Charge Of The Midgets!! New Zealand's Northland 2014

asphalt

Tassie...where tyres are flat and nights are long
Shit weather ... but enormous pictures for wish to visit this Island a soon as possible.
Thank You!

Grouse (just to confuse our Asphalt man) pics there Pete and Goodie.
:clap:

Man ...... :killingme

O yeah...., better than a night in the wild, with all these stuff... like sandflyes, scorpions, copperheads and ........ :bs
 
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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Did you leave your cards at home?

Didn't load 'em up enough to actually buy the joint, ratz!
But the place DID come with a couple of French WWOOF'ER (google) girls in their early 20's W-):whistle:

Brochure material :photo: .

Thanks...nice spot, too. :so
Better stuff coming up soon...


Why did I agree to change next year's plan and go to US instead of New Zealand?!!! :sick:


Hmmm, yeah, bugga! :bs



O yeah...., better than a night in the wild, with all these stuff... like sandflyes, scorpions, copperheads


C'mon...you had your fun!
Wait until the good weather shows...we did actually get some of that, too.
:chug:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The old wheelbarrow outside has gone from bone-dry to holding a 6” pool of water.

Ducking out into the semi-dark between lazy drips and more pelting showers, the Andy Strapz panniers seem to have fared only a little better than the Steel Ponys, there’s water in all of them and it’s a battle to get the gear into the “lounge” without getting even wetter along the way.
Things just don’t feel right....the warm, sticky, thick coastal fog drips and dribbles in between showers and even darker skies while the sole heater works itself to death in the corner, trying to dry some of the soaked stuff.

By around 10am most of the "damage" is repaired and there seems to be a modest greying in the black out there...time to get away.
Getting all excited when the rain stops only 15km up the road, I goof and we somehow finish up doing a useless 20km loop towards Kumeu/ Auckland...but it DOES show that the weather is slightly better inland than along the coast, at least some of the skies show some shapes and clouds rather than a blanket of deep-grey.

First the deserted SH16 main highway north through Helensville. Time for brecky...

The Kaukapakapa Store...nice to be “in the country”, finally.
They still leave their boots at the front door here...


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While munching away on those scrumptious bacon + eggs sandwiches, it’s time to plot a course getting into the backblocks again, only crossing the highways rather than following them.



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http://goo.gl/maps/NtOvf


Up the twisties and we’re in pea-soup again...which must’ve washed the picnic tables away through the night.
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There’s no sign on the turnoff, but it HAS to be the road to Makarau...
I hope.
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Burnside Rd.....there must be the occasional bit of rain up here...


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Hitting the tar of the West Coast Rd., there’s no time for pics...in THOSE twisties even 7.5hp can pack a load of fun, what a road, yeeha!!
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The whole road is only ~30km long, discount about 2-3km each side for the “lead-in/out”, the rest is GOLD!

Incidentally...those 30k’s get you from the western to the eastern beaches, the Northland isn’t exactly a stretched out affair around here.



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The GoldenBoys hold things in check though and it’s soon back onto gravel to Kaipara Flats.
For whatever reason, that name rings a bell with me...perhaps I was here in a former life...or it brings up images of Footrot Flats, the little movie with the “Slice of Heaven” soundtrack?
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Whatever...the going is good, the puddles not too deep, nor is the gravel yet...go north, my friend.


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Wharehine Rd. towards Port Albert....Topuni River Inlet in the distance.



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A little more asphalt on the Mangawhai Rd., then back onto the gravel of the Ryans Rd. the intensity of the “GREEN” bowls you over.


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The Ryan’s Rd./ Pritchard Rd. (same road, it changes names as it crosses the district border from Auckland to Northland).
This one not just proves an absolute humdinger, it turns into one of the personal Top10 gravel roads of the Northland instantly!

What a li’l ripper!! Despite the crappy pics, the views are 270deg panoramic... swivel-necking from coastal hills to inland farmland and the distant hills...AWESOME!
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We’d LOVE to do this on a good day!



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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Skimming the ridges...


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That’s Taranga Island, just off the coast, in the background there.



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“Exit left” ...and “left”...and “left” ....
The turn into Baldrock Rd. shows what’s given the road its name...and continues the buzz of the Ryan/ Pritchard stretch...this time, on asphalt.

The 5 minute “commute” on SH1 to hook into the Mountain Rd. gravel brings home the need to stay off those kinds of roads...there ain’t no place for a postie between trucks hauling fruit + veg from up north, a fleet of local tradies-in-a-hurry and wide-eyes tourists (OHHHH, maaaahhh Gawwwd!!) in their dieseling snail-house-campers trying to make the 9pm flight to San Fran or Tokyo.
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Mountain Rd....quite nice, but various levels short of other local stuff sampled recently.
Kaiwaka River in the flats...


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Double bags, double sidestands....gotta find a double-exhaust to balance the pic, aye?
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Btw...that Givi 40l roll-top bag on the rear rack was the ONLY truly waterproof bag through last night’s torrents.
Also pretty good: the Andy Strapz waterproof liners... everything in those stayed dry, despite the bottom of the bags sitting in a pool of water for hours. Worth buying if you’ve got canvas-based soft luggage!



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Kaipara Hills...LOTS more on those is still to come. TOP stuff!!

More Mountain Rd.



