Auckland –Opononi-Russell-AucklandGerda and I had been waiting for an opportunity to for a short ride up North. It turned out that Thursday we’d be able to go for a couple of days. The weather forecast was reasonable, with rain predicted for Saturday. Well, if you look out the window at the moment, you’ll probably see that they weren’t far off the mark.Our first stop was Wellsford, where we took the opportunity to fill up. The next stop was Dargaville for lunch. We went into an Indian restaurant/café, but it turned out to have been a poor choice of venue.On we went and soon we entered Waipoua forest. Unfortunately, the roads weren’t completely dry, so we had to be more careful riding the corners amongst the trees. It was still a lot of fun though.Of course we stopped for Tane Mahuta. I have seen it a few times now, but it’s one of those sights that I never tire of. From Wiki: Tāne Mahuta is the largest kauri known to stand today, and has the following measurements:Trunk girth 13.77 m (45.18 ft), Trunk height 17.68 m (58 ft), Total height 51.2 m (167.98 ft), Trunk volume 244.5 m³, Total volume including the crown 516.7 m³.Soon afterwards we arrived at the Hokianga Harbour. It’s another one of my favourite places.Opposite the entrance to the harbour are huge sand dunes. I had been a bit reluctant to leave the bikes parked, while we were out and about taking pictures. But I need not to have worried. A few chickens decided to look after them for us. A few km later we arrived at our destination for the day, Oponini. We stayed at the Opononi Hotel.Our room had a viewWe had a good meal at the hotel Thursday evening. However, these guys know how to party. Ear plugs were needed. I think they stopped some time around 3am. Next day we went onwards to Rawene for breakfast and to get the ferry across the harbour.I like Rawene, it's got a bit of charm. The ferry ride takes only 15min, costs $3.50 per bike and they even have eftpos. We took one of the unsealed roads to go further north.It’s quite pretty up there.A quick stop at Ahipara, it looks more inviting during summer.And onto Kaitaia for a lunch and a fuel stop.The next stop was Pahia. We walked around for a bit and had an ice-cream, so we could be cold on the inside as well, actually it was very good ice-cream.A few minutes later we got onto the ferry in Opua, for a quick hop across the harbour.It’s only a few hundred metres to get across, but costs $5 and they don’t have eftpos.Russell was out destination for the night. We had another room with a view.The room was quite nice.After settling in we went for a walk around the water front.[img]http://Must be one of the perks of living here...This tree must have seen some sights over the yearsSome of the local "girls" out for the night..I think they called it a drag raceThe Bishop Pompallier's residence, I think he was out...This little church is also very interesting, it still has some bullet holes, so they say...The next morning out view had changed a little bitThe reason for this changeWe took the road along the coast to Whangarei. That was quite an adventure. We encountered some nasty wind gusts in exposed locations, the sea was all churned up, but we still enjoyed the ride. However, we will have to come back on a dry day, to make the most of the view and the corners.