TA Day 4 - Dargaville to Karapai

 74 miles, 3054’ climbing

Lodging:  Parakai Geothermal Motel

Weather:  Sunny and hot

There were at least 16 tents for TA riders at the Dargaville camp site, and most of the people planned to catch the ferry at Poutu Point today. About half were getting up as we packed our tent and made breakfast. Last night was the perfect temperature for sleeping. We pedaled out in the cool air with the sun rising on our left, and misty fog over the fields and water. 

The route was paved at first, then a gravel road. The gravel roads have been well maintained but with a loose surface of gravel at times, very dusty when cars pass. We saw wild turkeys in some of the fields, and we leapfrogged with several other riders as we rode over the hills.

The landscape is beautiful, but it’s less wild and far more cleared of natural trees than we expected. Of course there’s still so much to see.

By 12:30 the day was heating up and we arrived at Poutu Point. The ferry wasn’t due until 5, so we spent several hours at a small community center, cleaned drive trains, had a soda and ice cream, walked on the beach. 

When the ferry arrived, it nosed straight up onto the sand. The ferry operators are experienced at transporting riders, and organized us into a brigade to pass our unloaded bikes onto the ferry for the journey. It was then 3 hours across the large Kaipara Harbor to Parakai and another 30 minutes to unload the bikes.

Since we were arriving in the dark, we booked a hotel near the landing site, a small hotel with geothermal baths. The road to Auckland is known to be dangerous during morning rush hour due to no shoulder and commuter traffic into Auckland. A bunch of people planned to ride in at night to avoid commuter traffic, and some debated the value of an alternate road. For us, that’s a matter for tomorrow. We reached our hotel around 9pm, met with Andy (Sidney Australia) and Nuttert (Netherlands) for dinner, then enjoyed a mineral soak before bed. It was a long day, but a great one for camaraderie since we had time with so many other TA riders (~65 cyclists on the ferry).