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Took a couple of hours yesterday afternoon to have a quiet ride around a few of the side roads on the Te Pahu side on Mt Pirongia. First pic is from Bell road looking towards Mt Pirongia. As I said in an earlier post, sometimes photos just dont bring out the sharp crisp colours of Autumn.

The roads were all in good order and ideal for leisurely riding. The lookout at the forest park end of Greys road is now getting overgrown and although I tried for a couple of pictures, none were worth keeping. Back onto Rosborough rd and the farms on the foothills of Pirongia looked lovely. Gullys of natives trees, and lush green paddocks in the late afternoon sun. I shot up Waites road for a look, found what would have been a fantastic panoramic photo, except some mongrel had gone and started building a new house in front of my stop which would have ruined the picture. Waite road is mostly gravel and going uphill was a piece of cake. Coming back down on 10" rims was a bit more interesting.

Limeworks rd is quite tight and winding. This pic shows some locals attempt to create something similar to the bra fence of Otago or the gumboot fence arount Taihape. Somehow tooth brushes dont quite have the same impact.

Just a bit further along is the Kaniwhaniwha stream reserve. Buggsy took some time out to eye up the trout prospects. I've flyfished this stream up from the bridge without a lot of success.

From the stream the road climbs up onto a ridge. Again, the late sun bought out the greens on the hills and the Autumn colours of the trees.

One more photo before turning into Whitaker rd , The photos dont show the sharp cold wind that was blowing. These roads pass through a lot of lovely country and a scooter gives me more time to enjoy the vistas than a faster machine would.