The Bridge to Where?

The Bridge to Nowhere ride has been on the radar for sometime- the remoteness, the history and the chance of a four star Kennett Brothers rated mountain bike adventure lured me to make it a reality. A mountain bike adventure for keen parents now has to factor in 2 young children and the challenge is how to combine a family holiday that ticks all the boxes in terms of keeping all the troops happy. A web search on the “Bridge to Nowhere” and a few emails later we had booked an 8 night stay in January at Uncle Bills Cottage 22 kms from the start of the Mangapuru track and a jet boat pick up at the end of the track back to Pipiriki. The cottage has four bedrooms so like minded friends with 3 year old twins planned to join us and the plan was for each couple to have a day’s adventure and a day child minding.

The Cottage is on a working farm and was fantastic with family adventures right on its doorstep.  A river at the front of the cottage was great for swimming and catching rainbow trout as my partner and 6 year son excitedly discovered. There are many other farm activities that kept the kids happy their favourite being sledding behind the quad bike. 8kms down the road is the Ruatiti Domain and one of the best swimming, picnic and free camping spots I have ever seen; idyllic is the word to describe it. While basing ourselves at the cottage we did a few family day trips one being a jet boat trip up the Whanganui River and a walk up to the Bridge to Nowhere.

Now to the MTB adventure!  Plans changed along the way and as things panned out only 2 of the four parents could do the ride and ‘paper scissors rock’ was mentioned. I had been blessed with the adventure as my selfless partner said he had had his kid free day off fly fishing a few days prior, what a lucky girl I am!

The jammy two set out at 9am on a beautiful clear day to ride the 22kms from Uncle Bills to the start of the Mangapurua track, 7kms sealed and the remainder a metal road. From the start of the Mangapurua track to the Bridge to Nowhere is 38km and as it is now part of the National Cycleway follows a well marked and maintained track although apparently when the papa rock is wet it can be treacherously slippery. The first 4kms climbs gently to the top of the Mangapurua trig and this is the only real ascent of the day and is a pleasant and manageable ride for all abilities. We then descended into the valley- a fast and dusty ride-(note to self wear sunglasses especially if you are behind your stonking fast fellow rider).  There are plenty of clearings along the way to have lunch or a rest- signposted with the names of the early settlers. As we descended to the bridge there are a multitude of swing bridges- 17 the unofficial count, a few bluffs that have you clinging to the side of the track and some wicked views of the native bush below. Then without warning the bridge appears. We spent a good half hour on the bridge soaking up the history and taking photos with the self timer. It is a short ride from the bridge to the Mangapurua landing. We arrived with 2 hours to spare before the jet boat pick up- as we had no idea when we set off if we would need the suggested 4-6 hours time so we had 2 hours of R&R swimming in the warm waters of the Whanganui River and sunning ourselves before Brent from Spirit of the River Jet Boat Tours picked us up. A 45 minute jet boat is great way to get back to Pipiriki with a bit of local history along the way from Brent.  A van was waiting for us at Pipiriki- organised by Spirit of the River and we were transported back at Uncle Bills in time for our frazzled partners to hand over the bed reading duties-beer in hand!

It was an awesome mountain bike adventure day out and I would really like to say thank you to Claire from Spirit of the River Tours who really went out of her way to make this trip happen for us- trying to work dates that suited us and then changing plans at the last minute.

There are many other options for this day out such as getting a ride to the start of the track, or canoeing down the river overnighting at a DOC campsite or the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge.

For more information check out www.unclebillscottage.co.nz, www.spiritoftheriverjet.co.nz and the latest Classic New Zealand Mountain Bike Rides by the Kennett Brothers.

Amanda McDowell
January 2011