When you're living in Auckland, every now and then the urge can grow to just get out for a bit, so that's what my husband and I did. Leaving the kids at home and selecting a Cruiser from Easy Rider Motorcycle Hires, we decided to take a few days away to enjoy the weather and refresh - and it really was great to take some time out and just reconnect with each other.
On Friday evening we packed up the Easy Rider Motorcyle Hires Harley 883 with a two-person tent (no room for the kids this weekend!) and sleeping bags and off we went. Getting out of Auckland can be a mission in itself, especially from North Shore and peak traffic, but navigating down the motorway was a lot easier (and faster) on the bike! It didn't seem like very long at all before we were racing away from Auckland in the much more scenic State Highway toward Tauranga.
After an hour and a half we were in Maramarua where we stopped at the Red Fox Tavern for a short break and grabbed a highly recommend dinner at a great price. The Red Fox is very much a "traditional" Kiwi pub with all the expected atmosphere and friendly service any travelling Kiwi would expect from their local bar/restaurant.
Feeling refreshed and replenished, we were ready to hit the road again toward our destination for the night at Dickys Flat DOC campground in Karanangahake Gorge. At $10 a night per person, DOC sites are looking like my new favourite way to camp. This was a great place to stop for the night as although it's a popular destination, it's also quite secluded and quiet. There are amazing bush walkways along the river that take you all the way to the more famous abandoned gold mines in Karangahake Gorge, with some nice deep swimming holes along the river. There's evidence of old gold mines along the entire walk (which will take about an hour each way) and a few very long and low tunnels to navigate. Unfortunately, the swing-bridge over the Karangahake River is currently closed due to a slip, but you can still get all the way through to the Visitor centres in Karangahake Gorge. We could have headed back to Karangahake Gorge to find restaurants for dinner, but we had already eaten so making a pot of coffee with the camping gear and relaxing in the campsite made the night great for us.
We were up with the birds on Saturday morning to beat the traffic for an incoming marathon and after enjoying some of the scenery in one of my favourite spots in NZ, the Karangahake Gorge and taking some photos - like this one - we were on our way again, this time to the Coromandel.
On our way out, we grabbed some lunch from the market ($5 taco’s to keep inline with “doing it cheap) and a packet of wraps, 2 steaks and some garlic butter from the 4 Square to pack up for our dinner - and we hit the windy’s for another 45 minutes until we ended up at the Waikawau Bay DOC site. After setting up our tent and wandered down to the beach (a 2 minute walk) we instantly regretted not brining a fishing rod! The beach is pristine and beautiful and we could only stand in the white sand and imagine the fantastic dinner we could have had if we had packed a rod and reel from Easy Rider Motorcycle Hires stock.
We spent most of the day soaking up the sun (or hiding from it in my case) on this beautiful beach and exploring the local area. At one point, standing on the beach we saw a pod of dolphins chasing and playing with a stingray in the crystal clear waters. Fishing may not have been so great after all….
Dinner was simple frying our steaks on our camp cooker in the garlic butter and chucking it in our salad free wrap (apparently a bag of salad was going to take up too much room in the backpack. I have my suspicions...)
On Sunday morning we packed up our campsite and headed home, leaving through Colville this time which was a far more enjoyable ride on the motorbike - the gravel roads only lasted 10 minutes of the ride rather than the 45 minutes over Kennedys Bay on the way in! We rode the coast line all the way to Thames and stopped at Cafe Melbourne in Thames for breakfast (excellent food if you’re looking for recommendations) and headed home to rescue my Dad from his 3 grandsons and our dog (Thanks Dad).
We had a fantastic time riding around Karangahake and Coromandel and we will definitely be making another trip. It's a beautiful part of the country to relax and unwind and having the extra adventure of riding this route on a motorbike from Easy Rider Motorcycle Hires made this brief respite so much more memorable.
Karmen and Daz
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