Going for a ride in The ‘Naki? Post your plans here so other local riders can join in.
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Going for a ride in The ‘Naki? Post your plans here so other local riders can join in.
To get a notification every time someone posts in this thread press the subscribe button at the top of the first post on the page.
No posts here at all? Seems strange, as plenty of Taranaki riders around.
Hi @OldBeer. I often encounter adventure bikes travelling the gravel roads in Taranaki but it seems that we’re quite poor at sharing our adventures online.
Ah well, I’ll post some from my upcoming trip and see if that prompts a response!. My wife has decided she would like to come so that makes it pretty much a cert. Ill post here somewhere when I get my itinerary sorted.
The reason I’m up this late is that I found your Europe ride thread on advrider and got hooked – didnt get to every page but what I saw was impressive. Wifey and I had a great holiday in Andalucia in 2013 and I often found myself thinking how great it would be to go there on a bike.
Cheers
Look out Taranaki, we are coming…
Original plans for a solo trip changed when mrs oldbeer peeked over the shoulder and saw planning underway so its a two up trip now.
I have booked accommodation in Awakino for Thursday and Friday night.
Will ride down Thursday and chill by the Mokau River that evening.
Friday I’d like to do Totoro, Kumara and Waitewhenua to Ohura, (then maybe Tazzamanui for supplies but adds 1.5 hours…) and back to Awakino via Waitaanga Road. What is at Mokau and Awakino these days? Anywhere to buy food? 4 square etc??? so I can avoid going to Taumaranui if we fancy a slow day? Two up we find 4 hours riding is enough – don’t want to spoil the vibe by having to rush anywhere.
Saturday will ride though Ahititi, Kiwi Road, Moki Road Okoki, Urenui and then to the big smoke. We will stay Saturday night in NPL somewhere in the middle of town.
Sunday, FWH through to Te Awamutu for Sunday night and home on Monday.
Should all be very cruisey.
So if anyone’s around on Saturday late afternoon, evening i’d be keen to say hi over a coffee or a beer.
Suggestions for a good Thai restaurant would be very welcome!
Cheers
‘@OldBeer, The Thai House Express at 79 Devon Street W (Tel 06 758 1179) might be worth checking out.
apologies Dave Young, mixing up my Youngs there…it was Mikes RR I looked at.. Lots of young people in the Naki obviously
No worries, @OldBeer. I’ve had a quick look at your itinerary and it looks like you’ve planned a great trip (the weather forecast is looking favourable too). Whilst browsing over on Adventure Rider I saw that you have had your questions answered regarding supplies at Mokau and Awakino, so that’s all sorted. My wife suggests the Siam Thai Fusion is a good place to have meal.
Thanks all, counting down now.
We have ended up with a booking at the Thai Chefs 201 Devon at 6.30pm on Saturday. Anyone welcome to join us, let me know if you wanted to come and I’ll extend the booking. You never know who you might meet!
Cheers and thanks for the tips
Enjoy Oldbeer. That route you have chosen via Kiwi Rd is one of my favourites, and Waitaanga Rd is awesome. I would have joined you except that I am working nightshift all weekend. If you ever head this way again let us know, I would be keen to join up as I usually ride alone due to the shift work pattern.
Thanks…I’ll be back. Lots of interesting looking roads I missed. Sitting at Mud Bay Uranus having a cuppa now. Moki had a lot of loose gravel. Kaka was fun. Kiwi was a bit of a surprise. Great before the tunnel and fairly cruiseu after. A good day.
*urenui not Uranus haha
All going well I’m going to invade the ‘Naki tomorrow. I’ve got 3 days to get away and was going to go around Lake Waikaremoana and Gisborne area but rain is forecast there so it’s South West instead to the Naki.
Kiwi Road and Moki Road are my plans as I’ve never ridden them before, that is as long as I can find them, My GPS died a while back so I’ll be relying on phone navigation and following my nose.
I’ll be riding slow and not doing anything more technical as my health isn’t up to it but I’ll probably ride more distance as long as my energy does ok and will look at staying in a doc campsite somewhere.
Hi I’m from Stratford and went through kiwi and moki road a few weeks ago. The roads had been graded before I rode them and had quite a bit of lose gravel but not to bad. I can meet you somewhere and tag along.
