Rainbow road is actually a set of roads
through private property which run
120km between Hanmer and St. Ar-
naud open from Christmas day until
Easter Monday every year. A great
confidence builder for my future
rides, the road is mostly good quality
gravel with the occasional fjord and
intermittent short sections of either
loose gravel, or big loose rocks. I was
taught to always walk a stream before
crossing it, and with my still water-
proof boots stomped across at every
junction, I still rode the crossings
overly cautiously. During my third
such crossing the hesitance to just
ride caught me as I was going too slow
when hitting a smaller submerged
rock and ended up gently laying Rob-
in down in the stream. With some
of that aforementioned luck holding
true, I didn’t have to wait long as a
gumboot wearing kiwi in a ute (util-
ity vehicle – small truck) was quick-
ly at my side helping me get vertical
before any water got into the air box.
Everyone I stopped and chatted to
along the way mentioned that all the
crossings to date had been a breeze,
and the northernmost one just before
getting back on the highway was the
worst – loose gravel, little bit deeper,
TRAVERSE 94
and flowing with decent pace.
Winding through the Rainbow Sta-
tion scenery with this and the recent
tip in my mind, I timidly approached
this final crossing and let my mental
switch flip getting off the clutch and
pushing through with pace. A big
splash and cry of joy later, I popped up
the other side with a great deal more
confidence for the future.
At the end of Rainbow road I met
up with Tom and Caitlyn, a pair of
newlywed Australians I’d run into
the week before during the wine tast-
ing at Wairapa Hills on the way to
Christchurch. We spent the afternoon