General Northland-Cruising on 110cc By darthrider November 20, 2014 Search Search for: CTA Title CTA Content Follow Us Join Our Community Leave this field empty if you're human: Only just started….a couple of posties wandering (and wondering) through the Northland. Daily updates of a 2 week ride. Read Also: Uncategorized Suzuki Adventure Safari (SAS) 2018 General Finding a Campsite – Android app General The Litas – International womens motorcycle club with 6 branches in New... General Tourist driver on wrong side of the road hits motorcyclist General DR650 does the Old Telegraph Road – Cape York Australia General KLR650 2008 LAMS for sale in AUCKLAND General Ecotrons Fuel Injection Post Activity 502053 Share this post 0% Back to Top
More!
The whole yarn is over here…incl. 500+ pics, some of them absolute calender material.
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5288
Had a weekend ride on, but back on the keyboard from tomorrow.
A wonderful report and fantastic photography … it makes you a bit proud to be a Kiwi. Thanks
Thanks for looking in.
There’s more to come over the next few days. 🙂
Sadly can’t post it here due to various limitations.
The last one has been too long ago…but in memory it still seems like yesterday.
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1925
Even though the last week blitzed by like a movie at warp-speed, things finally turned good with a few hours to spare before the 3-and-a-bit-hrs flight across the “dutch”.
The way any decent trip should kick off…cheers!
So…what’s up this time?
Oh yeah…New Zealand’s Northland.
Follow the call of “the Platypus”.
Sticking the nose into all those tucked-away places that
the normal tourist will never see.
Follow the lure of the fabled, little 110cc tiddler… letting the 7.5hp rip away and make those skinny pushbike wheels plough through lots of the deeeeep, coaaarse NZ gravel.
And sand…and beaches….and lots of other places those things just shouldn’t go and definitely weren’t made for.
When Bernard promised 2 “ready-to- ADVtravel” Posties, there was not a split second of hesitation.
GAME ON!!
Add a welcome like this and nothing can go wrong….we all know that’s bullshit, but it sounds… hopeful?
NORTHLAND!!
“Where’re you goin?…
“Yeah, my brother was there last year, had a great time with the jet-boats and that train-ride across to the other side of the island…and the chopper ride to the glaciers…yaddayadda groan…
Wrong island, buddy.
NORTHLAND!!
http://www.glitch-oz.com/pics/14/NZ_Tiddlers/Map02.JPG
“Ohhh…you mean that stinky place, wotchamacallit…Rotorua, that’s it… and those Hobbits. Did a boat ride, too, he did…around all those little islands and a day around that Coriander-place, near Auckland, you know…yeah, Coromandel, that’s it.
MORE GROAN!
NORTHLAND!!
Just the bit of NZ north of Auckland…. that narrow, sometimes barely 35km wide piece of heaven that’s been so comprehensively written off as a motorcycle wasteland, hmmm.
There’s nothing much there apart from a handful of tourist spots like the
1= Coromandel (which isn’t really Northland, either)
2= Bay of Islands
and a couple of second-string places like
3= Cape Reinga
4= 90Mile Beach
How about we’ll go and check it out, aye?
NORTHLAND!!
The slow way!
A HUGE THANKS to our fabulous hosts Sue and Bernard for making us feel so welcome, it left us speechless and humbled. We’ve never learned so much about NZ before as in the time spent together…thanks for the patience and ALL the answers, GREAT stuff.
And then, of course, the 2 stars of the show, Hewie + Louie (or something like that).
2 CT’s in their prime, lovingly fettled to perfection and shiny grandeur!
The Steel Pony panniers proved a bit tall… Trim some of the plastic lip off that tub to locate it between the uprights of the rack, buckle the top-bag on top of the crossover straps to hold it all down…and Bob’s your uncle.
Ready packed and with a hopeful eye into the grey, overcast heavens it’s all set to roll the next morning, starting the caper with a dayride from Hamilton towards the coast via some backroads and gravel, some of which might even be familiar territory from the Hobbits+Bobbits Ride a few years back.
Not too sure about all the details of the route here (the “big 250” was leading the way), but it should be fairly close.
Bernard will hopefully straighten out the kinks…
http://goo.gl/maps/fvOr6
While dry, the skies don’t look too flash and Jeezaz, is it blowing or what?
Adding to the ~70-80kmh gusts, there’s a mind-blowing 7.5hp on tap, which feed into some dodgy $27 Chinese soft-knobbies by the name of “Golden Boy” (see where this is getting dodgy?)
Golden Boys aren’t quite round … but rather sort of oval, which makes for great traction in the flat sections and some rather interesting moments over the high spots. At 20kmh things are a gentle, rockinghorse-style, up + down, the horizon sort of wobbling along with the front end going light and spongy, rhythmically… at 40kmh the world is at an even keel again, but now both ends are flighty and the whole affair is fairly howdyacallit??? …..“skimming the surface”.
At 60kmh you’re shittin’ yourself…
….at 70 it’s getting out of control in a bloody hurry….
….at a downhill-75 with a truck overtaking and a gusty crosswind it’s white-knuckled packed-the-daks-to-the-elastic while the tiny 110cc mill is about to explode and the 1/2inch boingers are sitting on the blocks. It’s fugging TERRYFYING!!
There’s a blind lefthander at the bottom of that 75kmh downhiller….and the white knuckles extend to the kneecaps now!
THERE AINT NO BRAKES!!…..and the $27 Golden Boys go willynilly walkabouts, the dinkytoy rubber squirming and wailing any which way short of popping off the rims.
Now transplant the above to the 4” deep, 1.5” thick gravel of the backroads of the Northland…or the hardpack-sand of the beaches… and it’s pretty obvious where the fun-bit kicks in, aye?
BLOODY AWESOME, I tells ya!!
Harden the f&^k up, sissie!!
Typical Waikato district….
The REAL Wild Turkey!! Abundant…and running in flocks all over the Northland.
Blooolooolooolooolooolooolooo….
Chaperoned by the mighty XT250
It sure shows how the wind blows around here.
Te Akau Wharf Rd…. (check the Gmaps link above)
…which ends in a cluster of amazing “pancake” rock chimneys opposite the small seaside resort of Raglan.
“Cool Dude”
More delicious Waikato gravel…
….and a MONSTROUS roast-pork-roll from the Raglan Bakery,
don’t-bloody-miss-it!!
…before more rolling green hills and the descent off the Old Mountain Rd. under a still-grey afternoon sky.
Beaut piece of gravel, that Old Mountain Rd., looking over the top of Hamilton.
Ready for the start into the Northland in the morning….
What a sweet first day….and what a re- introduction to the fabulous CT’s and the delights of the Golden-Boys
Figuring that cruising at 60-70kmh isn’t really all that healthy on a freeway, a route was picked to use the small country-roads, and gravel where ever possible, to sneak into Auckland… then use the city streets (and –speeds) to fiddle our way through the widely-draped-around-the-bays + harbours-city to pop out at the northern head of the harbour entrance for a look at Huia and Whatipu Camp…. trying for the Donald McLean Lookout for a nice view across the expansive Manukau Harbour.
http://goo.gl/maps/m9ZG2
Low cloud and drizzle make for a bit of a subdued start, but only 20k’s north the drizzle stops…the abandoned roads make for some eerie cruising, not a living thing to be seen any which way we turn. It’s a deeeep breath of a place that hasn’t gone entirely nanny-stupid like much of Australia… the lack of signs, lines and road-furniture of all kinds is a HIGHLY welcome change and liberating in a lot of ways.
