Trail from the Roxburgh Dam to Shingle Creek. After a good afternoon with plenty of sun the BBQ was out and ready to cook some awesome steaks for dinner and a nice wine.
Waking from a good sleep to an overcast but not cold morning, the pond was like glass and so the feature image is of Pinders Pond. The only thing to do was clean up the breakfast dishes and through the door mat in the boot. We headed to the Roxburgh Dam along the East Roxburgh Road, crossing the Dam and up into the car park where we got the bikes and gear required setup and headed off for our ride. We have done this track twice before on non powered bikes and really enjoyed it and this time we were using e-bikes.. so you guessed it we intend to have an easy ride this time lol. The start of the track had been modified since we last rode it, instead of riding up the vehicle track to what was the start at the top of the rise they now have a track that zigzags up from the car park. It was starting to warm up as we headed up to the top of the first rise before the track starts winding it way along the Roxburgh Gorge that is full of gentle ups and downs with a couple of short but steep pinches to climb. Another new addition to the track was amount of sheep droppings layering the top of the track and of course the many mobs of sheep lying on the track. The sun had come out and made for some spectacular views and I would say it is still one of our favourite tracks. After eleven and a half kilometres we reached Shingle Creek, a quick photo shoot as normal and headed back. The best thing I enjoyed about the ride back was the power assist on the e-bikes, call us cheats but it was awesome and instead of having head down and bum up busting the foo foo and not taking in the view we got to ride comfortably and I have to admit I took the opportunity to see a little more on this ride. Back at the moho, bikes and gear all packed away, it’s lunch at the Store in Roxburgh, a lovely cafe with great food and coffee. Tomorrow we ride the trail from Te Anau to Queens Reach and back so it’s now off to Te Anau via Ettrick up over the hills to Heriot and Waikaka avoiding Gore and Riversdale arriving at Te Anau late afternoon, of course stopping along the route to watch Kiwis in action at the olympics… just love our Wireless Nation Rural Broadband.