In the process of exploring what appropriate work-life balance might need to look like, I identified a non-teaching period during which I could feasibly take time away from the office, and this was kindly supported by my dear boss.
Given the time of year, "the winterless north" seemed like the best option, and for a time, I contemplated hiring a campervan. That notion didn't last long, and instead of packing for a flight to Auckland (or further north), the evening before was spent loading up our Corolla. That, and everything else was pretty much being done on the fly, but we were treated to a magnificent day to make our way up the island.
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| The "detour" up the western side of the central plateau was stunning |
We weren't fully committed to driving all the way to Auckland, but we ended up in a motel in Takapuna, well poised for my first ride of the trip.
A bit more burbing
Sarah was recovering from finally getting some Koh Samui gravel removed from her elbow and we intended for her to be bike free for a few more days. After breakfast, I set off on my own to mop up another slice of Tāmaki Makaurau, in a continuation of my "Karori Caper" series (see the end of the blog for the growing collection of towns and suburbs!).
Using my sister's place in Bayswater as a launchpad (or, more generally, visiting her and her family as an excuse), I'd been enjoying creeping further north towards Albany, using the motorway, inlets, and major arterial roads as natural boundaries so I didn't have to think too hard when starting the next piece of the puzzle.
The rides - which I fully accept I've become addicted to - always serve up something interesting, be it built or behavioural. In this case, early in the ride I found myself having to be vigilant around parents hunting for carparks for the Saturday morning team sport fest.
During my minimal prep, I'd noticed a little bit of path that I'd nominally missed in a previous ride (so "out of bounds" but handy enough) and at the far end of that, finding a community bike hub warmed the cockles of my heart.
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| Bike Hub Forrest Hill |
A few dozen dead end roads later, I was starting to feel my tanks running dry, and I lucked out that a bakery in Mairangi Bay was both handy, and had caught my attention. Inside, I found the most incredible range of pies, and was eventually able to overcome the abundance of choice!
As I continued about my business, it was nice to see others doing their thing.
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| Great Barrier Island in the distance |
Eventually, I made the call to start heading back towards Sarah. As much as I enjoy the variety that these rides serve up, I also enjoy the uncertainty, and have not tried to "analyse" an area in advance. One of the downsides of this is that I'm pretty hopeless at predicting when I'll finish, but tried to give Sarah a couple of half-decent estimates en route to joining her at my sister's place in Bayswater!
She'd had a stressful day, so was very glad to see me (as I was her), and we were soon joined by my brother-in-law and two young nieces, whose company we enjoyed for the rest of the evening.
Stats: 114km ridden, and my 11th high-density ride in the Auckland Region.
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| Some fond memories lurking in this map data, including a weekend on Waiheke Island |
Tiritiri Matangi
One of the last times we'd been in Auckland, I'd tried to take said nieces to Tiritiri Matangi, only to find I'd left booking too late. A bit more prepared this time, availability and a stunning weather forecast lined up, and with parental support secured Sarah and I had booked tickets for a Sunday outing with the girls.
A drive to Gulf Harbour took the pressure off morning routines slightly, and we were there in plenty of time to catch the ferry once it arrived from the Auckland CBD.
Once on the island and briefed, I took a punt on a route up onto the main ridgeline of the island and we got underway. By the time we settled in the sunshine for our first picnic, our list of sightings was already impressive. Fresh from admiring a takahē on the Heaphy Track, sitting overlooking three more grazing here was also very special.
A loop in the north of the island chewed up time and energy but barely made a dent in our figurative bird-bingo game card. I carried Saoirse ever so briefly en route to the visitor centre where we were pleased to be able to buy a few things to bolster our picnic supplies (and I appreciated the self-service instant coffee).
We sat outside overlooking a very busy feeding station (well over a dozen tūī in attendance, near constantly). I'd been really hoping to see a kōkako, having only ever heard one on Kāpiti Island, and my disappointment (and growing resignation) that we might not see one was soon obliterated when a few turned up and put on a prolonged and stunning show.
By the time we boarded the boat back to the mainland, we'd even seen stingrays from the wharf, and although the littlest legs among us were particularly pooped, it had been a pretty incredible day.
Stats: 8km walked, and no fewer than 14 native bird species seen, plus a handful of other treats
Karikari Peninsula
The next morning, we offered to help with school drop off, and I enjoyed riding with Zara before returning home to help Sarah with final packing.
