A group of our members have been working hard putting together a Top 2 Bottom Route for New Zealand.
The North Island track consists of 10 sections, broken up around considerations of riding distance and time and includes petrol station options at the beginning and end of each section.
Combine this with our Every Petrol Station in New Zealand and Every DOC campsite in New Zealand GPX downloads.
These tracks have been put together with a view to allowing any rider on any size bike to tour New Zealand and get a taste of the country, if you want some more rugged alternatives check out our North Island and South Island maps.
While New Zealand has an abundance of gravel roads, in some places travelling via State Highway is unavoidable due to local topography, also in the South Island we’ve also allowed a sealed run down the West Coast which has it’s own character, and takes you past the glaciers at Franz Josef and Fox.
The routes for each island are divided into chunks allowing time to stop and take in the countryside and to suit most petrol tank distances. When travelling sealed roads off the main highways average travel speeds are likely to be in the 70km/h range due to our roads many twists and turns and small towns.
North Island
Cape Reinga to Kohukohu Ferry (180 km)
Rawene Ferry to Paparoa (196 km)
Paparoa to Auckland (232 km)
Auckland to Raglan (187 km)
Raglan to Awakino (212 km)
Awakino to National Park (204 km)
National Park to Feilding (234 km)
Feilding to Castlepoint (306 km)
Castlepoint to Wellington (249 km)
South Island
Picton to Hanmer Springs (269 km)
Hanmer Springs to Arthur’s Pass (357 km)
Arthur’s Pass to Haast (377 km)
Haast to Queenstown (397 km)
Queenstown to Bluff (320 km)
Good on you for giving this ago. I will sort out some options from Tauranga and Rotorua down to Gisbourne with back road, gravel and gnarlier options where possible. Could also send them out Taupo way if necessary.
Thanks for that.
Micawberism fron the ADVRider forum has sent a number of routes for Taranaki and in trying to form a route out of these, I have found it easier to sort out the loop of all the interesting bits gravel.
The obvious route south is via the FWH. It’s not gravel but should probably be on any adventure ride route through NZ. I mention this because if there is an obviously amazing piece of back road that’s not gravel, we should consider using it.
Thanks all for your inputs.
Cheers
So to illustrate what I am doing….
With Micawberisms help, I have come up with a reasonably direct route between Piopio and Raetihi that will bring our fictional north south rider through from the Waikato to the Manawatu, down the west side of the mountains.
Copy of the route attached. Includes a decent amount of gravel down to Taumaranui but then basically follows SH4 to Raetihi. The reason for going there is so that one could go down the road to Kai iwi along the river. But that’s to be decided by @Box.a.Bits and his mates down that way. Just a suggestion at this point.
The SH4 bit is a bit boring and I see there are a few side road options for diversions but not sure they are all worth it.
As the direct route misses out most of the better gravel roads in Taranaki and the FWH, I am also working on a loop that takes all that in, starting and finishing in Taumaranui. That means that the direct route doesnt have to take in FWH, and leave me Stratford wondering what to do next. I’ll post that up later when I have it sorted.
I’m just putting this up here to show how I’m approaching things. All open to criticism and revision at this stage.
HI @OldBeer thanks for this.
And this is the prime example were we can include the “more adventurous option” and in this stretch do the 42nd Traverse instead of bits of the SH4.
The Taranaki Loop……
332kms of some of the best gravel roads in the North Island, forests, rivers, tunnels, mountains, coffee, pies and gas. Who could ask for more. This loop can be done from anywhere but if on a smaller bike it makes sense to start from somewhere you can gas up, so Urenui or Taumaranui. It would be a full on days riding.
I have assumed anticlockwise so that the easier part is the run back up to Taumaranui but could of course be in either direction
I should mention here a word of thanks to Mike Hyde, whose book inspired a lot of this and of course to Micawberism from ADVRider forum. I’ll be posting this over there too for comment.
Any comments? Have I missed any important bits out?
Hoping to do some exploring over the Naki this summer so theses routes will come in handy. Working on some HB maps but have to figure some stuff out on downloading GPS files to google and posting them…..watch this space 🙂
Thanks!
