February 23, Wednesday. I headed further north to find the "bitter end" of the north island. They had recently sealed the road all the way to Cape Reinga which was good for me and the Orient Express. I was surprised at the beauty of the place when I finally got there. (but why would I be surprised in New Zealand??) I took a bunch of pics and headed back south to find a room and food.
I stopped at Mangonui after having it recommended by two guys on bikes that I had a beverage with on the way up. One fellow was riding a Triumph Tiger which I currently have on the radar screen for my dual sporting acquisition. I ran into two gentlemen who were apparently on a quick trip up the cape that had turned into an annual tradition. I had dinner with Graham and John (Bluenose fish and chips and two bottles of whine). We all had rooms at the Mangonui hotel and the nice owner let me lock the bike inside the compound. The town was still a fishing village and we contemplated going out on a 1 day charter but the weather was forecast for "nasty".
February 24, Thirstday. Graham, John and I had breakfast together and I headed south, riding around the coastline where I could. I did not get very far this day and ended up in Whangaroa. I found a great room to myself with a large window looking down on Whangaroa Harbor. I went down to the harbor for dinner and someone had a striped marlin hanging on the dock that weighed 104 kg. It was huge and I had never seen a fish this big (other than one mounted). I asked a fellow there if it was a large one and he said no. It was not uncommon for them to weigh 240 kg. They smoke the fish and its illegal to sell it. I was wanting some to sample but apparently you must have connections to get it.
February 25, TGIF? Not. I went down for breakfast and ran into Graham and John to my surprise. We chatted for a bit but no place was open for breakfast. Graham told me call him and he would host me for a night if I was in his neck of the woods. I took off looking for more bays and beaches and of course, food. I rode around Takou Bay and found a nice cafe in Kerikeri and the very tasty breakfast (including black pudding, which is some kind of blood sausage?) I left and wanted to go to Russell, which was an old whaling town with quite a reputation for bad men and brothels back in the day? It seemed quite benign now and I had to take a short ferry ride to get there. I rode on south and found a campground at Ruakaka beach on Bream Bay.
Saturday, February 26. I headed south to Wellsford and turned west to Helensville just to avoid the same track I made going north. I stopped at a MacDonalds to try to use their (useless) WI-FI and a fellow there told me I should ride up into the Waitakere Range and to a beach at Karekare and Piha. I was glad I met this guy because the beach and ride there was pretty nice. I had to walk a ways to the beach but when I got there I ran into a friendly officer of the local surf club. They happened to be cooking sausages on the grill and I asked if they were for sale. The man called Phil said no but we will give you one. I insisted on paying and he suggested I could donate to the cause of building a new surf club building. I made a donation and ate two sausages. Phil was informative about the area and in the end he offered to let me camp on his "paddock".
Which I did, and after setting up the tent, I hiked back down to the beach to watch the sunset.....very nice. I sleep well on the paddock with the wind blowing all night and I could still hear the waves crashing on the beach.
Sunday, February 27. I woke up shortly after sunrise and Phil came down and offered me breakfast in his house, which I could not refuse. His wife made bacon and breakfast fritters and it was all good. Phil let me use his computer and when I checked my mail I had a message from Graham telling me his address and with an invitation to come and visit his home. I tried to compensate with another donation for the surf club and rode back up to top of the Waitakere Range. As I was coming back into a town I was stopped by the police. They were doing a safety survey on motorcyclists and I pulled over and surrendered my license. The officer quickly got on his radio and began checking out the bike registration. This prompted questions about whose bike I was riding. I simply told the truth and they were very polite. They liked my safety gear (I think it was the rare and seldom seen here, hi-vis jacket that won them over)and I passed their inspection with a perfect score of 21 of 21!! The officer gave me good directions to Graham's address and I was on my way. I had no difficulty finding Graham's house and he was pulling into his driveway when I called him. He had a very nice place on ten acres and we toured the grounds, sampled his fresh, off the tree, figs and headed out for a tour of Auckland in his car. I really enjoyed my stay with him, we seemed to have a lot in common on how we thought the world should be, and as an added bonus, he was an excellent cook!! Graham had lost his wife about 16 years ago and I could tell that she was sorely missed.
Monday, February 28. I left Graham's place and had to fight a little traffic coming into Auckland but it was not really bad. I had decided to head toward Ragland on the west coast for the night where I ended up in farm hostel with at least 5 Americans and one Canadian, one couple was from Idaho. The owners were friendly and they had wi-fi. I decided to cook in and made a quick trip to store. All is well and the bike drop off point is within a good days ride. Today I found a relatively good specimen of a road kill possum. I took the risk of becoming road kill myself for the pic. I wasn't sure how long it had been deceased or I might have tried to cook it up just to see if it tastes like the "possum amerikanus" we eat regularly back in West Virginia? I think they look like a big squirrel with large ears. Now you might not agree with me on putting them on the dinner table but I do know for a fact that they can make a good sweater out of em here in New Zealand.....