That alone is certainly worth an NZ-ride on its own!!
The contrast was crushing within the first few meters when picking up the car at the Airport Parking in Melbourne afterwards again.
FREE!! Hoo-bloody-ray
We quickly duck into the Hanua Ranges, and a possible meet-up with someone from the ADVriding NZ forum…then enjoy the first serious set of twisties just south of Clevedon, followed by another sixpack on the Twilight Rd. to Brookby….the uphill struggle in 3. and even 2. gear replaced by squealing brakes and some white-knuckle curvy action, taking a half-dozen bites at each corner while the GoldenBoys insist on following their own lines.
We’ll have to get this sorted at some stage…
Auckland has a great system of well-signed cross-routes which negate any need for a GPS…just follow some route-number until it intersects with another chosen route …then follow that. Repeat until the suburbs fall by the wayside…Bravo Auckland!
Still threatening…but full of promise!
Skimming the water’s edge at Huia Bay
The turn inland, across the narrow gravel pass to Whatipu Camp is a sea of green with a dark-brownish beach under grey and black clouds which are hiding our sought-after Lookout.
A carpark, some bushwalkers, more drizzle….
Back to Huia Bay and things look better again…
There’s enough water for half a footy-team bursting out of that shower head down at the beach…
Sculpted by nature…
The ride north on the “Scenic Drive” to Waitakere becomes a “dodge-em” trip… the clouds coming from the nearby coast envelope the hills and it’s thick pea-soup fog, drizzle alternating with heavy dumps, 2” of water rushing down the asphalt…and speeds down to an absolute crawl to finally find an overhanging roof at a local fire-station for some temporary cover.
The muesli bar in the jacket-pocket has turned to a plastic-wrapped sausage of grainy slush…
The name fits just perfectly…
Some dog-legging on backroads get us to Muriwai, making quarters at the “Fools+Horses Homestay”.
Hmmmm….the fools bit says it all, just do yourself the favour and keep riding in your wet jox to look for something else….further inland is best.
The grump at the Caravan Park doesn’t like motorbikes…while the guys at the beach-kiosk flog us some ridiculously-priced, end-of-day, deep-fried mush in last week’s newspaper…yo, the local version of fish ‘n chips.
Back to “Puke Rd.”, I guess…
But….BUT!!!….it’s stopped raining and things are drying somewhat. Enough for a little look around…
Even some of the locals are out to play…
Back to the “Fools”….
Looking quite neat… but maaan, a decent clean-up of the joint would start with a stick of gelly.
It’s getting dark early…. and the blackbellies are scraping across the undulating landscape before unloading massive amounts of water all through the night.
Trying to keep the sleeping bag off the sticky bed uprights, we listen to the endless hammering on the tin-roof while the storm howls about the corners of the place….praying for the soft-panniers and top bags left on the bikes out in the open to be REALLY! waterproof….there’s no cover available at all.
The good news….there are some more muesli bars tucked away in the footwell of the sleeping bag.
Just like the pack of ground coffee for the plunger-cups….brecky is SAFE, YEAH!
A huge thanks to Eddie to copy this whole thing across from the AT forum.
Great effort!
The old wheelbarrow outside has gone from bone-dry to holding a 6” pool of water.
Ducking out into the semi-dark between lazy drips and more pelting showers, the Andy Strapz panniers seem to have fared only a little better than the Steel Ponys, there’s water in all of them and it’s a battle to get the gear into the “lounge” without getting even wetter along the way.
Things just don’t feel right….the warm, sticky, thick coastal fog drips and dribbles in between showers and even darker skies while the sole heater works itself to death in the corner, trying to dry some of the soaked stuff.
By around 10am most of the “damage” is repaired and there seems to be a modest greying in the black out there…time to get away.
Getting all excited when the rain stops only 15km up the road, I goof and we somehow finish up doing a useless 20km loop towards Kumeu/ Auckland…but it DOES show that the weather is slightly better inland than along the coast, at least some of the skies show some shapes and clouds rather than a blanket of deep-grey.
First the deserted SH16 main highway north through Helensville. Time for brecky…
The Kaukapakapa Store…nice to be “in the country”, finally.
They still leave their boots at the front door here…
While munching away on those scrumptious bacon + eggs sandwiches, it’s time to plot a course getting into the backblocks again, only crossing the highways rather than following them.
http://goo.gl/maps/NtOvf
Up the twisties and we’re in pea-soup again…which must’ve washed the picnic tables away through the night.
There’s no sign on the turnoff, but it HAS to be the road to Makarau…
I hope.
Burnside Rd…..there must be the occasional bit of rain up here…
Hitting the tar of the West Coast Rd., there’s no time for pics…in THOSE twisties even 7.5hp can pack a load of fun, what a road, yeeha!!
The whole road is only ~30km long, discount about 2-3km each side for the “lead-in/out”, the rest is GOLD!
Incidentally…those 30k’s get you from the western to the eastern beaches, the Northland isn’t exactly a stretched out affair around here.
The GoldenBoys hold things in check though and it’s soon back onto gravel to Kaipara Flats.
For whatever reason, that name rings a bell with me…perhaps I was here in a former life…or it brings up images of Footrot Flats, the little movie with the “Slice of Heaven” soundtrack?
Whatever…the going is good, the puddles not too deep, nor is the gravel yet…go north, my friend.
Wharehine Rd. towards Port Albert….Topuni River Inlet in the distance.
A little more asphalt on the Mangawhai Rd., then back onto the gravel of the Ryans Rd. the intensity of the “GREEN” bowls you over.
The Ryan’s Rd./ Pritchard Rd. (same road, it changes names as it crosses the district border from Auckland to Northland).
This one not just proves an absolute humdinger, it turns into one of the personal Top10 gravel roads of the Northland instantly!
What a li’l ripper!! Despite the crappy pics, the views are 270deg panoramic… swivel-necking from coastal hills to inland farmland and the distant hills…AWESOME!
We’d LOVE to do this on a good day!
Skimming the ridges…
That’s Taranga Island, just off the coast, in the background there.
“Exit left” …and “left”…and “left” ….
The turn into Baldrock Rd. shows what’s given the road its name…and continues the buzz of the Ryan/ Pritchard stretch…this time, on asphalt.
The 5 minute “commute” on SH1 to hook into the Mountain Rd. gravel brings home the need to stay off those kinds of roads…there ain’t no place for a postie between trucks hauling fruit + veg from up north, a fleet of local tradies-in-a-hurry and wide-eyes tourists (OHHHH, maaaahhh Gawwwd!!) in their dieseling snail-house-campers trying to make the 9pm flight to San Fran or Tokyo.
Mountain Rd….quite nice, but various levels short of other local stuff sampled recently.
Kaiwaka River in the flats…
Double bags, double sidestands….gotta find a double-exhaust to balance the pic, aye?
Btw…that Givi 40l roll-top bag on the rear rack was the ONLY truly waterproof bag through last night’s torrents.
Also pretty good: the Andy Strapz waterproof liners… everything in those stayed dry, despite the bottom of the bags sitting in a pool of water for hours. Worth buying if you’ve got canvas-based soft luggage!
Kaipara Hills…LOTS more on those is still to come. TOP stuff!!
More Mountain Rd.
