Waitākere Ranges and Piha

A 331 km loop

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Why this ride

Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. 331 km round from Rothesay Bay - plan on about 6 h 02 of riding. The stops in between: Wellsford, Rosebank, near Waiuku and Mangere. The climb of the day is near Papakura. Long stretches are under trees.

Roadbook

1. Murrays Bay fuel

   Murrays Bay is one of the East Coast Bays on Auckland's North Shore, a sheltered crescent of sand between rocky headlands, with a wharf, a sailing club and big pōhutukawa trees leaning over the beach. In December these trees burst into crimson flower, which is why New Zealanders call the pōhutukawa their Christmas tree. Out across the Hauraki Gulf, the symmetrical cone of Rangitoto Island, Auckland's youngest volcano, sits on the horizon, and on a calm morning the water is glassy and pale.

   As a place to begin and end rides, Murrays Bay is easy and pleasant. It is a quiet, residential suburb, but the shopping strips at nearby Mairangi Bay and Browns Bay have fuel stations, cafés and bakeries, and you can get a flat white and something sweet before setting off. Coming back at the end of a long day, a walk along the beach or out onto the wharf is a fine way to unwind.

   The rides from here head in two directions. North, the motorway and then the coast roads lead towards Ōrewa, Warkworth and eventually Northland and the Bay of Islands; part of the new motorway north of Ōrewa is tolled, though you can take the older coastal route through Waiwera and Puhoi instead. West, the routes cross the upper harbour and head to the Waitākere Ranges and Piha, with their forested hills and wild black-sand beaches. Both directions involve some urban riding at the start, and Auckland's traffic can be heavy, especially on weekday mornings and Sunday evenings.

   The local streets are steep in places, with tight bends and parked cars, and the coast road between the bays can be busy with cyclists and runners. Wind off the gulf can be strong, especially on the exposed headlands and on the Harbour Bridge, if you cross it. The weather in Auckland is changeable, with showers coming and going, so a light rain layer is never a bad idea.

2. Near Wellsford, on the way back swim

   West of Wellsford, the land falls away towards the Kaipara Harbour, the largest harbour in New Zealand, a vast, shallow, branching body of water that reaches deep into the farmland of Northland. Its eastern arms creep up into quiet valleys, and this stop is near one of them, a place to pause on the way back south, stretch out in the grass and cool off in the water when the tide is in.

   This is a quiet corner of the country, with few people and a lot of sky. In 1862, a group of Nonconformist settlers from England arrived at nearby Port Albert, hoping to found a utopian community they called Albertland. The settlement struggled in the isolation and hard conditions, but many of the settlers stayed, and the name lives on in local institutions. The town of Wellsford itself is said to take its name from an acronym of the surnames of early settler families.

   The Kaipara is tidal and shallow, with mudflats, mangroves and shell banks, so swimming is best at high tide, and only where the water is clear and the bottom firm. There are no lifeguards, and the currents in the channels can be strong, so be careful and do not swim alone. If you would prefer a surf beach, the east coast is not far: Pakiri, about half an hour away, has a long white-sand beach backed by dunes.

   The roads around Wellsford are typical rural Northland: narrow, winding, sometimes gravel, with sheep, cattle and the occasional logging truck. State Highway 1, the main road north and south, can be busy, especially on Sunday afternoons when Aucklanders return from the north. Wellsford has fuel, cafés and takeaways, so use it to top up before the final stretch to the city. On the way back south, the motorway north of Ōrewa is tolled, but the old coastal road through Puhoi and Waiwera offers a free and more scenic alternative.

3. Rosebank food

   Rosebank is not where anyone goes for the view. It is a light industrial peninsula on the western side of Auckland, between the suburb of Avondale and the Whau River, a place of factories, warehouses, workshops and car dealers, with a single long road running down the middle. But it has a surprising history, and it is a practical, unpretentious place to start a ride into the Waitākere Ranges.

