The First Great Southern Tour
2025
“Dad, you judge towns by their craft beer, coffee and mtb trails…”
I didn’t need another invitation or challenge to put my daughter’s comment to test, and so the First Great Southern Tour [of Judgement] was born!
With a good mate Cameron, who enjoys equally all three in moderation, I had a crew to plan the mission from CHC, Christchurch to DUD, Dunedin and back. Add to the original motivation, the fact that there were some bike trails at Waimate, on the Oamaru peninsula and the Herbert Forest, which I had not ventured to before.
Chuck in the mix, some great little players in the Craft beer scene, beginning at Ship Hop at Timaru and ending in the way home at Arc Brewing out of Waitati north of Dunedin. Fuelling the human engine was easy with lots of great cafes along the route, and of course the battery on our Specialised Levo’s meant we didn't have to train for months!
While not in the holidays, the timeframe we had, was never going to mean a comprehensive review of every cafe, trail or bar, but with a half day Friday we had 2 ½ days!
Leaving stressful work in the rear mirror, we headed south, complete with the trip tee shirt, and the only pie of the weekend was downed just out of Rolleston at The Butchers Pie Bakehouse, before hitting Timaru not long after 3!
Matt Herbert one of the newish owners of Ship Hop was there and we were treated to a great convo about their next phase venturing to the other side of the carpark into a much bigger space. Tasters were the order of the day, and we both agreed there was not a bad one in the mix from Peter Pilsner to a Port’er’ Timaru, Third time Hazy, was great while Killswitch a local fav was still in process!
Making sure we had taken it easy, we drove through to Waimate's Whitehorse trails, and onto some nice machine built trails we’d just seen glimpses of online. With 90 minutes before dark and needing to be in Oamaru before Craftwerk closed at 8 we found and easy way up, and some fun flowing and twisty trails, all good to ride and just willing the summer to come and more wheels to clear them all a bit of natural debris.
Cheese Roll and Twisted Monster took you down with some good little features, and Wriggly Beast, lived up to the wriggly, but was more meandering and up and down!
Flying Falcon looks like a great way to follow Cheese Roll next time! Definitely worth allocating more time for the trails and main street browsing the second hand stores and more!
The Old Quarter is just the perfect location for Craftwerk, and a stunning building and fitout from the old Belgian Beer bar, post Christchurch earthquake days.
Serving cask matured beers, saisons, grisettes and dunkels are a welcome taste sensation away from the norm in Aotearoa atm.
Arriving late meant we had the full attention of Michael O’Brien, giving us his perspective on all sorts of things from Steampunk, to beer and Maori techno! Not afraid to say what he thinks, just don’t mention lager, or Scott’s, and you will probably come out enriched for the experience and okay!
Scotts, some 80m down the road, and where you can get a lager, was next stop for some great pizza and a beer to wash it down. Hadn’t realised so many young people live in Oamaru and the live music was tight albeit a tad loud for us old boys! Harbourmaster is always a good bet on the beer front.
Woken in our Top 10 cabin, to a dead calm morning, and a text about the sad day for the Black Ferns, Saturday dawned, and we made the direct line to Harbour Collective for coffee and scones and some fuel for the nice little trail network on the peninsula.
With a myriad of easy climbing trails and some fun flowy and low grade techy bits these trails are made for everyone.
Don’t miss the Seaview trail, that takes you over a few small drops before the name of the trail becomes obvious and leaves you speechless… especially on the warm, calm morning we had. The Digger did this and Digger did that too trails got you up and down with a smile on your face!
More coffee and date scones rounded off the Oamaru session at the Galley cafe, overlooking the harbour. Not to be missed even for its location, and if you like a toasted date scone, go before your ride if you want to make sure you don't miss out!
Hitting Dunedin, 90 minutes later, was unexpectedly impacted by over 50 hoardings for local body candidates at the top of the hill, but more was to surprise us when we realised that 30K people were in Dunedin for the Monster Truck Expo. Never seen so many parents wrangling kids in between shows, along with low slung Holden Kingswoods and Toranas negotiating the judder bars of the main street!
Buster Greens was our lunch stop and it never fails to deliver healthy food, many ways for every type. Smoothies and juices topped our fluid intake before we set off on the Port to Port harbour trail.
