Kaipara Head and Pouto Point ride

**paturoa** · 1st February 2009, 19:33

Bumped into NZKTM & a buddy of his on a 950 in Dargaville on Friday arvo at the supermarket as they were heading off to Pouto.

The family and I went back to Kai Iwi and then went for a ride on the beach from Omamari. We had a blast down the beach almost to Bailies and most of the way back again when one of the kids bikes, KX80 stopped (fouled plug). I went back and got the ute and trailer and was pickig up the kids and bikes when a couple of KTMs came up the beach.

Wandered down and it was them. They had had some "fun" too but I'll let them tell you those stories.

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:37

So, where do I start..?
I guess, thanks for one, thanks to all for providing the information on tides, beaches, where to go and what to look out for...
Did it make a difference?
We had a ball, the trials and tribulations of two guys heading out to the Far North with the adventure in mind, the Dakar fresh in my mind and here I was thinking that it doesn't look that bad.....

Riding on the beach at high speed and lifting, carrying, repairing the Motorbikes, packing, unpacking, navigating etc etc...

Here is the story!!

I woke nice and early and packed the bike the night before, it was like the night before Christmas, no sleep and Santa had arrived. The holiday had approached and I was heading out for a few days away with Brett and his 950 Adventure and me on the 640 Adventure.

The morning of the ride...

We started at approx 0730 and headed straight up the Motorway, cutting in and out of the cars and making sure there was enough room for the bags on the back. Did I check that out? Of course I did...
First stop was Kaukapakapa for a much needed coffee and muffin. Brett had a few issues with the fuel, it sort of emptied out of one side only. This of course meant that his range was slightly reduced but we figured out the problem once we got to Dargaville, more on that later....

Wellsford for fuel and then straight up to Brenderwyn and then onto Dargaville.
We found some great roads just out of Maungaturoto, these took us north and around the countryside to places called Aruarua and Tokatoka, metal all the way and fantastic! It was dry, dusty and empty!

We found ourselves at Woolworths in Dargaville and who should walk up and say gidday but Brian...aka Paturoa. He gave me invaluable information on Kai-iwi lakes and access etc and he was getting some food for the family when we had pulled into the car park.
The timing was a little off as we were early and the tide was not going out until a few hours later, but we thought what the hell, ride down to Pouto point nice and slowly and then we can have a bit of a rest and wait for the water to recede....
Brett got on the blower to Thames and spoke to George about the fuel issue and it seems that he had taken off the fairing to clean the bike (Brett) and crimped the fuel hose by mistake putting it back on....

This was a simple fix and we sorted this out when we got to Pouto.

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:39

We arrived at Pouto at about 1530 and went down to have a nosey at the beach. It looked a bit soft, so we waited until 1600 or thereabouts before giving it a crack....lol
Needless to say, we got it a bit wrong but I guess the timing was on our side as it was always going out...So, if we sort of got a bit stuck, or went over the bars a few times because the wheels just stopped in soft sand, then it wasn't going to be an issue. Time was on our side...

I guess the idea was to try and hit the hard sand and it was there, not there, hang on, it is over there....BUT.....
These bikes were a little heavy, so was the jockey and Mark hit the Deck first, followed by Brett a few moments later.

He he.....I got mine out and it took a bit of grunting, sweating and sheer skill...lol Brett had taken a dive which was worth a mention in dispatches and we then man-handled the whale out of the sand so it could swim back to the Southern Ocean....Whoops! I mean we dug the KTM out of the sand and we mounted up, carried on at a more sedate pace.....

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:40

Somehow we made it to Glink Gully.
This where things went a bit haywire....

I went North and Brett went left, he could smell beer and crashed a party thinking it was a bar....The locals were very accomodating, invited him in and he sat there merrily getting re-hydrated while Mark and the KTM disappeared into Dargaville via Red-Hills Road....
That wasa great ride and I thought that if he went ahead then we could at least meet up in town somewhere.
I ended up at the pub too, we sort of mentioned a need for a rest stop and the locals at the pub said hello and they even showed concern for my lost friend.....HA! He was onto his third Steinie by this stage and I was downing a Tui leaving messages on the phone.....
Anyway, I eventually thought that we would meet at Kai-iwi and headed towards Baylys beach to finish the ride North now that the tide had gone ALL the way out....(or I thought it had)

Here I was heading down to Baylys beach and a lone KTM came around the corner, Mark and Brett had found each other and we had a bit of a de-brief, found out what had happened and now that both of us were nicely re-hydrated headed off to Kai-iwi and the beach exit Omamari.

At this stage the tide was nicely out but unfortunately there were still a few deep rock pools and I mean DEEP! up the beach....
Have you ever wondered what happens to a KTM 640 doing 120kph hits a DEEP rock pool? Hmmm?
Well, it stops and the rider doesn't!

You see, Brett had gone to the right up the beach and I thought the left looked nicer, at one with nature, in a nice sort of way. I was really at one with nature, the bike had landed on me, I was trapped under the water and KTM had the right bar up in the air waiting for the Surf Rescue squad. It came eventually, Brett helped life it off my left leg and we walked it up the beach to survey the damage.
It had fallen on the left, went right under as I did too and there was no real noticeable damage except the left indicator had broken off the stalk. This had happened before and was a simple fix at camp.

It fired up straight away! Can you believe that!

The lights all had a mind of their own and the oil light was showing, this was a bit of a concern, but it turned out to be just the water getting in from the dunking! Brian was up the beach and he kindly gave me some oil and Thanks Mate!
We were away, I had a ton of sand inside my jacket, helmet and pockets, the Ipod had exploded, the phone had gone to Davey Jones locker but I was happy! I was alive but shaken.....

