Waihou Thumper
23rd March 2009, 19:35
I awoke nice and early and saddled up the KTM. I had a route planned but I was soon to see the planning and the exploring can be two different things.
I was heading around the King Country and it included some of my favourite roads.....
Tikitiki, Huia, Ohura, Middle, Ranginui, Pukerimu etc etc...
I sort of got lost a number of times....I had a GPS, get lost you say? How the F can one get lost with a GPS?
Well, not lost but side-tracked. I wanted to see where I could and could not get to I suppose...
Hmmm...
:rockon:
The day was a beauty! I headed out and went around the Arapuni Dam and then headed to Wharepapa and Ngaroma vicinity. I found a good paper road, it was all of about 2km long....lol I got all excited thinking this was going to be a great road but it brought me back onto the main road sharpish....Oh well...
The highlight of the morning was Ranginui road and Taupaki road near Whakamaru....It was a long twisting metal road and went right into the heartland of Pureora area....Ranginui was awesome, straight, through bush and on the tops of the Landcorp farms....
Tikitiki road would have to be a perfect dirt, metal road that winds the way through to Pio Pio from the Taumarunui-Te Kuiti road...
It is bordered by Polars, tall ones and the road begs to go fast on, seriously....
Until you come around the bend and see this...:shit:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20800
You can see under the bike, it shit itself in fright......
There were thousands of them. I parked up and had a chat to the farmer, nice bloke and he was full of enthusiasm about wanting to know where I was heading....
Sorry bout the photo quality, the camera was set to manual and the bloody thing over exposed every shot, dammit!
I rode to Aria and then went on a tour of Barclay road which the GPS told me it went through the valley....I sort of knew something was not right when it said no exit, but Hey! You gotta satify your cravings right?
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20801
This is what confronted me, but it didn't stop me....haha:banana:
I didn't get far though but it was a great track, up and down and I really needed the smaller trail bike to really explore the land. I might have been tresspassing me thinks so turned around and headed to the other end of the co-ordinates....
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20803
The track was cool!
I liked this shot and it was totally accidental on account of the over exposures...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20802
Ohura road, Waitewhenua, Huia etc were their usual awesome non existent traffic and nice and fast twisties and I fueled up, just topped up the behemoth a few litres as I was headed into the unknown....
Off towards Raetehi, Middle road and the back of beyond, two dead ends and great scenery....
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20804
Still, it was fun and I had all day and a tanker of gas under me...
I went into Erua forest and had a play and then sort of came home direct as I was getting stuffed...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20806
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20807
I said to myself, that if this is a dead end and I cannot get through, then I am going home as I am running out of time.
Sure enough, the GPS told me to do a u-turn, that in itself tells me there is something not right....
When I got home and had a look at the map, there are more routes inland that end up at the Erua road near National park, I will check those out next week and really get myself deep in the boonies...
It was a fun day and I covered over 780Km which was easy really as I took the direct route home, 47-SHWY 1 and through the back of Morrinsville...
This makes sense as it gives the bulk of the time to really expore the region at the height of the day before your get tired...
There are some steep bends, off camber turns and you need to be awake, not buggered at the end of the day!
It was a fun day out and I am looking forward to the KC ride next month. I am not sure what roads we will be travlling on but guys, you will have a blast, it is wide open out there and the scenery begs you to stop....
Alas, you got Km's to ride, so don't stop for too long will ya?
I was heading around the King Country and it included some of my favourite roads.....
Tikitiki, Huia, Ohura, Middle, Ranginui, Pukerimu etc etc...
I sort of got lost a number of times....I had a GPS, get lost you say? How the F can one get lost with a GPS?
Well, not lost but side-tracked. I wanted to see where I could and could not get to I suppose...
Hmmm...
:rockon:
The day was a beauty! I headed out and went around the Arapuni Dam and then headed to Wharepapa and Ngaroma vicinity. I found a good paper road, it was all of about 2km long....lol I got all excited thinking this was going to be a great road but it brought me back onto the main road sharpish....Oh well...
The highlight of the morning was Ranginui road and Taupaki road near Whakamaru....It was a long twisting metal road and went right into the heartland of Pureora area....Ranginui was awesome, straight, through bush and on the tops of the Landcorp farms....
Tikitiki road would have to be a perfect dirt, metal road that winds the way through to Pio Pio from the Taumarunui-Te Kuiti road...
It is bordered by Polars, tall ones and the road begs to go fast on, seriously....
Until you come around the bend and see this...:shit:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20800
You can see under the bike, it shit itself in fright......
There were thousands of them. I parked up and had a chat to the farmer, nice bloke and he was full of enthusiasm about wanting to know where I was heading....
Sorry bout the photo quality, the camera was set to manual and the bloody thing over exposed every shot, dammit!
I rode to Aria and then went on a tour of Barclay road which the GPS told me it went through the valley....I sort of knew something was not right when it said no exit, but Hey! You gotta satify your cravings right?
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20801
This is what confronted me, but it didn't stop me....haha:banana:
I didn't get far though but it was a great track, up and down and I really needed the smaller trail bike to really explore the land. I might have been tresspassing me thinks so turned around and headed to the other end of the co-ordinates....
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20803
The track was cool!
I liked this shot and it was totally accidental on account of the over exposures...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20802
Ohura road, Waitewhenua, Huia etc were their usual awesome non existent traffic and nice and fast twisties and I fueled up, just topped up the behemoth a few litres as I was headed into the unknown....
Off towards Raetehi, Middle road and the back of beyond, two dead ends and great scenery....
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20804
Still, it was fun and I had all day and a tanker of gas under me...
I went into Erua forest and had a play and then sort of came home direct as I was getting stuffed...
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20806
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=20807
I said to myself, that if this is a dead end and I cannot get through, then I am going home as I am running out of time.
Sure enough, the GPS told me to do a u-turn, that in itself tells me there is something not right....
When I got home and had a look at the map, there are more routes inland that end up at the Erua road near National park, I will check those out next week and really get myself deep in the boonies...
It was a fun day and I covered over 780Km which was easy really as I took the direct route home, 47-SHWY 1 and through the back of Morrinsville...
This makes sense as it gives the bulk of the time to really expore the region at the height of the day before your get tired...
There are some steep bends, off camber turns and you need to be awake, not buggered at the end of the day!
It was a fun day out and I am looking forward to the KC ride next month. I am not sure what roads we will be travlling on but guys, you will have a blast, it is wide open out there and the scenery begs you to stop....
Alas, you got Km's to ride, so don't stop for too long will ya?