New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Taupo was a one night affair although we had talked about staying longer. The weather again.
Destination Stratford via The Forgotten Highway.......I was going to say that I can’t remember anything about it but that would have been a very poor attempt at humour even going by my own low standards.

State Highway 43, The Forgotten Highway. A Wow! for sure. A narrow twisting road crossing bridges and climbing steep rocky hills, add in a 15km gravel section, a gorge, a cup of tea with a big old cookie, a Canadian couple on a Goldwing and two NZ residing Dutch guys on bikes and you get a proper day out.
A day made for motorcycles. A day that tells me that although we’re about done in NZ there is still roads worth riding. Days that say ‘that’s why I ride a bike!’

Stratford saw us in a cabin on a very peaceful campsite. The heater was a welcome addition, as was the en-suite. I’m done with shared facilities for a little while and as the main season is behind us, prices are very reasonable.

Wednesday morning went by somehow, tea, toast, washing, chatting. It was 1pm before we got on the bikes to go for a ride, just for a change you know......we did a loop around the volcano (extinct I think) that dominates the area. Mount Taranaki. We got to see it without it’s usual cloud cover too, which was nice.

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Views from The Forgotten Highway.
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Another day, another ride, another campsite, another cabin.

From Stratford to Otorohanga. I set the TomTom to shortest route and it delivered a cracker. A short bit of main haighway towards New Plymouth and then off across country. Narrow roads without a centre line. Fields, hills, space and no traffic. Just that feeling, the wheels turning, passing through the crisp clean air, no rush, no push, no shove. Lovely. Not a Wow! of a place but a Wow! of a feeling.

Unfortunately Sarah wasn’t quite getting the same experience from her ride. Some days just don’t cut it. Yesterday morning was one of those. A decent cup of tea and a bite to eat helped a bit but she just didn’t have the Wow! day that I was having.
Rejoining State Highway 3 we trundled along up and over another pass, through a gorge or two and got to Otorohanga at about 3.30.
The cabin is small, clean, has an en-suite and is cheap. The railway is close by and we’ve heard more trains in one night than we’ve seen in months. The walk to town for supplies involved crossing said railway. I didn’t encounter any trains and I managed to see and avoid the big dog poo in both directions too. Nice!

Friday is here, the cabin is gradually being heated by the sun. Today we are going to go to The Kiwi House. Feeding time is the time to go by all accounts. It’s the easier place to see the elusive Kiwi bird.
I’ll let you know.

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

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Mount Taranaki and a view from the side of State Highway 3 heading north to Otorohanga.
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by DavidS »

Great stuff and a great memory jerker for me.
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by DavidS »

Did you go up Highway 5 towards Rotorua from Taupo?

The original was built by the forces in a rush and there is a great display in the cafe around halfway.
The first bit of road is brilliant twisty canyon and them opens out to wild moorland.
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

DavidS wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:45 am Did you go up Highway 5 towards Rotorua from Taupo?

The original was built by the forces in a rush and there is a great display in the cafe around halfway.
The first bit of road is brilliant twisty canyon and them opens out to wild moorland.
No we headed west from Taupo. Shame as we like a cafe or three...
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Well, I’m laying here in the tent and thought that it’s time for an update. Things have been going well, we’ve been having a good time, I just haven’t felt like writing anything.

So, The Kiwi House in Otorohanga. We saw a Kiwi in the ‘moonlight’ room. The birds are nocturnal so they have made the display night time. It works, we saw one.
But as usual we came away feeling a bit down about the whole thing. Animals in captivity. I’m sure good work is done too but it just seemed a bit depressing.

The next day we rode to Whakatane. Again the TomTom did us proud on the shortest route setting. Taking us on small roads away from traffic. Rolling farmland, hills and forest. Another interesting, if you like bridges, single lane suspension bridge.
Needing fuel we headed into Rotorua. It seemed to get busy as soon as we got to the outskirts of town. Petrol was purchased at a Mobile station and my Smiles card saves us $1.54......don’t knock it, it’ll pay for something, if only 3/4 of a litre of 91 octane fuel. That’s about 12 miles for one bike. 😁

Our lack of enthusiasm for riding in a city saw us head back out of town and carry on towards Whakatane. A strange lunch was found in a winery cafe. It was strange because the waitress seemed to struggle to understand what I was saying. I thought that I was speaking slow and clear but one of the meals turned up completely wrong so maybe I wasn’t. Never mind.

The next three nights were spent in a super motel in the outskirts of town. We spent the days wandering around town, yes we went to the supermarket just for a change......Countdown is definitely better than Pak ‘n’ Save in our experience.
I think we ended up covering about 10 miles on foot, not quite Camino mileage but nice all the same.
We seem to talk about walking a Camino again quite a bit......it’s on the list of adventures for the future.

We’d been told that the peninsula with Hicks Bay at the top of it wasn’t really worth travelling around, there isn’t much there we were told.
Luckily we went anyway.....

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Leaving the motel we went and had a look at Ohope Beach and it’s Top10 campsite.
We could feel camping coming on!

From there we headed for Opotiki and then up to Hicks Bay. Known as a remote place on the North Island it didn’t disappoint.
Traffic was very light, apart from the logging trucks. They’re heavy.....

The day was a Wow! another day that we both agreed was a day that showed why we ride bikes.
We covered about 120 miles which isn’t a lot, but it was just so nice. No rush, no pressure, just bimble along enjoying the twists and turns. The sun sparkling off of the blue sea. The clouds of steam rising from the volcano on White Island about 25 miles off shore.
Luckily we’d decided to stay in a motel rather than camp as the couple of ‘holiday parks’ that we passed looked a bit run down.

The location was perfect for an overnight stay, a walk along the coast, a dip in the ocean.....not for me, it looked far to cold.

Hicks Bay, nothing there really. But what a place to go.

Two happy people, two happy bikes.
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