So this is Grade 1 biking on a shared pathway, but def worth doing. Head out to Port Chalmers with several spectacular sections built over the water completed with Shovel Ready money from the post Covid times. Checked out the famous Carey Bay Hotel, but chose to refrain from a tipple knowing back in town there were plenty of options.
Getting to Portobello on the other side is easy, altho does pay to book the services of Rachel and her Port to Port boat. She was one amazing woman and made the trip in more ways than one, with her commentary, interest in people and ‘bloody good sort’ factor!
It’s longer back from Portobello, as the road follows the bays more closely, and the tail wind was more than enjoyed, meaning we got back to town some Joes kumara fries in readiness for a few beers. Don't forget to check out all the painted bus stops along the way back from Portobello!
Steamer Basin is one of the most amazingly renovated buildings and tucked away in No Name Alley it is getting a solid rep for great beers in an awesome out of the way location!
Paul and Karen are the owners, and have set up this 2 storey brewery all custom fitted into low stud spaces. The same attention they have paid to all this detail goes into their beer and their customers! With it being a quiet night we got the full tour of insight and were blessed to have got to know our friends even better!
No8 distillery is just a stroll 20m down the lane but unfortunately having such a good time at Steamer Basin meant missing 8pm closing. Julian a 4th gen distiller from France or his side kick will entertain and enlighten you in this lovely building. Oh, and they don't open Sunday so be there Fri/Sat!
Needing food it was Jizo or Moons as we were walking by now. Moons was closer and having tried them a year ago had an inkling they would not disappoint. Set up by two musos, and their wives, and incorporating their craft beer label Dogstar this place once again over delivered.
Beers and drinks are great, and the food is sensational if you’re comfortable stepping out of your comfort and trying items you’re not sure of! Explainer here… this is not the Wild foods cafe, but Whipped Feta, Zaatar dipped pickled veges and Hot twisted bread was epic. There are pizzas too for less adventurous. Jizu on the other hand, is Japanese themed and delightful.
A bunk bed in a backpackers was our lot for the night after 30000 Monster truck show visitors had booked all the BnB’s and cabins. Rather spend money on food and beer!
Sunday was bright and got brighter the further the day proceeded. Starfish at St Clair got us going with Supreme coffee and food, and as Cameron said when we rated them at 8.5/10 it was only that everything else had been 9-10 so far!
Second coffee stop at the new Noble, in Lower Stuart street below the Octagon and we were ready to head to Signal Hill.
Emersons Big Easy, is the 6km big, easy climbing trail for Signal Hill bike trails. Treated by an epic view at the top, we then set off down Daily Grind, the first of a few laps of good fun berms, little jumps and rolls, and the odd root! Common Ground would eventually get us nearer the bottom. And plenty a trail to try next time.
Having earned a beer, Noisy Brewing near the Railway station and a $20 tasting paddle of 4 beers was very generous, in fact with the strongish beers we selected we hit the wall. Nothing wrong with the beers, just the glasses were big and we were still headed for Arc!
Checking in on my daughter in her flat and getting O&Bowl for the road were our last tasks before heading out and the 20 minutes drive to Arc Brewing at Waitati. BTW, try O&Bowl under the Golden Centre in George Street you won't be disappointed!
Arc Brewing welcomed us with live music, a food cart and what turned out to be the bar with the most creative beer names on our trip. That's not to take away from others, but at this stage, names like Sneaky Sneaky, Baggy Shorts, Hops and recreation got us smiling, but challenged as we still had 4 hours to CHCH.
So 2 halves, a great chat to Jono the founder, and we were away, and having agreed Herbert Forest trails would be for another day!
When nothing you did rated below an 8.5/10 it was an easy drive home, rested and restored, yet exercised and watered, the planning was starting for the Second Great Southern Tour and who we could invite!
Footnote:
The adventure worked because we do everything in moderation, we adapt, and we enjoy the joy of meeting people and discovering what is in New Zealand’s back yard!
We're not experts at coffee, beer or riding, but love them all! Our Version 2 of this trip may well be with our greatest loves, our wives, and more gin focussed!