The huge Fonterra dairy-FACTORY at Maungaturoto looks like a gleaming stainless-steel space station but is quickly bypassed on the main road, immediately ducking up the hills again on the Doctors Hills Rd., a very promising start to the following, but dull, Waipu Gorge Rd…..which at least kept us off the highways for a bit longer.
No avoiding the SH1 (SH= State Highway) for a few minutes before ducking back into the safety (and buzz) of the backblocks.
Buzz orrite!!
Starting innocently enough, Glenmohr Rd. turns into one of the many, absolutely juicy, backblocks-racetracks which are hidden away EVERYWHERE!
A kilometre of smooth gravel, then more of the same on the McLean Rd. down to the coast… it makes even the Tiddlers sing.
Having dodged most of the afternoon’s blackbellies, the roads are dry but the skies threatening….and there’s a howling wind blowing mighty gusts of leaves, dust and sand across the coastal strip. It’s still way too warm, too…something just isn’t right. It makes the hair stand up….weird.
The Waipu Cabin Park is closed…but the map shows another place just down the road.
Camp Waipu Cove proves the “duck’s guts”, the guy in the office has just come back from an 8 day Vietnam-ride on 125s…which makes settling in here a longish, but smooth affair with lots of laughs…nice
A little kitchen-cabin with small verandah at NZ$70, neat as a pin and CLEAN!
Again it proves that bringing our own sleeping bags/ sheets and pillow cases doubles the accommodation options in nearly every place.
The little Beach-Shop doubles it’s weekly takings and even knocks up some Fish ‘n Chips.
Now, that’s twice in a row and we promise eachother to rather suck on slushy muesli bars from now on than to give this another go. The cold beer makes up for some of it, though…
The AA (NZ Automobile Club) local maps/ touring maps are BRILLIANT!!
Each road in NZ….by name!! Main, secondary, backroad, sealed or gravel….everything is marked and, if studied properly and closely, 99% accurate and up to date. Fabulous stuff!!
It’s still balmy, too warm …and stickily humid.
The wind has died….and the sandflies are having a feast on us.
Who cares….even the Midgets are under roof!
Pitchdark…and the earth is coming to its end.
The ground is shaking, the rain is hammering, the wind is howling and yammering and trying to lift the little cabin off its foundations. The edge of the chinpiece of the helmet is rattling against the microwave, cutlery and crockery dingle away in the cupboards… the air is foul and thick and the curtains blown horizontally through the cracked-open windows.
All hell’s broken loose up there; this is like a massive earthquake… from above.
Never-ending thunder, one crack and massive rumble instantly topped by the next one, lightning everywhere …
What did dad always tell me as a little tacker?
For every second between the lightning and the thunder, the heart of the storm is another 300m away. Going by that, there’s about 5 of the bastards within 30 foot of eachother… and right above us.
CAAAAARRRRAAAKKKKK…SIIIZZZZZZZLE….and the hair stand up again.
Three hours later, the incredible spectacle has fizzled out into flooding rain, the thunderstorms moved away, the winds down to some gusty puffs.
A sudden silence makes me grab the camera, water-skiing the grass out there in the purple thongs for something to ban-on-film….anything. There’s gotta be something around after this circus!!
The rain keeps coming… first solid, then in showers…then in fits and starts….the reception has copped a leak from the flat roof, the power is out, the young Alaskan guy from near the dunes carries his “expedition-proven” World Traveller tent to the dumpmaster aqnd books in for a cabin, the white-faced young German couple (more fresh WWOOF’ERs) spread out in the TV-room after their Backpacker-bunkroom window blew in and the room got flooded.
No sense to get going now, too late in the day… might as well do what we never get around to…relaaaax!
By mid-afternoon the sun is out…at least here and there.
Time to get some real tucker and check out Waipu-Town a little, enjoy the cook-up and a bottle of whatever-we-can-find.
The Tiddlers packed with goodies!
It’s a cute little town which even sprouts a small bottle shop!
Meet the “Good George Squealer”, a local Hamilton brew that even comes in the appropriate packaging, a proper 1 liter, dark-brown, screw-cap “medicine-bottle”
And squeal I did….with delight!
….after I woke up again! This is serious schtuff, whoohoo
Dropped on me arse twice, doing the chains.
Christ, this brew packs a wallop!!
All set for tomorrow then,…hurray, just look at that sky!
Riding beaches isn’t everyone’s favourite…but I like it.
I love the crash of the surf, the salty haze, wide open space, the edge-of-the-world feeling….and the challenges and often complex set of circumstances behind beach-riding.
Like tide-tables, picking the right time, the often tricky and deep entries and exits, the endlessly different textures and “feel” of a beach blown to a glaze by the wind, softened by a high-tide or turning shifty and nasty by being patchy after a spell of bad weather a few days earlier, hiding seaweed pockets, little creek-beds and all sorts of washed up curiosities.
One of the key attractions for this trip was a tootle along the western beach from Poutu Point at Kaipara Heads, past the old, wooden lighthouse to Maunganui Bluff, Aranga….which I figured we might have a crack at, exiting the beach with the small bikes, wading the river. Then more of it along 90-Mile Beach….and EddieB had pointed me to another beach on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula.
It all hinges on the tides, as normally only 2hrs either side of a dead-low-tide are considered safe.
Timing becomes everything and having lost a day, our available time-windows for each following day had shifted up by ~ 1 hour. Which will make for a late start in 3 days time, leaving precious little time to make for accommodation / fuel etc. after the beach-run.
No good chasing pipedreams with our Tiddlers, so we’ll skip the Poutu-Aranga stretch, taking rather more time through the backblocks across to the west. The Kaipara had cast its spell on the Ryan/Pritchard stretch!
http://goo.gl/maps/H1WvI
NOOO!!
Not another day of BLOODY RAIN!!
The hefty shower hammers the roof of the little cabin at the very first tinge of grey, things are getting a little depressing.
Fuggit!
Still eager to go, we’re all set to roll by the time the first, faint patches of blue appear over Waipu Cove.
OHHH boy!! Are we up for a day of the Kaipara Wonders? YEEHAWWW!
Come along for a zigzag-wander of the Kaipara backroads, ridges, hills and mountains, farmroads, rivers and creeks…and 4” thick gravel-ploughing on the “High-School-Girls-Rd” (and that’s a real name!).
Bouncing east-to-west, it’s first across the SH1 and a short stretch of asphalt on the Millbrook Rd., which climbs immediately into the first few hills .
A look in the mirrors…
Letterbox on a trunk versus letterbox in a trunk.
No pussies here!
Another look back.
And that’s what’s to come, slobber!
Western end of the Millbrook Rd.
A 200m asphalt dogleg and it’s another climb towards the east on the Cassidy Rd.
YES, that’s NZ, not Oz!
They’ll finish it…eventually.
Hansen Rd.
A bit further east again…Stead Rd.
This Kaipara thing is just …FABULOUS!!
Still drifting east towards Dargaville on the Pikiwahine Rd.
If you just want to sit here and stare at the Tangihua Ranges….go ahead!! Nobody and nothing will bother you for the rest of the day.
A break from the merry gravel-dance
Did I say “Nothing will bother you?” Only joking!
gooblegooble gooblegooblegooblegooblegooblegooble
First thought they’d belong to a close by farm, but no… these are the original Wild Turkey’s!
Singles, pairs or flocks up to 20 or more. And they’re everywhere.
gooblegooble gooblegooblegooblegooble gooblegooble….and you thought you had a funny-sounding flat, aye?