We enjoyed the drive to Kaitāia, stopping a few times for sustenance and a little bit of tourism. In hindsight, we should have gone for a spin from the motel, but I foolishly thought the nearby Karikari Peninsula had just the right amount of road. Alas, I stuffed up on two counts - underestimating both the drive and the riding.
We parked near a small lake, and got rolling. Half an hour or so later, we'd endured some nasty corrugations in an otherwise nice bit of gravel road, and had popped out to a couple of road-ends.
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| Sarah at Maitai Bay |
Heading back the way we'd come, it soon became apparent that daylight was running out. It made for some lovely light conditions, but also meant my plan to knock off all the road in the vicinity was destined for failure.
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| Puheke Maunga (on the peninsula) |
At an intersection a few kilometres away from the car, we decided to split up, and I headed off down a gravel road while Sarah stuck to the tarseal. Very soon, I discovered that while the wandrer map suggested this road kept going, it started to deteriorate into a 4WD track. Absent a closed gate, I decided to press on, though this included carrying my bike around a large bog, and and mounting stress - less so about the fading light than about the risk of offending someone.
Eventually, I emerged onto a proper road, and some 15 minutes later, I was joining Sarah in the car. By this stage, it was pitch black, so a good thing I'd had my helmet light on!
Stats: 36km ridden - not my finest work from a planning point of view. Sarah's first ride since her minor elbow surgery.
Cape Reinga
Having apparently learnt nothing, I continued in much the same vein the next day!
After breakfast, we piled into the car, and drove to Te Kao, which, despite having easy access to modern mapping tools, I'd decided was close enough to the cape to make for a nice ride. We parked up near an open store, and then set off.
I've only been this far north once in my life, with Sarah and the girls the day before we'd started a lovely three day cycle tour out of Kaitāia. Then driving the car, I hadn't fully registered how little forest there is up this way, yet the outbound ride served to make that abundantly clear.
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| Segregated farming in the Far North? |
I waited for Sarah for a few minutes at the un-staffed service station at Waitiki Landing. A couple of beach-heads were signposted - one 15km away meant at least a 30km return trip, and by the look of the map, the other would add another 12km or so (10km signposted from the highway, but with a little bit of overlap). I was already ruing not driving to this point!
We soon passed the turnoff to the Giant Sand Dunes at Te Paki Stream (which we'd visited with the girls) and then had a couple of sterner climbs to dispatch before reaching the parking lot for the short walk - or ride in our case - to the Cape Reinga lighthouse. While it was still dry and warm enough on land, there were a couple of spectacular pockets of rain just offshore which worried me a touch. Sarah had announced earlier in the day that she'd not packed a jacket - not just for this ride, but for the trip as a whole!
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| Cape Reinga lighthouse |
Consistent with there being bugger all traffic on the road, we had the lighthouse virtually to ourselves, and we enjoyed the dramatic surroundings in relative peace. Between the lighthouse, the pockets of rain, the incredible meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean, and dozens of welcome swallows flitting around, it was really quite special.
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| Tasman v Pacific |
We headed back up to the carpark for a late picnic lunch, and then got underway again. I waited for Sarah at the turnoff to Tapotupotu Bay, and we agreed to ride down together. It seemed that this was likely to involve getting wet, but we proceeded anyway!
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| Double rainbow on the way to Tapotupotu Bay |
At the road end, I found a track closure sign which was probably a good thing. In theory, the track would have taken us to Spirits Bay (the road end 15km from Waitiki Landing), but it has been closed since 2023 (making its likely unsuitability for bicycles moot).
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| Te Paki Coastal Trail at Tapotupotu Bay (closed) |
Sarah had packed some plastic bags, and was soon hauling one full of sand. I had a long wait for her half an hour later, only to discover she'd been foraging for wild clay!
The quality of the ride began to deteriorate rapidly, thanks to the premature parking spot, the pressure created by an 11am start and early sunset, and then also a heavy downpour. I was comfortable enough (since I'd packed a jacket), and while I know Sarah has incredible tolerance of the cold - her fine Mongolian stock showing through - the rainfall and generally cooling temperature did stress me out.
For a while we thought I would do the two road-ends from Waitiki Landing while Sarah fetched the car, but the rain changed that and instead I decided to push on to get to the car as quickly as possible. Once I got there, I ordered a hot chocolate from the store, got changed, and then started driving north. Sarah had done well, and only missed out on 5km of riding or so.
It was another drive back to the motel in darkness, but we got there safely enough. Showers, then ravioli with basil pesto and avocado were the order of the day.
