Clevedon

Day 211, Tuesday 20 March 2018

Clevedon is the main town of the Hunua Ranges. It isn’t a big place, and there’s nothing in the town centre which I’m interested in, but there are a couple of cheap eating places. Clevedon’s attraction for motorcyclists are the roads around it.

To the south is Memorial Road, which becomes Sky High Road which climbs into the Hunua Ranges giving great views.

To the northwest is West Road, climbing through a smaller range to Brookby, with Whitford beyond. An alternative route to Brookby is Twilight Road which runs through the same range but is more twisty. Twilight used to be the road most motorcyclists preferred, but a couple of years ago major roadworks started on the winding parts. When I rode it today, there are still roadworks, but they’re now on straight parts of the road, and the winding parts have a good smooth surface.

North Road runs northeast around the range to Maraetai with its nice beach and upmarket cafes.

I rode all these roads today.

East of northeast, the Clevedon-Kawakawa Road winds through countryside to Kawakawa Bay, with the beautiful Waitawa Regional Park on the way. Southwest, the Papakura-Clevedon Road is the exception; it is relatively uninteresting.

There are other roads I haven’t yet tried; the Ness Valley Road which runs east, with Mamourkai Hill Road going off it into the Hunua Ranges Regional Park. That turns to gravel and looks worthy of exploration. McNicol Road runs southeast and turns to gravel. It leads to Wairoa Gorge Scenic Reserve which has tramping tracks. Otau Mountain Road runs off it and into the regional park. Google Streetview doesn’t cover the gravel parts of these roads, so I clearly need to take my adventure bike into this area and leave no trail unridden!

Distance travelled: 140 km. Total distance so far: 28,197 km