PegLeg

In no time at all we are out of the Valley and up on the ridges, gone are the forest clad roads and shady glades of the Waipua Forest, basking in sunshine, we are rewarded with an initial view of the Tasman sea, I know from previous trips to slow down, there is a rest stop coming up on our left…. pulling in for pictures, I am awestruck at the panoramic beauty that is laid out before me…



We are parked in a large gravel carpark on the hills above Omapere, out to our left is the Tasman Sea, and spread out before us is the Hokianga Harbour…. I'm sorry but I just don't have the language to describe the vista before me… the view of the harbour looks out over Opononi clear up to Motukauri, before turning right and heading further inland. The sun is glistening on the blue water, so still and calm…. and inviting… contrasting against the white sand hills on the opposite side of the harbour inlet, somehow fertile enough to have spasmodic patches of vegetation growing…



Working our way down into Opononi I remember the last time we stopped at the Opononi Hotel for lunch…. a very flash affair under the sun umbrellas on the deck of the restaurant…. I was surprised to find them closed for the winter or at least the weekend…. bugga!!! disappointed, we decide on making our way around to Rawene and sort out some lunch while we waited for the ferry over to Kohukohu.

Back out on the road following our way around the edge of the harbour its just 10 or 15 minutes to the Rawene turn off … the road down to Rawene is nice and twisty with easy corners and a nice surface…. we are an hour and a half behind schedule… its after 1pm and we really do need to get a wriggle on… but the riding and the cold temperatures have taken their toll and I need to eat….

On arriving in Rawene, we glide quietly (well as quietly as a Harley can) through the sleepy wee towns streets to the ferry ramp, to park up and get some lunch….. only to find the ferry pulling in… Bugga, I know what this means…. with my stomach growling I hear myself saying "yep lets get aboard and hook up with some lunch in Kaitaia"…. but in my head I heard the little Hobbit doing a stampy little dance shouting "All I want to know is when am I getting food"…. ignoring my petulant inner child we all agreed to ride on to Kaitaia.





The 15 minutes or so on the ferry was a nice change of pace, the breeze blowing over the Hokianga was fresh and cold… again a reminder that it really is the middle of winter… as the Ferry approached the ramp on the other side of the harbour I donned my helmet and started the Harley with pillion mounted and JJ and Lo leading the way on the Voyager we were off down the road with lunch foremost on my mind….

Following the Kohukohu road out to State Highway 1 at the Mungamuka Bridge I was so focused on food I had forgotten about this next piece of SH1 …. The Mungamuka Gorge… now this is a piece of highway that you want to bag up and take home with you, the kind of road that seems purpose built for motorcycling. The Softail easily handling the corners and the pillion well and truly in the groove we have blasted out way through the tight twisting nicely cambered section of road in no time at all…. Kaitaia…. finally lunch….

A hot cooked lunch, and a couple of beers to wash it down…. I had a kind of panini with hot chips (french fries) man did it ever hit the spot…. I was practically licking the plate clean… There were a bunch of other bikers parked up in Kaitaia, I understand they were riding out of Whangarei, and had been up to the Cape earlier in the day and were heading back down the East coast the following day…. I had been so hungry I had ignored them completely on the way in….

With hot food consumed and well and truly rehydrated… (hick-up) we were off up to the Cape… it was an hour and a half away and we were loosing the light fast… the section of road from around Te Paki north to the cape has only recently been sealed and my last two trips up this road were along a very rural gravel (metal) road…. this time however it was full steam ahead… the only issue was with sun strike with the sun sitting low in the sky on such a clear winters evening.



Seemingly unaffected Dave and Kirsty disappeared into the distance, determined to get photos of the setting sun above the horizon and enjoying an evening out driving in their Goldwing… (with the top down) with JJ and Lo close on their heals… I could feel the tension building in my pillion, as she was struggling to backseat drive safely, with so much sun strike, … so I backed off and resigned myself to arriving at the Cape after sunset.



Now I have been up to Cape Reinga a number of times over the years, but I have to say, If you haven't been there at sunset you just haven't lived….. there is something tremendously spiritual about the Cape for me…. I am loosely related to the Subritzky's and the Matthews Families, who all had a lot to do with the Mission Station in Kaitaia and Mount Camel Station in the 1800's… so there is a significant connection for me here.



So it was the walk down to the lighthouse (1st time I have ever seen it going) I tried to take photos down there but it was just too dark for my phone…



after experiencing the unique feeling of the Cape for a wee while Margaret and i walked back up to the main Carpark to the waiting limousine drivers…. Opps I mean the Wing and Voyager riders were waiting…. now I'm a pretty big guy…. no no its true… I am probably carrying 30-40kgs (88lbs) extra pork, so I was puffing pretty hard by the time i got up to the Carpark…. foolishly instead of taking time to recover, maybe have a cold drink to rehydrate It was straight back on the bikes and we were off back to Kaitaia for dinner….

My challenge here was a wardrobe problem with my contacts…. they felt like sand paper and all the lights of the delineators and from the oncoming traffic…. were star bursting and I just couldn't see…. and the harder I tried the worse it got…. so I just had to slow down and drive by brail maybe between 70-80kms (40-50mph) which was slow…. but I was really struggling…

Concerned, Dave on his Goldwing stopped to see what the issue was… I explained I was having wardrobe issues with my contacts…. so Dave hooked in behind me and helped me out by lighting the way for me all the way back to Awanui where the streetlights and road marker lights lit the way back to Kaitaia …. where it was gassing up the bikes and Hitting KFC for dinner.

At the KFC restaurant I ripped out the contacts in the washroom and put on my specs, the relief was instant ….



I was a much happier camper… from here it was a quick blast out to the Rusty Anchor, unloading the bikes and sitting back giving each other shit about our bikes, over a few coffees…

It had been a huge day for Marggy and I, coming all the way up from Hamz. 713kms (443 miles) for the day…. I was so proud of my pillion, it was her 1st big road trip and she done it easily in the end, thanks in no small part to the new Harley Seat…. We would sleep well all the same though...
Facts and figures

Traveled 713 kms
Put 38 litters of fuel
which is 53 mpg
or 5.3 liters per 100 kms

End of Day 1