Story and photos by David Coxon

Like many of our regular Weekend Drive trips, this one started by meeting our regular travelling companions, Ashley and Gillian at a café.

This time it was one out the back of Levin, and we were lucky to arrive while a classic car and bike club were also visiting – wandering around the car park was almost as good as visiting a classic vehicle museum. 

It was so pleasant enjoying a coffee sitting in the shade out on the patio, in fact, that it was almost hard to head off on our trip.  We did eventually drag ourselves away, however, and after passing through Shannon, we took a circuitous backroad route around Palmerston North, finally reaching Feilding and the gateway to our real trip. 

The town was buzzing with train excursions and crowds, so we carried on through and headed north for a more rural and peaceful experience. Turning up Beaconsfield Valley Rd we soon started climbing, with the road becoming narrow and windy, with some blind corners, but still sealed.

Clear blue skies

Reaching the ridge, we joined the easier, but unsealed Waituna Tapuae Rd and followed this along the ridge.  The clear blue skies gave some spectacular views as we worked our way along the ridge enjoying the scenery and stopping periodically for a particularly nice view.

By now it was well into lunchtime and we were looking for a suitable pull-off place – somewhere with cool dappled shade, a good view and far enough off the road to avoid the dust from any passing traffic. 

Continuing our journey along the ridge to turn off onto Peep-o-Day Rd we started getting some amazing views of Mt Ruapehu in the distance.  While the mountain didn’t change much, the foreground did, and we were stopping regularly to get different views of the mountain.

Perfect day

Dropping back down to the plains, we stopped at the historic town remnants at Pemberton for a break in the now very warm afternoon.  Being such a perfect day, we decided to abandon our plan to loop back to the ridge in favour of visiting a ‘secret’ canyon known mainly to locals.  This was a idyllic spot where we could cool off in the stream and enjoy the rather impressive canyon as a break from driving. 

With good shade for the afternoon tea this was just like a typical Kiwi summer holiday experience from my childhood. 

To cap off the break we decided to stop at Mangaweka for ice creams and cold drink but in another memory from my youth, everything had already closed for the day!! 

Overall another very enjoyable day with a good mix of driving, and some very pleasant experiences, especially playing in the canyon.

To read the full story in the April 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (March 15) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.