snodpete

The slowest NZ traverse ever. [3]

Cape day dawned fine and warm - we headed in to Awanui and fuelled up for the final leg north. Northland was looking more prosperous than our collective memories of 15-20 years ago, and the road improved the closer we got to Cape Reinga. There was about 15km of gravel but it was formed-ready-for-seal gravel and the new-ish top end of SHW1 sweeps over hills and around bends as if designed by a biker. The Cape itself has been truly DoC-imated: large carpark with tourist coach only zones, swish dunnies, and uniformed workers. The lighthouse walk begins through an archway ringing with piped birdsong, then winds its smooth wheelchair-friendly way past new plantings and info panels to the lighthouse. On a quieter day it would have been fun to ride down there; that may have to be a winter project. We spent an hour or so there then went a few km back down the road and turned into Taputaputa Bay, finding a campsite under some pohutukawa just above the beach.

Mosquitoes! Unbelievable clouds of them buzzed just outside our tent screens from sunset to dawn; we were keen to pack up and get out of Taputaputa ASAP, heading down a side road to check out Te Paki stream en route. I had considered riding it and down 90 Mile Beach but chickened out at the thought of salt n' sand eating away at the DL so far from home; it will keep ;-). We rode through Ahipara then towards the Hokianga, loved the cafe at Kohukohu and met some friendly Harley riders on the Rawene ferry. We carried on through Waipoua Forest, greeting Tane Mahuta on the way, finally ending up at a wee cabin in the motorcamp at Bayly's Beach.

Memory of the trip home is a bit vague; we still managed to to stay with friends in Titirangi, family near Rotorua and spend 2 nights with friends in Dannevirke. We left the land of Danes in the morning, easily making the 1pm ferry, then hauling up the Wairau Valley and home still in daylight to complete the longest days travel (573km including the Strait...).

Some observations: NZ roads are ROUGH; granted, we were pretty loaded up so felt most bumps, but there are some shitty surfaces, off-camber corners and nasty dips on roads you could reasonably expect to be better. I'm now certain road design is a major contributing factor to our appalling road toll. [NEXT]