Forum Replies Created
-
The next leg took us all the way to Awakino, with a quick refuel stop just before, that brought back some memories and made my left leg tingle just a little bit.As we parked up, we spotted Colin’s R1100GS outside the pub. Its owner was sitting inside and enjoying a quiet drink with a new found friend. We were glad to see him, as he had generously offered to show us around his neighbourhood. After checking in and a quick meal, we were on out way again.First up, a freshly graded Kiwi road, this road doesn’t really need any additional excitement thrown in. It steeply winds up a hill and has some nasty drop-offs to keep you alert. Every body made it up in one piece and so we reached our third tunnel, I think.Colin then took us up Moki road to see how far we could get.
And while it started innocently enough, it was soon blocked by a slip. It was quite obvious that this one was out of our league, as we were travelling on motorbikes and not mountain goats.The next picture shows an aerial view (yes, we were pretty high up) of what was left of the set from the movie “The last Samurai”. 
I asked Colin if we could go for a closer look, but he reckoned that the farmer who owned the land, kept the gates locked.A bit later he suddenly stopped, pointing to a gate, that this was the entrance to the film set. The gate was unlocked, this meant that the farmer probably wanted us to go in and have a closer look. How could we say no to this offer?We had to open and close a few more gates, but we made it in the end. The farmer had originally wanted the film crew to return his land into the way it was before. However, shortly before the last buildings were removed, he realized what he was giving up. Unfortunately, just a little bit too late.
After this section, Colin took us out via Uruti road. He had to head home again, so we thanked him for showing us around and headed back to Awakino for a meal and a well earned beer or 2 or..We managed to leave pretty much on time, as advertised, from BP Papakura. While we had plenty of time available, we did want to be in Awakino by 2pm.The night before Henry P. had decided that he wanted to join us for the ride and sure enough he was there and ready to ride on a brand new F800GS, the twin of Peter GT’s bike. He did have a dual purpose tyre on the front, but the rear was pretty much road only.It was decided to stay on the main roads to Raglan and take the gravel from there to Kawhia. Henry decided to take the lead and I promptly ate his dust for this short gravel section. We had a quick morning tea in picturesque Kawhia. No photos from me, but some may turn up later. Shortly after heading off, Henry decided to head home again via the gravel. Probably a wise choice, in hindsight.The rest of us took the very pretty route around the Kawhia harbour and across the newly repaired bridge. I’ll have to do this route again soon, as I couldn’t get enough of the scenery.Soon we where in the valley that led to Marakopa. Again very scenic. Well, let’s face it, you won’t see many pictures of ugly locations in this report.Marakopa is a small beach settlement that has managed to remain untouched from consumerism. You get a good view of it from the top of the hill. Steve B. took me through there about 5 years ago, when a lot of the road was still gravel.
A bit further on we finally found some more of the rapidly disappearing road surface. Here it was so good, you could break the speed limit and not worry too much about the gentle curves the road made as it meandered through the valley.
As we were on schedule, we decided to check out Waiakwau road beach, another jewel of the Waikato.
However, this one has a twist. The beach is only accessible through a tunnel, and if you miss the sign, you have to somehow turn your bike around at the other end.
