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New Zealand North Island Itinerary, Part 1

January 14, 2015 by TheCuriousCyclist Filed under Advice Tagged with newzealand

Day 1 (Feb 23)

Auckland International Airport

Whangarei Airport, Handforth Street, Whangarei Airport, Whangarei 0110

(90 mile connecting flight)

[ whangareiairport.co.nz ]

Whangarei Airport

Mainfreight Transport, 33 Fertilizer Rd, Port Whangarei, Whangarei 0110

(5 mile chartered shuttle, with packed bike boxes)

[ http://www.whangareibus.co.nz/wps-airport-shuttle.html ]

Unpack and assemble bikes here, fold up and compress boxes, mail boxes to destination hotel

[ mainfreight.co.nz ]

Mainfreight Transport

Flames International Hotel, 8 Waverley St, Onerahi, Whangarei 0110

(4.3 mile ride)

Day 2 (Feb 24)

Flames International

Pacific Coast Kayaks, 66 Beach Road, Onerahi, Whangarei 0110

(1 mile walk at most – since we are nearby they will pick us up.)

[ http://www.nzseakayaking.co.nz ]

Day 3 (Feb 25)

Flames International

Beachstay Matapouri, 7 Aspden Place, Matapouri Bay R D 3 0173

(30 miles)

[ http://www.beachstaymatapouri.co.nz/ ]

The route through the woods is more adventurous and scenic, and avoids the perilous Highway 1, but is also a lot more hilly, and mostly gravel road. We’ll probably have to go a mile or two on Highway 1 anyway.

Day 4 (Feb 26)

Beachstay

Mermaid Pool and back

(1 mile hike)

The pool is at GPS -35.559016,174.514303 and worth seeing, but the Matapouri beach itself is just as much of an attraction.

[ https://nzfrenzynorth.wordpress.com/ ]

Day 5 (Feb 27)

Beachstay

Dive! Tutukaka, Poor Knights Dive Centre, Marina Road, Tutukaka 0173

(4.2 miles to the main office, where they will lock up our bikes.)

All-day kayaking or diving at the islands

[ http://diving.co.nz/go-diving/your-poor-knights-dive-day ]

Dive! Tutukaka

Whangarei Falls Backpacker – BBH, 12 Ngunguru Rd, Whangarei 0144

(15 miles)

[ http://www.bbh.co.nz/hd29/ … ]

Day 6 (Feb 28)

Whangarei Backpacker

the Waipu caves

(24 miles, with a couple of hard climbs near the end)

[ http://www.doc.govt.nz/ … ]

Waipu caves

Waipu Hotel, 4 S Rd, Waipu 0545

(7 miles, mostly downhill)

Elevation change for the full day:

Day 7 (Mar 1)

KeriKeri/Auckland shuttle stop by the Waipu Hotel

“Hamilton – Central, New Zealand” shuttle stop

(150 miles – approx 70 to Auckland, 80 to Hamilton)

InterCity bus, Kerikeri/Auckland line ( GPS -35.984153,174.444582 ) boards in Waipu at 9:47am, 11:57am, or 3:07pm, exits in Hamilton after approximately 5 hours. Cost: $85.

[ https://www.intercity.co.nz/ … ]

Will probably need to catch the 9:47am in time to see Diesel.