Waikato scooter rides?

[awa355]

Here are a few more photos from my trip.

I had planned on a photo of the inland side of Huia rd but some nut on his mobility scooter crashed the party.



Mark and Ken and the scooters at the Huia Bay store.



Another pic of the waves at Muriwai.



Looking back along the wharf at the end of Wharf rd (obviously)



This chap came up the fence line as I was parked there taking photos. He was bellowing all the way and when at the gate he started pawing at the ground and driving his head along the ground. I re started the GoPro but he had slowed down by then otherwise he would have made a neat vid clip. I was standing behind Buggsy but when he head butted the gate, I had a good look at the flimsy chain and hook so decided he could keep his views of the Kaipara.

[awa355]

I was going to join a ride around Mt Maungatautari this morning but had a couple of jobs that needed to be done before going anywhere. Tasks done sooner than I thought, so decided to go alone on the scooter and check out the Pureora area.
Trundled off out to Parawera and into the Owairaka Valley road. Right into Bayley road and stuck with this road right through to the Ngaroma road. Stopped to enjoy the view and get some photos. The weather at this stage was heavy gray clouds with the promise of rain. So the photos in this ride report will look a bit flat.
The Ngaroma road has a lot of patches prepared for re sealing so expect a lot of loose chips on this road for a while. My mothers family settled at Tolleys road Ngaroma when the first blocks of land was balloted off back in 1912. The Memorial hall was built on the site of the original school building. Many days were missed from attending school due to the state of the roads back then. A trip to Te Awamutu twice yearly was a major highlight (40minutes drive today).



Another photo from Ngaroma on the Wairehi road showing the dry stock farming, slowly being converted to dairy farming.




Out on the Waipapa road and my next stop was at the Mangawhio bridge. Everyone simply races over this bridge without bothering to take in the view over the side. Admittedly, there isnt anywhere to pull off the road, unless you are on a scooter.



My dad used to tell us kids that it took two looks to see the bottom of the gorge so I took two photos over the left side, this is the second pic.



For the up stream side pic I got cunning. I used the zoom function so got the full depth of the gorge in one picture. Beats dads old box brownie.



A bit further on and a stop at the Waipapa dam. This lake is quite pictureque but I’ve done a zillion pictures of the lake, so for this report I have put up a photo of the Waipapa river just before the water enters the lake under the little bridge. There can be great fly fishing further up stream from here, but it is not a river to fish on your own. The river bed is papa rock which lies in a honeycomb pattern. So easy to put a foot down a hole in the rock and snap! One fractured ankle. If that happens, there is no cell phone coverage and you’re a long way from any help.



End of part 1, I’ll start the 2nd part just up around the corner, got a question for the road making experts.

[awa355]

After the dam the road winds uphill over a saddle climbing away from the lake. I stopped to try for a picture looking down through the trees onto the top end of the lake. None of the photos showed very much but I did notice that the rock formation along that part of the road had quite distinct shapes.



The surface appears to be vertical strata layers. Surely these would be a result of the making of the road along the rock cliffs rather than any natural formation?



Moving on and the sun had broken out. The colours of the trees, the rocky outcrops and the yellow of the Broom made a pleasant picture. Tried to capture the moment here but the photo didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped.



At the end of the road in this photo, I turned right into Ranginui road. This gravel road passes through the pine forest and then it is farming country. Sheep mostly, It is easy to see the land was formed by various volcanos and or earthquakes. Lots of sharp peaks and gullys. This is a pic looking across towards the Sth Waikato.



The gravel is continuous for about 10 kilometres then alternate stretches of seal and gravel. The gravel sections were first class. It wasn’t hard to punt the scooter along but with the sun out, scenic vistas on either side of the road, Buggsy and I were in cruise mode. Looking in the Taupo direction.



Towards the end of Ranginui road there is a fragment of native reserve. A number of tall Rimu trees broke through the lesser growth. I should have stopped but this still from the GoPro sort of shows a bit of the reserve.



Shortly after here Ranginui road meets up with the Bennydale road. All up, 22 kilometres, and a nice change from the usual route around through the main roads. My next bit is about the Pouakani Totara tree.

[unstuck]

Great stuff there again fella. Those rocks look a little too uniform to be natural, but then nature is a funny bugger at times.

[awa355]

Great stuff there again fella. Those rocks look a little too uniform to be natural, but then nature is a funny bugger at times.

The road was knocked up before the days of hydraulic diggers so I cant think of any reasons for shaping the cliff banks like that.

[awa355]

Just along from the Ranginui road is a sign acknowledging the Pouakani Totara. From about Raglan latitude south, The Totara tree replaced the Kauri as the biggest podocarp. Not the tallest but for bulk the Totara was a real ‘mans’ tree. This particular tree somehow escaped the crosscut saw and chainsaw.
Anyhow, Buggsy and I pulled up on the knoll that passes as a carpark. It comprises of several old logs side by side in the ground. Once it would have been a loading skid for the logs that came out of the forest. I made a cup of tea from the luke warm water from the crap thermos that I swear I’ll throw out one day, had a sandwich and soaked up the sun. I was a biy iffy about leaving the scooter out in view of the road. You never know when some devious low life motorbike rider is likely to come along and want to ‘upgrade’ his ride. The walk into the tree is about 20 minutes so I figured on being away just under an hour. Fired Buggsy up and rode into the walking track about 15 metres and parked him up in the undergrowth out of sight of the road.



I have walked in to the totara tree about 40 years ago. The track is easy enough to follow and the sun coming through the canopy made for a lovely quiet stroll.
The tree is now fenced off to stop dickheads from wreaking the root system. I tried to merge two photos together to make one of the entire tree. Didn’t quite work but you can get an idea of the size from these photos.







The canopy has had about 5 heads but over the years a couple have rotted away. Still a massive tree when seen in the flesh. A couple of stats; 4 m up from the ground, the girth is 11.3m, the dia 3.6m, 10m up to the first fork and at that point if solid, it would yield 77 cubic metres of timber. I took a short video clip, hopefully it shows the true size of this tree. This tree is estimated to be about 1800years old.



From here I made my way back out and retrieved Buggsy. Leaving here and heading towards Bennydale, the weather ahead looked like it was going to turn nasty. I had a cruise around Bennydale, lots of old unpainted derilict houses. Sad but quite rustic in its own way. The ride back to Tekuiti was a breeze, the rain kept to the west and it was 5k out of Te Awamutu when I finaly hit rain. It only lasted about 30 seconds. All up, 215 k. A neat ride.

[Robbo]

Great ride report and pics, as always Arthur.

Cheers

[Moi]

A great day out. Some beautiful country in South Waikato.

[unstuck]

The road was knocked up before the days of hydraulic diggers so I cant think of any reasons for shaping the cliff banks like that.

http://fooyoh.com/geekapolis_gadgets_wishlist/1477380 Who knows??????????? Aliens?????

[awa355]

A short boring clip of Ranginui road showing the gravel. This is in better shape than many of the sealed back roads in many areas. I guess that over a time frame, gravel is cheaper to maintain than tarsealed roads for some areas.

[unstuck]

There were heaps of really good gravel roads down this way when I first moved here 20 odd years ago, but now we have had the dairy boom, most of them are complete shit. Milk tankers suck.

[carver]

scooters are gay

[awa355]

scooters are gay

What a pointless post.

[Moi]

... to each his own...

that is one spectacular tree...

as for the rock formation, I wonder if it is some form of volcanic formation where the lava flows is formed into 'columns' - similar to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Island. There are some others in NZ, but can't think of where... Mt Cargill, Dunedin - thanks Mr Google...

[carver]

What a pointless post.

what a pointless thread!