If you haven’t already done so, have a look at the Labour Weekend Northland Rally to see what that lookslike and how they have done it. Our final product might look something like that. They have used google maps to show a downloadable gpx file. If you get stuck give @Joao or @enduro0627 a message and they will probably be able to assist.
I still think we shouldn’t put too much effort into gps files until we know what the “joined up” route is, but if its easier for you to do it that way then fine by me.
Cheers
Heres another route to consider.
Im off to Whakatane at the end of the week so looked at a way to get down there that was not the usual SH2 via Karangahake or SH27 through Matamata.
I’m trying to keep off the motorway so south of the bridge I’m heading out to the east and will go through Clevedon, Kawakawa Bay and Kaiaua to just short of the Kopu Bridge. Ill hang a right into Hauraki Road to Paeroa and then duck back to Te Aroha and down to the Kaimai Hill. The bit to Whakatane will be in the dark so just going to go on the highway for that bit.
Not very exciting…..anyone got any suggestions? I don’t have to be in Tauranga until 6pm so I have all day to do this..
Too true.
Here’s something a bit more scenic/ exciting and off the beaten path.
http://bit.ly/2ylfrfZ
Starts off at the Maraetai Boat Club (great meals, great views, top spot and very $reasonable)
More inland/ off coast, quite a few gravel-stretches, scenic, views south of Clevedon.
Quick check at Cosseys Dam, about 3km of SH2 before another tack south.
Matahuru Rd. is nice, as is the Mangawara loop.No traffic along the western banks of the Waihou river, Wairere Falls are worth the walk.
There was also some crusher or boilers or some old industrial thing just off the Old Te Aroha Rd. (signed!). Worth having a look, the carpark is elevated and overlooks the river flats.
Plenty more options when adding the Coromandel in some way or another….but that’ll make a damn long day out of it.
Thanks Glitch, that looks a lot more interesting. I was thinking about going through the Hunuas but didn’t think of going straight across SH2. Will be adopting some or all of this.
Man, you get around….are you here yet?
There used to be a road through the Hanuas (north-south) from the Ness Vly in the north, then Moumoukai Hill Rd./ Waterline Rd. past the Upper-Mangatawhiri Reservoir Park Offices/ Camp Grounds etc and out to Paparimu.
Supposed to be all locked off for walkers + Mtn-bikes now. Don’t know if that still holds, I was told so a few years back by some locals.
That was one beautiful ride!! http://bit.ly/2fMfzgV
Yeah, been snooping out NZ for a few decades now…and it keeps getting better, each time. 🙂
Sadly not quite there yet…but…end of the month.
Checking tide tables for all around the Northland at the moment…
That looks interesting, even if there are bits locked off. I will have to go and investigate one day. Will report back.
Can you remind me when you are going for your beer at the Old Leigh Sawmill place? I rode past it the other day, looks very swish. I’d like to pop up and say hi and thanks in person if I can.
Cheers
Similar but a fair bit more gravel and the scenics of the White Cones of Tongariro N.P., Whangaehu and Turakina valleys + Okaka Hills. http://bit.ly/2fMT0bI
Just another option parallel to the SH4 + Whanganui River Rd….and it sets the points for the good stuff further south, cutting across to Dannevirke etc.
Swish? Oops!
Arghhh…wot the hell! 🙂
It’d be great to meet face-to-face!
We’ll be staying over at a farm around Pakiri, should be at the “Sawmill” around 5 on Sun 29th Oct.
Looking forward 🙂
cheers
Pete
Ok, with huge thanks to Glitch (with a few tweaks from me) here is the new upgraded Auckland to Tauranga-still-not-amazingly-adventurous-but-much-more-interesting backcountry route.
https://goo.gl/maps/8eNKnbGpPS82
A ramble through the Waikato heartland and almost totally avoiding state highways, once you are off the motorway through Auckland and before you get to the Kaimai Hill. According to Ms Google this adds 2 hours to the trip time, so its a good job I have all day. I’ll still need to start early to allow plenty of off the bike time.
I am going to do this on Friday so I will report back on the experience. Should be good!
Well that was fun.
