Waiuku sits at the head of a long, muddy arm of the Manukau Harbour, south-west of Auckland, and for centuries it was a crossroads. Māori travellers hauled canoes across the short portage between the Manukau and the Waikato River here, linking the harbours of the north with the great river system of the interior, and early European traders used the same route. Today it is a quiet country town serving farms in the surrounding hills, with a main street of shops and cafés and an easy, unhurried rhythm.
Just north of town, the giant Glenbrook steel mill turns black ironsand, dredged from the dunes at the mouth of the Waikato River, into steel, a uniquely New Zealand process. On weekends, the Glenbrook Vintage Railway runs steam trains between Glenbrook and Waiuku, through green farmland.
The real reward of coming here is the coast. To the west, Karioitahi Beach is a long, wild stretch of black sand on the Tasman Sea, battered by surf, with huge dunes behind it; the colour of the sand comes from the same iron-rich volcanic material that feeds the steel mill. To the north stretches the Awhitu Peninsula, a narrow finger of land between the Manukau Harbour and the open sea, with a winding road leading to the Manukau Heads lighthouse at its tip, where you can look across the harbour entrance to the Waitākere Ranges.
The roads around Waiuku are typical rural New Zealand: narrow, often bumpy, with tight bends, few straights and plenty of farm traffic. The Awhitu road is especially rewarding, rising and falling over green hills with sea views on both sides, but it can be greasy after rain and is occasionally decorated with cow dung. Waiuku has fuel, supermarkets and places to eat, so it is a good base to start or finish a ride. The west coast weather can change fast, with wind and showers sweeping in from the Tasman, so pack a layer.