A couple of spare autumn days were a good opportunity to get in another overnight trip before the winter weather closed in.
We also decided to make it a camping trip but, expecting cooler evenings, we wanted to pick a campground with a good mix of peaceful surroundings and a communal area where we could escape the weather if necessary. The Dannevirke campground, which is located on the edge of a bush reserve and deer park, was an ideal choice and became our base for our two-night stay.
To fit in with other commitments the trip to Dannevirke was, unusually for us, just a steady run up SH2 with no back-roading at all. With beautiful calm, fine weather when we arrived in camp, we enjoyed the afternoon sun and a peaceful dinner before the cooling evening called for an early retreat to our tent. I was woken up just after midnight by a noisy gust of wind, and immediately thought of the awning that I had put up but not pegged down. A quick check of the weather forecast on the phone advised of rising winds, with a severe wind warning from mid-morning, and necessitated a quick exit to firmly peg down the awning.
By morning there was a very strong, noisy wind in the tall trees around the camp, but we were quite sheltered at ground level. There was, however, no dawn chorus. Maybe the birds were too busy hanging on. I took a walk around the park, enjoying the early morning light and watching the horses and deer starting their day of grazing, before a leisurely breakfast on the sunny and sheltered kitchen deck. A golden rain of leaves from above while breakfasting made for a memorable experience. Our planned route for the day finally was to start with a run from just north of Dannevirke out to the coast near Porangahau via as many back roads as we could find, with the return route to be decided later.
Enjoying the isolation
The first section of our trip was on good gravel roads as we wound our way through the hills, enjoying the eroded and folded landscape and the isolation of being away from civilisation. It was an interesting experience when we reached one of the council boundaries, and the road instantly changed from well-groomed, smooth gravel to a narrow and at times grassy track that was obviously due for some maintenance. Obviously different councils have different funding priorities. With the strong winds, our hunt for somewhere for a morning tea stop took so long that when we did finally find a nice clearing on a corner in a pine plantation, with the sun filtering through the trees, we made it a lunch stop. It was still a little cool and breezy, so we kept moving our chairs to stay in the sun as it moved, finally moving on when we lost the sun completely.
During the lunch break, we only saw one vehicle come through – we really were away from it all. The road gradually improved as we came out of the hills and back onto sealed roads for the final run into Porangahau where we parked up while we discussed our next destination.
Eventually we decided to backtrack slightly and take the unsealed and no exit Cooks Tooth Rd over the ranges and down to the beach at the small coastal settlement of Whangaehu. This was an easy and scenic run, if somewhat exposed in places, and a walk along the beach certainly blew the cobwebs away – and replaced them with piles of sand! The whole beach surface was drifting in the wind and we were wearing it. Leaving the beach, we noticed a totally unexpected café sign on the side of the road and saw a small gathering of people sitting on a deck outside what looked like a farm building. With a less windswept coffee in mind we dropped in and found that the venue was actually a church group’s retreat, and that the café had just closed. However, we were made very welcome and they even offered to open up again for us.
Rather than putting them to that much trouble, we opted for cleaning them out of ice creams and had a very friendly chat with the church members while we enjoyed their hospitality. After this pleasant and informative chance encounter, we returned to the main highway, stopping only to photograph some interesting fungi that Gillian had spotted as we came in.
Sign of the times
Back on the highway we decided to take the easiest way back to Dannevirke, following Wimbleton Rd past the sign for Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamatea-pokaiwhenuakitanatahu to Wimbleton, then Route 52 to the Weber turnoff, which took us back to Dannevirke. With cloudier and cooler weather than our first night, I decided not to set up the awning, and we used the camp kitchen for dinner and another pleasant, social evening. May was a bit worried about the wind buffeting the tent but it kept us warm and comfortable all night, again proving the value of having a four-season, mountain-rated tent.
Packing up the next morning was made a bit more challenging by the wind, but was soon accomplished, and over breakfast we decided to head for Pahiatua via Waihi Falls, giving Ashley the chance to revisit a route he planned to use for a 4WD club touring trip a few weeks later. The run down from Dannevirke to Waihi Falls was largely sealed and an easy run. We had a pleasant walk down to the waterfall, but our planned coffee break was abandoned since we couldn’t even get water from the thermos to cup without most of it blowing away!
From here we took the unsealed road over the Puketoi Ranges and down the Makuri Valley to our final destination at Pahiatua. This was a pleasant trip with the road carpeted in pine needles in places, and as expected the winds were seriously strong on the top of the ranges. So strong in fact that when I got out of the vehicle to take a photo, I had real trouble holding the door open to get out, and even more trouble getting back in. I finally had to wind the window down to reduce the wind force on the door enough to let me hold it while I climbed in. We managed a quick and relatively sheltered lunch at the Pipinui Falls pull-off area and had a quick walk the 200m to the falls before the clouds closed in with drizzle, making it time to move on.
We were soon out onto the plains, on a sealed road, and at the end of another adventure, with only the two-hour run back home to go.
