Remembrance Run - Taupo 2019

9-12 Aug 2019

The Remembrance run is done and dusted for another year. Weather played ball, which was not quite what the weatherman had on order. On bikes were Rexzy, Bouncy & Jo on a new addition to the family, Nik & Ken. Andy, Karen, and Ursala were in Andy's ute and Pieman decided to take the new truck for a spin.
Sudsy turned up to see us off and make sure we had all the provisions loaded.
Rexzy leads out, with first stop Norsewood, for the obligatory coffee stop. A light touch of drizzle on the way but nothing much to speak of. Next leg was to the Bayview service station via the main route. Andy's truck decided it didn't like the Ranger sitting on its tailpipe and decided to throw a rock up and crack Pieman's windscreen ..... bastard 🤬.
The final leg into Taupo was a good run on the Napier/Taupo highway. The weather held out and good speed was made. There were a few road works en route but the road was pretty dry so no dramas. Would have been a different story on a wet road, as the surface was pretty crappy in areas.
Settled into the Silver Fern motel and got some nibbles in from the supermarket. A few wines and beer and then off to town for some dinner. Found a Japanese dinner that did a bit of a mix of meals. Not too bad.

Next stop, the dining area at the motel where we settled in and supped a few bevvies and talked bollocks. Kevvie and Sudsy graced us with their presence at 2214 hours, with us estimating their arrival time at 2215. The consumption of ginger wine, port, Appleton Estate rum, Craggenmore single malt, Rexzy's wee hip flask of whiskey and Sudsy's Black Heart poison had everyone in high spirits. Some more than others. Bodies were hauled to bed in the wee hours.
Saturday morning saw some looking the worse for wear but we staggered out for brekkie in town. Everyone pretty much did their own thing until we all headed for the remembrance service in the afternoon. Tony and Michelle, Little Dave and Mike met us at the Convention Centre where the service was conducted. The second year in a row, that having been given our list of our fallen, that names were missing from the roll call. Maybe the third times a charm. We'll see next year. Very long service and a number of pers were starting to suffer from whiplash. All, that is, bar one. He, who shall not be named, failed to make it to the service being incapacitated by one glass of milk too much the night before. Needless to say, it will not be soon forgotten 🐈 ... meow!
Dinner was a walk into town to the local Cobb & Co, where we were joined by a couple of Andy and Karen's friends from the Motherland and young Cedric, who meets up each year with us. He likes riding his road bike over the edge of cliffs. The meals were not too bad but the prices have certainly gone up.

The heavens decided to leak on us for the return trip home. A handful stayed up to watch the AB's disgrace themselves.

Sunday morning was a cooked breakfast at the motel. Excellent feed for just $7. More than enough food for everyone.
We all left together for the return trip home. Route back was back through the Napier/Taupo highway with the first stop back at Bayview. Some of the group split off here to do a straight run home. The rest of us took Highway 50 back to Norsewood for another coffee and snack before pushing on for home. Few of the Old Bill about on the way back through 50. No-one pulled over though, so all good.
A great trip away, with a few memories to look back on and have a laugh over. (What goes on tour, stays on tour 😅 )

Woodville Ride - 28 July 2019

Sunday morning ride to Woodville

Attendees:

Pieman, Bill & Liz, Rexy, Nobby, Zimmerman, Keith, Little Dave, Gary Thomson

Rex organised our first ride with a road and gravel route. Pieman, Nobby, and Zimmerman all took up the gravel route option (Although we were left with no choice. Rex made it very clear that he had spent a lot of time and effort planning out the routes and we were bloody well going to do it 😂)

Bill and Liz met up with us at Farriers, having journeyed across the hill. Gary met up with us along the way.

The route had the road riders heading up the back routes to Woodville with the gravel riders breaking away at various points to take a detour before meeting back up along the main route. 

We all started off out towards Mauriceville with the gravel riders breaking away and heading through the Mauriceville West route. We came off the gravel near Hastwell just as the road riders went through so tagged on the back of the group. Over SH2 through Kaiparoro and a loop round to Newman. 

The gravel riders peeled off again at Nireaha to hug the gravel route along the hills to come out at the bridges through Mangamaire. The road riders took the western back roads through to the Bridge Cafe road and onto Woodville. There were another couple of back roads and gravel roads for the adventurers, coming out on the Bridge Cafe road and onto Woodville to meet up with the others for lunch at the Long Black Cafe.

