New Years jaunt - Part one

 'Tis the season for taking a break and what else would you do with some time off than get out for a decent pootle.  Even before the break Colin had been expressing a wee bit of interest in getting away for a few days and exploring a some gravel roads.  Just before New Years he booked a motel and we were kind of committed.

In the lead up to our departure the weather had definitely switched over to summer mode with temperatures in the early thirties ie. too hot...Checking the weather the night before and it looked like we were going to be heading into some pretty hot country - oh great.  Camel-baks required then.

Monday was the first day of our adventure and as I was leaving to meet Colin at the servo he arrived at my gate...  This meant turning around and going to put the jug on...Later on John turned up too and after he grabbed a drink too, we were off.

We started off following a similar route as our last ride, heading out through Pohangina towards Totara Reserve.  But this time, instead of turning right to go around Pohangina Valley East Road, we went left and continued on Pohangina Road through to Makoura and then to Apiti.  Just a little dry, dusty gravel to start getting our eye in.  It was amazing what difference a week had mad to the gravel - it was far dryer and dustier and definitely more "marbly".

After zipping around the Manawatu Scenic route to Rangiwahia, we dropped down into Mangaweka where we decided that we needed a pie to jump start the trip.

Next up was a little diversion that I've taken once before while in search of a certain road.  It still isn't the correct way to find that road...But, I did get us off SH1 for a bit...

Small 20km diversion to avoid 3-4km of SH1...

In reality, it's a fairly tight little gravel road with grass growing up the middle in places but it does take you through some nice country.  An added bonus was getting caught up in a mob of sheep coming towards us after they'd had a bath.  Sheep everywhere and not a brain cell between them...

Back on SH1 were carefully cruised up to Taihape before turning off onto Mataroa Road.  This and Ruanui Road were all seal but had had some great corners made for Adventure bikes.

Ruanui Road eventually dumped us out on Turakina Valley Road which we took North to our next turn off at Owhakura Road.  I quite enjoyed this neat bit of gravel which crosses over onto Fields Track.

Once again we turned North for a bit before taking the delicious Oruakukuru Road through to the Parapara's.  The start of this road is awesome as it is very fast - I probably enjoyed it a bit more than the others as I was out front, rather than behind in the rooster tail...

Towards the end of the road it does change to seal and in the high temperatures this was our first taste of crappy melted tar.  I had several wee moments on bits that actually looked ok (they had stones on them, not just melted tar).  Those couple of slides were a good warning to not trust the black stuff - best get back onto the gravel ASAP...

Just up the road in Raetihi, we searched in vain for an open cafe but had to settle for a sandwich (not bad actually) and a cold drink at the gas station.  It was quite good to get out from under the blazing sun for a minute and the light breeze was very nice.

After lunch it was time for John to take over the lead as he knows his way around this part of the country.  He got us off the main road at Raurimu as we made our way West on Kaitieke Road.  I'd ridden this road before as part of the Fishers Track loop but John soon had us heading North again on some new to me roads.

And yes, it was a bit dustier at the back of the pack...

More great, if a tad dusty roads got us Hikumutu where we came across some people messing around with horses in a paddock next to the road.  I'm not quite sure what they were doing, but it must have been interesting as the Ostrich in the paddock on the other side of the road was paying it a fair bit of attention.  I know it was hot but I swear that there was indeed an Ostrich...

Just up the road, was another really "cool" sight.  The school pool looked ever so inviting...

Instead of jumping the fence and then into the pool, we dropped down into Taumarunui which was our stop for the night.  We were soon in our un-airconditioned room, throwing off our riding gear, rinsing the dust off and the heading out in search of cold drinks and dinner.

A great days riding was all over, time to relax and plan the next day's ride...