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Waimea Plains Village's e-bike fleet

A couple of years back, Arvida villages took on trishaws that allowed less mobile residents to get out on a bike powered by a more able person (often the village manager).

Arvida's Waimea Plans village, near Nelson, has now taken that concept several stages further, and the active residents there have started a cycle group complete with a custom-built bike trailer. The residents, with an average age in the late 70s, started in Mapua and rode the 45 km Great Taste Trail into Kaiteriteri, with support from village manager Jason driving the van and trailer. The van stops along the way and offers support if required.

The trailer is custom designed by a local engineer Matt Donaldson. The brief was it must be usable for retirement-aged people. It takes 12 bikes, it's low to the ground so heavy e-bikes can be loaded with ease, it has kwila seating on either side so the group can sit and rest, and has a large lockable box with tools etc on board. The finishing touch is a bbq and a ramp so the village's trishaw can also be easily loaded.

The residents at Waimea Plains are an active bunch and this trailer is an example of how the village supports people to keep active and engaged in the community. The village is surrounded by cycle ways and cycling is very popular in the region.

The next big trip is to ride the 42 km Link Trail from Havelock to Picton. This takes in stunning scenery along the Queen Charlotte Drive. We have certified van drivers so the use of this trailer is not limited to when staff are available. We also lend the trailer to community groups such as the Appleby Primary School who took it on their school camp for a few days.

We were delighted to receive a story (below) from village resident Tony Charlton about their cycle adventures.

Cycling in the Waimea Plains

By Tony Charlton, village resident

The photo left shows a recent outing

Gill and I weren't really looking to buy a home in a retirement village. We felt we were too young for that, and maybe we would look in a few more years. We are both keen cyclists and the Waimea Plains are a good area for cycling, with plenty of bike tracks and quiet roads, mostly on the flat, but plenty of hills, if you want them. We have been members of a local cycling group for several years, going out on rides twice a week, usually starting in Richmond, or sometimes further out. We had been living in Atawhai, which is on the North East side of Nelson, so we usually put the bikes on the rack on our car, and drove through Nelson to the place where we met for the start of our ride.

When we decided to downsize, it made sense to look for somewhere in Richmond, so we could usually ride our bikes to the starting point. After looking at a few homes, we noticed that a new retirement village was being built in Richmond. It was actually called "Waimea Plains", the same as the area where we cycled, and was being marketed as a "Lifestyle Village for Active Retirees". On our way back from a bike ride to Rabbit Island, we decided to call in there. We met the newly appointed manager, Jason and after seeing some of the homes and thinking about it for a few days, we put our names down for a 2-bedroom villa.

We sold the house and moved in at the end of November 2019 and were delighted to see that our next door neighbours were keen trampers as well as cyclists, while the couple across the road went out on their bikes most days. We continued cycling with our bike group and it was usually only a short ride to get to our meeting point at the Richmond Aquatic Centre. In January, the village van arrived and this is a very comfortable 12 seater Mercedes minibus. We had our inaugural trip that same week, going to a barbecue on Rabbit Island and we were given the chance to take our bikes and ride back home. Five of us took our bikes, and after a very enjoyable barbecue lunch, we all rode back together.

Gill and I were away for three weeks in March, on a walking trip to Karamea with our Probus Club, then biking around Hanmer Springs, visiting friends in Christchurch and walking up a track in the Mount Cook area. We had been planning to ride the Alps to Ocean bike trail and over the following week we rode this very enjoyable trail, from Mount Cook Village to Oamaru.

After lockdown lifted, we resumed our regular bike rides with the group right through the winter and only occasionally had to miss riding because of rain. Jason told us that he had ordered a large bike trailer, capable of carrying up to 12 bikes and this arrived in October. The first bike trip was a return ride from Kohatu along our local bike track, the Great Taste Trail going through the old railway (Spooner's) Tunnel to Wakefield. We were not able to join this one, but several keen bikers were taken to Kohatu in the van towing the trailer and bikes, and had a very enjoyable ride to join the van in Wakefield, with one rider continuing all the way home. Gill and I were keen to join the next one a week later and this was from Mapua to Kaiteriteri. I was a bit nervous about riding in this one, as I would be the only one relying solely on my own pedal power as all the others have eBikes. We would be riding along several of the sections we regularly ride with our bike group but added together it would be quite a lot further than we usually ride, and would have three sizeable hills to climb.

Ten of us started from Mapua at 9 o'clock that morning after an early start from the village, and rode at a pace I could handle all right without any problems, that is until we got to the first hill, and everyone else passed me. I arrived at the top of the hill rather out of breath, but they had all waited for me. The next bit was a nice fast downhill and then along the flat to Tasman, and I had no trouble there. We went under the main road by an underpass and started riding up the track alongside Harley Road, and I was left behind again, but they didn't have to wait long at the top for me. We continued along Tasman View Road, which Gill and I had first done in the opposite direction a few years ago when we had ridden the whole of the Great Taste Trail, as it was then, with quite a bit along roads. At that time Tasman View Road was very rough, but it has since been regraded, with bike tracks beside the road along the difficult bits. Before long we were in Motueka and Jason was waiting for us with the van. He gave people the chance to load up their bikes and continue in the van, but there were no takers and we all carried on riding.

The next stage followed around the Motueka River Estuary and was very scenic, then over the Motueka River bridge and along quiet back roads to Riwaka where we had a very enjoyable coffee break at Mrs Smith's Café, where our bike group often stops for refreshments. From there we soon started climbing beside the road to Kaiteriteri leading to another underpass, from where the trail takes you into the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park and along a track called the Easy Rider. Not many of the ebikers were confident enough to ride this section, but I had already done it a few times and enjoyed it, so carried on. The track takes you round several hairpin bends, but they are not steep and you are climbing fairly gradually to the top, from where there is a bit of up and down, before dropping down via more easy angled hairpin bends into Kaiteriteri. Only two of us did this section and I expected the rest to continue in the van, but they all carried on riding along the road, which turned out not to be too busy. At the finish we loaded our bikes on the trailer, to be strapped on by Jason, and we all enjoyed a picnic above the beach.

The following week we had another supported ride, this time from Belgrove, through the Spooners Tunnel, down to Kohatu and along a recently opened continuation of the Great Taste Trail to Tapawera where Jason picked us up to go back home in the van. We all enjoyed this one and I was able to keep up with the eBikers most of the way, as the hill climb was not too steep. We are really looking forward to the next few bike trips: to the Tadmor Valley, along the new Link Trail from Havelock to Picton. Jason is also thinking of running supported rides on the Alps to Ocean and West Coast Wilderness trail, which Gill and I would be keen to do again.

Last week we had a meeting of the "Brewery Club" which will be another exciting development at the Village. We are to buy a micro brewery, capable of brewing 70 litre batches of a variety of types of beer, and we are fortunate to have an experienced brewer among our residents. I am really looking forward to brewing beer when the micro brewery arrives in the new year. The bowling green outside the new club house is now complete and there is a meeting of the bowling club coming up. I am not a bowler but it seems that we will also have the opportunity to play croquet, which I do enjoy. We have now been living at Waimea Plains Lifestyle Village for a year and are very happy with our decision to move in here.