I left home at 0720, was at the Pink Pig by 0900. Morrinsville by 12.00 and Tauranga by just after 2.00. So Google is pretty much spot on.
The best bit was undoubtedly the Matahuru Road and gravel pass over the top of the hill. I tried the Mangawara road but could only get half way as its closed off for logging. But the bit up the first hill was fun…
I took Top Road and Old Hill Road to Morrinsville and the Kiwitahi Railway Road to Matamata
Lovely small country roads, you can see the trucks rumbling down SH27 to your left as you burble down to Morrinsville.
Not very adventurous maybe (except for the Matahuru bit) but very nice and off the beaten track. Will post some pictures when I get back. And no GPS track, phone runs out too fast. I bought a charger but ran out of time to fit it to the bike. But will be going again so no worries.
So thanks @glitch_oz, nice route.
No sweat…
Happy to hear you’ve had a good time…give Mangawara another go, I’m sure you’ll like it, too.
Nothing spectacular, but pretty much the best there is in the general area.
🙂
(yes, done quite a few others around there….)
So this route through central Waikato went very well on the way down. I decided to leave on Thursday as weather looked to be packing up at the end of the trip and I didn’t want to miss out on any riding. I broke the trip in Tauranga, but as it turned out it would be easy to do this and still get to Whakatane in one day.
All of the back roads were interesting, scenic and a lot quieter than the main roads.
The route through the Hunuas made a nice change. I didnt do any side trips to the dams but I would have had plenty of time.
Some of the roads were quite narrow, there was the odd stretch of gravel, Matahuru Road was a highlight. I’ve go some video of that I will post when I have done some editing. Old Hill Road was another treat. On this one you can look down onto SH27 and see the trucks rumbling down the road.
Mangawara didn’t work as they were logging in there. Had it been a weekend and if the gate had not been closed…. The ride up to the closed section and back down again was a hoot anyway.
Everything got very adventurous once I got to Whakatane but that’s another story.
Here’s a little vid of Matahuru Road. Its well worth the time and trouble if you are heading down that way
https://youtu.be/dUnBVht9y8s
Well its been a month or so since I last posted in there so in case anyone is wondering here is a bit of an update.
We have Northland sorted thanks to @Joao and @enduro0627.
Auckland south through Waikato, I have some ideas….@Eddieb was going to give me some pointers – any thoughts yet Eddie?
Bay of Plenty – @Brainflex is hopefully putting some tracks together
Hawkes Bay – @NightFalcon is I think about to go into hospital for an op (good luck Marty!) and will be looking at routes to while away the time flat on his back.
Taranaki is sorted from Piopio through to Stratford.
Points south of there down to Wellington is in @Box.a.Bits capable hands but he is in or just coming back from a South Island trip with his sidecar mates.
So while not much to show at this stage, some progress is hopefully being made.
Time for another get together Joao and Andrew? Let me know if you are keen.
Cheers
Yep, tracks are sorted in my head but not down any where as I am flat out with work at the moment. It will happen soon.
What ideas did Brainflex etc have for after Waikato?
I think really in the Waikato in terms of putting together a constant route then down the east coast from Port Waikato to Kawhia is the only way to go, everywhere else is very segmented with big sections of seal involved. After that I was thinking of something like crossing Eastover to Murapara to join up with the Lake Waikaremoana road.
To me it make some sense to actually run with the topography and available routes of the NI.
Looking at the shape, it’s a narrow top+bottom with a fat gut (pretty much like myself).
One basic route from Cape Reinga south to about Clevedon, then an
a) West….Western Waikato -> Naki ->cut east towards Woodville as the WestCoast doesn’t offer much towards Welly
b) Central….Eastern Waikato like Pironga/Kaimango rd /Hauturu rd etc. all gravel to Piopio-Ohura ->
plenty of gravel choices towards Tongarito from there -> Whanganui River Rd. or Whangaehu Vly and all its choices towards Papanui Jcn-> Hunterville->Woodville to join with option a) and c)
c) East….Skirt Hunua + Coro, Port Jackson anyone? -> lots of choices around Rotorua to link with SH38, SH2 or Motu + East Cape -> Hawkes Bay-> bounce south between the SH2 and the coast from Hastings to Cape Palliser…..
picking up routes a) + b) around Weber or Pongaroa or so.