   In the early twentieth century, the Rosebank peninsula and the surrounding area were full of orchards, market gardens and vineyards, many of them run by immigrants from Dalmatia, on the Croatian coast, who came to New Zealand to dig kauri gum and stayed to farm. Their descendants founded many of the wineries that made West Auckland the heart of New Zealand's early wine industry. Today the orchards have gone, but some of the old families and their wineries remain in the area around Henderson and Kumeu.

   Nearby Avondale has a racecourse, where a large Sunday market sells fruit, vegetables and everything else, and a lively, multicultural main street with cafés and takeaways serving food from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. It is a good place to get breakfast and coffee before setting out.

   The ride west from Rosebank heads across the suburbs to the Waitākere Ranges, a block of forested hills on the city's western edge, and to the black-sand beaches of the west coast, Piha, Karekare and Muriwai, famous for their wild surf, dramatic cliffs and volcanic rock formations. The roads in the ranges are narrow, steep and winding, with tight bends, wet patches and plenty of traffic on summer weekends. Rosebank, Avondale and the surrounding suburbs have fuel and food on every corner. Auckland's weather is changeable, so be prepared for sudden showers, even on a sunny day.

4. Photo stop near Waiuku photo

   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.

5. Near Mangere finish

   This stop looks out from the northern edge of the Manukau Harbour, the vast, shallow inlet that almost cuts Auckland in two, looking across the water to Māngere and its volcanic cone. Auckland is built on a field of some fifty small volcanoes, and you can see several of them from here: Māngere Mountain across the harbour, the terraced slopes of One Tree Hill to the north-east, and others dotted around the suburbs. Many were fortified pā sites in pre-European times, and their terraces and food storage pits are still visible on the grass.

   This is a practical place to start and finish rides to the west, because it puts you close to State Highway 20 and the long Waterview tunnel, which link the southern and western parts of the city without passing through the centre. The airport is just across the harbour, and the area is a mix of residential suburbs, light industry and parkland along the shore.

   The Manukau shoreline here is low and muddy, with mangroves, shell banks and wading birds. Across the bridge at Māngere, Ambury Regional Park is a working farm and bird reserve on the old lava flows, where godwits and other migratory birds gather in the summer months after flying thousands of kilometres from the Arctic. It is a strangely peaceful place for somewhere so close to a busy airport.

   The ride west from here leads to the Waitākere Ranges, a block of forested hills on the city's western edge, and beyond them to the black-sand surf beaches of Piha, Karekare and Muriwai. The roads in the ranges are narrow, steep and winding, with tight bends, wet patches under the trees and plenty of cyclists and tourists, so they demand concentration. There is plenty of fuel and food in the surrounding suburbs, so you can top up before heading out. At the end of the day, coming back across the harbour at sunset, with the volcanoes silhouetted against the sky, is a good way to finish.

6. High point near Papakura pass

   East of Papakura, the land climbs into the Hunua Ranges, the largest stretch of native forest close to Auckland and the source of much of the city's drinking water. Reservoirs fill the valleys behind tall dams, and the forest around them, of tawa, kauri, rimu and tree ferns, is home to birds such as the kōkako, whose haunting song was once almost silenced and is now recovering thanks to pest control. The ranges are a regional park, laced with walking tracks.

   The most famous sight is the Hunua Falls, where the Wairoa River tumbles over an old volcanic rim into a deep pool surrounded by bush. It is a short ride from Papakura, at the end of a winding road through farmland and forest, and it makes a lovely stop. The pool looks inviting on a hot day, but it is deep and cold, with dangerous currents, and swimming is discouraged.

   The riding into the Hunua is a pleasure. Roads such as Hunua Road wind through farmland, climb over hills and drop into valleys, with tight bends, short straights and views over the ranges. The surfaces vary, and gravel, mud and wandering livestock are common hazards. Some of the roads are narrow and unsealed in places. On weekends, cyclists are common, and the falls can be crowded.

   There are no services in the ranges, so fill up in Papakura or Drury before heading in. Cafés in the nearby villages offer coffee and food, and a picnic at the falls is a popular choice. From the top of the ranges, the views west over the Manukau and north to the city make the climb worthwhile.

7. Scenic stretch near Pakuranga scenic
8. Back to Murrays Bay finish

   Back at Waitākere Ranges. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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