North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

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North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby NJV6 » Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:33 pm

This isn't strictly a 4WD trip report but who cares.
On June 25th we left home of Gore and headed north. The farm was set with instructions for three different people to look after at various stages, feeding dogs etc. We pretty much just drove the South Island straight up and it was a touch over 900km to my cousins place in Newlands, Wellington where we stayed for a couple of nights. I had to sort a fuel air block here which meant the vehicle was hard to start, bypassing the secondary filter fixed that. The 1st day of poking about was down to Cape Pallisar but I missed the turn off and ended up at Ocean Beach and so went for a nosey in the rain.
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The track was recently washed out but driveable so we carried on to meet a chap on the road for a bit of a yarn and then as far as we felt comfortable on our own near a large slip. About now we were getting a very persistent knock coming from somewhere under the rear of the vehicle. With Cousin Kim jumping on the towbar and Laura inside telling if it was banging and me underneath in my farm wet weather gear we discovered a lower shock bolt not as tight as it should be, the knock was not even noticeable outside, the noise just travelled through the cabin. After a couple of detours
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we made it to the first of 5 lighthouses we were to visit on the trip. The climb is short but to be fair is a bit of a killer!
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Grazing seems to be a free for all in the area.... We decided even though we have thousands of our own sheep since we were on holiday we could 'take a photo'!
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From here it was up to Napier. However we took the long scenic way, over the Rimutakas, up to Woodville, across some really hard hill country farm land (I couldn't farm there!) to Kimbolton and out to Mangaweka before onto Taihape. The 'Gentle Annie' road from Taihape which is a nice drive, just a pity it is all tarseal now. There was alot about this drive that reminded us of home with the tussock. It had stopped raining for a few hours which was nice and gave us a chance to have a look about Napier before tea. Seemed like a nice place so spend a couple of days here being nosey. The tides were all wrong so we could only look at the beach to Cape kidnappers and it was still raining! We did find a beach at Ocean Beach to go out onto to have lunch in the cold!
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There was a heavy storm warning in place as we took off the next day in very heavy rain heading for Lake Waikaremoana. The drive was actually pretty awesome. Shame about having to make our lunch in the vehicle at the lake but although we didn’t get the views there was also no dust and just mist and the waterfalls were humming. This was to be one of the more memorable roads in the trip.
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Old visitor centre - a new multi million dollar one is being built This one was well past it!
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Suitable shelter for lunch we thought but it was pretty leaky!
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Great roads
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Once we got well through the tarseal started again, the road prior to this was in great condition up until the saddle where the logging trucks were using the road and the rain eased. This was wild Urewera country where horses were roaming and the houses were in generally poor condition. At Murapara it was an easy drive straight in Whakatane where we arrived about 5pm and had a nice evening with relations. It was now clear skies and the forecast was good! There was a significant amount of dirt on the paj from the adventures so far so the next morning was a check of everything and a wash before we headed clockwise around the East Cape.
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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby mike » Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:12 pm

Newlands, Wellington where we stayed for a couple of nights.


Should have pressed the door bell and a few of us would have woken from our slumber and come had a beer or three with you :mrgreen:

Fantastic photos, much better then photos of anywhere else in NZ 8)
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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby Clint » Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:59 pm

Good stuff, looking forward to the next installment!

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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby catalystracing » Thu Jul 28, 2016 7:13 pm

Around Ocean beach is my home turf, and I shot my first deer above the Mokau falls in just along from that DOC center. Good pics, brings back memories. :D

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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby NJV6 » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:38 pm

Thanks guys - I'll carry on then!

