New Zealand in 25 Days Part 1

Having a bucket list is all the rage these days so I thought I might as well have one of my own, and on top of the list was to ride around our beautiful country on my own motorcycle. That is from the driver’s seat not the pillion seat that happens all too frequently when Marty and I go on longer excursions. (A cost saving measure my beloved reminds me).
I partially pre planned this trip while we were touring the States so by the time we returned to NZ in January I already had 4 keen fellow travelers. Five, counting Marty. Emails and text flew back and forth between the interested parties, discussing travel dates and possible routes. By the time we had settled on a leaving date and route our initial party of 5 had increased to 9 and at times during the trip reached as high as 14. So here is how it unfolded………………

Two days after my 51st birthday my road trip was finally happening. Maree had left the day before having decided not to do the northern leg but go straight to New Plymouth for some family time and meet up with us there. A big adventure for her as she hadn’t ridden for 20 years and we’d only done about 30 miles on “the Clergy” (a R80 BMW we had borrowed for her). So that left Marty and I to ride to Auckland to the first rendezvous point – John and Heather’s for a light lunch before heading to Whangarei. Heather of course is quite incapable of providing bread and jam so we all sat down to an absolute feast. Thank you Heather you are a treasure. After doing justice to lunch 6 of us headed north. Marty, myself and Hugh on BMW’s, Heather on a Suzuki, Josie on a Honda and John on his Rubber Band automatic Moto Guzzi. Heather gave me a scare on the motorway when she didn’t move into her lane quick enough and ended up between 2 truck and trailer units as the lane ended. I sucked my breath in, pulled one of the trucks back and a potential squashing was averted.
Our first stop was in Wellsford to regroup. John and Hugh had detoured to the Puhoi Pub so we carried onto Kaiwaka and a “work in progress” café for the first of many café stops on the trip.
The plan was to take the Kaigoose (Otaika Valley) to Maungatapere then on to Tim and Beates for the night. Heather decided to break ranks and turn off too soon but I soon rounded her up and we arrived, en mass at our destination. Tim had spent hours in the kitchen and produced a wonderful curry for tea which we had over a few beers, and wines and discussed the next days travels.

After the necessary group photo our party of 8 hit the road. Chaos struck quite early in the day. It was never going to be easy to keep 8 riders, some of them navigationally challenged together but Tim was surprised when we lost the first two before we even got to Kamo. The plan was to gas up here (our two strays elected to do so earlier). Josie and I turned into the first gas station on the left but Marty sailed on ahead. Tim arrived checked on us and headed off with Josie right behind him but I couldn’t get my bike to start and was soon all alone. About 10 minutes later I saw Marty coming back down the road so I leapt up and down, waved my arms and screamed like only a lost soul can all to no avail. About 30 meters from the garage he did a U Turn and rode off. I couldn’t believe it and the air around me turned very blue. I tried numerous cell phones but none of course were on so I trudged back to my bike and contemplated what I would do in Kamo for the next 25 days. But lady luck was with me and after discovering the bike was in a false neutral I was able to sort the problem and get started. Next problem to overcome was the fact that I was now a good 3/4hr behind the bunch and wasn’t sure where the turn off to the Old Russell Road was (had no map) so I decided that I would ride straight up Highway 1 to Opua and meet them at the ferry. I made good time getting there and having checked with the ticket collector on the ferry that no bikes had come across I decided to catch the ferry across to Okiato and meet them there. As the ferry came in I spotted Tim and gave him a cheery wave. I was very relieved to be reunited with one of my companions. We had a wee wait as Heather had ridden into Russell and had to be chased down but eventually all 8 of us boarded the ferry back to Opua. We rode without incident to Paiha where we stopped for lunch. It had been quite a morning and we were all quite pleased to sit on the beach eat lunch and relax. I took the time to go and buy myself a road map.

Tim, Beate, Heather and Josie headed off, Marty and John went to put air in their tyres which left Hugh and I. I knew that Hugh hadn’t been in this part of the country before which is why I deliberately missed the turn off that took us to St Hway 10. I thought Hugh should see the Treaty Grounds and the world famous Waitangi Golf Course before hitting the gravel road that would have taken us – eventually – back onto our correct route. About 5km into the gravel we had a team talk and decided to retrace our steps and take the designated route as it would be quicker. Before we knew it we were on Hway 10 and it was all plain sailing from there. But no, I had one more little surprise for Hugh. We were going to detour into Kerikeri so he could say he had been there. I did consult my map before turning but without glasses I couldn’t really see anything so whilst it looked comforting to Hugh it really was a complete waste of time. He still had tobacco so I knew I was not likely to be murdered just yet. Kerikeri is a nice little town but we just did quick sortie before asking a local how the hell we could get back out onto the highway. We then had a great ride to Matauri Bay where we met the girls at a lookout. John and Tim were back up the road at a pub and Marty had gone on to Wainui to see a friend of ours. I asked Hugh what he wanted to do and he very bravely decided to follow me to our friends although I’m sure he had a mild panic attack when I turned off down a very unkempt gravel road, but for once I actually knew where I was going and we were soon enjoying a lovely cup of coffee with Marty and Larry.

