Riding the Old Coach Road

The Old Coach Road is part of the eight rides which forms the  Mountains to Sea Great Rides trail

It starts in the beautiful old station at Ohakune. 

We arrived in Ohakune on a sunny afternoon in December, it was our intention to do some biking..... We aren't the best organised couple so luckily just one hundred meters from our stunning Mawhero apartment was the Visitor information office.  We found a super helpful young lady who showed us our biking options which included The Old Coach Road.  She called TCB Rentals and had our E-Bikes booked for the next day. 

The impressive old railway bridge en-route

After breakfast we donned our bike pants and walked around the block to TCB, where our shiny E bikes were waiting for us.  We listened to the trail briefing and set off down the road to ride alongside the river to the start of the trail at the old railway station,   

If you don't fancy riding both ways you do have the option of the shuttle that takes you up to Horopito.  This means that your ride will be just 15kms and 170 meters downhill and will take around 1 to 2 hours.

 

And just WOW - Smash Palace - you could spend hours here revelling in the history in the long grass

Off we set on the steady climb through farmland and bush along the original old cobblestone.  There are great information boards along the way detailing how the route was used by travellers and the engineering feats required to build the oldest and tallest curved viaduct and railway.  

An unexpected highlight of the journey for me was to arrive at Smash Palace a sprawling car graveyard with cars going back to the 1930's.  Also featured in the legendary Kiwi movie "Goodbye Pork Pie" it's located in the farthest place from the Coast.  

The ride downhill was so much fun and we arrived back to in less than 4 hours for a well earned soak in our apartment Hot Tub.   

The Old Coach Road is an Ohakune Highlight - not to be missed 

Stay at one of three stunning Rata Apartments whilst you explore the Ruapehu region