Befuddled, we press on. We pass an intersection and soon after come across the first signs of life we had seen in a while. We spot two men on the deck of a rickety house sporting excellent examples of mullets. Their fence is the kind you see at construction sites. Ba-da-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding....Motorbyclist calls out to them, "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know where SH3A is, would you?" Their laughter wasn't the most assuring response. They point us back the way we came, instructing us to follow the signs to Waitui (wherever that is...) and from there we would find signs back the the highway.
The road to Waitui was certainly more interesting than SH3. The road still has no centerline. We come across a one way tunnel; we weren't exactly worried about oncoming traffic...the only car we see is from the 80's and is on it's side up against a couple of trees, covered in weeds and rust. The FXR presses on. We come around a corner and nearly collide with a horse, who promptly rears up on it's rear legs and neighs. "Neeeiiighh!" we politely reply.
Eventually the centerline reappears. We come across an intersection, with traffic! In the distance we see the coast, and decide to carry on. A few minutes later, a miracle! We come across SH3! The one hour trip only took us a few hours.
We pay the tubes factory a visit: clearly this is where the internets are made, as well as lolcats. But somehow the visitor center made the internets boring and we decide to finish our adventure.
Our next stop is Mokau, and we visit the Tui tavern. Unfortunately the bartender isn't there so we head out again. SH3 is boring and repetitive compared to our misadventures from earlier. We come to a stop in Te Kuiti for a well needed coffee and rest, and manage to waste an hour. The sun is going down and we spot a truck with the slogan "Momentary Lapse of Reason" emblazoned on the side. A more perfect description of our trip could not be found.
By the time we were past Ngaruawahia night had truly fallen, which meant bugs of all kinds were on the roads. The headlights of the FXR aren't exactly impressive, but the light was enough to attract enough mosquitoes that motorbyclist ended up covered in them. SH1 brought us cheesecutters on either side and the worst road surface we had experienced the entire journey. The sign for the Southern Motorway whizzes by...at last we were back in auckland! Desperately needing a break we pull off early and pay a visit to Squiggles, who duly informs us we are late. Our argument? We took no more than 5 days; exactly how long we planned for.
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