The flood-plains of the Manganui River near Dargaville show last night’s downpour.
No problems with the couple of black clouds drawing in from the nearby West Coast… as long as we can dodge ‘em through the afternoon, they actually make for some spectacular, and dramatic, lighting.
Let’s have lunch first, fill up the tanks to their 450km capacity…and find some more chain lube.
The tiny, local Honda dealer has a single, king-sized, bottle of lube on the shelf….we better leave that for the one who’ll need it to make it all the way down south for this:
Dargaville….hmmm…don’t really want to say too much and offend any locals, but it certainly reminded me VERY strongly of most of the Aboriginal settlements up Cape York in AUS.
High youth/native unemployment, social security popping its rivets, lots of banged up shitbox- Subarus/ Lancers dripping with the usual Ebay- junk and loud, demonstrative “Hey, Bro!” shouting and high-5ing across, back and forth Main St….. local pollies of any shade scrambling to cover their arse after the implosion of the latest “social-engineering”-scheme, the local coppers trying to get home in one piece at night, the “natives” milking the national guild-complex for every tired penny it can cough up …the usual mess. Not a place to spend any time at….it’s a slow-fused powder keg.
The coffee and burger were good; the tanks are full…let’s try to find more of what we’d seen this morning.
Running parallel to the SH12 main road, the “cruisin’-is-soothin’” on the gravelly backroads to the Trounson Park turn-off.
Seen better days…the little Kaihu Catholic church.
Deadly serious….footy of any colour + code will be taken to the grave.
Looking at the skies we decide to skip the coastal option of the “Kauri-Coast” (been there some years ago) and tack north-east into the hills, hopefully finding some cover in the forests should the incoming blackbellies decide to dump their loads.
The wind’s picking up again and the Tiddlers are howling in 2. gear on some of the steep climbs.
And we’re on for a 2hr. gravel bonanza that’s trying hard to get the mighty CT’s undone.
Faced with the same choice again? Not a split-second’s thought: DO IT AGAIN! AWESOME!!
Mataraua Rd.
This is magnificent country!
Wharepunga Rd.
Can’t miss New Zealand oldest pub, eh?
“Serving beer since 1826” has got a ring to it….enough, to go and have a look, hopefully even stay the night?
Some delicious, sealed twisties up the Horeke Saddle then gravel past the “Wairere Boulders” sign (we’ll leave that for the morning) down to the water’s edge of Hokianga Harbour….not having ANY idea what we’ll be in for.
Right at the Waihou River mouth is one incredible piece of NZ history.
Horeke, Hokianga Harbour…and the current publican-come-master-historian-and-magic-story-teller.
http://horeketavern.co.nz/
First things first though…
“G’day!…I’m after a pint (of Dark, it’s on tap, yeah?), a bed and some tucker, in that order…”
“No worries….I think we can arrange that. Had 27 riders here the other week, they slept on the dining room floor…. Where’re you from….?”
How easy was that?
Had to knock back the offer of parking the posties on the carpet in the reception area…
“ they don’t leak, do they?…they’ll be fine then, don’t worry”….
The carpet just looked too clean and new to park a bike on. Actually, too clean to not take the boots off.
The timber deck outside the “Waterview-Room” is fine, though…
Whow…just whoww
Across the bay….own pier and all…I wonder…??? I’ll ask the publican!
How the hell have they managed to keep this thing hidden for so long?
The core of the building is the original ~200 year old tavern, a 140 y/o open fireplace as part of some renovations along the line….
.. ..the Douglas fir panelling from a tree felled onsite (pics and documentation on hand).
This is one unbelievable place to even just look at….then add the history…..then add the publican/ historian/ local businessman who himself should be put under “National Treasure” protection… and it’s just about too much.
Don’t believe it?
There are documents, photos and paintings to go along with all of it on every shelf and rack.
A true Jewel of the Northland!! DON’T MISS IT … if you’re ever anywhere close!
Oh…the signature lamb shanks are pretty darn good, too!
Being the only overnighters, we’re getting a 2 hr. “maximum-concentrate” NZ and Maori/ Northland etc history lesson of gigantic proportions….and all told in a way that’ll make me remember all of it forever.
This guy should be bottled….together with his place.
More grey skies at sparrow’s fart, the gusts across the water are whipping up the whitecaps.
Bikes are ready packed way before 7, the idea of an early start dissolves in another “puff-of-history” when our host joins us at the breakfast table with a steaming mug of coffee and a swag full of yarns, books and artifacts.
The hook is “Queenie Puru”, the local Maori-powerhouse-“ Auntie” and custodian of the Mission House a few kilometres up the road.
It only takes a couple of hours of age-old yarns and stories, old texts and discussions, names and place to throw our plans out the window… but if you ever get to visit the Northland, a stop here is a MUST!
Actually…make this place and its people the reason to see the Northland and drape anything else around it.
If you find the time.
It’s gone quiet here in Horeke…the sawmill has gone long ago, as has the shipbuilding yard and marine-refitting/ repair facility (using mostly Kauri timbers), all the other pubs, school and buildings housing the traders and dealers servicing the ships and boats coming up the harbour from the coast, Auckland and Sydney.
There used to be a “milk-run” here, a boat picking up the milk-cans from the farmers around the harbour and shipping them to a dairy at the harbour mouth….then the “post-run”, another boat that also acted as a “school-bus”…close your eyes and it all comes to life in an instant, the smells, the bustle, the voices… our host has a real gift!
We don’t really want to leave…
http://goo.gl/maps/DxDkl
Trying to find Queenie Puru….
Some quite significant history around here….
…and quite a stunning place, too!!
Leaving the place with what we’ve just learned: throwing water over our shoulders on our way out to dispel any bad spirits. (the reason there’s a water container of some sort at the entrance of any cemetery that contains Maori graves).
Just up the road is the next stop… the Wairere Boulders.
Another spot certainly worth a visit, spending an hour or 2 in a different world. This time no words or recorded histories, just nature at its best.
Luckily we’re still early enough to have the whole place to ourselves. Sort of….
And since everyone sees things differently…here are some of Goodie’s.
The brilliant NZ-Frenzy guide had mentioned an interesting coastal walk about 35km down the road at the mouth of Hokianga Harbour.
Opposite the Great Dune on the north side, there’s a rock-arch right at the beach near Omapere.
Let’s have a look…but, of course, we’ll go via the Koutu Loop Rd. and try to find the fabled Koutu Boulders along the beach somewhere.
Koutu Loop Rd.
Puttering west along the main road, we seem to be running headlong into a massive wall of blackbellies, arghhhh….and at the end of the Koutu Loop Rd. some Austrian tourist has buried the front-half of his VW-Hire-Camper in the dark, loose sand of Koutu Beach.
Digging away furiously with a stick after we tell him that High Tide peaks in ~3hrs and pointing out the high water mark further up the beach, he’ll NEVER make it this way… help’s needed, pronto!
Trying for a local
The rescue takes about an hour involving lots of back and forth, Sid-the-Yugoslav, an old guy with a walking stick on an even older red Fergie-tractor and a relieved “yeeaaaaaah!!” when the wheeled snail-house finally moves backwards while the first gentle waves are lapping at the rims…made it, by a bee’s dick!
