I awoke in Kaitaia at 7:20 a.m., and, as usual, couldn’t fall back asleep due to concerns about what the day held. I’m usually not one to worry, but once I awaken, I’m not likely to fall back asleep on this trip; in fact, I don’t normally begin to relax until I’m underway.
But today, I awoke to SUNSHINE and temps in the mid-50’s. I started a load of laundry, showered, packed, and made my instant oatmeal breakfast. While my clothes were drying, I walked into town and picked up the CO2 cartridges I wanted for my emergency tire repair kit. I finished packing, fueled up the bike, and was underway about 10:15 a.m.
My immediate destination was Waipoua Forest along the west (Tasman Sea) coast. I drove south on Highway 1 for about 20 km of mostly straight road, with a few sweepers thrown in for variety, under sunny skies. This was followed by about 10 km of slower curves (hard to believe the main road from the north to the south – we’re talking State Highway ONE – would be so twisty. Back in the states, we’d just blast the obstructions to smithereens and have another fast-but-boring road). I soon hit my turnoff at Mangamuka, where I jogged over to State Highway (SH) 12. SH12 was even better; almost no traffic, and speeds around 80kph on the straights and 50 in the curvy spots.
I was hoping to catch the 12:00 ferry outside Rawene, and through some blind luck, I arrived about 10 minutes before departure. A 20 minutes ferry ride and about 20 km later enroute to the forest, the clouds reappeared. I stopped to don my full rain gear, and it paid off about 10 minutes later as I again hit moderate to heavy rain. At this rate, I’ll had had so much experience riding in the rain by the end of the trip that I may just try riding across the Tasman Sea back to Sydney….
The rain let up as I entered Waipoua Forest. It was like riding in some sort of computer-generated ancient forest; the trees would form an arch over the road such that you would be driving in a tunnel at times. And none of the trees are anything I’m familiar with, and the ferns are HUGE!
I shortly arrived at Tane Mahuta: The Lord of the Forest. It is the largest living kauri tree in New Zealand, with a trunk girth of 13.8 meters (about 45 feet for you English unit types) and an overall height of 51.5 meters (170 feet). Standing in front of and beneath its canopy was like being in another world.
I rode on toward Dargaville on one of the longest stretches of twists and turns that I have ever encountered in my life; I don’t know the distance, but it must have gone on for at least 20 minutes. By the time I reached Dargaville, I decided to forego the more curvy route along the coast through Ruawai on SH12 and opted for the somewhat longer but straighter SH14 into Whangarei, where I rejoined SH1 down to Orewa Beach (again) for the night.
Tomorrow’s plan: head south through Auckland toward Thames and the Coromandel peninsula and perhaps on to Tauranga and Rotorua. A lot depends on the weather, as they’re forecasting the coldest temps of the year, with single digit highs in some areas of the North Island. I guess I’ll find out how wearing an electric jacket and pants works in the rain.
Motorcycle mileage for the day: 358 km
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