Porika “Road” - definitely not a road

We woke up to blessed sunshine at the gorgeous Rotoroa Lake and decided it was time for a break from hwy ride. We chatted with a few locals about Porika Road, a 22km unmaintained 4x4 road from the lake to nearby St Arnaud. “You’ve got this,” said the locals, “let’s have an adventure,” we said. And adventure we did.

Today ended up being potentially the most challenging of our 1+ year in NZ. Huge rocks, deep crevices, and a steep grade that would make even the fittest wary. The track climbed 600m in less than 4km and it was by no means ridable with out touring set up. This meant that we were pushing the bikes uphill for at least 5hours, sometimes abandoning taking one bike at a time over the more difficult spots.

Lots of huffing and puffing with a story to tell but we staggered our way to St Arnaud and camped alongside Lake Rotoiti. It was sweet to be back as this was one of our first camp spots together back in March before starting the Rainbow Road.Read more