NZ_2019...The Missing Link

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
As per the extensive planning-thread, this trip was to close the final gap in a 3 decade-long collection of routes, roads, places and highlights that will bind me to Unzud forever.

The "Greater Wairarapa"....or better, the Wairarapa, the Manawatu, Southern Hawkes Bay and the southern tip of the North Island, Cape Palliser.


In hindsight, nothing has changed though... I'll HAVE to go back with more time at hand to do it properly.
Like with any other part of the Shaky Isles!

While the fortnight was no-where near enough, it allowed me to cobble together a solid variety of routes (plus extras!) to finalize the 14.500km Trans New Zealand ADVroute which is really barely a scratch on the place, but gives plenty of choice for the overseas tourist ADV-rider keen to get off the well-trudged tourist (and even ADV-) routes.


NZ-Essentials : Here


ADV-Routes here (12 sections) 14.600km


Just for an overview...Auckland to Cape Palliser, the shortest way.

https://isn.page.link/HPqz


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While those were some of the results, there was still a fortnight's ride involved to close that final, missing link and tie the routes of the 2 islands together via a 3400km loop.

And so it went...
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
A long ramp up had produced a long line of crew-changes for various reasons along the months of prepping, leaving a smaller-than-intended group of 4 in the end, with Hans taking over one of the "vacant" bikes to run his own ride during the same time-slot.

This time there were various hook-ups planned with locals along the way, most contacts through the AusTouring and ADVrider forums.

Being familiar with the capricious NZ weather patterns and able to pick alternative routes at the drop of a hat while maintaining overall progress, choice-routes and targets proved invaluable once more as we finished up with only 3 mornings of rain/ drizzle and 2 overcast days throughout the fortnight, the rest being "patchy blue+sunny" while some parts of NZ drowned in 1100mm of rain...and bridges, plane-hangars and roads washed away, dozens of tourist coaches stranded etc....no whingeing here.

With Ant flying in from Kuala Lumpur, Hans from Vienna the day before and 3 Melbournians in one lot, there was "some assembly required" before the riding started.

Richard (Oldbeer), an Auckland Local, had offered to smooth out he edges and "grease the wrinkles" by renting a people mover to pick us up from the airport and playing chauffeur the next day, showing off some of the local North-Auckland highlights, ultimately dropping us off at the bike-rental depot for the bike pick-up.

Can't thank you enough, friend!! Many, many thanks for the guided tours, the pick-ups, carting-a-bunch-of-Aussies around on a sightseeing tour and putting up with a solid 24hrs of the "Western Accent".
Another lot of thanks for the night of laughs and yarns at the Bushmans Grill ....which also goes for Hakan and his lovely wife from EnduroTouring_NZ who have been a MAJOR supporter of the AusTouring NZ rides over the last decade. Love you guys!!...and it was great to catch up again.

:cdle:lao




Piccie-time...
...and thanks to Ant, that's a double-serve!!

:chug:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Some of the culprits getting warmed up... if there was something like that place in Melbourne, Apple's latest Iphone addicts would rot with envy in their sleeping bags... :glu


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42 taps of craft-brew!!!! Suck on a mouldy sock, Australia! :chug:
And that's before the exquisite knowledge of the guys behind the bar!

I'd call that the best-kept secret in Northern Auckland.


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All that in a rear-block factory-building along some main road....and the food-van is doing the bar-boys proud, too. Great tucker to go with the brews.




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I like this joint...


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Oooops....I DID say that all the above was about halfway to the pub/ dinner/ excellent tucker/ laughs and a great night out at the Bushmans Grill in Hillcrest, only 2km from the Bike-Rental-Depot ? :wink:
Some things just fall into place, aye?

L-> R "Saint"-Doug playing coy, Europe and Asia (Hans+Ant), Famous/ Teflon -Rog, the drill-sergeant, Mr. Enduro-Tours Hakan and his "partner-in-crime".:thumbs:


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Local, bike-buddy, guide, book of knowledge and funny guy...and awesome Mr. Fixit!! Aka, Oldbeer/ Richard :chug:


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No idea what Doug's praying for though.... :whistle:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
"Richard's Aussie-Tours" was smack-on-time for the Saturday morning pickup :bow:...and with the neighboring Tauranga Tigers female Softball team still in their last party-throes from the night before we were cheered off the Motel forecourt under grey skies.


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Which didn't last for too long :)



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While not too sure about the actual route taken, I'm certain of the places Richard got us to. I bet he'd rather been on the back of a bike through those twisties of the Waitakere Ranges, though....


https://isn.page.link/wt7D

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Tight, narrow and a 1000 bends, the dark, green tunnel through the coastal bush allows occasional glimpses to the coast.
Nihotupu Dam sits just above the shores of Manukau Harbour.



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Arataki Visitor Center



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Next Piha Beach...
.... along the "Black Sand" Westcoast, what a beaut little spot!! :glu



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Time for a gander....



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What nature comes up with...."Godzilla-Rock" ?


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Another look from above on the way out....


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We owe you, mate


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Just a few k's further south and down another 100 steep + tight bends is Karekare Beach.


