Philip's Ravings

I went for a ride from the North Shore of Auckland out to Port Waikato today, for no other reason than I haven't been to Port Waikato before.
Port Waikato is at the head of the Waikato river in the Franklin district on the West Coast.

Although a little cool the weather was perfect. The initial trip out on the motorway was your normal motorway trip (yawn).

However the fun starts at Pokeno. The road, while not maintained to the same degree as city roads, was in good condition. Fully sealed.

I very much got the impression in years gone by this would have been a very busy road and key to the areas trade.

The corners are easy and sweeping. Perfect for someone on a restricted licence to practice on (mostly 100Km/h road), or a bit of fun for a more experienced rider.

The scenery on the trip looks great, and is so typical of NZ. You also spend a bit of time travelling along beside water, which I quite enjoyed.

There is an old wharf you can stop off at, and I guess this was once a major point for coastal shipping, but appears to only be used by recreational boaters now.

On the way you pass some big warning signs saying the sand dunes are not a motocross course, and keep your bike off the sand dunes all you will be reported to the Police. I guess they don't like motorcycle riders on the sand dunes then.

The houses in the area are more like your traditional NZ batch. Simple construction. Modest.

Carry further on and you go past a camping ground, and then eventually finish off at a patrolled beach (although probably not in Winter!), and a flash looking fish and chip shop. A great place to stop as the mid-point of the journey.

The ride back towards Pokeno was just as much fun as the ride in. But as soon as I was back on the motorway the fun was sucked away. I just can't get excited about riding in a straight line at a constant speed for long periods of time.