Stats: 98km ridden. Virtually no traffic on the road, and no native birdlife to speak of.
A gravel grovel to Coopers Beach
The following day, I thought we might head out for a regular ride - one with the option of cafe stops, no daylight issues, and no dead-end roads!
One of the finest sections of SH1 on our drive to Kaitāia had been through the Mangamuka Scenic Reserve, and after scoping loops north and south of it, I settled on one north of SH1 connecting to SH10 along the coast.
After breakfast, we drove about 15 minutes and parked the car just off the main highway.
The first minute of gravel road was lovely - just enough to lull us into a false sense of security. It then got pretty unpleasant, and stayed that way for half an hour or so, much to our frustration.
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| Sarah enduring Peria Valley Road |
It was a blessed relief when I started seeing an intersection ahead on my GPS map, as it seemed likely that the road conditions would soon improve. Sure enough, a sealed road took us past a marae, and then to the Bush Fairy Dairy where we stopped for a quick bite.
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| Kauhanga Marae |
I knew from my planning session that our route would cross (twice) the ride I'd done between Kerikeri and Kaitāia to collect the car. I hadn't looked any closer than that, and while I had vivid memories of the existence of the dairy, my recollection of its surroundings and layout were far from accurate!
From the dairy, it was sealed all the way to the coastal highway, vaguely following the Taipa River. As we neared the coast, mangroves became common. We skipped the shops in Taipa, which meant that when the Cable Bay Store beckoned us in a few minutes later, we were confronted with as fine a cafe cabinet selection as you might hope for!
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| Cable Bay and beyond |
Bellies full, we had a few bumps to contend with on SH10 before reaching our turnoff up the Oruaiti River valley. Sarah's enthusiasm levels had already waned, but she said she'd rather continue with me (offering her ongoing opportunities to comment on the route...) than turn around and head back past the fairy dairy. Fortunately, the gravel condition was primo, and the hills were yet to begin!
Begin they did, with a series of steep pitches that required considerable care (not to mention grunt) to stay on the bike. I had some uncomfortably long waits for Sarah and eventually decided not to ride ahead of her any more.
I'd picked the loop direction as any Buddhist would (clockwise, naturally), so was relieved that the descents tended to be mellower than the climbs had been. While I didn't recall any of the scenery, I did correctly pick where my earlier route overlapped - this time, ridden in the same direction.
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| Back in 2016, I'd approached from somewhere over there... |
The terrain became conducive to me helping Sarah climb, and besides that, I think her cafe lunch had kicked in! We were still a fair bit away from the car, and while the day had marched on, we made good progress along "strade bianche" towards SH1.
When we did reach the highway, we'd agreed on a plan - I'd boost, collect the car, and then return to pick Sarah up. For a while it had seemed like it might have been dark already, but we'd covered good ground in the last hour, and I was glad we hadn't had to traverse gravel together using only my front light.
I made it all the way to the road summit without turning my light on, the solid white line at the edge of the road being visible even as darkness fell. I enjoyed the irony of doing this section alone, riding fairly hard, and in fading light, given the whole point was to enjoy the bush we'd not really savoured in the car!
The 5km climb despatched, I enjoyed a safe and carless descent through the reserve, and a few minutes later was throwing the bike in the back of the car. I'd heard from Sarah, who'd reported via satellite, that she was waiting at a rest area on the other side of the hill.
By the time I got to Sarah I was feeling pretty car-sick, my brain not coping well with the windy road and bright reflected light from my own headlights. Karmic payback for the early gravel, steep climbs, and yet another night-time finish?
Stats: 94km ridden, two short sections of ridden roads, one strava crown for Sarah!
Kaitāia!!
A new day dawned, and Sarah announced she was happy to have a day off. After breakfast, I set out alone to ride down every street of Kaitāia.
The town seemed small enough that I could throw in a few roads on the outskirts. One of these loops was early on, and provided good views over a timber mill that had been in the news (with the prospect of closure having a negative effect on the local economy).
The second didn't to the north of the town didn't quite go according to plan - I'd overlooked that a short "loop" had the not insignificant matter of a river running through it - without a bridge... Rather than pull the pin entirely, I decided to go a bit further than I'd planned, crossing the river just out of Awanui. A gravel road along the river took me past a massive solar array, and a few sections of road that appeared on the wandrer map but not on the ground.
