Drive time: 4 hours 20 min 293 kms
Depart at 10 am. There’s no riding today but sit back and enjoy the drive out to East Cape. Leaving Rotorua you’ll pass by four lakes, before emerging on the coastal planes near Mt Putauaki and Awakeri. Passing through Whakatane, the popular beach township of Ohope and onto Opotiki… and out to the East Cape.

Your first day of riding starts at East Cape lighthouse. We’ll have you there for first light – that’s the world’s first light each day. At Te Araroa, you may wish to stop for a picture of the oldest Pohutakawa or a coffee at Twilight Cafe or East Cape Manuka Cafe. Carry on through Hicks Bay and Cape Runaway and into Waihau Bay for lunch. Rest and then roll onto Te Kaha for the night.

The Pacific stretches off to your right. You’re in Whale Rider country now. Whaakari/White Island broods off shore. The first half of your day is on sealed coastal road, then you turn south and start your first big climb on gravel of the tour towards Mōtū Village. It’ll be a demanding afternoon, but a rewarding one. You’re in Te Urewera now (and for the next two days).

Keep your eyes peeled for Weka – a sort of brown, flightless bird that is often on the roadside. Your ride today passes right by the Rere Rockslide and Rere Falls. We have lunch at the falls. In the afternoon you will drop from 600 metres to 200 metres… but what goes down goes back up again.

Your topo map has 4 good sized climbs in it today. There’s no other way to say it – it’ll be a big day. You will cross over the boundary between Gisbourne and Hawke’s Bay. You will pass the impressive Te Reinga waterfall, ride through the village of Ruakituri. You’ll be on high country farm roads with glimpses of the sea and way off on your left the Mahia Peninsula and the Rocket Lad launch site. There is spectacular downhill in the last quarter of the day so save your legs for that. The early Piripaua Power Station heralds more substantial hydro you will see in the next day’s ride. But wait there’s more… from Tuai you will climb up to Lake Waikaremoana before overnighting on the lakes edge.

What a treat this day is! It starts with a descent into Ruatahuna, then past Minginui and on to Murupara. You’ll ride over Mokau Falls and through the most beautiful rain forest. But it’s remote – you’re not in Kansas now Toto. Still, you will be able to get a coffee at the general store in Ruatahuna after riding through packs of free range horses that stand lazily on the town’s roads. Passing the Whirinaki Forest on your left (last untouched, old-growth forest in NZ), you will arrive in the comparative metropolis of Murupara. Your day ends with a climb up to Rainbow Mountain on Highway 5. Then shuttle to Rotorua for 1 day/2 nights and a well earned rest day.

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With the Te Ureweras done and dusted, you have put the hardest part of the ride behind you. There is the opportunity to rest and relax on this hump day in Rotorua. Or maybe not… the grade 2, 32 km Whakarewarewa loop track might be your special way to relax and unwind. Or maybe the pools at “The Secret Spot“, Wai Ariki Hot Springs or walk in the Redwoods or around Te Puia Thermal Valley.

After a day’s rest we resume at Rainbow Mountain at the intersection of highways 5 and 38. We check out to boiling mud (see video) nearby before heading west to Ātiamuri, Whakamaru and onto Mangakino – all towns with dams and hydro power stations built in the 50s. In the morning we will be riding through the beautiful Waikite Valley to the Ātiamuria Dam, then on the southern section of the Waikato River trail to Whakamaru. We overnight in Mangakino close to Lake Maraetai and the domain.

There’s a big day ahead, two third of which is climbing on gravel forest road or gravel path. There are some good photo ops though at the Arataki swing bring, at the “centre of the North Island” marker and at the entrance to the Timber Trail. At the 13km mark into the Timber Trail, at about 990 m elvation, there is a huge reward for all that climbing! The ride down from the high point of the Pureora Forest Park to Piro Piro flats is definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

The first half of our day completes the southern side of The Timber Trail including more swing bridges, rail cuttings and the Ongarue railway spiral. Interpretive signs bring the forest’s history to life. Leaving the Pureora Forest, we head south then west through the Okahukura Saddle to Ōhura towards The Forgotten Highway.

Leaving Ohura, you ride 60 kms on untrafficked, gravel roads over saddles and through tunnels and arrive at Whangamomona for a pub lunch. The route’s interpretive signs will give you interesting background on the area, its rail and road history, who lived there and what they did. We finish at Purangi or Tarata today, in range of Cape Egmont light house for the final day.

Your last day of riding – and the exciting finale to your trip! Leaving Purangi, the terrain starts to flatten and drop onto the coastal plans. After passing through the Tarata Tunnel, keep looking south for glimpses of the snowcapped Mt Taranaki and west out over the Tasman Sea. You cross the 125 year old Bertrand Rd suspension bridge, into Lepperton and then over the Te Rewa Rewa bridge, south down to the coast on the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway beside Fitzroy Beach. The afternoon’s ride sees you exit New Plymouth through a series of reserves and parks. Shortly, you climb steady to Pukeiti on the western slope of Taranaki, possibly stopping for refreshments at the Founders Cafe before descending through Parihaka and onto the lighthouse. YAY! YOU MADE IT.
Overnight in New Plymouth.

4 hr 20 mins 308 kms driving
This is transport day. We return to Rotorua via Te Kuiti and Highway 3 & 30. However before leaving New Plymouth the group may choose to go to the Govett-Brewster Regional Gallery or a stroll in Pukekura Park or visit the Piopio Berry Orchard on the road home.