The drizzle starts in Opononi …and 3km later we’re swoop-skidding under the roof of the local servo, glad for any bit of cover we can find. Things change from one extreme to the other within minutes; look west and into blue skies before turning around to face a wall of black…the gentle breeze turns into 60-80kmh gusts in a heartbeat, just to entirely vanish 20 seconds later.
Better skip the idea of a 1.5hr beach walk….let’s try for some lunch.
Dead fish ‘n crackers…not exactly stylish (just fingerlickin’-good!)
…and it sure beats lunch at the office!!
Just spotted on the opposite North Shore….
Wouldn’t mind going there this afternoon to have a closer look! That steeple looks pretty much central-European, southern Germany or Austria or thereabouts…should be catholic then…
It’s a main-road-run to Rawene (point E on the map-link above) to catch the ferry.
The all-singing,all-dancing, all-automated public dunny’s down at the Rawene wharf.
It was all new when we came through in a camper ~20 years ago…
It’s still a damn pretty, little place.
Hihi?….okay! Want a postcode for that? Haha
A somewhat sad “farewell” to the Hokianga South Shore.
Hmmm…I hope the skipper sticks to this before we hit the ramp….
Another stretch of PUUURFECT!! racetrack in the middle of no-where….tacking west from the ferry on the West Coast Rd.
Squealing brakes, skidding GoldenBoys….HELLO, I KNEW IT!!
Catholic mission…. there’s my church steeple!
What a beauty!
And it’s getting better by the minute…but somehow I can’t see this being the right road. It’s getting too narrow and rough in patches for the kind of place this looked to be through the zoom-lens.
Clouds and sun turning the landscape into a chess-board.
End of the road.
A couple of locked gates.
And more than a prayer needed to re-float this one.
With more rain imminent, we abandon the search for the elusive steeple and tack north from Panguru for some quick gravel along the ridges to Runaruna under threatening skies.
I’d love to stop twice-a- minute for another “mood”-shot, wet bum or not.
This goes under your skin…just superb!
A little drizzle, then it’s dry again for the lonely 35km twister of the Awaroa Rd to Herekino and north to Ahipara, the small “tourist” town at the base of the 90-Mile Beach.
South Island Roads??
Pffffffftt!!
The “tropical” Far North….prickly all the same!
A quick look at the beach, getting a first idea of what might be ahead tomorrow…
…a neat, little cabin at the caravan park (local: motor camp) for a reasonable NZ$85 and some pre-dinner nibblies to shorten the walk to the excellent, little Cafe/ Restaurant at the other end of town to seal the day.
WHOOHOO…that’s one pearler of a day in the bag!
With the Low Tide at 10.50am, the time-window for today’s run up the 90-Mile-Beach is 9.00-13.00.
Only being about 90km rather than miles, I figure about 3 hrs., depending on conditions, wind, stops, photos etc. It doesn’t give much of a buffer for possible breakdowns… and for the skinny-legged Midgets the upper edges of the beach are impossible to ride, there are no escape routes. A 4WD might get away with things, we certainly won’t.
The wind is howling from the South-West, the fine sand-storm choking the slightly cracked-open visors.
Trying to extend the time-window to create as much of a buffer as possible to deal with bad conditions, treacherous sands and/ or breakdowns we’re at the beach just before 8.
It also means we’re ahead of any tour-buses, which we might have to call on for help…just a little extra “insurance”.
“Sand-snakes”, whipped up by the wind, are chasing Goodie up the beach.
Slowly the views are clearing a little, the gusts dropping off.
Anti-Bike-Fallover-Insurance…aka “Sand-Stand”, keep it handy….and DON’T get off the bike without it under the sidestand!
http://goo.gl/maps/SdZOI
90k’s….it’s a looong stretch of sand for a tiddler.
Driftwood…..alive again with mussels and some pale tubular “sausages” full of seawater.
The mussels pinch and burst the “tubes” for the water…until the next High Tide.
Nature at work.
25k’s in and the grey skies haven given way big, blue holes, proper day-light and some good, quick running…the beach getting wider and wider as the tide recedes.
The sand is firm, the going good….and apart from a couple of walkers trudging south, we haven’t seen anyone or anything.
Coming up to Maunganui Bluff…
Only 20k’s short of the northern exit and the first of the tour-buses has caught up.
Alone again at Scott Point, the northern end of the 90 Mile Beach.
Where to leave the beach?
Which one is Te Paki stream?
There are a few possible exit points up the creek-beds of some streams that have cut their way through the dunes.
Two backpackers on the beach…stripped to their shorts… backpacks and gear in the sand… dripping wet after a dip to freeze off the insane itching of 100’s and 100’s of sandfly-bites back and front, top to bottom, it’s hard to look away…
Asking if they’ve seen a bus turn inland here, the answer is “ Ay doon noh, zis is laik autobahn heer” while pointing to the dunes and some faint tyre marks.
The poor bastards!! (there are no sandflies in Karlsruhe/ Germany)…they’ve got a looong, painful way ahead of them and that doesn’t mean the hike down a long, empty beach.
Let’s give it a whirl…if either sand or water gets too deep, we can always turn tail and look for another exit….. there’s even nearly enough time to go all the way back to the start, if needed.
Awwww, shit..where am I going??
Oops…there WAS a hole there!
On my arse and in the drink.
But on the trigger!!
What’d he say?? Hang loose, hang on, and stay on the hammer… gas, gas, GAS!!
4k’s of going upstream in a creek bed are nearly over. Damn, gotta go back for another go…gotta splash the salt off those bikes, eh?
Te Paki Dunes tobogganing
The rest is a good dirt road out to the sealed main road…the northern end of SH1, the National Highway.
All sealed to the carpark of Cape Reinga nowadays, we’ll give it a miss this time and tack south amongst packs of Harleys cluttering the magnificent landscape… unbeknownst to us, it’s the Annual TTT Poker Run attracting upwards of 300 bikes.
We leave ‘em all stumped when turning off the highway to Te Hapua without backing off, dropping the tassle-danglers in a cloud of dust amidst the coastal greenery, some nearly following in the attempt to “finally nail that little shitter”.
Missed out on this one, suckers!!
Another turn-off towards Hooper Point, which is actually a little further north than Cape Reinga
The wide gravel road stops at the DoC camp site (Dept of Conservation) at Spirits Bay…and what a MAGNIFICENT SPOT that is!!
Peace on Earth …starts here!
The rest of the afternoon is spent tootling down the Peninsula under blue skies and big, puffy clouds, looking for a place to stay along the way….wondering how all those cruisers made it up and down through all those sweet sweepers without decorating the fences with evidence and filling ditches brimming with chromed skulls and other knucklehead! paraphernalia.
Looking for a bed, we even meet a few of them at a standalone pub in a paddock somewhere, tipping the foamies down the gullet not from pint-pots… but jugs.
We snare the last (and only! ) cabin at the Pukenui Motor Camp right on Happy Hour, which makes us the “stars of the show” for a minute while the oldies are getting royally pickled, cackling their pacemakers into a fit over a barrage of filthy jokes.
Life’s good in Northland.
Let’s join in!
TIME OUT for a few days, off to Yanakie it is!
See youse after!
http://goo.gl/maps/XHA3w
Wageners Holiday Camp at Houhora Heads is just a few kilometers down the road and apart from some dairy cows there’s still no living soul around. Houhora Heads are the northern entry point to the East Beach ( left red line in map above), a place that EddieB from ADVriding NZ had recommended : “ it’s far narrower and more treacherous than 90Mile, sometimes barely a meter of rideable hardpack”).