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| Kohirā Solar Farm |
A paddock or two down from the town's shit farm (aka oxidation ponds) I saw a very unusual sight. Sarah and I had been regularly complaining to one another about the dearth of native birdlife - the exception being kōtare - in some areas, every powerline seemed to come with one! Well, blow me down, I think I probably saw more paradise ducks in one paddock than I'd seen in the rest of my life to that point! (Despite seeing quite a few!) I was so impressed, that once done with the ride, I drove Sarah out to see them.
While the paradise ducks had been a lovely bonus, that unexpectedly long loop had been... unexpectedly long, and had chewed up both time and energy. In an attempt to keep things moving, I inhaled some food from a gas station before getting stuck into the last third or so of the township.
Towards the end, I climbed up to a reservoir overlooking the town, before knocking out one superfluous bit of rural road.
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| From the Okahu Road reservoir |
I had to laugh at the mixed messages one gets when arriving into Kaitāia from the direction of Ahipara, and did wonder how many are so busy reading the lovely "welcome" message that they're not quite attentive enough to their speedo!
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| Speedtrap |
A couple of u-turns later, I was back at the motel, and soon after that, Sarah and I were heading out in the car. After seeing the paradise paddock, we drove to Ahipara and had a short walk on Ninety Mile Beach. For a few minutes, I thought we'd be able to cheer on three bike-packers, but as they got closer, it was clear the riders were not pedalling (and nor were their horses).
The internet resolved our curiosity about the name of the beach (three days times 30 miles per day on horseback - on firm ground, as it turns out), and we celebrated that new found knowledge with some amazing ceviche and chips from Ahipara.
Stats: 101km ridden, just shy of 60 cul-de-sacs sacked.
Kai Iwi Lakes to Dargaville
After four lovely nights, excellent Indian and Turkish meals out, a couple of home-cooked pasta dishes, and two trips to the laundromat, our time in Kaitāia had come to an end. I had a better drive through the Mangamuka Reserve in daylight, and soon after, we peeled off SH1 towards Kohukohu.
I'd asked my copilot to check on the Rawene ferry schedule, but she'd reported the much more regular ferry from Paihia to Russell! It turned out we'd missed the hourly boat by ten minutes, and so we were able to go back to Kohukohu for some morning tea.
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| The 11am ferry coming in to dock |
Our next stop was in Omapere, where we had another morning-tea-like stop, despite it being nearly lunchtime. Since Kohukohu, we'd been driving roads we'd ridden with the girls, and I was intrigued by the variation in memory quality! The Waipoua Forest was stunning, and after a very short walk, we spent 10 minutes admiring Tane Mahuta. I felt a bit sorry for a young American tourist being disabused of her lofty impression of NZ's conservation values by a local warden.
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| King of the jungle |
Sarah requested we swing by the Kai Iwi Lakes. Once there, we had a short walk onto the shore, and I was intrigued to learn that they are entirely rain fed, with lake levels determined by the tussle between rainfall and evaporation processes. There were also warning signs that the lakes become incredibly deep not far from the shore, something we didn't investigate further.
We hatched a plan to circumnavigate the lakes together by bike, after which Sarah would drive to Dargaville to find us somewhere to stay, leaving me to find my own way there.
There was a well marked cycling and walking track around the three distinct lakes, which seemed to have had a recent event on it, based on spraypainted arrows on the ground. We saw a few people walking, but no other cyclists.
After helping Sarah pack up her bike, I rode out the way we'd driven in, but after a couple of kilometres on the sealed road, turned off onto a nice undulating gravel road that lasted about 20km.
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| Descending towards Omamari on a short sealed section |
I got regular updates from Sarah in relation to accommodation, and fretted about work a wee bit while bashing along in relatively cold air. As I neared Dargaville, I started seeing massive windmills which appeared to be a work-in-progress given that none were turning despite some wind.
Stats: 54km ridden, including about 12km with Sarah around the lakes.
Pouto Peninsula
I've not yet done Tour Aotearoa, but have followed it enough that I'm familiar with Pouto Point as a landmark, near the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour. I woke with a couple of 60km rides planned - one to do alone (towards Auckland) if Sarah didn't want to ride, and the other out towards Pouto Point if she was keen. I was delighted to hear we'd both be suiting up.
We needed to check out of the motel, so it made sense to drive to the start of the ride, and we ended up parked almost where we'd been for dinner the night before.
It seemed to make sense to head out towards Pouto on the sealed road (the TA route, in fact), which offered an abundance of connectors to a gravel road that would take us back to Dargaville. The point itself was too far away, and would keep!