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The Leftovers of last night's public Christchurch-Massacre Memorial Gathering are more than sobering.... the simplicity and location only add to the sadness.
:bang:



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But there is also life and colour at the beach


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Time to return to base and pick up the "wheels" at Te Waipounamu HQ, using the rest of the afternoon to rig the bikes and pack our bundles for an early Sunday morning start.


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Sir Francis

Displaced person
Some of the culprits getting warmed up... if there was something like that place in Melbourne, Apple's latest Iphone addicts would rot with envy in their sleeping bags... :glu


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42 taps of craft-brew!!!! Suck on a mouldy sock, Australia! :chug:
And that's before the exquisite knowledge of the guys behind the bar!

42 taps pffft sounds like they ain't even in the big leagues....crikey Pete you need to get out of Kilysth a little more....heaps of groovy houses of beer around Melbourne....maybe if you had a smart phone there's even an app for it....:bs
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
With the essentials out of the way (and an anxious eye into the skies for the first of the promised rain...) we're getting in before the crowds roll up.


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RAIN?? Nobody told me about frickin rain!!


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Gotta talk with someone about that one!!


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Got that sorted...got the "WeatherGods-App" loaded.... whaddayawannaknow?



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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Listening to the pelting rain and swishing car-tyres in the brooding morning-grey wasn't really the start hoped for...the MetService website kept waffling about a fine day with the occasional shower. Sure!
Through the watery curtain there were some fleeting lighter moments to the south for a minute or 2....hmmm. A delayed start then, quickly ducking into the fruit shop next door for a coffee and a bit to eat.W-)


When rain turned to heavy drizzle it was time to go and make some tracks before the rest of Auckland had the same Sunday-morning-idea. With freeway-signage worse than in The Balkans and quickly increasing traffic it was a fast push south, clocking a quick 120km to leave city and suburbs behind....and make up some of the lost time.

Barely onto the Harbour Bridge the rain had stopped, too....the MetService was right after all :thumbs:


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https://isn.page.link/RP5a


Through the backblocks on narrow and bumpy country lanes, swapping tar for gravel occasionally, and then back again, the skies cracking into white+blue....
we were cruisin'!



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A quick stop for a little breakfast top-up.... :D



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A missed turn-off led up the hill amongst heavy traffic on SH36 to the Te Pu Gorge and back into heavy rain again... which then seemed to push us along for the rest of the afternoon, a wall of black behind us.


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Lake Rotoehu


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A witches' grave? Saw that little pier too late and didn't quite make the corner on her broomstick?
Shit happens, aye?



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Bonus points to the Eastern end of the Manawahe Rd., a dream-like cruise on damp gravel along the flank of a hill covered in deciduous trees and falling leaves....

And while at it... Tapapa Rd.....despite it's signage of "no exit" (dead-end road) at both ends, the tiny asphalt strip of bike-path dimensions DOES go through while winding it's way through a narrow farm-valley and over a shallow ridge. VERY picturesque, GOLD!

https://isn.page.link/oxfP


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Cozy cabins at the Thornton Beach Holiday Park give a chance to fix a few niggles on the bikes, dry out the gear and take stock of a pretty full first day.


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
More sleep broken by hammering rain on the tin roof of the cabin.
Then a light drizzle for a few minutes to glimpse the small offshore island...

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A half-dry run across the backcountry hills (what view??) into Opotiki and up the coast to the start of the Motu Rd.....

Game over!!

The blackbellies above start to unload, the fine drizzle turns to a soft, heavy soak....and the hope to catch the feint- light patch in the sky is destroyed by every turn of the Motu, tacking into yet another side-valley, climbing up the drenched and dripping coastal ranges, slipping and sliding on the wet, rocky steps in those sharp, tight bends into the soggy shroud of more rain.

While the road is in basically good nick, this is just not the place to farkup...and get away with it.


Fog blanks out the next bend, the jacket weighs an extra 5kg with all the soaked up water, the Goretex-Klims leak like a sieve and the icy water trickles down the inside of the leg into the (waterproof!!) boots from a ever-deepening pool around the family jewels. I'm getting too old for this "fun"...


https://isn.page.link/qN7K


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Matawai finally serves up the first 10 minutes of "DRY"!! Whoo-bloody-ray!!....and Hot Chocolate....and a major stream-line of the afternoon route as we have lost a big chunk of time on the Motu Rd.


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A narrow channel of daylight to the south-east promises a dry-ish run down the SH2 towards Gisborne.....we'll take that, thanks!
Hooray!! ...Northern Hawke's Bay serves up a hotchpotch of "black + blue" (skies!)... and some of the soaked gear starts to dry out.



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Hackfalls Arboretum, a beautiful little place in a small side-valley with a great rollercoaster dirt-track for the in+out.


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Even if it wasn't for our planned turn off the main road, Te Reinga Falls are worth a look.
2 rivers merge just above the 35m drop...

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...and thus starts the best part of the day:

The glorious loop through Kokotea Station (see: "unnamed road" in the next map) fabulous gravel with incredible views, the odd sheep, dog, feral cat and deer amidst the backcountry hills and ridges with the growing shadows of a late autumn afternoon.
:drool::drool::drool:
 
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