He’d also mentioned the need to ford an estuary first to even get onto the beach.
Didn’t say anything about the thick layer of squishy mud and deep, loose, foul smelling gunk up the other side, did he?
Luckily those 2 come along….and we ask the girls on horseback to “go first” to give us an idea about depth and which line best to take.
Watching the horses wade to above mid-leg and remembering this is salt-water, we decide to rather dawdle down the main road and try our luck from the south. We’re well ahead of our 4hour-Low-Tide-window anyway…
One last look over the shoulder…
A few houses at Kaimaumau, a Pa set back in some Nikau palm grove…the southern access to the beach is floury and dry…and blindingly white! 10m of pushing the Tiddlers and we’re on hardpack.
Oh YEAAAHHH Look at this!! (looking north)
Having a quick look at the southern end fringed by the mangroves brings back the “treacherous” bit…undetectable, big softpatches where the front digs in and the mighty 7.5 Honda-horses die-in-the-arse, leaving the applecart with a bucking and flopping tiller that’s suddenly come to life. That’s the sand-boooooogie, shabba-dabba-dooh!
And we’re not even at the Rangaunu Harbour mouth yet, the real East Beach is still to come, all 20k’s of it!
LOOOOOVING IT!!
Already binned too many of today’s pics, just to keep the numbers down.
It’ll still be a MASSIVE amount of shots coming your way.
I’ll try to separate the pics enough to show ‘em off… but some will cancel each other out as there are just too many nice shots in a row.
Tag along for one hell of a day, riding some glorious beaches… some hidden, little backroads..dense, tropical “tunnels”… delicious twisties… have a great coffee and buy some just-picked avocados…face down a pack of stags…. check out a volcano on a beach… have an icecream at Doug’s old home….and dream away the coppery sunset amongst the thunder-clouds with a bottle of red at the Whangaroa Harbour.
Hop on…eyes and hearts wide open!
7am…and ready to roll.
A wet blanket covers little Pukenui…the heavy sea-fog turns the town silent, no rumbling Harleys of the Poker Run, no bird-song, no wind….and our new-found, well-pickled, Happy-Hour friends, are still fermenting away in their sleeping bags.
Just down the road the “Yellow Peril” stutters and farts… to get off the main road we quickly pull into a side-road leading down to the docks and boat-ramp….
…and luckily one of those automated, card-operated bowsers for the local boaties….91octane will do fine, thanks!
A minute later the Midgets kick back into life…while the sun starts to burn some ragged holes into the rapidly disappearing fog-blanket up there.
Pukenui
Woww…what an entrance!! This could be the local Pa (meeting house)!?
I like that sort of stuff….and those pine-roots would’ve just been mulched or left to rot, otherwise.
This morning’s crop…we’ll grab a bag and use ‘em as “green butter” for the next few days of breakfast toasts…no refrigeration required.
Pure Magic!
Houhora Heads just ahead….the narrow entrance to Houhora Harbour is cradled by the hills of the narrow, eastern peninsula.
The estuary again..this time from the south.
Hey….how about we just skip the watercrossing and run back down the beach again, rather than taking the SH1 main road… nice as it is up here.
Now…THAT’S a good idea!
The strip of hardpack here at the northern end is pretty narrow…just the darker strip along the water’s edge.
Houhora entrance
You got a lot more sand to ride on than me had when we did it.
Hey!….THIS is a SUNDAY!
You know, the day of the week when the locals are out to play and fart around, mingling with the busloads of tourists, choking all the nice spots on a magic, sunny day. I just can’t believe we haven’t seen dozens of 4x4s, fishermen… boaties, floaties and sand-castles.
What is it about deserted beaches and going stoopid on bikes?
16 or 60….all the same.
That’s it, seeya!
This time we ride + paddle the beach exit to Kaimaumau and a herd of very curious young stags along the way.
Time for a cuppa and some munchies….the Big River Cafe in Awanui peddles some $6.50 bacon+ egg rolls as their “specialty”….and both those and the coffee turn out absolutely excellent!!
What a pair of awesome bikes the tiddlers have shown to be!! Bloody FANTASTIC!
Heard of another beach from EddieB….just a shorty…we’ll just go and have a look, we’re still at the top-end of the tide-window.
Tokerau Beach, Karikari Peninsula (the other red-line in the map above)
After the morning’s run, this is a bit like a very poor cousin, but still a more interesting way to get to Tokerau than the main road. There’s also a bank of puffy, dark clouds massing up in the west…
NZfrenzy has a few entries for the Karikari…let’s try to find that crater-on-the-beach!
Maitai Bay Rd. peters out in a carpark…
Trying to get closer from the western side (Puheke Rd.)
Keeping a wary eye on the slow-moving, dark cloud-banks to the west, it’s south again, down the Karikari Peninsula towards the SH10 main road. The hills to the south look tempting …. there should be some good stuff hidden away in there….
The gravel of the Pekerau Rd. doesn’t disappoint …barely off the highway, the narrow gravel road starts climbing onto the ridges.
Made in heaven…the ~35 km of the Pekerau and Duncan Roads along the ridges to the asphalt at Fairburn.
A look back…the Karikari Penin in the background….and the GREEN is BLINDING! No Photoshop, no “toning/shading/cropping/whatever”…it’s real!
Snap pic, upload, link…that’s it.
Are they watching us?
Dancing the Thick Gravel Shuffle
What an unbelievable stretch of travel this is!!
Bummer…too early to book in for the night yet.
Sometimes you’ve gotta be lucky, aye? :-)))
Still slobbering, the sealed twisties of the backblocks towards Peria don’t disappoint either!!
On the line…and on the gas!
Gleaming in the sun….near Oruru
A tack east towards Mangonui on the coast and the Backriver Rd. proves a bit of a “Redneck Hwy”, should’ve tried the longer route through Kohumaru.
Always one to happily avoid all and any of the local plastic tourist-circus, Mongonui turns out a cute little gem, a historic town proud of its past and with lots of “genuinely-worn” everyday features to be “huggable”. Substance and character well outrank glitz + polish here.
Doug’s former home…the Mangonui 4Square store, built over the water. Still sprouting the old timber floors… thick, peeling paint…and the “smell” of times past.Nice!
And that would’ve been Doug’s room up there?
One of his school-projects, I guess. Didn’t involve beer-bottles yet, amazing!
Btw, mate…looks like some of the place has recently been re-stumped.
Mangonui …a short stroll along the “esplanade”, icecream dripping, gawking… seeing “a shot a second” every which way I turn. LOVE the place! They can shove their Bay-of-Islands….I’ll stay around here!
Bouncing west to the closest petrol at Coopers Beach, it’s obvious that the nearly stationary mass of threatening clouds that has spared us all day, is finally on the move. Guess, we better make a move then, too…
Carving the sweepers as fast as we can, it’s a 35km dash east on the SH10 towards Kaeo, tacking north to Whangaroa along the bay once we’re over the bridge at the tail of the inlet.
Whangaroa…a Caravan Park/ Motor Camp with a few cabins, an old pub, the Yacht Club and marina, a few dozen houses, a couple of B+B’s and low-level motels, a tiny shop with a grumpy, old storekeeper who’d rather live at the pub.
A little holiday spot for the locals on a very picturesque, little harbour…
The Caravan Park is deserted and somewhat eerie….the cabins in “renovation” mode, all doors and windows open incl. those of the managers residence, but nobody around.