One route each for the north+south, 3 down the middle.
Whoever wants to, can zip down the east, run back up the centre, then run south again in the west to catch the ferry to Picton. 🙂
Thanks all for responses. All options are on the table at the moment.
General idea had been a “top to bottom” route with lots of side options or loops. For example if you down the west coast of Waikato then it will go past Pirongia. A loop round the mountain can be an optional extra.
Or we can do the zigzag thing…
So Eddie if you read Brainflex post he hasn’t sent anything yet. Why don’t you focus on a west route as you know those roads well. Finish in Piopio as that’s where the Naki section begins.
I will work in a possible eastern route or loop to join up with whatever Brain flex and night Falcon come up with.
Until we have everything on the table it’s too soon to pick a final route.
Have got a GPX file for ya Oldbeer but cant upload it here. Has a few routes and tracks from the HB area, hope they are of some use to you. They are mostly and easy blend of Gravel and road, with one beach section. ….if you pm me an email on advrider I can email it to you.
Cheers
Marty
Awesome.
Just got back from Tuvalu…have sent you a PM on advrider
Thanks you very much @Night Falcon and @Brainflex for your routes. We are going to get together up here after Christmas (mid Jan) and put the whole thing together plus there is a ride vaguely planned to do the route from Wellington to Auckland sometime in the New Year. The aim is to have the whole North Island route up on this website before winter.
So while there wasn’t a deadline before there kind of is now, so we are looking for contributions before early January. If we haven’t heard from you by mid Jan we will wing it and incorporate other bits in later.
Cheers and thanks for all the contributions so far, things are moving along nicely.
All the best and have a great break.
GPX files sent to OLdbeer
If any additional assistance with testing routes or tracks is required in Wellington -> Taranaki / Hawkes Bay, just let me know!
Hi Jeff, thanks a lot.
If you have suggestions for tracks/routes between Raetihi and Wellington, Id love to hear about them.
Everybody is welcome to contribute. There will be a ride at some point to test it all out.
To recap, the concept is a back roads route for people touring NZ, trying as much as possible to stay off the main highways. There will always be exceptions, FWH being one of them. In principle the route should be reasonably direct between points. If there are really cool bits you recommend riding on the way then elsewhere we have “loops” that you can do from a point on the route if you have time – for example the Taranaki tunnels. See above.
Thanks for your interest and look forward to hearing from you
Cheers
Hi All
Here is a preliminary route from Woodville to Wellington.
https://goo.gl/maps/iP3Umqu4zQ92
I don’t know this area at all so we are mostly guessing. Any input would be appreciated.
Assuming the rider started in Wanganuui, this is probably a bit of a mission to get done in one day. Suggestions for breaking this in half might work, or a stopping point outside Wellington, so that relatively quick run in to a hypothetical ferry crossing the next day could be achieved.
Any thoughts from those in the know??
Cheers
By the way…..
I’m planning to do the Northland part Thursday Friday this week, route taken from the Labour Day Rally.
From a quick look a few of my favourite Rodney roads got bypassed so may be able to make some suggestions.
Will post up here when I have done.
Cheers
Postponed ….need to leave more time for this
Hi All – have moved this discussion over to Facebook. If anyone wants to contribute but doesnt like or use facebook you can still send me a pm.
Cheers
Here is the end result….
So, with assistance from several places including this page, here is the all new singing and dancing back roads route from Whanganui to Wellington. Including the 23 or so kms down the beach that adds up to 633kms. It’s only 193 direct by SH1 if you are late for your ferry crossing!
Whanganui to Koitiata – 30 kms, 0.5 hours
https://goo.gl/maps/Yhp9DAZhfGx
Hoof it down the beach – is there a tidal restriction here? Any permit required to ride on the beach?
Rangitaiki River to Woodville – 120kms, 2.5 hours
https://goo.gl/maps/sSPVkp5gTo32
Woodville to Castlepoint – 236kms, 5.5 hours
https://goo.gl/maps/k6cEbg91cjm
Castlepoint to Welly – 247kms, 4.5 hours
https://goo.gl/maps/6EHGyBvnjRz
Have just ridden from Cape Reinga to Kaiwaka on the northern sections of the NZBCDR…..
