Day 1-3 Cape Reinga to Ahipara – Far North District

📆 Monday-Wednesday 

↔️ 136km

⛺️Rawara beach, Plantation forest, someone’s garden in Ahipara

It was a chaotic whirlwind of a start to the trip. Caught an early bus out of Auckland on 25 August to head to Kaitaia via Kerikeri which took all day. In the haste to get the bikes off the bus we left Dan’s puffer jacket behind which meant staying in Kaitaia for the night in the hope of getting it back on the morning bus due to arrive at 10am the next morning.

We didn’t want to immediately blow our budget on accommodation so we wandered around the town scoping out potential free camping spots for the night. It started raining which with the annoyance of the jacket getting lost didn’t help the vibes. 

The mood was low, we were both annoyed, and it was rather cold and wet, making the prospects of wild camping somewhere in this rather uninviting town not very appealing. We were also getting ‘hangry’ as it was after 2pm and we still hadn’t had a lunch. We decided we needed some food before making any further decisions so we pushed our bikes along on the main strip in search for a takeaway that would still be open for lunch. Weighing up between Subway and Pizza Hut, a staff member inside Pizza Hut waived vigorously at us and came outside and asked if we were travelling. Slightly puzzled, we answered yes, after which he proceeded to give us an entire gigantic pizza order that someone hadn’t picked up! That dramatically and instantly improved the mood as we walked our new prized possession over to a park bench by a children’s playground and ate as much as we possibly could which was still only half (the order consisted of three pizzas and fries)! 

With our bellies full we proceeded to deciding where we were going to sleep that night. We thought we found an okay spot by the river on the outskirts of the town just as a pair of dogs came barking and running towards us when we realised the area of grass that we thought we could pitch the tarp appeared to lead to someone’s driveway. In the end with the weather not improving we caved and decided to look for accommodation online. At the same time we were still debating on whether to take an expensive shuttle to the cape or start the trip in Ahipara at the bottom of 90 mile beach. 

After some quick research online using our data on the eSIM and posting on the TA Facebook page we found a lady offering a self contained room for $90 and a shuttle to the cape the next morning for $220. They would wait for us to see if we could get the puffer jacket back too. After a long day of travelling and the intermittent showers we decided that was the best thing to do and we were so glad we did when we got to the place. 

On the way there we went to PAK’nSAVE to stock up for the next few days riding back from the Cape and picked up a salad and some fruit for a very light dinner after the hearty meal from earlier. It was warm and we had a tv and wifi and could finally plan the next few days of riding and saved some routes into our Wahoo bike computer. Went to bed way too late but had a much needed rest and good sleep. 

Filled with that unique mixture of excitement and a bit of unknown anxiety we couldn’t wait to get to the Cape and start our adventure!! 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚵‍♀️

The next morning we said goodbye to our lovely host Sarah and went straight to the bus stop where Dan got his jacket back (it was exactly where we left it on the bus in the luggage compartment above the seats) while I went to the post office to send some things back home. We met our driver and after disassembling the bikes managed to fit them into the car was a bit of a game of Tetris. The drive was scenic and the 1.5h flew by as we conversed with our lovely driver, a young local. 

Arriving at the cape it was windy as expected but a lovely sunny day and reasonably warm in the sun. The cape was stunning and more impressive than expected with gorgeous wild forested hills and cliffs and the star white lighthouse perched at the bottom a great contrast to the radiant blue of the ocean. Where Tasman meets the Pacific Ocean, a special sacred place in Māori culture, who believe our ancestors return to the sea after death here. It certainly had a majestic feeling about it. After taking photos with the lighthouse and signposts we had a quick late lunch and officially started riding. We had a reasonably big first day considering we didn’t get going before 2pm! We had to make it to Rawene beach campsite which was 61km away. 

The riding was challenging with reasonably strong winds and windy, hilly roads. We had to press on and couldn’t stop for a look at the sand dunes. The bikes were quite heavy with food for 3 days as we didn’t expect to find many shops on the way. We stopped for a few snack breaks but made steady progress and pushed on to try and get to camp before dark. As we got further away from the cape the landscape changed from rugged, forested hills to more green undulating hills and farmland and we saw the first sheep and cow farms that later would become so familiar and emblematic of the north island. There was a rough section with lots of barking dogs, a lot of which came out running at us on the street as we rode past and weren’t contained. One of which attacked me and jumped up on my raincoat which was really terrifying but luckily it didn’t bite me!

My bum and legs were starting to get sore and I was tired and needed lots of snacks to keep me going and when we finally saw the sign on the side of the road to turn off to the campsite with 4km we were very relieved. The last 4km were relatively easy gravel road which was made sweeter by the sunset. We finally got to camp and immediately set up the tarp and cooked dinner in the dark. We were all done when it started raining. It was quite windy and cold so we went to bed early, tired from the first day of riding and hoping the tarp would hold up fine in the wind and rain. It was a very disturbed sleep, not surprisingly, it being the first night in the tarp and a rather windy one we woke up many times. Waking to light showers the next day we prepared breakfast (our go to breakfast is oats and instant coffee) under the tarp. Went for a stroll to the beach along the river which was very windswept. We were both a bit tired as we didn’t sleep amazingly the first night in the tarp. Pack up took us a while being the first time for everything and we still have to get used to a system. 

Once we got going there was constant, very strong headwinds and crosswinds which made it near impossible to ride. We also got lots of rain so ran jackets stayed on all day. Stopped for lunch in Pukenui where we found shelter inside a bus stop and treated ourselves to chicken and chips at the four square which the Māori girl driving us to the cape recommended. It did not disappoint and we devoured it.

We were glad when the road finally turned in away from the state highway 1 and into slightly more sheltered forest/logging roads. Smooth gravel and the occasional logging truck is all we saw as well as avocado plantations. Didn’t take long before the road came to a section that was private and had signs not to go there. We detoured to the beach and ended up doing a short section on 90 mile beach, lucky that the tide time was right. It was crazy windy and felt like we were in a sandstorm so it was slow going. We eventually found a way to cut back into the forest roads. Progress had been slow and this detour didn’t help, we decided it was too far to go all the way to Ahipara and set up camp in the daylight in the plantation forest a bit away from the road. Offered some wind shelter and slightly warmer as well as padded sleeping. We had to ration drinking water as had to make it last for cooking, drinking and cleaning. We had an early night and a pretty good sleep. 

Day 3 saw us finish the far north section of the tour and get into slightly more civilisation. Came across a lovely art gallery and Kaui exhibition in Awanui with a very nice looking cafe so called in for a coffee and snack and filled up our water bottles as well as had a cat wash in the bathrooms. Feeling a bit better and rested we admired an incredible Kaui carved staircase carved out of a 45,000 year old Swamp Kaui!

Refreshed we continued our way to Ahipara through beautiful farmland, rolling green hills, lots of cows and the last bit was my favourite, elevated with sweeping views to the coast on the right and mountains on the left. There was a remote rural town kinda vibe about this place with a nice bay at the foot of a pretty impressive mountain. It was pretty cool and wet and there was not much of a town, one cafe which was shut, one servo and a small general store. We stocked up on some dinner supplies and found a camping spot online in someone’s garden. We rang them up and they said they aren’t really open yet (normally open mid September) but they made an exception for us. As we were the only guests and the grass was quite wet, we camped in the little camping kitchen area. Had a lions red and dinner and off to bed. The next day we packed up, had a dip in the cold ocean and a nutritious breakfast and went out on our way south to Broadwood…