The main road was pleasant enough, though we barely saw the river we were riding along, and had a bit of a headwind to contend with - something to savour on the way home.
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| Intriguing road name! |
We passed through Te Kōpuru what looked to be about 15 minutes too early to avail ourselves of a coffee cart that was setting up. Some kilometres south, we passed through a herd of cows being moved along the road, and it seemed I'd done a better job than Sarah of dodging their slop.
We split up briefly, and I gobbled down a couple of extra kilometres of sealed road, before picking up the last connector out towards the coast. Sarah was exactly where she was meant to be, which was excellent, and I was glad to still have her company.
We turned northwards together, and found the aforementioned tailwind. I loved this leg - the gravel road was in great condition and it undulated in a way that kept the riding interesting. What's more, there were views!
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| Looking east over the Wairoa River |
I made a minor adjustment to the route which appeared to cut out a small climb, and also took us past a for sale sign, with a property descriptor this statistician really appreciated: "3.3338 Ha (More or Less)". Well played, Rhonda.
As we neared the road that would take us inland and back to Dargaville, we had some lovely views over the Tasman Sea.
I messed up just before town, and subjected Sarah to a road which appeared on my map to keep going, but terminated at a "Keep Out. Private Property" sign. We obeyed, the upside being that we got to see a tree in a tree (stump), before bashing out the last few minutes of highway to get back to the car.
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| Unclear if this was the same tree resprouting in its own stump |
Stats: 68km ridden - the return leg was particularly awesome and deserves to be in the TA route!
* * *
We spent that night in Auckland at my sister's place, and the following day headed off around midday. I'd initially been inclined to spend a few days poking around just south of the Manukau Harbour - a part of the country that has fascinated me on many occasions flying into Auckland Airport - but the lure of home had become too great, and we soon found ourselves close enough to Wellington that pushing on and getting home was within reason.
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| Excellent pizza in Waiouru - go figure! |
I'd had riding aspirations to knock off every street north of Kaitāia, and while I'd been far from achieving this, it was nice to come home with a solid 570km banked, close to half of which had been ridden with Sarah. For the time of year, we'd been really lucky with the weather, riding in short sleeves and without knee warmers on every ride.
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| "New" roads |
I do think there's campervan ownership somewhere in my future. We stopped into a couple of showrooms in Auckland, and though there's no great rush, the thought of exploring New Zealand using one as a base is really taking hold. "Riding down every street in New Zealand" has appeal, and having a mobile base would surely help!
While we had very nice riding conditions, including an extra 20 minutes or so of daylight, I returned from the Far North feeling a little bit bummed out at how little native forest and birdlife we saw in Northland. Other than on Tiritiri Matangi, I didn't see a single kererū, despite the skies up north seeming perfect for them. On the other hand, we did see some remarkable exceptions, Tane Mahuta and the paradise ducks in particular! And, there was plenty of clear running water and an abundance of fresh air. The trip has given me new-found appreciation of how incredible Wellington is - whilst we're in the news for all the wrong reasons in terms of the state of the public service - the natural environment, including pockets of native bush everywhere and the abundant birdlife really shouldn't be taken for granted. It is awesome.
I appreciated the time away from the office, and felt like I put it to reasonable use. I do always feel better after a block of riding - my body being glad for the exercise, a bit of weight loss, and ironically, the unfettered enjoyment of food. I'm glad not to be stressed about how little riding I've been doing, and am always better for the stimulation of watching the world go by from the seat of my bike (absence of a negative and presence of a positive, if you will).
It was also useful to know how calm I can feel in the right environment. I've been feeling incredibly depressed at work, and yet the conditions are so depressing it is hard to know what response is needed. Is it work? Or, is it me? Or, most likely, a bit of both? And, whatever happens to be the case, how do I improve my experience of it, without fundamentally messing with who I am and how I want to roll?
Sarah's redundancy from UNZ has led to a step-change in her happiness level. And, she's making other people happy too, via her remarkable ceramic art. I'm a super-proud husband, and am also grateful that she's willing to somewhat keep up her now secondary hobby of riding with me!
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| Follow @_nomadic.ceramics on instagram |
The trip has helped me learn I probably do not need to drop a small fortune on psychiatry - meds don't seem to be the answer to my symptoms. The university system generally, and my university in particular, is under considerable strain at the moment. And, I see both incredible promise and a way to contribute - to not only realising our potential, but staving off collapse. I'm not willing to give up on it just yet, and in the meantime, will keep using it to fund incredible riding opportunities.
Onwards!
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