Most of this is already written, I like to keep a log of the stories along the way so we can remember them later on, just adding photos on here as we go. Time to repack.
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Due to the good forecast we hit the road again for the East Cape with the idea of getting a bed somewhere out there for the night. The roads are nice and quiet at this time of year and there was hardly any time we got held up on the entire trip. There are lots of nice bays out this way and it is easy to tell what socio economic group occupies each bay!
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Bit hard to see on this compressed photo, but White Island was steaming away and Whale Island both visible.
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We had been following the sea all the way on a very pleasant but cold day, then the sea turned brown. We soon saw why, the Motu River was pumping with all the recent rain. A quick stop at Waihau Bay (just to check house prices) it was onto Hicks bay for a look at the wharf, down a dodgy looking track and a heaving sea, it was nearly dodge the wave splashes on the drive.
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The wharf had a closed sign but we went out anyway, it was moving a bit….
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A short drive had us at Te Aroroa and on the lookout for a place to stay. The nice lady at the info centre told us about a backpackers just up the road which was an old nunnery down in Gisborne and transported up here 30 years ago so we went to check it out. It looked pretty cool and we were greeted at the door by an older man and woman who welcomed us in. That was about the end of the nice parts.
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We were shown our room, toilets, kitchen and left to it. The door on the room didn’t even have a latch, the kitchen had no hot water and cooking was on one gas burner converted in the front half of a garage. One multi plug had a fridge, 2 toasters, 2 kettles, 1 microwave and a fan heater plugged into it. Anyway we had planned a nice tea at the Opotiki New World which was going to be a bit difficult to produce in a kitchen with mouse bait in the corners; there was still plenty of daylight so we decided to knock off East Cape. After a nice but exposed drive we arrived at a vague carpark and a sign saying 800 steps to the lighthouse. I heard every one (!!!), but it was worth it at the top, even though it was bloody cold and trying to rain, reminded me way to much of home!

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East Island
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After knocking this one off it was back to our nightmare where we popped into the common room where deaf and deafer (the old couple) were watching tv which was very loud. A short time later Laura made a sandwich and I battled with the kitchen for tea while listening to some terribly pornographic sounding movie two German? guys were watching huddled around the fan heater. There was no one in the common room so we turned it down and sat in front of the fire pleasantly watching tv until deaf #1 came back in and cranked it up. We left. Unfortunately our room backed onto this so it was booming until about 9:30 and by now I had read every brochure. Laura was not prepared to sleep in the bed so took a drowsy hay fever pill and got into her sleeping bag and knocked herself out. Makes for a good story though!

At daybreak we were gone. Breakfast on a beach around at Tikitiki.
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Out on the beach which was nice but also rather cold 3 degrees. The short drive there had made something move in the back door, it was very annoying squeak which led to a short fuse! I tightened the door at breakfast and the squeak disappeared. The day improved and we had a nice time at Tolaga bay at the wharf there, something I enjoyed.
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Real flat sea
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The Maori lady at the 4 square was really nice and finding it pretty cold, however she did say how blessed we are to live in NZ, which we both found very reassuring and interesting given the poverty on the east coast and some of what we had seen. The locals out this was are very friendly with everyone giving everyone a wave, it is also clearly a one way ticket for any cars that get bought into the district and it seems they don’t get traded in….

Further round I misdiagnosed a thump coming from the rear of the vehicle, sounding very like the loose shock absorber I found earlier
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Turned out, after adjusting the stupid back door to cure the squeak, it now made a thump! :roll:

It was onwards to a posh place (Wainui) for a walk on the beach just north of Gisborne and where we arrived early afternoon and had a good look around the streets,
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bought a couple of jumpers, given the pleasant day we didn’t want to leave but the road was calling and it was a nice drive up SH2 back to Opotiki and Whakatane with only one detour along the way up a forestry road (because it was there!) until we were getting into the boondocks where there a few huts with gatherings so we made a retreat.
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Just intime to see the sunset near Ohope Beach over Whale Island.
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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby mudsurfv6 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 7:10 am

good photos. the coast is a cool spot, we moved down to the wairarapa from east coast 4 years ago. we miss it, is 'different' alright. :)
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Re: North Island tiki tour

