On a beautiful midsummer’s day, about twenty folks set off to ride the Te Awaiti Station coast. After visiting the large Lagoon Hill Station woolshed, the team stopped to examine the Cretaceous Tertiary boundary at Manurewa Point, at Tora on the coast. This is a thin layer of ash resulting from the asteroid collision with earth that wiped out most of life on earth, including the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Some riders started from here.
Rugged Te Awaiti Coastline Te Awaiti mountains A moody Southern view Te Awaiti rest stop
The weather was perfect. Large swells from the Southern Ocean contributed to a wonderful scenic ride along this special piece of coast. Lunch at the Okoropungo Rocks, had us chatting about the ancient Maori settlements sited along this coast and the journeys of missionary, William Colenso, along the coast, preaching Christianity in the 1840’s.
Climbing up the sea face track, we marveled at the infamous “Devils Mile”. This treacherous piece of coast that cost many of the old drovers livestock and their reputations!
Those with E assisted bikes arrived back at Te Awaiti Station first, riding into a moderate southerly headwind. Te Awaiti has been farmed by the Riddiford family since 1843. Today, Dan Riddiford has diversified into Game Hunting and Bee Keeping as well as sheep and beef farming. we are really grateful Dan was happy to open the station to our riders.
Arriving back in Martinborough about 5pm, everyone went home tired but satisfied with a great day’s riding!
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