Kaipara Flats

Day 17, Thursday 7 September 2017

Kaipara Flats is a rural locality 10 km west of Warkworth. I’ve seen the signpost for it many times, so today I went to see what it is like.

It was gusty today, with intermittent heavy showers. Kaipara Flats Road goes off State Highway 1 just north of Warkworth. It’s a sealed, gently winding country road, surrounded by lifestyle blocks and small farms, some scrubland, and some forests. The township of Kaipara Flats itself has a school, a sports club and a hall. There’s a building with “Butcher” written on it but it doesn’t look like it is operating.

From Kaipara Flats northwest to Tauhoa on State Highway 16, the road is gravel and is used by logging trucks, which its explains the poor condition. The gravel is very uneven, sparse in most places but quite deep in others. There are lots of potholes. For a kilometre or so it is quite muddy, and as this coincided with one of the showers it looked slippery although I didn’t lose traction. The road becomes hilly as it passes through Hoteo.

Distance travelled: 173 km. Total distance so far: 2352 km