Cape Reinga...Part 1.

Now here is one for the books.....I did it in a car, yep....My partner Fei  had never been there,so I  offered to take him on the bike but considering he had actually never been on a bike   I thought the prospect of 16 hours riding over three days may have been a bit much.  So being the nice guy I am, and the fact I had no plans  (interpret that as crap social life) I decided we would go in the car.

We left Friday and our first place to stay for the night would be Opononi  on the Hokianga harbour.  We bailed out of work just after three and headed north.   Sitting in the passenger seat and actually looking at the scenery was a bit of a shock, I am normally focused on my next corner, vanishing point, while exiting under controlled throttle before the rinse and repeat process begins....

In Dargiville we stopped and had a look at th the wood turner there that uses old kauri and turns  the wood  into the most beautiful items.  Many years ago Northland was covered in giant Kauri, very few remain.  Most of the Kauri now comes from the swamps where over 4000 years a go a giant Tsunami buried the Forrest.  The kauri is preserved and is now dug up and used.  No more standing kauris are allowed  to be cut down.  It is a beautiful wood, and I personally love it.

On the road again we stopped at Tana Mahuta...of King of the Forrest.  I have shown pics of this before, but thought it wouldn't hurt to show some more.  It really is a big bloody tree and the pics just don't do it justice.

We were almost at our destination for the night.   I was so enjoying being in the car for a change and noticed stuff I had just never seen before.  Although it never compares to road trips on the bike it was a pleasant change.  As the sun set we were greeted to a magic sunset Opononi is only a small town but being located right on the harbour it has it s own magic about it.   My friend Jase went wild with the camera and I have stolen a few of the best to post here....I think the pics says it all...

I think these pictures say more than I can, as usual click on them to enlarge them....they are brilliant.
We stayed in the Copthorn Hotel.  Loved it, and the food and the cooked brekkie...,man I love hotel cooked brekkies...and then we headed north...

Part  2 looked some thing like this.........

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