Waipunga Rd - Minginui ride 20 - 21 Sept

[Creeper]

see report further down........


Bryan (Bvaut form whakatane) & I are planning to ride The Waipunga Rd from Napier/Taupo Rd thru to Minginui (part of Clint's MMMMM) next weekend the 21 & 22 Sept, Depending on the weather (Bryan claims to be a fair weather rider....me too).
I will be meeting Bryan in Taupo12.30pm ish & leaving Taupo around 1pm ish then thru to Waipunga Rd, onto Minginui. Ride a few of the tracks around there then continue a short distance towards Waikaremoana to camp over night in a basic DOC hut up a side road. Then off home sunday via Whakatane.
We both will be taking tents with us as there is a chance the stream we have to cross to the hut may be in flood if so we will camp out in a nearby spot.



All welcome to tag along.........

Cheers Dave

[CrazyFrog]

I'd love to join ya, but I'll be doing it Thurs 25th before the TTTT leaving Taupo on Friday. Have fun anyway, I'll look for ya roost tracks.

[Creeper]

will be meeting Bryan in Taupo at 12.30ish, leaving about 1ish......weather looks good for the weekend & with no rain for past week or more, stream crossing to hut should be fine

Dave

[bigfish]

Took my 2850 Torana over that creek in flood 30 years ago.Ended up in toitois 15 metres down stream.My muffler is probably still there.Got a Deer though. Have a great ride. I would love to join you one day.

[Creeper]

Just a quick report on the ride Bryan & did on the weekend
KLR all set ready to go (pic 1)
Meet as planned mid day in Taupo, we both found it very hard to move from the cafe/bar - very relaxing in the sun with a Stella or 2!
Managed to drag ourselves away & made it to the Waipunga Rd turn off at about 2ish. Had no problems finding our way the maze of roads & tracks...all of which were in great condition(pic 2) . Had a quick blast up Whirinaki River Rd (pic 3), nice ride thru all the native.

Then thru to Minginui, on down to the main Rd & on to Mid Okahu Valley Hut (pic 4 & 5) for the night.
It got a bit cold so Bryan got a small fire going…..but he forgot the marshmallows!

Next morning it was back up to Minginui to check out a few more tracks & local sights……hoped to see a beautiful woman bathing under the waterfall but it must have been to cold or maybe not the right area!

Checked out the Whirinaki Recreation Camp, a DOC run camp with 3 cabin each sleeping 10, massive outdoor cooking/BBQ area (firewood supplied). Could be a good base for future rides.

With Bryans XT starting to run on vapours it was time to head for Murupara for gas ($2.30 p/litre). The KLR was good for another 150ks so I decided to gas up at Edgecumbe after a run thru Matahina forest.
As it turned out there was no need to stop for gas as the Kawa only took 13 litres……still had 8 litre left in tank after 290ks

We both had a enjoyable ride with no problems or hassles…….would be keen to do it again with a view of exploring some more tracks in the area.


Cheers

Dave

[spookytooth]

Minginui has some great tracks/roads.I used to do the 100 mile doc rides alot, plus spent many a weekend just blasting around the area I would have to rate that area as some of the best off roading riding around

[marks]

nice photos

great place to explore


some klr questions if you don't mind....

are you happy with your HT crash bars?
do you use the highway pegs?
do you put the soft panniers straight onto the plastic side covers?

cheers


Mark

[Creeper]

Hey Marks, crash bars are from KLR650.com. only just fitted them before the ride, but happy with them over the weekend. has not added any more vibrations to bike. You have to use their ali skid plate & engine crash bars to make the whole system work.
I did use the highway pegs every so often, more to just give one leg at a time a bit of a rest.
I had a bracket made to keep bag of exhuast, it seemed to help bag sit better so I had one made for other side, also coverd side covers with heavy stick on plastic

any other questions please ask.....

Cheers

Dave