When we make the effort and take the time to go for a ride with kids, we want it to be an enjoyable experience. To have a ‘great day’ on the bike with kids there are simple things to think about, plan and do. In this story I am going to introduce you to riding with kids to the Pencarrow Lighthouse near Eastbourne, Wellington, North island, NZ,
Supporting you and your family to SMILE when you ride.
This a great family riding trip to New Zealands first permanent lighthouse and the only lighthouse run by a female lighthouse keeper.
Where is it?
The start and finish is located just south of Eastbourne Wellington. Eastbourne is located 40 minutes drive from downtown Wellington or 30 minutes aboard the East By West Ferry.
The ride – is it doable for you?
Biking Distance? The length of ride to Pencarrow Lighthouse is 8km one way . It is an out and back ride making it 16km return trip.
You have options to make your trip longer.:
You can park in Eastbourne Village and ride some of the coastal path and road to the start of the lighthouse ride making it a 22km return trip
You can continue to ride beyond the lighthouse to Baron Head lighthouse ( the current operational lighthouse) and to the Parangarahu Lakes
Parangarahu Lakes and the 2 lighthouses – Pencarrow and Baron Head.
Biking Surface? The surface is flat, wide and well compacted gravel . it is the width of a road.
Biking Skills required? This is NOT a technical ride. It is a flat ride to the lighthouse and the trail is wide. This can be quite a busy trail with other bikers and walkers.
Level of biking fitness? Allow 2 hours to complete this ride with kids. The biggest challenge can be the wind which is often present due to the rides location – coastal and near Wellington. Read how Sam ( 10 year old boy) managed the wind on his ride to the lighthouse. I had to learn to tuck in behind Mum to shelter from the wind and to catch my breath. I also slowed to have a breather in the more secluded bays before I took on biking around the exposed headlands. I quickly learnt that I needed to save my energy when I had the chance.
Can you ride with Kids Attached? This is a ride that you can enjoy with kids attached.
Kids riding their own bike. The Towhee Tow Rope could be the asset you need to get some younger kids riding on their own bike on this ride… and necessary if it is windy
Kids Attached or Towed – This trail is wide and off road making all kids attached or towed options suitable for this ride. Full range of Kids Bike Seats Attached or Towed
The wide flat gravel surface.
Safety
It is best to take a bike locks with you to keep the bikes safe as you walk up the trail to Pencarrow Lighthouse.
Enjoy the experience and have fun
If you have worked through the points above then you will be more likely to enjoy and have fun on your ride. There is so much fun to be had when out exploring on a bike
Some things you could plan to enjoy on Pencarrow Lighthouse Ride
It was great to see all the ferries as they pass going into and out of Wellington Harbour.
You get to walk up a bit of a hill to Pencarrow Lighthouse. There is a whole lot of information and history about the lighthouse and the lighthouse keepers.
The views from the lighthouse are pretty awesome. Wellington and the harbour, and you get great views all the way across to the South Island but only if you manage to pick a good clear Wellington day.
If you choose to go a little further you can see the Barron Head Lighthouse the current lighthouse in operation and a couple of lakes
Icecreams/ Hot Chocolates at Eastbourne Village are always an option after the ride.Â
Ferries entering/exiting Wellington harbour
Start of the trail to Pencarrow Lighthouse on the hill
Suitable trail to ride with kids attached or towed.
Your bike riding success is different to others… use our stories and support, get the right solutions.
Read stories about NZ trails, tracks & parks. Find out what other families & riders are doing. Be inspired! Is this ride an option for you or your family?
A collection of stories that will help you learn about bike gear. goRide supporting you to get the right bike gear solution for the type of riding you do or want to do.
Stories in Types of Riding support you to learn about riding a bike in different environments. So you can successfully choose to ride more place, more often.
Support and inspire other riders and families to ride
Share your riding outings, adventures and experiences on our quick and easy question and answer forms. Join us in helping others ride bikes. All entries receive a free shipping coupon and go into our seasonal prize draw.
We did it! – riding the Central Otago Rail Trail with 2 kids attached – Sam 4 years old on a trailer bike and Hollie 2 years old on a bike seat – on carrier.  Over 5 days and 4 nights! And now the kids are wanting to do it again but this time on their own bikes. When we returned from our journey at Christmas 2009, as a family we wrote a story about the highlights, and thoughts from our adventure. I want to share some photos, and snippets from that story that might inspire you to goRide the Central Otago Rail Trail.
Reading stories about cycling adventures helps to connect you to other women who ride and makes you think about what you and/or your family could achieve. It’s that story of another family or women having completed a bike adventure that makes you wonder if you or your family can. AÂ story that made you believe you can. Its that little piece of advice, or that must do, or must stay, that helps with the planning and preparation and helps make your adventure successful and special.