After lunch, it was a loop out through Hopelands, north of Woodville and back to Paihiatua for the smaller bikes to gas up. There was a short ride of a few Kms on gravel for the whole group. Nice hardpack, so no dramas for the road bikes.

The home run was back through Kaitawa to Alfredton and home. One more gravel road for us to navigate through Rongomai, Flat Hill to Ihuraua. Nobby must have had a sniff of home, as he put on some pace on this route.

Only one incident of note on the trip when Pieman decided there was no point trying to avoid a chicken that had already tempted fate a number of times between the riders and went over the top of it in a cloud of feathers. The damn chook didn't even have the decency to climb up on the exhaust once plucked and provide a cooked meal for dinner.

On the home leg, there was only around 5 minutes difference between the groups arriving back at Farriers, so pretty good really. 

Thanks, Rexy for organising an interesting little trip. It was good to have a mix of road and gravel for those so inclined and we got to see a bit of the backcountry not often seen.

Useful Info

CALLING WOMEN RIDERS

                                               

WELLINGTON PROMOTIONAL RIDE

FOR

THE WOMEN RIDERS WORLD RELAY: (WRWR)

          

https://womenridersworldrelay.com/

      https://www.facebook.com/WRWR2019/

WRWR Kiwi Styles: The Aotearoa New Zealand relay: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/498226424040698/?event_time_id=498226427374031

To join us:

https://womenridersworldrelay.com/guardian-form/ 

Being a guardian means you are riding with the baton on its journey around the world as part of the group, including its journey through NZ. You’ll be part of an awesome group of like-minded women riders out there doing it and loving it. You can do half a day, a whole day, overnight, or the whole thing. Up to you!

Useful Info

Driver skills and knowledge

As mentioned by Bruce and Dave at the meeting tonight, if you want to brush up on your driving knowledge and skills, or you have family members getting ready for their license, head to the Driver site.

Rider Training

Free training for July & August

The Two Bald Bikers are also running the same deal.

The Two Bald Biker winter promotion!

Book any Ride Forever course in July or August and we'll pick up the tab, that's right it's totally free!

And receive our special winter prep give away pack!

Use voucher code WINTER19 when booking.

Two Bald Bikers

Rider Training

Free training for July & August

The team at Roadsafe Rider would like to offer you the opportunity to attend a Ride Forever course for FREE this winter.

They are offering free Ride Forever courses for those who book and attend a course in July or August 2019. This includes the Bronze, Silver and Gold courses, plus the Scooter Survival and Urban Commuter courses in Wellington.

All you need to do is enrol online and enter the code WINTER19 in the promotional code field and click apply. 

*Following conditions apply: This free offer applies to our Ride Forever courses that are scheduled for the months of July and August 2019 only. This offer is available to all those who make an individual or club rider booking. One course per person. 

Useful Info

Motorcycle Registration Cashback Scheme

For those unaware, from 1 July 2019, if you complete two Ride Forever rider training courses (1 silver & 1 gold course or 2 gold courses), you can claim $200 back ($100 per year). For more details on the scheme check out Motorcycle Rego Cashback Programme

Gear tips

Glove care:

With the wet weather upon us, checkout the How to guide from Held which has a few pointers for cleaning and drying our gloves.

Mangatainoka Ride - 30 June 2019

Sunday morning ride to the Tui Brewery.

Attendees:
Pieman, Princess, Poppa Smurf, Mung Bean, Nobby, Andy, Karen, Wally, Audrey, Nik, Mike, and Keith, with Al joining us along the way.

7 bikes and Andy's ute loaded to the gunnels with bodies. Weather was nice to us, albeit a bit chilly. Pieman led the charge up SH2, with Nobby tail-end Charlie. Rode straight up the main drag with the plan to come through the backcountry on the way home, once the ice had a chance to melt.

The brewery was hosting a Japanese car meetup, so those interested could have a look around. Heaps of people in attendance for that.

After coffee and a snack, the ute, Keith, and Al departed for home. Nik led the remainder back to Masterton via Pongaroa and Alfredton. A fair amount of road works underway between Pongaroa and Alfredton. A great day for a ride on some of our great back-country roads.