Hey Eddie, happy riding. If you are proposing to do kiwi road from the north to south, the turning may be hard to see at first. I found it by setting my odometer from the last intersection (I was using mike hydes book or had got it from google earth, don’t recall which). It was tucked away behind a couple of plies of sealing chip. The road wasn’t blocked but clear sight of it was. I found the ascent from the north a bit of a challenge two up on the Vstrom but you shouldn’t have any problems. All plain sailing after that. Plenty of stock on the road.
Cheers
Richard
Cheers. I’ll probably leave Hamilton mid morning and gently make my way down there via the main road. After doing those I’m heading to Hawera for the night.
‘@Addo007, @Dave Young, @Gerhard Nieuwoudt, @nools, @Dean Saunders
Have you checked out Meremere Track?
‘@Eddieb I’ve set out twice since your initial Meremere Track post to do this track but got side-tracked and ended up on other routes. Will try again in the next couple of weeks. If anyone wants to head out sooner and is looking for some company, just leave a message here on the Taranaki Rides thread and I’ll tag along.
I’ve done Meremere Track going back a few years ago but in a 4wd. I’m pretty sure they lock the gate at the start of the dirt section over winter, not sure the date it opens. Great road for adventure bikes, can be quite rough and has fantastic views. Writing about it now has actually made me decide to go and ride it soon. I’ll grab some photos etc when I do. I remember there being some long steep hills with clay/ papa surface which if it rained would be very slippery with big drop offs off the sides.
I’m up there quite often hunting, the gate at the start of the road is closed through the winter months, fallow deer pigs and goats up there, not going to say where exactly.
Pretty basic track, nothing exciting can do it all in a standard 4×4 easley. BUT if its wet put ya skates on its clay and slippery as f@#k.
Beware of 4×4 yahoos.
I went for a bit of gravel riding this morning and came across the grader working on the roads branching off Wiremu Road leading up to the Egmont National Park boundary (Kahui and Parihaka roads; didn’t check Puniho or Saunders Road). I’m assuming all the lower coastal gravel roads will be getting the same treatment sometime this week.
The sun finally appeared this afternoon and I hit the gravel roads on either side of the Stony River (Hangatahua). As I reported a couple of weeks ago, the grader has been along the roads and now they are a quite loose on the surface but good fun to ride.
Upper Parihaka Road
Upper Kahui Road and the Egmont National Park boundary
I went for a little toddle yesterday to find some gravel for the wee bike and ended up out the Mt. Messenger way. Turning off SH3 at Ahititi I had the choice of going east inland to Ohura via the Tongaporutu-Ohura gravel road or head back south on the Kiwi, Moki and Kaka gravel roads. Kiwi Road won, mainly because I did the Tongaporutu-Ohura gravel road last week en route to 42 Traverse.
Kiwi Road had plenty of fresh gravel laid all the way up to the tunnel and I was pleased to see that very little papa clay was exposed in all the usual tricky spots. Being so dry with summer, I’m sure it would have been just fine to ride two-up on the R1200GS. A huge tree has fallen over the road but it was easy to pass underneath its span without any problem. The gravel from the tunnel down past the farms was nicely graded and the best I’ve see it in years. There are some roadworks going on at the junction of Kiwi and Makarakia roads with some heavy machinery parked up (it appears the bridge is getting some erosion protection from the river).
Moki Road had the same superb gravel surface as Kiwi. The twisty section down through the papa cliffs was just starting to show some corrugation but it was minimal.
Kaka Road was in good shape. This road sees more traffic than either Kiwi or Moki and it was a bit loose over the high country section but had settled by the time it got to the lower farms. There were a few potholes, but they were easily avoided unlike the suicidal goats who found it good sport to run recklessly out from the roadside and directly across my path! Does anyone have a good goat stew recipe to share with me?
There was a break in the wind and rain late on Friday afternoon so I took Whitey out for a leisurely spin on some of the coastal gravel roads and up to the Egmont National Park boundary via Kahui Road. Surprisingly, the cloud pulled back to reveal some new snow on Mount Taranaki’s slopes.
Hi Naki boys and girls. Is there a map showing where all the tunnels are somewhere???
Stop looking everyone, I have found one.
Thanks anyway
See you out there
Not gonna share?
Hi Dsvid
I googled it. Try Wild Taranaki tunnels and you get a list. G maps has some of them if you search for taranaki tunnels though it misses Uruti Kiwi and Kaka (i think).
Andrew (who came to Motu) put a route together. Ill ask him to send it to you.
Cheers, be good to have a route done up ready for my trip over there. I have already done a few on the CT110. Be good to revisit with the 500X.