Postby NJV6 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:31 pm

We had a bit of a sleep in and at 9:30 left Whakatane to visit the Tarawera Falls.
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After a brief nice walk we enjoyed the falls and walked up to the pools where the water disappears underground before coming out the falls.
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After this we enjoyed some great fish and chips from Matata. The dude behind the counter was really weird and luckily we didn’t judge the book by the cover as they were some of the best we have ever had and ate them at the beach.
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It was onwards to Mt Maunganui where we had to have a compulsory coffee and cake to fit in with the locals followed by a walk around the mount. After this time was marching on and we wanted to be back to Whakatane for when all the reles arrive for tea (pizza) and it was a nice evening catching up with them.
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We had a few jobs to do the next morning in town and this meant we were later leaving than we had hoped but were heading for the coromandal. Lunch was had at Waihi Beach before we headed inland to check out the huge hole in the ground that is the Waihi gold mine and a very helpful man at the information centre. There had been a big slip at the mine so it is no longer operating. Our aim for the night was approximately Hahei, we had a stop at Whangamata to see how rich people live with lots of very nice (but empty) houses and yachts/boats. A short drive down to hot water beach to check it out was worthwhile, even though the tide was a bit far in (story of our trip so far) we could still ‘shimmy shimmy shimmy’ with our feet into the sand where it became very hot very quick! In a short period of time others that were too late could see what we were doing so came over and before long there was a multi cultural shimmy shimmy shimmying going on in the shallows and squawks when the rogue waves came in! The evening was spend in the Hahei camping ground where we got our own cabin for $60, the backpacker dorm was being overhauled, we had a nice quiet dark night here.
Hahei Beach
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The next morning after breakfast the road took us to cooks beach and Purangi where we decided to cross the ferry to check out Whitianga on foot, this would save a visit by vehicle.
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No sheep?
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The name Purangi was to stick with us for a while, it was strangely funny! We were both quite taken with the Coromandel area and would return one day. After a stroll around the shops and being told by the locals we should be going out on the glass bottom boat (the sea was dead flat) we still opted not to as the head of the peninsula was calling and we couldn’t do both.
Shakespeares Cliff
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After driving across the ‘309’ road to Coromandel town we drove up the western side of the peninsula as far as we could, to Port Jackson then Fletcher bay. Port Jackson was a very nice area and some great camp sites, probably not where you’d want to be in a Northerly storm! Great barrier island is just ‘over there’ from this point.
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The road was good but gravel with a few fords and narrow/winding but a nice drive. The toilets in Omarau bay are the cleanest in NZ apparently, so good we had to stop there on our return trip as well! The drive back to Thames was uneventful thankfully as it was a narrow winding road down that coast with plenty of people thinking they can use their lane and more. After driving through Miranda (a place we wanted to photograph due to the name of our poptop) we realised we had driven through it without even noticing! Must have been a big place. At Kaiaua we had an ice cream and a driver change again as we headed around the top of the Hunua Ranges on our way to Bucklands Beach where Laura had to collect a Peter Rabbit trade me purchase – the whole reason for the trip! Thankfully we were going against the 5pm Auckland traffic and before long we were at a cousins place in Ellerslie where we stayed the night.
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby basics » Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:00 pm

what an adventure :wink: awsome!
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby SMOKEY » Sun Jul 31, 2016 7:45 pm

Thanks I have enjoyed your journey. Don't say it to loud but it's a nice piece of country up that a way.

NOW GET BACK DOWN SOUTH.

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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby Clint » Sun Jul 31, 2016 8:17 pm

Some nice pics there, there's a lot of fun to be had just poking around up the east cost.

You missed the Motu Rd! Should have diverted down there on the way from Gizzy back to Whakatane. One for next time.

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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby yeti » Mon Aug 01, 2016 6:44 am

nice ......................thanks for the pics / write up :D
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby NJV6 » Mon Aug 01, 2016 6:03 pm

Clint wrote:You missed the Motu Rd!


Yea I know, we sat at the turn off at Matawai for 5 minutes and ummed and ahhed but then time got the better of us, we would have been half dark to dark and thought what the heck, we will come back to the area again. I wanted to do the drive you mentioned in the other thread as well (SH5 -> Minginui) but it can wait.

I am not sure how but next time it'd be good to be in the summer period (ish)!

SMOKEY wrote:Thanks I have enjoyed your journey. Don't say it to loud but it's a nice piece of country up that a way.

NOW GET BACK DOWN SOUTH.

FITZY.

