Maungatapu Road,

[Dakar]

alright chaps, what can you tell me about the Maugatapu road? i can get as far as Mount Richmond Road on google maps, but no further, theres a few roads that seem to shoot off in all directions around that junction, so will getting lost be an issue?
Whats the road like? any info on the terrain?
is it suitable for the bigger dual bikes?
anywhere to camp out there?
whats the distance? i guess last fuel stop is Havelock

any natives wish to act as guide, i can pay in local currency

anyway, hoping to do this around the new year, but definately in Feb.
so plenty of time,

[Highlander]

Guess this is not what you are talking about? Quite familiar with this one. sealed for its full length and in good condition. Much beeter roads around to ride though. http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&so...5&z=15&iwloc=A

[JATZ]

alright chaps, what can you tell me about the Maugatapu road? i can get as far as Mount Richmond Road on google maps, but no further, theres a few roads that seem to shoot off in all directions around that junction, so will getting lost be an issue?
Whats the road like? any info on the terrain?
is it suitable for the bigger dual bikes?
anywhere to camp out there?
whats the distance? i guess last fuel stop is Havelock

any natives wish to act as guide, i can pay in local currency

anyway, hoping to do this around the new year, but definately in Feb.
so plenty of time,

Guess your coming from the Havelock side ?, you can't really get lost, it's sign posted at that end but the sign can be hard to see.
The roads pretty good but can change pretty quickly, and it's doable on big bikes.
I'm sure if you sing out before you plan on doin it one of the locals'll show you around, might even chuck in a couple of other excursions

[junkmanjoe]

jatz mate.....take me mate daka up the rock slides past the devils boots mate..

[JATZ]

jatz mate.....take me mate daka up the rock slides past the devils boots mate..

Thats a big ask.... I remember it being bloody hard work on MrsJatz f650

[Transalper]

alright chaps, what can you tell me about the Maugatapu road? i can get as far as Mount Richmond Road on google maps, but no further, there's a few roads that seem to shoot off in all directions around that junction, so will getting lost be an issue?
Whats the road like? any info on the terrain?....

There's a line drawn on it on a google map at cooneyr's adv routes site on the South Island Routes page.
The red line is a bit low res on the display but if you click on the track to get the info bubble then right click and save as to down load a route file or tracklog file and display that in google earth or with gps software you see slightly higher detail.
Actually looking at the files now, some of those turns must have been tight enough and with enough gps reflection off the hill side that it looks like the recording rider was doing circles at some points.

Coming from the Havelock end I'd describe it as having a couple of short steep downhills that look more intimidating than they actually are once you're on your way down.

I've even got some of it on video coming from the Nelson end... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w852ZlE_gTY

[Padmei]

It's not as bad as you think. Really just a gravelish rocky rock alternative to coming into Nelson & only 20-30k ish long. If you fill up in picton or Blenheim you'll have heaps left.
Put a post up in the Nelson rideout thread before you come over & we'll meet ya.

[Transalper]

He's on a F650 Dakar, that thing will get to Nelson what ever way he wants to go on the tank of gas he gets before leaving Wellington. lol.

I remember that Balrog when he was just a BusaJim doing it two up in the dark on the bigger R1150GS.
It is nice to have company though.

[NordieBoy]

Put a post up in the Nelson rideout thread before you come over & we'll meet ya.

We may have to add in the Tinline and pylon tracks too

[Dakar]

jatz mate.....take me mate daka up the rock slides past the devils boots mate..

my mum always used to say, (still does i hope) be careful what you wish for! i was hoping you'd come over with us, and Eddie plus all the lower north island lads,

There's a line drawn on it on a google map at cooneyr's adv routes site on the South Island Routes page.
The red line is a bit low res on the display but if you clich on the track to get the info bubble then right click and save as to down a route file or tracklog file and display that in google earth or with gps software you see slightly higher detail.
Actually looking at the files now, some of those turns must have been tight enough and with enough gps reflection off the hill side that it looks like the recording rider was doing circles at some points.

Coming from the Havelock end I'd describe it as having a couple of short steep downhills that look more intimidating than they actually are once you're on your way down.

Cheers Transalper, couldn't get the link to work

[JATZ]

i was hoping you'd come over with us, and Eddie plus all the lower north island lads,

That sounds suspiciously like another NIIOTS

[Transalper]

....Cheers Transalper, couldn't get the link to work

You couldn't,or you still can't?
The whole Adv Routes site works better when using the Firefox Browser instead of Internet Explorer.
Here is a bit copied from the help/support page...

* You can use a wheel mouse to zoom the map in and out.
* Click on each of the routes for a description of each route and a link to download a detailed GPX file. You will need to right click on the GPX file link and select "Save link/target as". With some browsers you will need to manually change the extension to be .gpx.
* The routes shown on this page deliberately included limited detail in that they do not follow the "actual" roads/tracks very well. If you want to see the routes in detail download the detailed GPX files and open them with Google Earth.
* If the route line is wide and transparent the route uses computer generated data rather than real world data, therefore it is not as reliable and extra caution should be taken.
* If you have a GPS receiver the GPX files can be uploaded and used out in the field. See the Web Site to Garmin GPS section below about uploading directly to a GPS from this web site.
* If the route uses field data you can download the file from the "GPX Track File" link. If the route has a computer generated data you will need to download the appropriate gpx file for your GPS receiver. Receivers can generally handle up to either 50, 125 or 250 point files. If you receiver can use more points download the "GPX Track/Route File" and use GPSBabel to filter the file to the appropriate number of points.
* If you have a GPS receiver other than a Garmin use GPSBabel to change the files to the appropriate format for your GPS receiver.

[Dakar]

Cheers Transalper, got the link to work, big help