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2 thoughts on “Turakina Valley Road”
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Does anyone know the rough time it takes to get from Hunterville to Tangiwai through Turakina Valley Rd? Not much experience on gravel, will be cruising. Cheers!
The bottom quarter is actually paved road but still worth a ride. taking Taurimu Rd (also a gravel road) will loop around and come back close the the south then of turakina. Trucks go quite fast so be aware, but beautiful cambered turns looking out over sheep farmland.
Rode this road on the 27 April 2022 and it’s a great road. Beats heading north via SHW 1.
Another one ticked off the bucket list and might even travel that way again heading to this years Cold Kiwi Rally.
So I went up the Burma Hill and on to Waiouru from Fordell last Sunday. Got colder and was drizzling up near Waiouru. Had lunch where the fire was lit, nice and warm and came down the Turakina. Mixture of tar and gravel. Coming down there were sections where the gravel was deeper and it was necessary to stand up but doo-able for a returning to gravel rider like me. Only ran off into a handy water table once. haha. Must have looked funny for the bloke following me. Kept it up and stopped nicely. Here are some photos. Didn’t take hardly any on the way down. looking back I think I may have looked there. I was getting a bit buggered. Great ride and if your considering it I recommend it as a good day out.
Rode north to south 12 April. Watch out for rock slides onto road after heavy rain. Magic scenery. Must do again.
Rode this south to north on 23rd Nov 2018. I was expecting more gravel. I’d guess that it was about 50% sealed with most of the gravel at the northern end. Very pretty ride, twisty sealed roads are fun too. Nice views of the mountain, still covered in snow, at the northern end.
Rode Turakino Valley Sth to Nth on 27 Dec 16. Plenty of bends and gravel reasonably well graded. Even some tar stretches midway. Good views of Ruapehu at the Nth end and only encountered sheep, goats, and friendly farmers.
rode Turakina valley road during Christmas break. It must have been partly graded recently as long sections with deep gravel at the north end. and the whole road featured corrugatted saw tooth surface on the corners. To be honest I found this road really tiresome and boring and couldn’t wait for it to be over with. heading north to south there weren’t any good views or anything worth stopping to look at. in no way deserving of its place in “twisting throttle NZ” IMO