Cheers, Back home and it has done nothing but rain and snow. It is a nice part of country however.

basics wrote:what an adventure :wink: awsome!

yeti wrote:nice ......................thanks for the pics / write up :D


Cheers, Glad its being read and enjoyed :mrgreen:
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby NJV6 » Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:33 pm

About 8:15 the next morning we decided we would hit the road, the traffic was slow just getting onto the motorway but once we were on and across to the inside lane it was flowing pretty well really and we made good time.
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We didn’t stop until Warkworth having enjoyed the new toll road where there are no rattles and shakes, just a slight diesel hum and tyre whine. At Warkworth we headed coastal again around the peninsula at Leigh and taking some windy roads getting to Mangawhai, and a standoff with a yearling on a bridge!
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We checked out another chocolate shop (too expensive for sheep farmers), through mangawhai heads and up to Waipu. We had lunch just out of Whangarei and followed the main road up to Whakapara where we turned to Helena Bay and onto Russell where we explored for about an hour. We may have been sitting beside each other for too long because as soon as we pulled up, we both hopped out and went separate ways for a while! We crossed on the car ferry to Opua and went through to Kerikeri where it was time for a rest up,
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We had done 4400km since home and were a bit sick of corners.

The next day, Thursday the 7th it rained. Actually it poured, pretty much all day. We hardly moved except to visit the stone store for a nice lunch. Even the Roosters and Hens were hiding under anything they could.
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Friday looked like the day it was going to be a nice day so there was only one thing for it, to make it to the cape as the locals say, Cape Reinga. We crossed through to Matauri bay which has undergone a heap of development with subdivisions etc but it seems nothing has sold.
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Keen on recycling though...
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Continuing north we nosied down Rarawa Beach road to get a look at Great Exhibition Bay where the white sands are and what a sight. We had lunch here and looked longingly at driving up the beach – maybe another time!
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It was about 2pm when we reached to top.

We spent a bit of time just gazing and taking in how far from home we were, not only that it was also a nice day! 4600km to do a 1600km journey.

Patchy overcast but pretty calm, the sea was anything but calm where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman sea it was all sorts of carnage.
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A side road took us down to a nice camp site for a look but for us it was back to the beach as the tide was out.
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We drove down TePaki stream which was quite daunting as you cannot see the bottom due to the rain and it is sand, to me, sand is soft, and large signs saying don’t stop!
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Arriving at the beach
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Anyway it was ok and we ended up at the beach having driven past huge sand dunes used for surfing/boarding down which looked like fun but not so sure about getting back up again! After turning right at the beach and going to the very tip for a nosey we headed down, once we got the feel for the beach it was quite comfortable sitting on 100km/h and slowing for the odd little creek.
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We met not much traffic but there was a wee digger on a small truck that had us intrigued given the recent methamphetamine drug bust in the area! We arrived at Ahipara after about 1hr 15 on the beach, the tide was out but the mist was still all over the vehicle and it was getting harder and harder to see out of the windows but arrived to a nice sunset there.
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After a bit of discussion we decided to have KFC in Kaitaia (yea bro) and go back to Kerikeri for the night where we knew the bed was.
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby basics » Wed Aug 03, 2016 4:40 pm

your pajero will be begging for a nice bath when she gets home :wink:
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby Lchundy » Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:22 pm

Looks like it was a sweet trip some nice photos
NZ is a awesome place :D

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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby NJV6 » Fri Aug 26, 2016 5:27 pm

The next morning dawned wet again but not that wet – just wet so we explored a local waterfall and also went for a short Kauri tree walk in Puketi forest.

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After having a nice lunch we left the northern relatives behind and headed to Dargaville just for a look. Well we missed our turn off but was a good thing as we found some real fair dinkum northland styles settlements/farms etc which was pretty cool. Laura had wanted to see Opononi before we left home but we had no idea where it was until all of a sudden there it was, a nice surprise.

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Then there was a sign to Tane Mahuta, a giant kauri tree so we stopped to visit, rather a big tree.

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It was here the 1st place that some tourist disappointed us, he was having a durry in the bush right beside the no smoking sign and then proceeded to flick the stub into the bush. He got Lauras wrath…. What a dick. In Dargaville we found some dinky wee ex railcar units to stay in which were quite good value and a very cherry campman. We had also ran out of undies and socks so we went to the warehouse for a resupply (it had been a bit wet at Kerikeri for our washing – actually we just forgot) and the supermarket to sort our tea. The next morning we were not sure if we would go down the Pouto peninsula or not to the Kaipara head to have a look at the lighthouse but decided against it instead heading south. We stopped for a sticky beak at the Kauri Museum, expensive to get in but some of the size and scale of what is inside is pretty impressive. Once back on the main road we took a bit of a deviation to go through the old highway through Orewa but we basically didn’t stop until well through Auckland and down to Lake Waikare where we had a late lunch in the cold wind. I arranged to catch up with an old friend (DB) for a brief visit about 20 mins off the main road where we had a nice catch up, a quick discussion about all things 4WD & tracks, a cuppa then off to Hamilton.

