The Makara venue for WATRC events is Terawhiti Station. From Karori West you travel over the Makara hill, and at the base of the hill turn left into South Makara Road. The trail shown on this page follows the route of the 2003/2004 season Novice ride, that was held in May 2004 after several postponements due to bad weather earlier in the season.

Terawhiti Station, located in the South Makara Valley

The Makara Novice trail of 2004 was long and tough, being over 20 kilometres even for the Novice grades. Many parts of the trail are stony, so barefoot is not advised.

Makara Novice ride trail profile

The Start/Finish line is at a height above sea-level of approximately 90 metres. The trail climbs to it's highest  high point on the outward journey of 325 metres and then descends to the lowest point at 20 metres. A second climb to 290 metres is followed by a descent to 180 metres and another climb to the 325 metre high point on the homeward run. This makes for 645 vertical metres climbed during the ride

Starting at the entrance to Terawhiti Station, the trail follows the Oterango Bay road (which ends at the Cook Strait Cable station) up to the top of the first ridge, where it branches North along the ridge until descending West to the head of Shepherds Gully. The trail crosses the gully and climbs to the top of the next ridge and proceeds along this until reaching the head of Black Gully, where the gully trail is taken south. The trail passes rusting remains of the historic Albion stamping battery (a relic from the little known Wellington gold rush of the nineteenth century), continuing down until it reaches the Oterango Stream, where it turns left. Winding up-stream, and in parts travelling along the stream bed itself, the trail enters Shepherds Gully at its base and proceeds up to the head where it turns back onto the homeward trail with a large hill climb.

The higher graded rides extended the distance with loops out to the coastal bays.

On a fine day, the ride along the ridges offers sweeping panoramic views of Kapiti and Mana Islands in the north, the Marlborough Sounds in the west, and the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains in the south.

The Makara event was cancelled in the 2004/2005 season due to an unfortunate double booking of the venue. We look forward to it being held in the 2005/2006 season - it's great riding country, right up there with the best of the WATRC rides.

Makara Novice grade trail map