Day 1 (yesterday)
Cape to Ahipara via 90 Mile Beach, through Broadwood to Kohukohu Ferry to Rawene.
Through Waiotemarama Gorge Road to SH12 then up and over the Waipoua Forest and down to camp at Trounson
Day 2 (today)
Trounson through Marlborough Road, Kaikohe Road and Waimatenui Valley to Twin Bridges. Through the back of Pakotai and Kirikopuni Valley to Tangiteroria. Round the back of Tangihua Forest to Waiotira, down the incredibly gravelicious Ararua Valley Road to Paparoa, through the back to Maungatoroto, and across Old Mountain Road to SH1.
500kms of awesomeness, more or less.
Sounded the retreat at this point and ran for cover.
Hi @Eddieb, Andrew has finished all of the route for Cape Reinga to Wellington. Its in a series of GPX files – whats the best way to get those loaded onto the site in the list of tracks???
Can you get in touch with Andrew or I please??
Cheers
What you guys are doing to plot an adventure route from Reinga to Bluff is fantastic!
Can I make a suggestion please for a different route between Tiraumea and Alfredton School (east of Paihiatua) that includes a couple of Mike Hyde’s (and my own) favourite North Island roads?
E.g.
Puketoi Road, is remote and off the beaten track – one of those roads which only adventure riders or four wheel drivers can uniquely enjoy.
https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/gps-tracks-rides/north-island-tracks/puketoi-road/
Pori Road, is also one of those less traveled, and has the most amazing outlook west out over Paihiatua to the range between Woodville and Palmerston North.
https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/gps-tracks-rides/north-island-tracks/pori-road/
It would be great to hear what local riders think about adding these to the T2B?
There seems to be 2 topics for this, this one and the one attached to the top 2 bottom, should they be merged?
Hi Eddie
I think they should not be merged.
The other thread was started by me in relation to building the route. I would think the actual route thread should be the place to put ride reports, issues and things like Scotts suggestions.
Perhaps we could lock the other thread?
When I’m trying to download those files on my iPad I only have the option of copying to Dropbox. Is that what you intended?
If I was looking from my phone (which has the GPS software on it) it might work. I’ll try
Would be good to be able to just download the file and put it where you want. Maybe I don’t know how to operate my iPad properly!
Works fine on my PC…must be an Apple thing. Onwards and upwards
Eddie – can you or Mark or someone put something on Facebook re this? A lot of good stuff came from there and would be good to sticky this at the top of the page for a while. I don’t go there much these days.
‘@enduro0627, @Joao
A suggestion for a change to the route in Rodney.
https://goo.gl/maps/r1ZQeFyepQ52 – includes Kaipara Hills Road, suggested by a few people. We lose Old Woodcocks Road, which is generally straight and flat and is also being used to trial different kinds of seal surface, so ultimately destined to be sealed anyway. KH Rd is probably one of the best in Rodney so I really feel we should include it.
I was surprised it didn’t include 90 Mile Beach actually.
It can of course, as you are riding up and riding back.
The reason is doesn’t is that we wanted to create something that could be done by Joe Average, on his own, on a rental bike as well as something for all of us. For the same reason, we have left out a section of beach south of Whanganui – you can do it if you want but you don’t have to. You take a risk doing 90MB on your own, if something goes wrong its a long walk to the nearest phone.
It would be great to use this page to show what else can be done while you are in the area, as you pass.
Feel free to add your suggestions!
Fair enough.
I posted it on the Facebook group this evening. Like @OldBeer I’ve been trying to reduce my Facebook exposure.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AdventureRidinginNZ/permalink/10156372002506189/
Thanks Eddie.
Cape Reinga Peninsula in maps + pics ok? Beaches, camp-spots, exits + entries etc.
Thanks @glitch_oz!!
I see its nearly a year since we have posted anything here. I’m hoping to have some time this year to put into a few loop ride suggestions in the northern part of the route.
Would be nice to know if anyone that has downloaded this has used it and has any feedback/comments.