We regrouped at Mangonui and over a few beers half the group decided to stay at a local hotel for the night and the rest (Marty, Hugh, Josie and myself) carried on up the road to our friend Lance’s place. We thought we would be tenting here but with reduced numbers we were all able to find floor space inside. It has not been a very inspiring start to the trip with me darting all over the place. At least I know I can’t get lost going to the Cape tomorrow. There is only one road there and back!

We were up early as the plan was to meet the others at Awanui at 9am where we gassed up before starting on our assault on Cape Reinga. (The first point in our Southern Cross sub ride.) We stopped at Te Kao and in my rush to get to the loo I seemed to forget to use the side stand and both the bike and I ended up on the ground. Tim and Marty came to my rescue and only my pride damaged. Josie’s bike has a smallish tank so it was decided the next stop would be Waitiki Landing – the last gas station in the north. Despite the advertising we discovered there was no gas only a gas station. No choice but to press on and if Josie ran out of gas we would just drain some from one of the other bikes. The last 21 kms is gravel road with lots of roadworks as they are in the process of sealing it - from the Cape down. This posed quite a challenge for Josie and Heather but we all made it safely, walked down to the lighthouse, and admired the view. The meeting of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea is always a highlight for me. On a good day the difference in the water colour is very prominent. We had a photo session before beginning the climb back up to the carpark and heading south stopping at Houhora for a pub lunch. Fortified and the remnants of the gravel washed down with cool beers we mounted up and headed off in small groups. I was riding with Marty and Hugh, Tim and John paired up and Josie, Heather and Beate were the rear guard.

Marty was tour leader of our group so there was no chance for me to go tiki touring and Hugh was relieved to know he wouldn’t have to ride any extra miles. We gassed up in Kaitaia, headed towards Ahipara and into the Herekino George which was an awesome ride. We continued on the scenic route to Broadwood and then on to Kohukohu where we would spend the night. Beautiful country roads but just to test our skills the local road construction gang had created a wee obstacle for us to conquer before reaching the pub. A stretch of roadworks ended with a thick dumping of gravel. I felt the back end of my bike step out as I hit it, so remembering the words of an experienced rider I knew I gave it a handful and shot out the other side. Josie wasn’t so lucky and came off. Beate and Heather were ahead and didn’t know what had happened till a couple of locals stopped and spoke to them where they were waiting for her. They had helped her up and checked she was ok with minim al damage to the bike. She wasn’t a happy camper when she got to the pub but still managed to put on a brave face as she shouted her two rescuers a few beers. She decided then that gravel roads and her were not going to be a happening thing. That would not be a problem as we weren’t planning to do lots of gravel roads and there was alternative routes when we were. It had been a long day so despite staying in the pub we all found ourselves having an early night.

John and Heather left early the next morning as they had a function to attend in Auckland. The rest of us had a more leisurely start not having to be at the Rawene ferry till just before 9am. We stopped at the lookout over looking Oponoi. What a view. It is breathtaking. Next stop was in the Waipoua Forest and a short walk to pay our respects to Tane Mahuta the God of the forest. This huge kauri tree was reputedly the biggest kauri in NZ but in recent years a bigger tree has been found but this is on private Maori land and not accessible to the general public so Tane still reigns supreme. We made a small detour to Kai Iwi Lake as some in the party had never seen this beautiful lake. Marty and I had spent a few days here when we were doing our NZ campervan travels. We followed SH 12 to Dargaville, where we stopped for lunch and met up with Jutla and Joerg, friends of Tim and Beate who were joining us for the next couple of days. The 12 is an awesome road. Very little traffic, great rural scenery and roads made for motorcycles. Before we new it we were at Brynderwn and back on State H’Way 1. We turned off at Wellsford and took the quieter more scenic St H’Way 16 through Kaukakakapa where we had a wee stop for refreshments, then carried onto Northcote and John and Heather’s for the night. Thankfully Marty was leading Beate and I as the new motorway layout was totally alien to us and who knows where we would have ended up. I just know it wouldn’t have been John and Heather’s.