Devious East Coast Goodness.

[Delphinus]

Planning on a wee trip up the north island in summer (prob feb) to visit some family, and want to make the most of it. Was thinking of coming back via the east take a few days to enjoy it, and was wondering where are the good roads, what routes to take, where to stay the night etc? (Backpackers etc)

Looking at covering plenty of km's, but not too extreme, maybe 6 hours a day on the bike.
Going from Warkworth prob via coromandel, east cape, maybe castle point.

Will be on a sprots bike so tar baby only please.

Suggest me!

[clint640]

That's a good run, just hug the coast as much as the tar will let you all the way down & you'll be sweet!

Cheers
Clint

[Delphinus]

Cool thankyou. This is the plan so far. Google Route (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&daddr=Manurewa+to:brookby+to:orere+to:miranda+to:c oromandel+to:Whitianga,+Waikato,+New+Zealand+to:Mo unt+Maunganui,+Bay+of+Plenty,+New+Zealand+to:Hicks +Bay,+Gisborne,+New+Zealand+to:Gisborne,+Gisborne, +New+Zealand+to:Porangahau,+Hawkes+Bay+New+Zealand +to:Masterton,+Wellington,+New+Zealand&sll=-36.938916,175.12207&sspn=1.738632,4.328613&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=-37.952861,176.275635&spn=3.43031,8.657227&z=8)

[vifferman]

The bit from Warkworth through Pukekohe is pretty boring - try Manurewa - Brookby - Clevedon - Kawakawa - Orere - Matingarahi - Kaiaua - Miranda instead. Much nicer.

[Delphinus]

Good thinking thankyou. Updated.

[JimO]

what happened to your 2fiddy in the end

[Delphinus]

After blowing it up (ran the big end bearing) I just last week ended up selling it to whats-his-name at SPV. Got a good price for it considering the work it would have taken to get it working again then try and sell it like that.

[Maha]

Cool thankyou. This is the plan so far. Google Route (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&daddr=Manurewa+to:brookby+to:orere+to:miranda+to:c oromandel+to:Whitianga,+Waikato,+New+Zealand+to:Mo unt+Maunganui,+Bay+of+Plenty,+New+Zealand+to:Hicks +Bay,+Gisborne,+New+Zealand+to:Gisborne,+Gisborne, +New+Zealand+to:Porangahau,+Hawkes+Bay+New+Zealand +to:Masterton,+Wellington,+New+Zealand&sll=-36.938916,175.12207&sspn=1.738632,4.328613&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=-37.952861,176.275635&spn=3.43031,8.657227&z=8)


Are you staying here in Warkworth Delphinus?...are you planning on riding up or buying a bike up this way to ride home?

[Delphinus]

Nah its a round trip thing. My grandparents live up in warkworth.Route Up (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Dunedin,+Otago,+New+Zealand&daddr=Christchurch,+New+Zealand+to:Palmerston+Nort h+to:wanganui+to:taumarunui+to:Opunake,+Taranaki,+ New+Zealand+to:Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand+to :Kaitaia+to:Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&mrcr=7&sll=-38.505191,176.154785&sspn=6.807642,17.314453&ie=UTF8&z=6&om=1)
Wanna join us (might be riding up with a friend) to show us your roads up to kaitaia?

[Maha]

Nah its a round trip thing. My grandparents live up in warkworth.Route Up (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Dunedin,+Otago,+New+Zealand&daddr=Christchurch,+New+Zealand+to:Palmerston+Nort h+to:wanganui+to:taumarunui+to:Opunake,+Taranaki,+ New+Zealand+to:Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand+to :Kaitaia+to:Warkworth,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&mrcr=7&sll=-38.505191,176.154785&sspn=6.807642,17.314453&ie=UTF8&z=6&om=1)
Wanna join us (might be riding up with a friend) to show us your roads up to kaitaia?

Shit yeah no worries, im sure i can scrape together a few join in on the trip North of here, hopefully its a weekend.

[Delphinus]

Shit yeah no worries, im sure i can scrape together a few join in on the trip North of here, hopefully its a weekend.

Sounds like a plan. I'm sure I can work backwards to make sure I'm there over a weekend.

[Delphinus]

Is Warkworth to Kaitaia a 1 or 2 day thing if you are taking interesting roads?

[Maha]

Is Warkworth to Kaitaia a 1 or 2 day thing if you are taking interesting roads?

Could be a big day if you take the 'long' way...thats out through Dargaville/Waipoua Forrest/Opononi etc... you would the best part of the day for that taking in stops. To give you some idea from here to Kerikeri is about 2 1/2 hours without a stop and straight up SH1 (which is all that bad a road really)

[Delphinus]

Could be a big day if you take the 'long' way...thats out through Dargaville/Waipoua Forrest/Opononi etc... you would the best part of the day for that taking in stops. To give you some idea from here to Kerikeri is about 2 1/2 hours without a stop and straight up SH1 (which is all that bad a road really)

So if you wanted to enjoy yourself do it over 2 days?

[jafar]

So if you wanted to enjoy yourself do it over 2 days?

Give yourself 3 or 4 days to really enjoy it, there is a lot of nice roads & places of interest to see

[Maha]

So if you wanted to enjoy yourself do it over 2 days?

Several ways to get to Kaitaia ...Sh12 through the Waipoua and back onto SH1 and up through the Mangamuka Gorge (which i understand is the bomb!) havent been that way myself. Another way is SH1 onto SH10 to Kerikeri (should really see the stone store while you up that way) through Mangonui (where they have the best fish and chip shop so they say!) then onto Kaitaia...Or just take SH1 all the way...have a look on Wise's maps

[Maha]

Give yourself 3 or 4 days to really enjoy it, there is a lot of nice roads & places of interest to see

Thats it...you can get there easy but will miss so much and should really have a look around, even get over to Russell, just because you can! Go up SH1 and 10 (west coast) then come back Sh 1 and 12 and take in some East coast

[yungatart]

We'll prolly be able to offer you a bed for the night while you're in Napier, if you wish.

[jafar]

Thats it...you can get there easy but will miss so much and should really have a look around, even get over to Russell, just because you can! Go up SH1 and 10 (west coast) then come back Sh 1 and 12 and take in some East coast

Mi'lady & I toured northland for a week in march & I know we didn't even scratch the surface. Great place to ride , Russell is neat , Paihia sucks,the ferry ride between them is great & cheap too.Kerikeri is good, Mangonui fish shop is over priced ( & over rated).
The run to north cape is so worth it, we went up on my CB 1300 & had a ball. Taipa? pub serves up a good feed :-)
Kaitaia is a rat hole, couldn't get out of there fast enough,Suzuki dealer there is good though, very friendly & helpful.
Mangamuka's would rate 10 out of 10, west coast is so much to see too.

[Matt Bleck]

You could easliy do the East Cape in six hours, stay at Opotiki or Whakatane, go around the top thru Hicks Bay/Te Araroa then on to Gisborne and stay there the night.

Make sure to get gas at Opotiki then again at Te Araroa, that should then get ya to Gissy no sweat. :niceone: