Welli to Auckland

**Toast** · 17th February 2006, 22:08

Big shout out to the Welli Massive here...need some advice...

I'm flying down to the lovely capital tomorrow to pick up my new ride.

I was looking at the road map on wises.co.nz, and if I recall correctly, highway 2 leaves Welli...I'm also feeling up for a bit of Coro loop loving, so I'm thinking the following rough ride route...

Highway 2 from Welli to about Napier...

Highway 5 I think is somewhere around there...head to Taupo...

then I think from Taupo it's number 2 to Coro...

then, ofcourse, hit the loop and hit it hard...and head back to Aucks absolutely exhausted, and hopefully still sitting on the bike.

Major concerns are: a bit of twisty stuff but don't wanna take more than 10 hours...and also preferably fewer cops.

Any other suggestions on a route back? I'm pretty set on doing Coro, but if anyone knows a cooler way out of Welli, I'm all ears.

Cheers y'all

**skelstar** · 17th February 2006, 22:11

Head to Wanganui via SH1...err then Wangas. Head straight up through the Paraparas to Taumaranui. T through to Ngaruwahia via twisty stuff west of teh Tron. Across to the Coro from there?

Thats the route Im going to take for the U2 concert anyway.

What new bike?

**Slingshot** · 17th February 2006, 22:35

I'm guessing here...but I'd say that Wgtn to Auck via the Coro Loop is going to take well in excess of 10 hours.

**Colapop** · 17th February 2006, 22:58

If ya want to do a "Rumble in the Jungle" ride (east coast to Auckland)
Ya straight up state highway 1 to Levin, before Levin you take the turn off onto SH57 (back way to Palmy.) After Linton there is a turn off (right turn again) which will take you to the Manawatu Gorge. Through the Gorge onto SH2 - Woodville, Dannevirke and Norsewood (which you'll go through/under). Or you could go up through Upper Hutt over the 'Taka's all the way to Woodville. Turn right at Woodville to Dannevirke etc. Take the SH50 turn off through Tikokino (used to be a great pub) to Fernhill and Napier. Through Napier either take the turn off just north of Napier to Taupo or carry on straight through to Wairoa and Gisborne - SH2 all the way through to Opotiki, Whakatane and Tauranga. You know your way from there? Either take SH29 through the Kaimai's or follow SH2 up to Waihi. SH2 joins up to SH1 and hey presto Auckland!!

**Colapop** · 17th February 2006, 23:11

some more maps .. bigger ones

**Fatjim** · 18th February 2006, 06:51

You guys are full of shit.

Take SH2 over the tukas. Just after Ekatahuna there's a turnoff to Mangamaire, take that over the pahiatua track, from there go to wanganui and up over the Paraparas. Turn right at National park and go up the WEST side of the lake. Turn right at Whakamaru but left straight after the dam to Tokoroa. Awsome road on a big bike. Left at Tokoroa onto State highway 1 and right at Tirau and head for the Wiahi wither by Matamata or Tauranga and then off the the coro loop, or not as the case may be.

In there you get
Rimutakas- Twisty with poos corner, we might even see you off.
Pahiatua Track - Twisty
Paraparas- Twisty, twisty and twisty
Western Lake to tokoroa - REALLY fast corners for about an hour
Kiamia's, Kinda like the rimutakas.
Coro loop, lots of gravel and Auckland drivers

All empty with very few cops. Except maybe the Kiamias and the Coro Loop.

Plus about 20 mins of State highway 1

**cowpoos** · 18th February 2006, 07:19

if you do HW2 to napier....turn off just after norsewood as you hit the takapau plains....HW50...you can do it flat out... I've never seen a cop after the tiko pub...and I used to ride that road 4 times a week for 2 and half years...

oh....and watch out for the red painted armco on the north side of the taka's..... cowpoos corner....

**Bonez** · 18th February 2006, 08:46

Rumour has it there's a nice bit of m/c road to the right of Masterton through Alfredton, Pongaroa, Porangahau, Waipakuria on upwards.
Of course it's only suitable for the decerning rider only

**nadroj** · 18th February 2006, 09:24

I'm with Fatjim on his route. Good variety and not too tiring. You may find you've enjoyed yourself enough you may even skip coro.

**Toast** · 18th February 2006, 22:10

Hey guys, cheers for you advice

I actually left home at 6.30 this morning, so didn't see all of it unfortunately. It would've helped to have a good look at it all, but with 3 hours sleep (Friday night living in Akl CBD) I wasn't in fine form in the morning.

I'd like to tell you all my exact route back, but I didn't really know where the hell I was going half the time. As best I can though...

Got in to Welli on the plane at 8am, picked up by Paul, the dude who owns Motoitalia, who sold me the bike. After all tying up the sale (dunno if Paul's on this site, but he was a legend), I visited my bro on his Volvo boat (bit of a bonus), and then headed for highway 2 at about 11.30am.

I went through the Rimutakas, saw a posse of bikes (a yellow one and a modern Kwaka in green amongst others) but didn't take much notice, as I was concentrating on making this bike last longer than the last one...especially as it was my first time on a bike in over 2 months.

That was a pretty decent bit of road. Lots of passing lanes (on corners

), so easy to keep the flow on. After that I just followed Highway 2 until I got to Eketahuna. I think from there I took a side road with a sign saying 'Palmerston North'. That was a really nice little bit of road actually, probably the best part of the trip. Kinda weird though, 'cos from the maps that Colapop posted, I can't see any bloody side road that connects to Palmy...so maybe it was the town after Eketahuna...anyway, I was having tonnes of fun getting to know my new baby.

From Palmy it was mostly SH1 back, whcih was maybe a mistake 'cos it was infested with cops...especially Desert Rd, where they just go up, do a U-turn, then come back again, and presumably repeat.

I did turn off SH1 and go through Matamata back to Akl though, which was a lot more interesting. Especially when a dude in a Hyundai with a radar detector flew past me, making the trip a whole lot quicker from that point.

Coming the last 70kms in to Akl bored me shitless as usual.

Anyway, overall a great trip. The weather was perfect, and Lake Taupo looked unbelievably beautiful. A shame about the marathon thing they had on, which turned it in to crawl...at least I could just up the middle on the bike.

Being on a bike again made me remember why I bother with these things. I was starting to forget the feeling of riding. I could remember all of the good times, but was starting to think that I don't really need another bike after all. Well, getting my boogie back on today fixed all that..haha

**Toast** · 18th February 2006, 22:16

Originally Posted by Bonez

Rumour has it there's a nice bit of m/c road to the right of Masterton through Alfredton, Pongaroa, Porangahau, Waipakuria on upwards.
Of course it's only suitable for the decerning rider only

You mean it's gravel? If so, stuff that!

**Toast** · 18th February 2006, 22:19

Originally Posted by cowpoos

if you do HW2 to napier....turn off just after norsewood as you hit the takapau plains....HW50...you can do it flat out... I've never seen a cop after the tiko pub...and I used to ride that road 4 times a week for 2 and half years...

oh....and watch out for the red painted armco on the north side of the taka's..... cowpoos corner....

That woulda been good. I wanted to test the top speed, so was planning to go via Miranda, but ran out of time in the end.

I got 240 + a bit at one stage from a 6th gear roll-on on my mate's private disused airstrip, but it wasn't pulling that hard by then. Maybe I need to take it through 5th then 6th to get a bit more out of it.