The train to Middlemarch goes chuggedy chuggedy up the gorge tucked in tight against the hill and we got to go over lots of bridges and through lots of tunnels. It was my first train ride and I was amazed where this train managed to go. On the cycle ride there were lots of tunnels along the way. I had my very own torch to help light the way. And a horn on my trailer bike that I liked to push to let people know we were coming and just because it made a noise. I think Mum made sure it wasn’t a really loud horn. The scenery was wonderful sometimes we followed a river, there was often big open spaces, hills and a lot of brown a bit different to where I live. You may notice I am not often in the photos as I am very keen to be the photographer. We found Nelson Rd on the way which I thought was quite funny because I am from Nelson. Sometimes it was windy and it even snowed. I know, in December, luckily the place we were staying in had a great fire and the snow on the hills the next morning looked great. We were well prepared with lots of warm clothes and wooly hats, socks and gloves. Reaching the high point is pretty cool, you get to take a photo and you know it is downhill after that. You can get a small book called a passport and you get to collect stamps from the Railway Stations along the way and I loved doing that.
The Central Otago Rail Trail Passport and stamps collected from the Railway Stations. There are 18 to collect.
Adults highlights:
The train ride was an awesome addition to the journey. It is a great train ride to take kids on, and you will also enjoy the scenery. The train does take a few hours and if you are getting on the bike after the train consider their ability to be able to sustain the time and distance. Seeing this part of New Zealand from a bike is just filling. Fills your soul. Great scenery, great little towns, bits of history (it took sixteen harsh winters/scourching summers for labourers, stonemason, blacksmiths, and engineeers, to build the railway. Starting in Middlemarch 1891 and finishing in Clyde in 1907 – wow and you get to ride it in a few days, and it is so achievable for families with kids of all ages.
Here are some factors that made our bike adventure a success:
Planning and preparation. The distances of the days were about right. The trail is gravel and though reasonably flat it is slower going than you predict because of the gravel surface. Longer distances would have made the trip challenging with windy or cold days. You just cannot pre-order the weather and it certainly can be unpredictable in Central Otago. Having clothing options for all weather conditions and plenty of food and water for the day.
Early starts were important to our trips success. Kids are often at their best in the morning and we generally managed to get most of our biking completed by lunch time/ early afternoon.
Communication and distraction. Keeping their senses stimulated – look, see, feel and hear. The passport enabled your ride to be broken into sections, you always had a railway station and stamp to collect or a town to look forward to. Make it fun and keep the adventure in it.
Regular stops were important for food, a bit of loving, and a stretch for your body off the bike.
Thanks for reading. Used together our stories and resources support you to achieve and develop as a rider. Do it, at your own pace, in your own time, in a fun, supported way – the goRide way.
goRide is a shared journey, so we would like you to assist in guiding it along the way. Contact goRide. Your thoughts, comments or feedback are welcome. Thank you for being a part of the goRide way.[/themeone_section]
Enjoy our story of the John whanau (Mum, Dad, 4 year old boy and a 2 year old girl) riding the Central Otago Rail Trail over 5 days in the South Island of New Zealand
Supporting you and your family to SMILE when you ride.
When we make the effort and take the time to go on a biking adventure with the family we want it to be an enjoyable experience. To help plan your adventure read about the John whanau experience riding the 151km Central Otago Rail Trail with kids attached.
The Trail is located in the amazing Central Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. The direction you ride in will determine your start and finish point, Starting or Finishing in Middlemarch or Clyde.
The ride and is it doable for you?
The Otago Rail Trail is 151km in length. It a gentle incline up to the highest point and then a gentle incline down. The trains chugged their way up and then down and so can you on your bike. There are a variety of places to stay on the way and so you can choose the distances you ride each day by determining how many days you want to ride the trail in. The guide books say 2-3 days, but with kids attached we decided to do the trail over 5 days of riding,
Car Shuttle – We had Grandma providing car support throughout this trip. So we only every carried day gear.
Highlights – It was great to get the perspective of Greymouth from the top of the stop bank, see the Greymouth bar, and the activity of the river.
DAY ONE –Â 27.5km Middlemarch to Hyde is it doable?
We traveled in the morning from Dunedin to Middlemarch on the Taieri Gorge Railway. We cycled to Dunedin Railway station then hopped on the train that travels through to Middlemarch
Biking – We didn’t start the trail until the afternoon because we took the train to Middlemarch in the morning. This did make it a long day for the kids. Definitely getting up early and getting through most of our riding in the morning was the best way to manage the kids energy and enthusiasm for biking
Accommodation – stayed overnight at the Hyde Hotel .
DAY TWO – Hyde to Ranfurly.32km – is it doable?
Biking – Hyde tp Ranfurly 32km.
Accommodation –We rented a house/batch for the night. We were thankful for the fire as it snowed that night.
DAY THREE – Ranfurly to Oturehua. 25.5km – is it doable?
Biking –  We passed through the high point today …so we know it is ‘downhill’ from here.
Accommodation –we stayed in B&B accommodation
DAY FOUR -Oturehua to Omakau. 29km.- is it doable?
Biking – Oturehua to Omakau. 29km
Accommodation – We rented a house/bach for the night.
DAY FIVE – Omakau to Clyde. 37km – is it doable?
Biking – This was a longer distance day but the biking time was about the same as previous days as the ride was predomanintly downhill or flat.
One of the many tunnels you ride through.