AGM 2018

Saturday morning came along, finally. We all met at the ferry terminal for the start of our adventure down south for nearly 2 weeks incorporating the Annual Ulysses AGM in Mosgiel the following weekend. The trip over on ferry was nice and calm. Apparently some people saw the odd dolphin or two. I didn’t as when they said there was one, it disappeared.
We all came off the ferry in different directions. We had been waiting for bikes to catch up and then we got a text to say they were at a garage and were heading off over the Queen Charlotte Sound drive. We went looking for them but they had gone. So we headed off as well. Luckily we all had planned to stop at Pelorus for lunch. We weren’t far behind. That cafe is always a great stop for a break.
From there we headed to Nelson and there is where all the wheels fell off. Figuratively speaking that is. We were quite a bit behind and when we hit Nelson, we headed to Richmond and onto the meeting place at Wake- field. When we all got there, we were missing Mike. We waited awhile and Rex & Wayne headed back to see if they could find him, to no avail. Some headed straight for motel at Murchison and others headed to St Arnaud and then to Murchison. Mike was already at Motel as he went the long way through Nelson as Rex went the so called short cut. Actually it ended up being the long cut.
From Murchison we headed towards Westport via Buller gorge. The mandatory stop at Hawks Crag. Unfortunately they were road marking and both Nobby and I got caught. So now I had a white tailed Spyder and Nobby also had a white tail. No signs up to warn people. Lunch and refuel at Westport the off down south. Catch up at Punikaiki. Nice easy ride to Hokitika and tea at the renowned pizza place.
The next day was a hard slog to Wanaka. Our longest day ride. Didn’t help with rain starting from Franz Josef and got worse the further south we went. Lunch and refuel at Haast pub. Going through Haast Pass in rain is not the best. Catch up at Makarora where the rain eased off and dry going into Wanaka. Because we were a wee way out of town, we decided to send someone (me) into New World and get some tea and have it at camp. After long wet day, most headed to bed earlier than normal.
From there we headed off down Crown Range and into the Cardrona Pub for morning tea. From there it was out to Arrowtown for a look see. We left there and headed out to Glenorchy for lunch. We spent a while there after lunch and then headed back to Queenstown for the night. We wouldn’t recommend the camp ground even though it had the best ablution block I have come across. Kitchen was good but had quite a few lights out of action. Accommodation was very basic.
From there we headed to Invercargill via Gore. We started to get rain about an hour out of Queenstown so we stopped at Athol for a warm up cuppa. And also some of the best muffins we have had. I didn’t help that they had just come out of the oven. A good break. From there we went to the Croydon Aviation Centre. The guys went and had a look around the museum whilst the gals went straight to the cafe to warm up. Lunch was nice there.
Last slog to the Deep South with weather getting worse as we got closer to Invercargill. It was surprising to see so many cars in the bad light with no lights on. We didn’t stop in Gore liked we hoped but maybe another day. It was a great relief to get to motel and get wet cold gear off and warmed up. After we got warm and dry we all headed off over to pub across road. It was a good happy hour or so. The next day the gals headed into town to go shopping, whilst the guys headed to Bill Richardson’s Truck Museum. An easy two hours or more gone. And I don’t think we saw it all. From there we headed to the relocated Classic Bike Museum. So far not as good as it was in Nelson but it is in its early stages. The evening meal was at the local RSA. Same place they had the 2016 AGM.
The next day we headed to Mosgiel via the Catlins. But before that we went to Bluff as a couple of people hadn’t been there. We didn’t stay long as you couldn’t see anything. Mainly to say been there and photo at sign post. The journey through the Catlins was not the usual nice ride. We took a wrong turn as everyone else had shot way ahead. Lucky we knew that we were meeting up at the Niagara Falls cafe. Unfortunately the route we took had some road works going on and we spent about 10kms on fresh laid lime. So when we got to cafe, the Spyder was covered in yucky lime. Not to worry, when the others headed to Curio Bay, they came back looking just as bad.
We got to motel complex nice and early. There was a queue for hose and cleaning gear. Even had time to head to AGM / Rally HQ and have a look at what was on offer and grab our registra- tion gear. AGM was a very straight forward event and over fairly quickly. After that we headed back to motel and chilled out until later when we headed to Event centre for the night. We thought that we would win the best dressed comp again but luckily a couple of clubs had great outfits. The evening was good. Alas, nobody from our region won the bike. Have to take another ticket next year to try again.