“Call 12345678… for contact”.
Naww, thanks….leave that for a last resort. (pun intended)
The motel up that extremely steep drive is the same…furniture and paint pots stacked on the balconies, nobody around, sign with mobile -number on the door. The joys of travelling off-season, aye?
I can see us going back to Mangonui….but there was one sign in the paddocks 5km before town…what was the name?? Some Lodge or something….that’s it, the Sunseeker Lodge Motel and Backpackers.
JACKPOT!!
Tucked away and up the steeep hill on some tight + narrow asphalt road, it’s a friendly welcome and even a choice of a clean, simple room or the semi-jungle standalone-with-bike-cover version.
We certainly owe the posties heaps…the one with cover it is!
Through the tropical thicket at the front door….Whangaroa Harbour.
Listen to the locals: “Spare the pub…better tucker at the Yacht Club down the marina”.
Coming?
More Whangaroa?
How about St. Paul’s Knob!! towering above town… with the long shadows on the timber deck….
If the world ever has to end…let it end like this!
Sipping a local red, silently watching the skies changing hues and shapes, golden rays flooding the harbour and hills, shadows moving, shifting, the craw of a seagull……JUST SOAKING IT UP LIKE A SPONGE!!
The “glowing trunk”
The bottle of red is gone… the coppery, burning skies have flamed-out…night creeps in.
OMG….what a PERFECT day!!
Whangaroa…a fixed place in our hearts!
6am
A tiny break in the rain and I’m off to get some stuff for brekkie, quickly up that single-laner tar to the small twin-spot carpark for the walk to St. Pauls Knob…the harbour is in thick, low fog.
Old grump hasn’t opened the shop yet; it’s off to the 4Square in Keao, the drizzle turning to rain again. The local cop is having a laughing fit seeing me sloshing around the place…
8am
10am
….you guessed it!!!
Finally pulling out near 10.30, we have a quick look at the oyster beds…
…before getting soaked to the skin north of Waipapa in a torrential downpour boosted by tons of water coming off the trucks and cars overtaking us.
Missing out on the planned Wainui Rd. coastal loop with extras as well as the backroads via Peria for a run down the Mangamuka Twisties before cutting north again on forestry roads for another night at Whangaroa is giving me more of the shits than the soaked-to-the-skin thing.
By Kawakawa we’ve been through another mega-soak and staring at a third, just down the road.
Now the temps are dropping and things are getting ugly.
We decide to push on a bit longer with the quickly vanishing hope of somehow popping out from under the blackbellies up there.
It’s all over by Whangarei, the water is running out the top of the pants, time to find a little motel or something with a laundry/ clothes dryer. Kamo, one of the northern suburbs of Whangarei comes good with all that’s needed.
Come Happy Hour, the sun is out, the gear is dry…and the bottle’s empty! Ratz!!
Time out!
Dry!! And some broken-up cloud up there…
Things are certainly looking more hopeful this morning, yeah!
Having bypassed yesterday’s entire route, we’ll try to recover and snatch some bits back from the “loss-column”….
First things first…tyre pressures and chains.
Back towards the north on the State Highway 1.
Having no idea that this will lead to another of the TOP5!! Northland roads…and Thanks God it isn’t the Pigs Arse.
http://goo.gl/maps/2ZfUO
Kaikanui Road is one of those little gravel roads that springs one surprise after another…big, molded rocks, incredible views, coastal vistas, cozy, little poplar groves, lily pond lakes, a pack of turkeys, a flock of geese parading alongside the gravel, tropical bush, deep-green farmland…it just goes on and on.
“TADAAA!!”
It’s a bloody STUMPER!!
A turn off into Mimiwhangata Rd., an even narrower road feeling even more “tucked away” and remote leads to the tip of a small peninsula, most of it a coastal park.
There’s another one of those superbly located DoC camps at the end of the narrow road…. right at the beach…
…and what a dream of a little beach it is!!
I’m enjoying the photos and stories. Well done.
Looking at the “roaring response” (cough), I’m rather surprised to see Eddie keep going with this (shrug).
Anyway…Merry Xmas to all!! 🙂
Eddie has certainly done us proud by loading this up for all to see and I have viewed it all of the way through on AusTouring, and again on this site.
Thanks for the Xmas wishes Glitch, hoping yours is a good one and look forward to your next adventure reports.
What a shame to have to take the same road back again, aye?
No question….Northland-TOP5 material!!
Another tack towards the coast finds us on Hailes Rd. on the way to Whananaki South…
…..for a look at the Whananaki Inlet and the longest foot bridge in NZ. It’s what the kids around here use to get to school (which is right at the northern end of the bridge).
It’s certainly long enough to need a few of those “slow-lanes”.
Suddenly realizing that the day is running away from us fast and some low clouds are drawing in again,
it’s off to “burn some asphalt” through Waipaipai…
…and the, now sealed, Waiatea Rd. ….
(for some unbelievable asphalt-carving try THIS loop from/ to Whangarei http://goo.gl/maps/zWI65 )
…for at least a few hours at our favourites…The Kaipara! That fantastic square cradled by SH 12 / SH14 and SH1.
Not a lot of pics this arvo…’cause we get chased down by a local farmer on a quad who’s seen us tootle past. Proves he’s got a burning desire to travel his country by postie one of those days and we just happened along.
After blocking the 14km long Ararua Rd. for more than an hour (without so much as a warbling turkey coming past), the Tiddlers thoroughly checked out and photographed, trying to cope with an avalanche of questions and some laughing tears still streaking the cheeks….
….we’re finally bouncing back towards the coast along the ugly, devastated hills of the Finlayson Brook Rd., which are deeply scarred by logging.
A truly sobering and somewhat angry sight.
Some shopping in Waipu….
…and we’re welcomed like family at the Waipu Cove Camp….
…where Goodie decides to leave a mark and nearly burn down the camp-kitchen, charcoaling the living shit out of those marinated chicken-somethings we got from the butcher at Waipu.
Scrubbing pans isn’t too bad with a bottle of red at hand….
A little drizzle at daybreak quickly turns into an outright sparkler…the road’s calling!
The coastal road heading south, that is…sweet twisties and dense, green gullies mixing it with breathtaking views across the beaches and coastal landscapes. Lazy asphalt carving with a mind getting jam-packed with images and smells, thoughts and feelings.
The staggering is staggering:
Sail Rock in front of Taranga Island, which is in front of the string of Hen + Chicken Islands. No shyte, that’s a real name!
http://goo.gl/maps/P0z4G
Mangawhai invites to a little tootle around town….the usual “old core” starting to get “ringed” by the first tentacles of Auckland’s “new money” creeping up the coast in its gold-gilded early retirement…for the time being, there’s still enough of the old around to make it appealing. Get up here, quick!!
Black Swamp Rd. just south of town, leads through the coastal flats and farmland before Coal Hill Rd. climbs onto the ridge, offering some stunning views of the whole Mangawhai coastal basin.
79 Coal Hill Rd…. how do 2.5acres of coastal coastal views sound?
All yours for some lousy pocket-shrapnel of ½ mil or so… here’s the phone number, too.
A minute or 2 on the main coastal road are enough to again duck into the backblocks.
Cames road just about circles the whole place, ducking and weaving its way along the spine of a ridge with breathtaking views either side. This is balm for the soul!
Another Top10er despite being so close to “civilisation”.
Lawrence Rd….
