Auckland to Wellington | Time Out 2021-22 Drive

Robin Capper

03 Apr 2022 — 4 min read

Today is just a drive back to Auckland. Normally I'd go back over Remutaka Hill (SH2), for the scenery and find State Highway 1 a drag, but not today.

Seashore Cabaret Café

Before going anywhere, it was back across the road to Seashore Cabaret Café for breakfast.

I like their quirky décor, this machine in the entry reminds me of 'Zoltar Speaks' in the movie 'Big'.

Today breakfast was Buttermilk Pancakes with fresh strawberries and mascarpone... and coffee... and more coffee...

The cloudy weather was back, but I'd soon leave it behind.

Petone foreshore towards Wellington City

Heading South to go North

The long awaited 'Transmission Gully' motorway opened a few days ago. After calling into see the Warehouse Queensgate, amongst my last refit jobs (but still being relayed) and the Manager was a keen cyclist, I went a little South to try the new route North.

While it is faster than the old Porirua to Paekākāriki suburban/highway mix my initial impression was how 'old' parts of this 'brand new' road felt.

From the NZTA timeline the design of this $1.25+ billion project started in 2008 after decades of just talking about doing it. Construction began in 2014 for a proposed opening in 2020 but it eventually opened 1 April 2022 (no fool!) after construction and COVID related delays.

It slowly dawned on me that some of this 'new' tarmac was probably laid years ago. It will help the commute into Wellington for a while (see induced demand) but suspect will just shuffle the holiday rush tailback to Otaki, or Levin, instead of Paekākāriki.

Pitstop at National Park

I did the sort of drive people with range restricted EV's, who seem to spend half the travel day eating and drinking coffee while waiting..., say don't happen. :)

Left Wellington (at 10:15) with a full tank of fuel. Apart from a couple of brief photo stops drove through to National Park for a brief (~10min) human pitstop, some snacks & a drink as still full of breakfast and fruit I was munching along the way.

After that just had another short (<10min) fuel stop at BP Horotiu (North of Hamilton and before the Auckland regional fuel levy) and got home with dinner at 18:45.

Mt Ruapehu, with cloud sneaking up behind.

Makatote Viaduct - Erua National Park

Mt Ruapehu, under the cloud, from National Park.

Summary

Since leaving Auckland, on 21 January 2022, I've done 37 rides totalling ~2,533km and driven 6,034km in the 21-year-old Fiat Bravo 155 HGT.

Finished the trip in a surprisingly good state:

Me:
- One slightly skinned knee, from the Upper Hutt fall, but no other injuries or pains.
- I avoided COVID-19 and had no sickness apart from my usual sinus/hayfever, which once I thought was COVID.
- Weight ~5kg lighter, approximately -1 gram/km cycled since stopping work.
Car:
- The Bravo had an errant airbag warning light reset, in Christchurch, after it was traced to a corroded plug contact. Other than that, no mechanical problems at all.
- I replaced two worn front tyres, the rears were still fine.
- It went in for a scheduled cambelt service and annual Warrant of Fitness (WOF), roadworthiness inspection, and just required rear brake pads and the replacement broken front fog light fitted.
Bikes:
- Both En-trance and Giro were still riding OK after the Christchurch March service and repair of Giro's broken gear/brake lever and En-Trance's stuck through axle.
- Punctures:
  - Giro had two pinch flats: one in Nelson, the second on the Queenstown Trail before I learnt the Schwalbe G-One gravel tyres needed more pressure than you'd think.
  - En-Trance, on tubeless tyres, had a self-healing puncture on the West Coast Wilderness Trail and no others that I know of!
- Both bikes got a good deep clean but other than that all good to go.

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Abarth to... what?

The reason for the one-day drive home was AHBART, my Abarth, was booked for a scheduled service and Warrant of Fitness (WoF) inspection the next day.

It was funny when Andrew Sims (who also sell Mitsubishi) gave me this beast (Outlander) as a courtesy car. Quite a contrast to the little Italian and, no offence intended, I couldn't wait to give it back!