Gremlin's Tall Stories

So the previous two weekends had seen me pop up to Cape Reinga to visit the Northern Exposure Tour and then East Cape, to finally see the lighthouse I needed to visit on the Southern Cross in mid-March.

As the West Cape was also on the Southern Cross, it made sense to see that too, as a previous West Cape ride I had cut short, due to leaving a little late in the afternoon (and subsequently exploring the gravel around the Forgotten Highway as well).

Departing Auckland in the afternoon again, a fill in Takanini at 3.15pm would see me right until the New Plymouth area, so I used SH1 until Ngaruwahia, and turning into the back roads saw a shiny BMW, complete with rider in BMW suit. Bit of money there…

Back roads south were uneventful, using SH39, except I got into the groove so much I completely forgot to turn off for my first exploration road. I was several kilometres down the road past Waitomo when I started wondering when I was going to turn off. The GPS had started giving me weird instructions, then I realised I had to turn off on the Waitomo Caves road. A quick U-turn and shortly the GPS was happier.

I’ve done some of Te Anga Rd before, back in 2008 for the Grand Challenge and loved it, this time I would go through all the way to Marokopa. A detour to explore Speedies Rd confirmed it was gravel, and I hated that road. A very high crown, a right hander and being on the edge of the road resulted in using the shallow ditch for a braking zone, as I didn’t feel like leaning the bike over at 20-30kph on the dodgy surface. End of the road found, back onto the main route, the road was very quiet. So quiet in fact, that the (presumably) locals don’t see many people, as a motorbike coming towards me had a scantily clad pillion, no helmets, and bombing along at a decent clip. Each to their own I guess.

Heading south from Marokopa the road was very tight, winding its way up a hill, with great views of the coast and town. There were a couple of vehicles on the road, and I was wondering why it was so quiet and yet so awesome. This was answered a short while later by the road turning to gravel. No problem for me, but explains the lack of use. Hard packed, easy riding, maintaining a pace between 50-100kph for most of it.

Back on the main drag of SH3 at Awakino, I detoured several times on the way south exploring most of the side roads I knew were a dead end, like at Tongaporutu. Up and over Mt Messenger, time was slipping away at a rapid pace with all the exploration. Mt Messenger was a very mixed bag of fresh hot mix in fantastic condition, and the rest in prep work for proper sealing. Reaching Urenui I was glad for my big tank, as the gas station was already shut, and I had planned to fill there to be safe.

There was still gas sloshing around, so I headed down SH3A, but at Inglewood I got side-tracked again, heading west to head up Egmont Rd and visit North Egmont. Unfortunately dark was already descending quickly so the view wasn’t the best from the viewing platform. I didn’t bother switching to the clear visor yet, so rode with it partly up. The big screen on the BMW is fantastic for this, deflecting a lot of insects and bugs up and over allowing me to look just over the top of the screen in relative safety.

Back to Inglewood, down to Stratford, and another side track before Stratford to go to East Egmont. This was a much tighter climb up the hill, with several switchbacks, made more interesting at night, and I was still yearning for my extra lights. I was met with a massive gravel car park at the top, but found a grassy knoll next to the toilets to have some fun on, climbing up and down it… minor, but can’t do that on a sportsbike very easily.

Back down the hill to Stratford, I was reasonably lucky to make it there alive. Heading down Pembroke Rd I believe, I was just tipping into a left hander around 100kph, when I saw oncoming cars. This in itself is fine… except I could see 4 headlights? Briefly I wonder at how this works, but with the closing speeds the answer is all too apparent. An arsehole is overtaking another car IN THE CORNER AND HE’S HEADING STRAIGHT FOR ME I reach for the brakes as hard as I can, the road is narrow, and there is no hard shoulder, just grass and a ditch. I go left, as close to the edge of the road as I can, still hard on the brakes.

I believe the car being overtaken saw a lot of this occur, and I can only believe they also braked, went left, and the overtaking car probably missed me with a metre to spare, as I saw a flash of their vehicle in my headlight, up close. Thoughts of chasing after them and meting out some justice only occurred a couple of km down the road, after I had starting breathing, patted myself down to check I was intact, and reflected on how close it was.

Back to Stratford for an evening stop of gas, food, drink and to calm my nerves at 10pm. 28L poured into the tank, consumption wasn’t too bad at 5.5L/100km. This ride was a touch under 1000km, so I didn’t need another fill to return to Auckland.

Heading out of Stratford I took Opunake, initially getting caught by a car dithering about whether or not it should turn at intersections. I figured Opunake Rd would be quiet, being a Saturday evening etc, unfortunately, someone else found this out the hard way, having a wee chat on the road side. Exiting onto SH45, I headed north, finding Cape Rd and shooting down to the end to find the car park and lighthouse. I enjoy watching the big beam revolve around during the night… so inexorable and regardless of what everyone else is doing… its going around and around keeping ships safe every night.

Back on SH45 again I passed through New Plymouth and Waitara, ready for a reasonably boring trip north. Outside Waitara and before Urenui, I come across a car stopped heading south, hazards on. No-one else has stopped (and there was a bit of traffic) so I U-turn and ask if they are OK. Its three bros and a white chick, and they aren’t sure if they have run out of gas or water in the radiator. Odd issue, but it does turn out they only filled with a little gas here and there.

I offer to collect has for them, as being late at night, the only 24hr around is back towards New Plymouth, at Shell Waiwhakaiho. We’re about to do that, when one of them rings a mate, and he’ll bring gas. They say their thanks, but really, who leaves people stranded in the country at night?

I carry on, happy they are being sorted, and on the way north almost have another close call. I observe an oncoming car heading round his left hander at quite a pace, and then he almost runs wide on the exit. I had already started breaking, but on reflection realise that due to our positions, if he had lost it, I couldn’t have avoided him. Sobering…

I chuckle passing through Te Kuiti, as I always had to fill there to give me under 200km to home, now there is no need.

Just under 1000km travelled, home in the early hours, but happy to be alive after the closest calls I have had for a while.