It took me a little while getting organised, pitching the tent and drying out. The bikes got a rinse at the lake and I fixed the lights and surveyed the rest of the damage, namely to myself.
I had broken the visor, cut my forehead and was a bit sore on the right wrist.
A good nights sleep was needed and the next morning we were heading to Rawene to meet up with Scott and Scott, DRZ and Africa Twin buddies.

Next morning we were up nice and early and headed up the coast to Waipoua forest and took a gander at Tane Mahuta!
What a beast. We contemplated riding down the boardwalk to get a photo of the bikes under the tree but walked instead, one at a time, we needed a bit of security just in case things went missing. Apparently there is a gang of rogue possums there breaking into cars and stealing things....
Hmmmm

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:42

As you can see it is a big Mother! The roas was carved through this forest and the trees were amazing. We hit the highway nice and early so it was clear of traffic and the bends were very tight in places.
Opononi and Omapere were next and then on to Rendezvous for breakfast at Rawene with the boys.

Looking down to the Hokianga with Omapere and Opononi to the right.

The ferry left at 1030 and that gave us time to woof down a big breakfast add a couple of injections of Caffeine into the blood stream. We kicked a few tyres, told some yarns and compared scars as you do....
Scott and Scott (for the purposes of the story these guys will be DRZ and Africa Twin)
These guys knew the roads and had planned a great adventure winding all the way to Kaitaia.

The water there isn't from the bike....Well, it might be, I swallowed a lot of ocean the day before...

Africa Twin headed home and the three of us went up the highway to Cape Reinga. The tide was a little high so the idea was to head back down the beach later on that afternoon.
The guy at the top said we could have ridden to the lighthouse, that would have been cool but we decided to walk and snap off a few photos before heading to Te Paki stream.

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:43

The dunes were enormous and the stream was great fun riding right down the middle. The sand was hard and the day was glorious.
I got the the beach and the hoons were there pulling wheelies and power sliding like they had just been released from their cages!

Once Brett and Scott had blown off some frustration we headed on down the coast.

A de-brief was held and the night turned into a bit of a laugh, telling stories and comparing bikes and trying to work out which is the best all rounnd adventure bike on the market.

Couldn't come to an agreement there, so we hit the fart sacks, the next day was going to be a biggie!

Mark joined us in the morning, so we had 2 Mark's and we dropped a Scott....With me so far guys?
The idea was to ride around the area, criss crossing metal roads and eventually ending back at Scott's where we could spend the night.
Scott took us all over the show, through forestry, metal roads and it was wicked! Wait till you see the bill he said...

Oh, I forgot, I broke down...
The water had finally got into the electrics and when I turned the key on it just fored away by itself and kept doing it. I think the pin in the solonoid was stuck, so we took it apart and I had to plug it in everytime to fire the girl up.
I ended up using the kick start and got this under control very quickly. I used this for the rest of the trip. Starting the 640 is very easy...Who needs a button....

My choke lever was also a little stuck, bike was flooding, stalling and not running right.
This took all of 40 minutes only! Tank off, seat off, tools out and fixed. What a pit crew and thanks to all. The bike was just pissed off from nearly drowning the day before!
It hummed along nicely after that and the rest of the trip it purred.....

This was taken inside Omahuta forest. The road wound around and inside the forest and eventually came out near Puketi forest near Kerikeri.

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 10:45

Fish and Chips, petrol and a ride home though a wicked metal road near Bay of Islands college. This took us all the way south through Ruapekapeka and we ended up near the Whananaki coast road.

Scott layed on a Barbie and thanks guys for putting us up for the night. The waterblaster was used and we had nice clean bikes for the ride through Auckland....lol

We found a great road through Kaipara Valley and followed the ridge all the way through to Mt Auckland. Took the road all the way back through Helensville, then back to civilisation and home to Te Aroha....

What a trip!!
It was a little over 1600km for myself and this was done very easily. It could have been more if I took a little more back roads but this was ample. I saw some great roads and we will be hitting those and more in the next few weeks. Northland has some great exploring country, particularly for adventure riding. The metal roads are vast, open and empty!

Cheers to Brett, Scott, Scott, and Mark! Thanks for helping to get the KTM underway again, it really is an easy bike to work on.....

**paturoa** · 3rd February 2009, 16:35

Fantastic time then!

Great photos.

Where did you stay at Kai Iwi? I came to find you and offer you some cold beers but I couldn't see you anywhere. There are actualy 2 camp grounds at Kai Iwi, I'm guessing that you were in the other one (western end).

What was the story with the oil level?

**ducatijim** · 3rd February 2009, 16:44

Wow....never thought 1 could get into soooo much trouble there!!!!......I said a 'kid on a pit bike' could do this, easily?

Note to self....' never, Never, take this guy to outback Oz'

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 16:57

Originally Posted by ducatijim

Wow....never thought 1 could get into soooo much trouble there!!!!......I said a 'kid on a pit bike' could do this, easily?

Note to self....' never, Never, take this guy to outback Oz'

Right...
Rapiro can be trickier, but thanks for the comment.
Anyway, part of the fun was the falling, the digging.
Which guy? Me?

**Waihou Thumper** · 3rd February 2009, 16:59

Originally Posted by paturoa

What was the story with the oil level?

Yep, oil level was fine, it was the electrics playing up...
I had neutral, high beam and the oil light at one stage. By the time I got to the sunnyless north, all was sweet...

We stayed at the other side of the lake....Damn! shoulda thought about that but we didn't know there were two different camp sites....
Thanks for your help Brian!