In the morning we were still looking for a couple of birthday presents and found a huge shopping complex on the outskirts of Hamilton. Why anyone would buy a 5 door large 4WD for taking to a shopping complex beats me, thankfully it was morning and the one way arrows on the road were ‘terribly hard to see!’ Still empty handed we moved on headed for Raglan to check out the fish n chip shop we had heard from a few different people about, we decided it was too early so settled for a pie instead. Raglan’s beach was nice and there were already plenty of people out looking excited in their wetsuits but judging by the amount of carparking, today was a quiet day. The drive south was a good drive, slow going but pleasant enough. Locals here were not so keen to wave for whatever reason, totally the opposite to the East Cape and Northland to a point.

We made a deviation to the Bridal Veil falls with the intention of going through to Makomako but big signs saying no exit meant we backtracked.

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Anyway after the backtracking we took the long way round and went the short distance up the road from the other end to satisfy some curiosity as to why it was closed – still don’t know why! We had a late lunch at Kawhia which seemed a nice wee town with friendly locals and even a shopkeeper asking us about our ‘roo bar on the front of the vehicle! It was decision time, what to do now. The weather was going to pack in later in the week so decided to head through to Taupo and arrived just on dark. It was nice to get onto some fast flowing roads again, the extra driving lights I had put on before leaving were well worth the effort. We had booked at a nice new backpackers for the night which was only a couple of years old and had good reports. It was to be the disappointment of the holiday. We had a very small room with not really enough room to swing a cat, it backed onto toilets so we could hear running water all the time and they were built to a budget, that budget did not include soundproofing! The guests in the room above decided they were leaving their room at 3:30am to go and maybe do the Tongariro crossing? Anyway it took them over an hour to get ready, what a racket followed by every other punter walking (stomping) to the toilet for a 3am pee! We had thought we’d stay a second night but no way, not now.
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Re: North Island tiki tour/ramble/yarn/bedtime story/bore

Postby NJV6 » Fri Aug 26, 2016 5:42 pm

Thankfully the day was to get better, much better. We left town wanting to have a quick look at Huka falls, both of us had stopped there but both a long time ago.

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Not knowing where we were going to go we followed the road to Turangi, on the way we decided to book the ferry. Bugger – school holidays, all booked except for a 3pm sailing on Saturday. We had to take it. It was getting real, our time was coming to an end.
Due to our long night, we decided to splash out on a hot chocolate in Turangi.

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It was a frosty start and the climb up from Turangi on SH47 was tremendous. Driving around the National Park was great and from a distance we saw the Chateau Tongariro so went for a look. Now the Whakapapa ski field road is a real ski field road!
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The field was open but there was you had to look for some snow, it was not going to be a very profitable school holidays! This was also going to be our only view of Mt Taranaki.

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After a good look around and through the Chateau (impressive!) we carried on. At Ohakune we couldn’t not go and have a look at the Turoa skifield so found a picnic area in the bush part way up for a late lunch and then onto the top.

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It is a real nice drive up through the bush to the field with a narrow tar seal road. It seemed as though there was even less snow at this ski field and mostly rock.
It was decided to head back to Turangi for the night as the next morning we were heading through the Forgotten World highway from Taumarunui to Stratford. After stopping and taking a photo of Lauras Trade Me purchase (Peter Rabbit) eating the Ohakune carrot we stopped at the new Tangiwhai memorial then through Waiouru. I had been told to go up the Tukino ski field road if we could and after missing the turn off on the middle of the dessert road did a U turn and up we went, another highlight. The road/track was soft and smooth until well up where it go a bit rocky and thankfully a locked gate was open so up we went into cloud then above the cloud into a layer of snow. It was a great drive and seemed to be up pretty high.

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After a yarn to the locals setting up the rope tows we headed back down in failing light headed for Turangi where we had a very nice backpackers. We had decided to go to the hot pools 5 minutes up the road but to be fair were a little disappointing, only one pool and full of very rowdy teenagers on school camp at the Hilliary foundation outdoor centre.
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