December 15, 2020
Huntly to Mt Albert, Auckland
Leave the river behind and head for spud country.
After breakfast, we’re off quite early on what promises to be a warm day. There are glimpses of Lake Waahi in the distance as we head back to the main road, which is mostly downhill. It’s beautiful in the morning air and even though the quarry trucks have also made an early start, they give us plenty of space.
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Back on the main road, which becomes Te Ohaki Road, we continue following the river as it wends it’s way northwest. There’s almost no traffic at all and it’s great day for cycling. Ohaki Road becomes Glen Murray Road until the Churchill Road turn-off. Our progress until now has been pretty rapid. Churchill Road turns out to be gravel for a couple of kilometres until we reach the Pukekawa Churchill Road. We are beginning to have to negotiate a few challenging climbs, though the gradient is fine.
The junction with Highway 22 comes up eventually. This is the road that will take us through to Pukekohe, from where we will catch the train to Auckland. It seems to have a reasonable shoulder. Just past the junction is the Onewhero Golf Club where we think a latte might be available. It isn’t, but the kind woman at the office tells us that the garage/general store will do one. This turns out to be at the top of a long climb during which I am passed by a massive logging truck accelerating with a full load to reach the top of the hill. The slipstream is scary but at least I hear it coming and pull over as far as possible. The general store is owned by a chatty chap, whose school aged son acts as barista and prepares us two excellent lattes. We sit and talk for a while.
The landscape from here shows the benefits of Pukekohe’s excellent soil. Fields of onions and potatoes. One hopes that the spread of residential housing doesn’t deprive the region of this wonderfully arable loam.
From a gentle ascent, the final bridge becomes visible. We cruise downhill to the Tuakau Bridge, a single lane structure controlled by lights.
Once across, we simply follow the road, which has a good 2 metre shoulder- necessary, when trucks and trailers hauling Pukekohe’s finest potatoes regularly rumble past. Soon though, the 50 kph signs appear and things become calmer. We cycle through Pukekohe’s commercial district and just as I ask, ‘Where’s the station?’ There it is.
We have time for a spot of lunch before boarding the train taking us, with a couple of changes, to Mt Albert Station.
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3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
We leave this station and pedal the final kilometre home. All is as we left it, garden a little dry, perhaps, but all well. It’s only been 7 days, but it’s the longest New Zealand cycle ride we’ve done, and although some of it has been over familiar territory, we’ve revelled in the difference in perspective one gets from the saddle of a bicycle.
Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 417 km (259 miles)
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Please let all of us on CycleBlaze move to NZ so we can tour with impunity too.
3 years ago
3 years ago
Enjoyed reading your November trip. We did that early 2019, and rode out through the Wainuiomata valley after leaving the wonderfully wild coast.
Planning underway for a South Island sortie for end of Feb.
3 years ago
We are most fortunate here in NZ. Kia kaha ( Take care, Be strong. )
3 years ago
3 years ago