Twin Coast Cycle Trail in The Bay of Islands - Day 342© NZPocketGuide.com
Twin Coast Cycle Trail in The Bay of Islands - Day 342

Twin Coast Cycle Trail in The Bay of Islands – Day 342

© NZPocketGuide.com

Day 342 on the Road

Walking a Cycle Trail?

Yes, today we are walking the Twin Coast Cycle Trail a couple of days after Robin broke his arm. Nevertheless, it’s a stunning trail we want to show you – bike or no bike! If you like this video and want to see more 365 Days: 365 Activities then jump on over to our epic YouTube Channel!

Today we are taking on the Twin Coast Cycle Trail the alternative way.

Since I broke my arm a few days ago, Laura is driving but Laura hasn’t been driving for so long… so.. How do you put the lights on! Twist forward.

As you can see Laura is a very confident driver, panicking when turning the lights on. Reassuring.

Go away.

Luckily for today’s adventure someone else is gonna be driving. We’re meeting up with Ray from Top Trail which is gonna take us to the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

So we just met with Ray from Top Trail and you know, since my arm is out of duty today we are not going to be biking the trail that we were supposed to be biking but he really wants to show us a couple of really sweet spots that the trail has and that’s what we’re going to be doing today we are going to be hiking the biking trail.

The Twin Coast Cycle Trail is one of the most popular cycling trails in the whole of Northland but because it’s 87km long in total and the fact that Robin only has one arm, we’re not going to get that far on foot so Ray is gonna take us to the highlights of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

The first section that Ray is showing us is between Kaikohe and Okaihau which is surrounded with native bush and packed with wildlife such as these amazing silvereye birds. We’re super stoked to be getting this close to the silvereye because usually they’re really elusive. It’s quite hard to get close to them and they usually travel in big groups but after checking out those birds we are moving onto the major highlight of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail which is this awesome railway tunnel.

Ray tells us that this massive tunnel is one of the prime examples that this path right here used to be used as a massive railway across the Northland region there was not many roads and they were poorly constructed so the railway was one of the main arteries throughout the region.

This tunnel is 80m long and was built in 1915 which makes it one of the oldest things we have seen in this country so far.

After checking those highlights we go back into the van to another part of the trail. As mentioned before, it’s gonna be pretty hard for me to bike the whole trail so Ray wants to show us the main points along the way and cos there is a road parallel to the cycle trail it’s pretty easy to access.

The next section is really a prime example of why Kiwi are actually so kind people. When they built this cycle trail the farmland that was right here was gifted by the local farmer to the cycle trail because they value their land so much and they want everybody to be able to explore it.

I can’t believe how different the landscape is compared to the area we have just been on. This area is surrounded by lush rolling green farmland there’s lots of vibrant autumn colours around and there’s a beautiful stream running alongside the cycle trail.

Of course, what would farmland be without farm animals? And one of the interesting things to see here are all the goats. We have a little bit of a staring competition with them before moving on with the rest of the trail.

I’ll just tell you a little bit more about the Twin Coast Cycle Trail so it’s 87km long, usually taking about 2 days to complete. And when you’re on a bike, the gradient is grade 1 to 3 which means that it is a pretty easy-going cycle trail for pretty much all levels.

The reason this cycle trail is called the Twin Coast Cycle Trail is because it goes from coast to coast starting in The Bay of Islands in the little township of Opua and goes all the way to the Hokianga Harbour into the little town of Horeke.

As we are walking alongside the river I am kind of regretting having a broken arm. Honestly, I would have loved to bike this trail. It’s super wide, super well maintained and looks like a really super easy bike ride.

I’m already super impressed by the wealth and variety of vegetation that we’re walking through. I mean, we’re not doing that much right now, we’re just walking for about half an hour and there is still a huge variety of plants and native bush that we’re passing through it’s really awesome and I would have loved to spend a couple of days biking this 87km track.

As per usual on our way back, Laura takes a lot of time taking pictures, I mean the lady is stuck to her camera for the entire time. It’s incredible the amount of pictures that she can take just in one go. By the way, if you want to check out her pictures at Instagram it’s @NZPocketGuide.com if you want to find us out and give us a cheeky like.

I thought I would stop taking pictures of plants but then I saw this moss. It’s really cool.

It’s like hair you said.

Do I look pretty?

You look so pretty.

After we get back with Ray I am taking the time to have a cheeky nap right here cos it’s been a long day on top of it with healing with my arm it’s a bit of a pain and we are back at the hostel Hone Heke which is a great place to stay at in Kerikeri. We actually chat and play cards with a ton of other backpackers it’s a lot of fun good food, good people, I mean, what else do you want? But tomorrow we are heading to Kawakawa which is a really cool place to check out.

Alright so I know that lately we haven’t had the most exciting features or the most epic stuff but it’s cos we are still trying to figure out how to travel with a broken arm. But I am working right now on our itinerary and we have a lot of really fun stuff planned in the next few days.

Also good news, in the next few days I’ll be able to go back to Whangarei where I went to the hospital for to get my first cast to get it replaced with a much better fibreglass cast. And that’s gonna be waterproof so that’s gonna give a bit more freedom. It’s also gonna be much smaller much less fragile. Expect the adventure to go back full speed very soon. As I said, we’re gonna have some skydiving, we’re gonna have some scuba diving, we’re gonna swim with dolphins, we’re gonna go sand boarding, if you don’t know what that is, you will not want to miss it. We have some horseback riding planned, we have some kayaking planned we have some amazing islands to discover. There is tonne of things. So don’t miss it. I have a superb last day that you will not want to miss so bear with us. This does not mean that the adventure is over now.

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