Northland Ride day 1

**jafar** · 19th March 2008, 22:10

The plan was to head off up into Northland for our 1st Wedding anniversary.Scalping a long weekend by taking Friday & Monday seemed like the best way. Check the bike , load the gear for 4 days away from home, send the kid to grandma's

, Sabs has a car to drop off in the city on the way through so the first part of the ride is solo. Pissing around in town on a loaded bike isn't my idea of fun but it is soon over & we are northbound over the car strangled spanner & topping the tank @ Dairy Flat BP before we hit the road to our first pitstop. Mom & Maha-man's to catch up on the gossip (tis ok mom I won't mention the rat

). A few laughs & on to Paparoa & Hospitalfood's abode for coffee.All too soon we have to hit the track towards Dargaville & parts further north. The road is a mixture of good winding road with nice corners to off camber potholed resealed nightmare bends that keep you on your toes. Cruising into Dargaville we hit the first rain of the trip on the straights ,soaked in seconds it came down that hard, then just as quickly as it came it was gone & the sun was out. We were dry by the time we hit town.
The ride from Dargaville to Waipoua forest is nice , oddly the road is wet but we didn't get rained on, the showers up here were short but heavy. Dodging them gets to be a trick. Found a side road a few k's into the Waipoua forest that leads to a lookout tower, well worth the detour, the views are fantastic, the only downside was the wasps that also call the place home,by the time we got back to the bike there were dozens of them hanging around it, they seemed more interested in the bugs that had collected on the bike than us.
Waipoua forest is just too nice to race through, you have to take it easy & cruise it, Tane Mahuta is a definate highlight of the forest, parking nearby & toilets as well, riding through between Giant Kauri trees is a unique experience too. The run through the forest leads to Waimamaku & a Brewery, well thats what the map said , couple of grotty buildings & a bend in the road & it was all over.

1st stop was kinda pencilled in for Omapere or Opononi , nothing in Omapere so we zipped round the corner to Opononi & the fush & chup shoppe, the place is crawling with pushbikes & worse, they have taken all the acommodation in the area

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The nice lady @ the fush & chup shoppe was only too happy to take my order then process the eftpos transaction before telling me there would be a wait of at least half an hour, that was clever of her, now i'm stuck there & can't go next door to one of the other eateries

Food was good & worth the wait, trouble is that now it is getting dark & we are miles from the next town.
Rawene has many things to recommend it for the passing biker,not least of which is the Masonic Hotel, this place has 'character' & a good bar/eatery, the upstairs is hotel rooms & reasonably priced too. Out the back is the best place to be, beer in hand watching the ferry crossing the Hokianga from the deck is priceless.