Saturday 2nd September
Location: Waterloo Train Station, Lower Hutt
We've been watching the development of the Oxford Terrace Cycleway and were excited to finally check it out. We began the bike ride at the Waterloo Train Station (on the Western side). We kept a close eye on the kids as we went through the carparks, which joined us to the Cycleway.
This path is great as it's wide, well made and away from the road. It's quite popular so the biggest concern is not clearing out other families as you go.
We sped along until the wide path turned into a footpath and we arrived at Waldie Grove. We were initially a bit confused by this, until we realised that we had to turn right. On reflection the signage was quite obvious, we were just going a bit quick to put it all together. Waldie Grove takes you under the Wingate bridge and on up to Taita Station. When we arrived at Taita shops we made a quick dairy stop to keep up moral.
The bike path carried on up High Street, but from here we needed to be more careful of driveways and side road crossings. Neither of which were much of an issue, but it's something to be aware of.
At the top of High Street, we crossed 2x pedestrian crossings and then onto the stop bank where we joined the River Bank Trail, heading back South towards Wellington. This has a mixture of gravel and tar seal, it's just as easy to bike as the Oxford Terrace path and is far more scenic, running alongside our beautiful Hutt River.
We biked past Fraser and Avalon Park (which would make a great stop for the kids, but we were running out of time). Then under the Kennedy Good and Melling Bridges where we had a mandatory stop at the Hutt River Historical Floods Post.
The last push took us down past Hutt Valley High School and then a left onto Whites Line West, just before the Ava train bridge.
Keeping the kids close, we biked down Whites Line West (until the end of the road), we then used the pedestrian crossing at Ludlum Crescent to get to Pohutakawa Street. Pohutakawa Street felt pretty quiet, but we did end up slipping onto the footpath a couple of times.
This road takes you back to Waterloo Station.
The kids were exhausted, but very pleased with themselves given how far they'd biked. We loved how much of this was off the road!
Like with walking, we'd recommend you chose clockwise or anticlockwise depending on which way the wind is blowing as the Hutt River Trail is quite exposed.
Age of Kids: 8yr and 11yrs
Biking Time: About 1-2 hours
Distance: 18km
Elevation: 91m
Buggy Friendly: Yes, this is buggy friendly
Difficulty: Easy
Phone Reception: Yes
