Hey all,
A quick update about me and we'll get right into the ride report from today.
• Short term work project has taken me to New Zealand for 3 months.
• Chatted with Leathel (David) some before I came down. Suggested getting together over a beer.
• Asked about bike rentals since I had seen his great ride reports and gorgeous scenery.
• He sets me up with one of his buddie’s spare bike to use -a Suzuki VL 1500.
• Oh yeah, it's summer here!!!
Waitangi Day ride
Sunny, with broken clouds
Spotty showers
Temp 78 degs. (26 degs. C)
Distance - 100 miles (160 km)
National holiday here in New Zealand, so it ended up being a four-day weekend. David suggested we take a bit of a shake down ride since he had just performed some front-end work. And, I wanted some time to adjust to riding on the "other" side of the road.
I took the rail system train
to the end of the line (Pukekohe)
where David picked me up. Drove over to his shop and meet up with a good friend of his, Aaron, that rides a Rocket. David has been posting about the Suzuki 1500 that he has been working on these past couple of weeks. That will be my ride for today.
The three of us took off out of his shop and rode a bit so I could get used to the bike. V twin with Cobra pipes, floorboards and heel/toe shifter. Took a bit to get used to, but I managed. Oh, did I mention they ride on the left-hand side of the road here????
Riding along rolling green hills with cattle and sheep ranches. There is a four to one ratio of sheep to people in New Zealand.
Rode through some twisties as we descended down into Mercer after crossing the Waikato River. Today it was loaded with Jet skis, ski boats and many other types of water craft.
We stopped at Muddy Waters pub, where a lot of bikers stop, meet up for rides and socialize. We met up with others that David had invited along.
I met Mike and Kara along with Jeff, Stan and Nakita. We chatted for a while getting introduced around.
Aaron wasn’t able to join us for the entire day, so he split off here and rode on his own.
Left out of Mercer and headed towards the coast and the town of Kaiaua. Beautiful pasture lands all along the way as well as twisties, hills and some forested areas. Hands on the bars so no time for photos here. Took a left turn at the Hauraki Gulf and stopped for lunch at the Kaiaua Hotel. I thought it was a bit odd that we were riding around the back side of the hotel on the grass, but when in Rome….. I guess….. Fortunately, this is a favorite spot of David’s. As we rode around back, there were other bikes parked and they were enjoying lunch as well. Great fish n’ chips here as well as chicken burgers and hamburgers. All with the requisite ‘chips’ (fries).
Once our bellies were full, we headed off again, this time hugging the coast line with gently sloping hills to our left and the Hauraki Gulf on our right. I even saw a sign that said “Pacific Coast Highway”. After many times on PCH in California, this is equally beautiful. Stopped at a pull out so pics could be taken.
We turned away from the ocean for a bit and then rode up into the hills with more twisties. Dropped down the other side, passing Kawakawa Bay with more views of the water and distant islands. We turned into Waitawa Regional Park, where the road is a bit more than a single car wide. Several times we had to stop as far to the left side as we could to allow the opposite traffic to pass. Definitely a nice pucker factor as you either ascend or descend these narrow roads with cars so close. Here is a pic from the top of the hill.
David and I
Bikes on grass again... It does make more room for the autos...
We rode on down to the beach, parked and walked around. Remember, this is a National holiday akin to the 4th of July. They considered the beaches packed………. What a gorgeous place to spend the day with family and friends!
Of course, there was time allocated in the schedule (ha ha, what schedule??) for ice cream. This was the stand set up selling mostly cold items today.
I took this pic especially for Oss. Boysenberry ice cream made with some sort of blending machine. Ends up being sort of like soft serve, only better!
We would leave Mike and Kara as well as Stan and Nakita, so good byes were exchanged.
Back on the road as we meandered up and down hills, twisties and straight roads. Rode through the towns of Clevedon and Hunua. By now we were down to three. David led us up to a car park trail head where we overlooked the vast valley below.
Finally, we headed back to David’s shop and put the bikes away.
Today was one of the best days to share the wind with some new friends. David, like soooooo many others in this club of ours, is extremely warm, as well as generous with his time, expertise and local knowledge. He didn’t know me at all when we first started communicating, but soon that common bond comes through. I am very proud to be a part of something bigger and better than myself. He located a friend’s spare bike, got it inspected and made some needed repairs just on the conversations we had online; trusting the whole time that I would show up and not be some total idiot. Now, I have extended these friendships worldwide.
Now, to update my “where ridden” map to include New Zealand….
Jim