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The huge Fonterra dairy-FACTORY at Maungaturoto looks like a gleaming stainless-steel space station but is quickly bypassed on the main road, immediately ducking up the hills again on the Doctors Hills Rd., a very promising start to the following, but dull, Waipu Gorge Rd.....which at least kept us off the highways for a bit longer.
No avoiding the SH1 (SH= State Highway) for a few minutes before ducking back into the safety (and buzz) of the backblocks.
Buzz orrite!!
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Starting innocently enough, Glenmohr Rd. turns into one of the many, absolutely juicy, backblocks-racetracks which are hidden away EVERYWHERE!



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A kilometre of smooth gravel, then more of the same on the McLean Rd. down to the coast... it makes even the Tiddlers sing.



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Having dodged most of the afternoon’s blackbellies, the roads are dry but the skies threatening....and there’s a howling wind blowing mighty gusts of leaves, dust and sand across the coastal strip. It’s still way too warm, too...something just isn’t right. It makes the hair stand up....weird.

The Waipu Cabin Park is closed...but the map shows another place just down the road.
Camp Waipu Cove proves the “duck’s guts”, the guy in the office has just come back from an 8 day Vietnam-ride on 125s...which makes settling in here a longish, but smooth affair with lots of laughs...nice
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A little kitchen-cabin with small verandah at NZ$70, neat as a pin and CLEAN!
Again it proves that bringing our own sleeping bags/ sheets and pillow cases doubles the accommodation options in nearly every place.


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The little Beach-Shop doubles it’s weekly takings and even knocks up some Fish ‘n Chips.
Now, that's twice in a row and we promise eachother to rather suck on slushy muesli bars from now on than to give this another go.
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The cold beer makes up for some of it, though...


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The AA (NZ Automobile Club) local maps/ touring maps are BRILLIANT!!
Each road in NZ....by name!! Main, secondary, backroad, sealed or gravel....everything is marked and, if studied properly and closely, 99% accurate and up to date. Fabulous stuff!!
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It’s still balmy, too warm ...and stickily humid.
The wind has died....and the sandflies are having a feast on us.
Who cares....even the Midgets are under roof!


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I think there’s another Speight’s in the fridge...
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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Pitchdark...and the earth is coming to its end.
The ground is shaking, the rain is hammering, the wind is howling and yammering and trying to lift the little cabin off its foundations. The edge of the chinpiece of the helmet is rattling against the microwave, cutlery and crockery dingle away in the cupboards... the air is foul and thick and the curtains blown horizontally through the cracked-open windows.
All hell’s broken loose up there; this is like a massive earthquake... from above.
Never-ending thunder, one crack and massive rumble instantly topped by the next one, lightning everywhere ...

What did dad always tell me as a little tacker?
For every second between the lightning and the thunder, the heart of the storm is another 300m away. Going by that, there’s about 5 of the bastards within 30 foot of eachother... and right above us.

CAAAAARRRRAAAKKKKK...SIIIZZZZZZZLE....and the hair stand up again.

Three hours later, the incredible spectacle has fizzled out into flooding rain, the thunderstorms moved away, the winds down to some gusty puffs.
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A sudden silence makes me grab the camera, water-skiing the grass out there in the purple thongs for something to ban-on-film....anything. There’s gotta be something around after this circus!!


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The rain keeps coming... first solid, then in showers...then in fits and starts....the reception has copped a leak from the flat roof, the power is out, the young Alaskan guy from near the dunes carries his “expedition-proven” World Traveller tent to the dumpmaster aqnd books in for a cabin, the white-faced young German couple (more fresh WWOOF'ERs) spread out in the TV-room after their Backpacker-bunkroom window blew in and the room got flooded.

No sense to get going now, too late in the day... might as well do what we never get around to...relaaaax!

By mid-afternoon the sun is out...at least here and there.
Time to get some real tucker and check out Waipu-Town a little, enjoy the cook-up and a bottle of whatever-we-can-find.
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The Tiddlers packed with goodies!


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It’s a cute little town which even sprouts a small bottle shop!



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Meet the “Good George Squealer”, a local Hamilton brew that even comes in the appropriate packaging, a proper 1 liter, dark-brown, screw-cap “medicine-bottle”
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And squeal I did....with delight!
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....after I woke up again! This is serious schtuff, whoohoo
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Dropped on me arse twice, doing the chains.
Christ, this brew packs a wallop!!

All set for tomorrow then,...hurray, just look at that sky!
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dougman1

Part of the furniture
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....after I woke up again! This is serious schtuff, whoohoo
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Gosh, who writes this stuff, Juicy, pithy, lingering bitterness.
Sounds like one of Sir Frances' job exploits....:killingme:killingme

It would have been a cracker brew non the less :chug:
Great ride Pete & Goodie. :thumbs:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Gosh, who writes this stuff, Juicy, pithy, lingering bitterness.
Sounds like one of Sir Frances' job exploits....:killingme:killingme

It would have been a cracker brew non the less :chug:
Great ride Pete & Goodie. :thumbs:

:icon-maffick-:
Looks like you've got a loooong, hard weekend coming up now...
and...the stuff is dynamite!
Give it a whirl next time you're over there.
 

veom

Tour Pro
:glu:glu:glu

Awesome stuff Pete I'm loving it! Sounds like the weather kept it interesting!

I'm waiting for a puncture or a mechanical failure now :devil:
 
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