Organiser: Marianne McNeil
Cyclists for all or some of the rides : Allen Small, Andrew Sinclair, Ann Anderson, Athol Berry, Deb Payne, Deon Papentus, Janette Lloyd, Kay Wilcocks, Louise Sinclair, Maria Jackson, Marianne Mcneil, Marlene Hiestead, Matt Crozier, Maureen McRae, Mike Bradbury, Owen Sprosen, Peter Arnold, Pieter Holl, Reg Churton, Sarah Ley, Sandra Knight, Simon Buchier, Sue Woolnough, Warwick Lord
Main author: Marianne
Wednesday 18th June Kaniwhaniwha Loop – 45.69km and 669m climb
Ride leader: Matt
We started from Kaniwhaniwha carpark, beside the stream. Sunshine! but a bit nippy on my fingers, toes and ears. Lovely countryside. At “Village Café” in Whatawhata, we sat outside in the sunshine. Great views across Waikato’s low cloud to Te Aroha from the top of Old Mountain Road. Lunch was outside Waitetuna School. Ann asked me to take a photo of her with a drinking flask a friend had given her.
Lots of “impressive trucks” out of a local quarry. Blue skies all the way. It was a marvellous day, a marvellous ride and a marvelous start to our winter solstice.
Driving back to camp: Disaster for Allen’s and Deb’s bikes when their carrier sheared off.
Back at camp: Marlene had cooked scones for cyclists. The cook was late after missing the turnoff to Hamilton and waiting for 3 hours for an overturned truck to be cleared off SH1. Many hands made light work with veg prep. When the conference centre oven didn’t work baking dishes were despatched to various kitchens around the camp.
Owen and Michael worked on the giant ham. Dinner was only an hour and half behind schedule.
Simon ran a wonderful quiz. The winning group amassed 50 points from 50 questions.
Thursday 19th June Mt. Karioi Circuit – 47km short, or 60.44km and 1284 elevation gain
Ride leader: Andrew
An ambulance had been called for Ann whom we hadn’t been able to rouse. The ambulance personnel ran a test and could find anything major, so planned to take her to Waikato for tests and observation. Knowing there was nothing serious, we headed off on the planned ride.
Author: Sarah
The weather was misty and I left my phone in my handlebar bag until lunchtime. It all just seemed incredibly gloomy after having all the shocking drama of earlier in the day and such a contrast from the day before. The weather was gloomy and we were gloomy. However we were hoping to see Ann ride with us later in the week.
The around the mountain ride saw us negotiating a lot of very large and chunky gravel which none of us enjoyed. Then there would come a spot where we could relax as the gravel was lighter and then next thing it was quite sandy and soft to ride through. I took my phone out at a break when we stopped to have a snack and took this photo.
After that we were very pleased to get back to Raglan and head straight for a caffeine hit at “The Shack”. It was there with quite a few of us chewing the fat and hoping that Anne was okay that we heard the worst. We made our way back to camp in a very sombre state. Nga mihi.
Friday 20th June To Bridal Veil Falls/Waireinga, and Hakea Retreat
41km short or 68.85km and 1327m climbing
Ride leader: Matt
Highlights of the day:
1. “A scone from the bakery was amazing”;
2. “Loved the ride because beautiful route, beautiful scenery”;
3. “Bridal Veil Falls were impressive”;
4. The wonderful down-hill run to Aotea Harbour, ‘we could have been flying’;
5. The lack of traffic on the unsealed roads;
6. Our visit to Hakea Retreat was the “highlight of the day” with “nice people, alternative lifestyle”, a home made wood stove which was “simple but effective”.
Dan was so welcoming and so helpful showing us how permaculture works.
Warwick commented that it was great to see in reality what Bill Mollinson had written about in his book promoting permaculture. We came away with cuttings of mexican sunflower and a “shark melon” for seed. The only shower of the day got us as we were leaving.
7. We had views from Te Papatapu Rd back over Aotea harbour.
8. The Maungatawhiri Rd took us up and over, with views to valleys each side, then views of the reaches of Whaingaroa/Raglan Harbour, before descending back to the SH23 and camp.
Saturday 21 June: Around Whaingaroa/ Raglan Harbour
– 50.4 km ride, with 953m climbing
Ride leader: Matt
A huge attrition rate: only eight riders braved the ferry crossing to Te Akau on this fine, windless day. The ferry took four riders at a time.
Ian, the ferryman, told us about a venture he was involved with on the northern side of the harbour. The old wharf, now gone, had been a deep-water port, and that side had previously been more settled. We saw the pancake rocks as we approached the shore.
The road from the port was a delight as we meandered along through bush beside the harbour. We stopped on Kauri Flat to enjoy the last of Ann’s mandarins.
From there on we cycled up and down hill, through farmland, getting close to several arms of the Harbour, and at other times beside streams with mature native trees fenced off.
On one high point we noticed that not the usual Manuka, but Puriri were bent by the prevailing wind. It was there that we were met by two more of the solstice group, who had started at Waingaro Springs.
After a lunch stop at the Roast Office, previously the Post Office, at Te Uku, we followed Maureen on the Okete Rd detour through lush green farmland, and across the yet another significant waterway heading into the harbour.
Close to the town Maureen took us past the holiday house they had previously owned, and then on to the Raglan wharf.
Sunday 21 June Loop from Te Kohanga – 77 km 1386m elevation gain
Ride leader: Matt
It was an early morning start, packing up from the camp in Raglan, to drive North to the start of the ride in Te Kohanga. En route we saw smoke from Huntly pushing through Waikato fog, Others drove West or South to join the ride.
Initially, the group sped off into the head wind along the mainly flat road to Port Waikato, where we enjoyed coffee and $12 pies at a cafe overlooking the beach.
The route then took us south, through spectacular limestone country.
We stopped to view “Limestone Downs”, a 3000+ hectare station, which now funds C. Alma Baker Charitable Trust, funding students from Massey Uni to research there.
Baker Road, with its two big hills, had had fresh gravel dumped on it. Then there was the wonderful descent to a bridge, followed by one disappointing, final hill back to the start. We had three punctures, and three bikes run out of battery, and one brake cable problem.
A tough ride to end midwinter 2025.