The highest point.
Riding the trail day 5.
The end of teh trail for us.
What skills will you need to do this ride? This track is predominantly loose gravel trail. It s an easy gradual uphill or downhill riding. The trail was slower going than we had planned for. We found we only rode the trail at about 10km/hour with kids attached and the loose gravel also slowed our progress
What level of fitness will you need to do this ride? You can complete the ride over as many days as you like and therefore determine how many kilometres you ride in a day.
How could the weather effect the success of your journey? Wind can be quite a factor on this trail. We choose to only do about 30km a day so that we could make sure the kids wouldn’t be exposed in bad weather for too long if the weather was not great. We rode this in December and we did have snow in Ranfurly and it was cold. Be prepared for all weather no matter when you ride this trail.
Riding with Kids Attached or Towed? This is a trail that you can enjoy with kids attached or towed. We had our 4 year old boy on a half bike and our 2 year old girl on a rear bike seat. A bike trailer would have given us more flexibility on the distances we could ride each day.
If kids are riding their own bike. Having a tow rope – the towhee is certainly a great thing to have as an option in times of need. If they are tired, they need assistance through weather ( wind, rain or cold)
Be safe and comfortable when riding the Otago Rail Trail with Kids Attached
Enjoy our mulltiday bikepath riding pages that introduce gear and stories to get you ready to ride
Throughout this trail there is reasonable support with riding some small towns Ranfurly and Alexandra however there are times of remoteness so being prepared is important. Use our stories for multiday biking to help support you to be prepared to ride the Central Otago Rail Trail.
There were many highlights enjoyed along the way. These are the things that my 4 year old talked about during and after the ride.
The train to Middlemarch goes chuggedy chuggedy up the gorge tucked in tight against the hill and we got to go over lots of bridges and through lots of tunnels. It was my first train ride and I was amazed where this train managed to go.
On the cycle ride there were lots of tunnels along the way. I had my very own torch to help light the way. And a horn on my trailer bike that I liked to push to let people know we were coming. The noise was quite different in the tunnels.
 The scenery was wonderful sometimes we followed a river, there was often big open spaces, hills and a lot of brown a bit different to where I live.
You may notice I am not often in the photos as I am very keen to be the photographer. We found Nelson Rd on the way which I thought was quite funny because I am from Nelson.
Sometimes it was windy and it even snowed. I know, in December, luckily the place we were staying in had a great fire and the snow on the hills the next morning looked great. We were well prepared with lots of warm clothes and wooly hats, socks and gloves.
Reaching the high point is pretty cool, you get to take a photo and you know it is downhill after that.
You can get a small book called a passport and you get to collect stamps from the Railway Stations along the way and I loved doing that.
Central Otago Rail Trail with stamps.
Sam and Hollie favourite thing to stamp their passports at each of the stations
I found Nelson Road…funny.
Your bike riding success is different to others… use our stories and support, get the right solutions.
Read stories about NZ trails, tracks & parks. Find out what other families & riders are doing. Be inspired! Is this ride an option for you or your family?
A collection of stories that will help you learn about bike gear. goRide supporting you to get the right bike gear solution for the type of riding you do or want to do.
Stories in Types of Riding support you to learn about riding a bike in different environments. So you can successfully choose to ride more place, more often.
Support and inspire other riders and families to ride
Share your riding outings, adventures and experiences on our quick and easy question and answer forms. Join us in helping others ride bikes. All entries receive a free shipping coupon and go into our seasonal prize draw.
Last holidays we set off to Waimarama Sanctuary for a day of biking, bush walking, a picnic and playground fun. Â What did we want? A fun day out that everyone could enjoy, something exciting for the kids but manageable for us. Â What did we discover? Â To be safe on the road while riding with our group of kids, all of them are under 10, we needed to constantly communicate with them. Â Our problem on this particular day – everyone wanted to ride at the front.
We had a lot of jostling about who was going to be the leader so after a STOP! and talk about sharing and turns there was less of a race to the end, and more of a family ride.  The majority of this ride is on the road so we needed to set rules and responsibilities early on to keep everyone safe and us sane.  We had one adult in the middle of our group and one at the back, with four kids in between.  Our job, keep talking. Telling them whose turn next, when that might be, how long to go,e.g. when we get to the next signpost it will be Hollie’s turn to lead.
The kids ate, biked, walked and played, before we knew it we were heading back home. Â And it began all over again… getting to the front, cutting people off, when is it is my turn? (in a very whinny voice). Â Once again we had to stop, have a discussion about being safe and set the order of turns as the leader. Â Our group all wanted to lead, some a lot more than others, but it was really important to communicate what we wanted from them and how they should be riding safely as a group on the road – single file and always listening.
Check out the facilities and fun in the slider
Playground fun
The lunch spot
The flying fox
The pump track
If you live in Nelson or are visiting any time soon we recommend the Waimarama Sanctuary ride so check out the fact sheet which includes a map
goRide is a shared journey, so we would like you to assist in guiding it along the way. Â Contact goRide. Â Your thoughts, comments or feedback are welcome. Thank you for being a part of the goRide way.