Sunday we headed to the breakfast venue earliest so we could get on road as soon as possible. We headed straight inland towards Middlemarch. The rest of the group headed on a scenic drive as it was going to be quite windy, so Annette and I headed on direct route to Middlemarch where we waited for others to catch up. From there we met up again at St Bathans at the Vulcan Hotel. The others went via Naseby with some going direct from Naseby to St Bathans while the others went back to main Rd and up. When we got there, the cafe staff said that they had another group arriving soon and that we would have to wait awhile. Then they said no at all. So we all bought out our thermos flasks and had a coffee straight across the road. While watching more poten- tial customers been turned away.
From there we went on to Omarama over the Lindis Pass. Great views looking down the valley. We got to Motel nice and early and freshened up and headed for pub just down the road. Another good happy hour was had and a great meal. Big helpings. The accommodation was one of the best on trip. Highly recommended. One of the very few motels to offer unlimited wifi without getting a chit. Just put password in like wifi at home and that’s it. In with a grin.
We headed for Tekapo for refuel and lunch the next day. Love riding through the centre of the South Island. Great motorcycling country. We picked the wrong day to be at Tekapo as there were so many tourists there; it was hard to get some photos of the church without them. Or anywhere for that fact. Weather was great which makes the ride through there so much nicer. From there we headed to Christchurch and to motel in centre of city. Not the best motel, gone down a bit from last time the group went there on last trip. Lucky there was a pub down road for tea. We didn’t stay more than one night there. Some people went out to Akaroa and on up to Amberly while the others mulled around Christchurch until meeting time. No great panic as it was only an hour and half ride to Hanmer Springs. Out there in plenty of time to indulge ourselves in the hot pools. The motel complex was at the start of the town but the motelier let us have the courtesy van for awhile. Best accommodation on trip. Another endless wifi motel.
From there we headed on to Waiau as the Kaikoura coast was open but with delays. In- stead of heading towards Mt Lyford and to Kaikoura we opted to head straight from Waiau to Parnassus and up coast to Kaikoura. That road was very windy. The road from Parnassus up to Kaikoura showed the devastation that they endured from the earthquake. How far the ground had risen. It was hard to watch the road and look around you. Lunch was in Kaikoura. Headed off again to Blenheim via coastal route. The road when finished will be a great asset to area. They are using both the old road and making new ones. We stopped at the vacant pub at Ward for another thermos cup- pa. Having a look around pub at damage done from earthquake. Then it was a dash for Blenheim. At motel there, bikes got a quick clean for last leg home the next day. Can’t go home with too dirty a bike after going on the roadwork’s up the Kaikoura coast.
When we came off ferry at Wellington, we all made our own way home. A good trip with great company. We were still friends at end of trip. There were lots of moments both good and bad. But the good moments outweighed the bad ones. That is what makes a good trip. A big thank you to Mike for organising the accommodation. A job well done. Rex for taking the lead, most of the time. Couple of hiccups. But we all got around in one piece with no bike problems.

Cheers, Kevin.

Riversdale

It was a grey and drizzly morning in Carterton and the wind was getting up but the cold frosty
weather from the previous day was long gone and it was a balmy 10C. I put my water proofs
on and headed up to Masterton to see who else was braving the elements. Lawrie, Nobby and
Mike turned up so we went to Riversdale for coffee and a toasted sammy. As we headed East
out to the coast the clouds faded away and we had a beautiful blue sky to sit under for lunch.
On our return we took the gravel option, via Homewood road. Nobby went on to Masterton
because he had stuff to do and was on the ST, not his Africa Twin.
The first part of the gravel was hard packed and straight so was very easy, Mike was riding
his new BMW F700GS with road tyres so was being very careful, no one wants drop a new
bike in the first week of ownership. The road started to curve up nicely and the gravel got
deeper as we headed on, Lawrie up front setting the pace. I stayed behind Mike and watched
him have a few “moments” in the deep gravel on a couple of bends. We stopped to re-group
and I gave Mike a couple of tips about standing up on the tighter turns and sticking his head
and butt out to put weight on the outside of the turns. This helped and we made a good pace
for the final part of the journey. I returned home just in time to miss out on a down pour, a
great way to spend a Sunday morning with friends.