Great road: Coromandel to Whitianga

[Monkeyboy]

The road from Coromandel town to Whitianga, my god.....last time I was on that road it was unsealed now it's like a roller coaster, absolutely amazing.

[avgas]

yes indeed, my old stomping grounds - used to have to swing a camry round there for the service team

[Trudes]

Yep, it's funny when I read or hear about people riding that road, when I lived up there they were in the process of sealing it, bit by bit and over several years, and always have to stop and remember that they have sealed it 'cause unless you had some kind of adventure bike, there is no way in hell you'd want to ride your precious road bike over that shitty road. Can't wait to do it myself now that it is rollercoaster like and smooth as a baby's bum! Don't suppose anyone knows if they are ever going to seal the 309 road?

[marty]

would be too much work to do the 309 - it's just not wide enough, and there's no good reason, what with 25 being done now. at pace on 25, whitianga-coro can be done in the same time as taking the 309 (23 minutes blue lighting it.) whiti-coro via sh25 could be done quicker on a bike, but i don't know if that same bike could get over the 309 in its current form

[Trudes]

That would be true Marty.
I was told that the 309 would never be sealed for reasons of keeping the 'loonys' off it, makes sense I guess. Shame though, loads of nice things to see up that road (awesome water hole and waterfall to jump off, Kauri groves, yummy restaurant etc), I guess those are for cage dwellers only.

[Motu]

There is always Tapu/Coroglen.I'd hate to see those two roads sealed,the Coromandel/Whitianga one is bad enough.I seldom go down there now with all the traffic - doing ''the loop'' has become a frivalous activity like a bungy jump.Before people who went to those places knew they had some serious driving and difficult roads to contend with.Now it is a game park.

[Monkeyboy]

I hear you. I was part of a group of 5 when we rode that road early December. We are from Christchurch and did a 10 day tour of the North Island, went up to Paihia via Dargaville and Kaikohe. The only criticism I have was that the closer to Whitianga you got the worse the tar seal bled throught the road. Don't think I'm being picky, we get it on the Christchurch to Akaroa Road (State Highway 75), in fact I rode to Akaroa two days ago and it was really bad near Hilltop for any mainlanders reading this.

Anyway another great NI road is the Taupo to Napier Road, the highlight was riding on one of many downhill passing lanes trying to keep the needle on 100 km/h and watching this little shit in a old BMW320 fly past us like we were standing still only to have picked up by the fuzz 'round 'corner. Being on a Fireblade it was tempting to chase the bounder but I'm bloody glad I didn't! I can see why there are lot of accidents on that road. Just one more plug, the road from Warkworth? to Hellensville, fantastic apart from the roadworks and a cow that was blocking our lane on a blind corner (good thing we were just moseying!!!!) completely deserted, once those roadwoks are completed it will be ace!

[What?]

When I was a local, I longed for the day that the Kouatunu track (SH25 Coromandel to Whitianga) would be sealed. Now it's done, I wish they'd left it gravel.
Oh well...

[Blackbird]

The road from Coromandel town to Whitianga, my god.....last time I was on that road it was unsealed now it's like a roller coaster, absolutely amazing.

The Coro to Whitianga road is truly superb. I went over it 4 times last week. The last time was to meet KB member Keith the Pom and his wife who were in the area and we came back to our place in Coro for lunch. A really nice couple by the way. Keith's wife Ellen took the attached photos of me from the back of their bike. No mean feat with all those twisties!

[scracha]

Coro for lunch. A really nice couple by the way. Keith's wife Ellen took the attached photos of me from the back of their bike. No mean feat with all those twisties!

Faak....one handed pillion on that road? Ellen must surely be a brave bunny and have 100% confidence in Keith's steady throttle hand.