After getting my bike, I needed to just test my limits a little. I first had to find out what my skill level was like on dirt roads. So the first place I went to was out the back of Okato to the lighthouses.
Coast Road
This road is very much a dirt road, one of the few dirt roads like you see on all the adventure blogs. Frankly the rest I’ve travelled on are significantly more like the Himalayas I feel, even those are a little nicer.
German Hill
My next ride was to German Hill.
It was a miserable day but I took one of my employees for a ride after work. This is just off the main road so not a hugely different ride from my normal ride home.
At one point the road was flooded with about 3 inches of water which was fun… for me, not so much him on his Suzuki GSX500.
I never got a photo of that because frankly there wasn’t much to see. I’d like to do that one again on a clear day and take a photo.
No one’s really sure why it’s called German Hill but there are a few ideas floating around.
I was told it’s because from Mt Egmont/Taranaki it looks like a German soldier’s helmet from WWI.
I do have a REVER record of this run here:
https://go.rever.co/bKXSCBM4p0b
Once I had gained more confidence on the bike, I wanted to do some more offroad. So back out around the coast where I knew they were.
Upper Parihaka and Upper Kahui Roads
The wind was pretty strong this day but at least the rain was holding off… well, until I headed back that is.
Parihaka is the site of a tribe that was well done over by the British who stormed in and stole the land from under them, killed some of their warriors, and basically raped and pillaged their way through the area.
I’m in two minds about Parihaka. On one hand what happened to them was atrocious and has only recently been formally acknowledged under the Adern government, but on the other hand I feel they are massive hypocrites. You see, every two years the Parihaka Tribe hold the Parihaka Peace Festival but I’ve picked up two hitchhikers from the tribe and both talked about rising up against the government and kick whitey out. Given that I’m whiter than sour cream and I’m the one picking them up I felt that to be pretty rich. I felt like telling those people to tuck in and roll as I push them out the door while we’re driving. I get why they feel the way they do but peace can NEVER be found at the barrel of a gun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parihaka
From Upper Parihaka Road I joined up with Upper Kahui Road. After a brief pause to decide if I wanted to head back to Wiremu Road or turn left and head to the end of the road, I decided to head to the end. This took me to the start of the Kahui Track up Mt Egmont/Taranaki which is right at the base of the Egmont National Park.
Here’s the REVER record for that ride as well:
https://go.rever.co/pLdMzJoCt0b
The first few weeks with the Himalayan were great and I really worked out what I needed to add.
The biggest was a new rear tyre because the one I got on the bike was worn and I felt was the main reason why the bike kept feeling like it wanted to slide out on me. The new tyre made a huge difference.
I also added a USB port so I could charge my phone while riding. That’s gone now in favour of a battery because the switch rusted shut and I couldn’t turn it off and on. So much for being a motorcycle charging port if it can’t handle a little (read LOTS) weather.
I also added a CarPlay unit so that I can navigate using Apple Maps or whatever mapping app I’ve chosen on the day. So far I’ve used Apple Maps, REVER, Guru Maps, and the absolutely horrible TomTom app. Reviews are on the way for them, well more a single article looking at all of them.
Each day I ride is a learning day about me and my bike so no doubt things will change. Still looking for a decent winch though.