It was a new area to us: the trip to the Ahuriri Conservation Area was a great area to explore. Located 20km outside Omarama, it was a long drive up the Birchwood Road past LongSlip, Ben Avon and Birchwood stations. Ben Avon had been sold back in 2012 and some very exclusive accomodation had been built. The Lindis
The 21km from the main road was 75% gravel road, reasonably well maintained and 25% 4WD with some large holes and washouts. The only complication was the length of the bike carrier on the back of our car making some areas a bit trickier.
Having spent 90 minutes taking our time getting as far down the road as we wanted to go, we stopped and had some lunch looking out at some pretty nice landscapes
After riding the single track of Welcome Rock last week, it was a pleasure to be out on open ground / wide sweeping vehicle trails.
And even some riding through small rivers, while being surrounded by the mountains, in the sun and with no wind. It was not physically challenging, just plain enjoyable
We biked for about 3 hours – the only hazard was one boggy bit where we rode around via a large looping detour around the edges on the way out. But unwisely, decided to ride through it on the return journey. No problem, just walking through mud over your shoes isn’t glorious.
We came back to the car and decided to pitch our tent taking advantage of a little wind-protection provided by a few trees. There were plenty of fishermen about and few people stopped on their way past to chat. We sat in our camp chairs, we prepared our back-country freeze dried meal, we watched the sun disappear behind the mountains and were in bed well-before it got dark.
In the morning their was light rain and we took the tent down, bundled it into the car and headed back to civilization. Coffee and cake at Omarama was greatly enjoyed before the 1.5 hour drive home.