….which gets us back to our hotly favoured Pritchard/ Ryan Rd. combo, this time heading south.
Popping over the top, looking south….I just can’t get enough of this, EVER!
Back on the tar, School Rd. and Tomarata Valley Rd. turn out to be a wet-dream of a farmland-racetrack!!….even on a postie shod with 27 Dollar, oval GoldenBoys!!
Smooth as silk… great visibility…call it medium bends to slow-sweepers, gently banked….all jammed into a true rollercoaster of dips and crests, weaving and ducking every which way across the hills.
They should’ve made it 3 times as long though…quit whingeing, just turn around and go back!
Yet another Top10 contender!
Matakana Valley Rd. hasn’t got much “valley” to it…it starts the climb to the ridge near a dirty, dust-caked quarry, then dips south on some delicious asphalt-twisties….with a pretty sweet lookout splitting the stretch at the top.
Bumbling along the Matakana Main Rd., a “Patisserie” looks a bit too flash for the place…but boy, not being a pie-fan…their pies are the Real Deal!…and I’d love to eat them out of their stock…Great stuff!
Wobbling out of the place, it’s barely a 5 min ride to the next cholesterol-hammering event
Charlie’s Gelato Garden…and NO, you couldn’t even IMAGINE!!
40+ flavours handmade before your eyes….from fruit growing on the property or brought in by the local farmers. Sorbet’s, ice-cream and gelato that make the eyes roll back far enough to look out of your &^%$!!
Ever had plum-gelato that’s even more intense than biting into the ripe fruit itself?
Jamming the recent pies into one corner, there’s just enough space for a “sampler basket” of 4 flavours….and within 2 spoonfull’s there flow the tears of regret to have had those damn pies!!
If there was a place like that in Melbourne they’d HAVE to be open 24/7 to simply cope with the demand!
And I’d have an annual 500liter- subscription, fugg yeah! Non-transferrable, too! Bugger you lot!
What about Lygon Street?
While shoveling away at this heavenly stuff, it’s time to check out where the afternoon might take us.
A heavy-hearted Goodbye….
…and we’re off to Warkworth for some petrol, then sort-of crossing the SH1 main drag for some nice asphalt sweepers to Kaipara Flats.
Crossing our previous South -> North route from a week ago, the turn off at the top of the little hill past the Primary School gives no indication of what’s around the corner!!
The KAIPARA HILLS RD. is simply DEVINE!!!
20odd k’s from Kaipara Flats to Glorit on the coastal SH16, this is gravel that don’t come no sweeter, views and vistas of child’s fantasy variety and a track that just crowns ridge after ridge after glorious ridge.
Prime contender for “best and most memorable stretch of the Northland”, no but’s!
Take me away, baby!
Climbing out of Kaipara Flats
Thanks God for the handbrake on those Midgets…cause half the time I’d finish up on my bum trying to take all those shots.
Dropping towards Kaipara Harbour
They unloaded the log-lifter from the flatbed so it can lift the end of the trailer around to free up the truck which got stuck on that tight radius bend.
I want one of them to lift the Midgets around some of the bends, just to save the half-dozen nibbles at a clean cornering line.
Kaipara Hills Rd.?
First rate…with cream!
A few K’s on the nicely snaking SH16 feel like a bit of a breather before it’s back into the tight stuff via the superb West Coast Rd. asphalt and some nice backblock-gravel on the Welch Access and Burnside Rd.
An old Coles Store delivery bike re-jigged as letterbox
Time to close the day by tacking east on the Krippner Rd….. which doesn’t have much to recommend it…
Orewa on the East Coast turns out the full-plastic Auckland seaside suburb with huge 5-storey tracts of upmarket bayside retiree-slums and hills covered in the universal LJ-Hooker Lego-boxes.
It’s only for one night… let’s plan tomorrow’s route.
The wind is up again and some blackbellies are racing in low.
At least there’s a rickety, half-demolished carport for the bikes in that seedy, old Motel.
We have a GPS tracklog for download and a small write up of Kaipara Hills Road here: https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/gps-tracks-rides/north-island-tracks/kaipara-hills-rd/
A true Salt+ Pepper morning out there…some heavy rains through the night, some blue patches now… some pitch-black, low level stuff throwing shadows and scattered light all about the place…it’s changing from one extreme to the next within minutes.
Orewa…not a place one would want to hang around at for long, lets’ make tracks and get this over and done with.
The dreaded “Auckland-Crossing”, that is.
Flying by dead-reckoning, we get snagged in one of the Tupperware suburbs and finish up at the Esplanade again.
Looks like by chasing our own tail at least we’ve outrun a batch of blackbellies.
And here’s the next lot brewing.
Looking back to the coast from the ridges of Kahikatea Flat Rd…..looks like we dodged that one then…
The whole area is full of them…a kids’ bus shelter scheme sponsored by a building company. I like that, LOTS! Goodonya Totalspan!!
Helensville
Not shy with their paint-pots here, either.
Still being early, we skip the coffees and rather tootle north, up the Peninsula to South Head.
Only being a few kilometres wide, any rain coming across the coast from the west hopefully flies over the top and towards the waters of Kaipara Harbour real quick…
Looking across Kaipara Harbour into the first line of hills behind the Kaipara Coast.
And nature is putting on a fabulous light-show!
JEEZAZ!!! Just look at the size of the marshmallows they’re growing here!!
http://goo.gl/maps/pjsaZ
Against this place?
Chalk and cheese…
Rest of the yarn here:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5288
post #74 onwards
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5288&page=15
🙂 been away on holiday so havent had time to finish it here.
Travelling speeds have dropped to crawling, the moods of the ever changing landscape, either lit up like a Christmas tree or as dark and featureless as a cave, are riveting!
And there?s one thing that?s been irking me….traveling the backroads of the Northland we?ve seen thousands of those NZ letterboxes, the plastic drum type with the flip-up flag. Nailed to fence-posts, trees, trunks, standing on posts, leaning against rusty tractors and hung of the branch of some old tree….they come in endless colours and combinations but they?re all the same box.
And a great, SOLID one at that. I just like ?em…a lot.
Standing in front of the shelf at the Helensville Mitre10, I start to realize how BIG those things actually are
(didn?t look THAT big out there in the countryside…)…they easily hold a couple of shoeboxes AND the mail!
How the hell do we get one home?
Got a Midget? That?ll do!!
Following the Old North Rd., we stay off the main roads for the first 30k?s south, then all of a sudden we?re on a Freeway playing mobile speedhumps for trucks, cars and buses…crawling along the emergency lane on the lookout for debris and torn tyre bits…play chicken with the traffic belting down the on-ramps while we?re looking for a slot to veer sharply across to pick up the emergency lane again…the wind is howling across the harbour and pushing speeds down to 55-60, third gear screaming…
I recognize some suburbs and route numbers and soon we?re back on previously travelled city roads, making our way south to Manukau and ducking back into the semi-rural surrounds by Ardmore.
Shadows getting long when checking for a room at the Clevedon Pub, at $120 for a dingy pub-room they can shove it, we?ll keep going a little longer.
15min down the road…
Coromandel….just across the bay.
A warm welcome by this place at Kawakawa Bay, the host even throws in a bottle of local red.
If nothing else, that clinched it.
Whaddayamean…stumping views??
Time to walk into town and pick up that fish ?n chips.
Bare feet on warm sand, long shadows, clinking rigging and snapping lines from the yacht harbour, solitude…