James Deuce
27th July 2004, 22:35
From Pelorus Bridge on, the temperature steadily dropped. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, or a breath of wind, but a late afternoon fine day in winter is a bitter thing especially with ice still coating the shaded edges of the road. In places the grit was quite deep and it was a real mental game to stay relaxed and focused on the road up ahead, rather than your own personal mini-events happening right now. The pain in my feet had gotten quite intense by now. They were the only part of my body to get cold all weekend, and just to top the torture off, I'd been looking at the latest Australian Motorcycle News on the way over and in the new products section was: BMW's battery powered boot warmers. Bastards.
We came across a refrigerator truck on the descent toward Nelson who kept insisting that we pass by driving onto the shoulder at every opportunity and showering grit everywhere. Little did he know that we were all completely happy to let him cut some regular grooves in the grit in front of us, and that his pace was perfectly acceptable for a bunch of frozen fish fingers pretending to be human motorcyclists. We passed him as we approached the bottom of the hill. The great thing about riding with these people is their common sense. Madam P led the group for this section who is one of the safest, most quietly competent riders I know. This meant that we stayed together and everyone knew how the person in front and behind was doing.
By the time we got to Nelson it was getting to late afternoon and the Sun was quite low on the horizon. It was much warmer down here, but we all really felt like a coffee. Nelson is SUCH a wasteland (no insult intended - there are either top notch restaurants or industrial parks and bike shops down this route :)) round the route that leads to the Richmond bypass and on to Motueka. We only spotted one Cafe and it was closed - at about 4:30pm! At least there were decent loos next to the closed Cafe.
The road out to Motueka was torture, only because the Sun was directly in our faces, plus we had to find an unsignposted gravel driveway to get to Barnstay (http://www.nelsoncoastalbarnstay.co.nz/location.htm), our accommodation for the next two nights. Why do people insist on giving complex, garbled, meandering directions to difficult to spot locations? In our case turn left at Mapua and take the second driveway on the right after Marriages Rd would have done it. Poor old Madam P had about two pages of scratched out directions, and it took us about 45 minutes to find the place after we'd gone through Ruby Bay proper. Then when we arrived at about 5:45pm there was no one to be seen and we had to try an make sure that we were in the right place by matching the views shown on the printed version of the web page that Madam P had with the real views. Luckily there was no "Get Orf My Laaand" moments and David Short who owns Barnstay arrived around the agreed time of 6pm.
We quickly unpacked and parked the bikes in the Barnstay carport, well everyone except Madam P who was forced to leave her bike in the open as we ruthlessly exploited her discussion with David and wedged our respective rides into the single bay carport. Luckily David provided a tarpaulin and a couple of bricks, and also offered to take us to Mapua village so we could do something about dinner. David turned out to be the regional restaurant critic and was quite obviously steering us somewhere expensive. Some careful probing netted a more temperate selection called “Flavour Restaurant & Bar”. (http://www.flavournelson.co.nz/) Well it was just excellent. The second picture shows us all enjoying ourselves. The staff were memorable, including the kitchen staff, the presentation was superb, and the prices were truly reasonable. David had described Flavour as a “Family Restaurant” a la Cobb & Co. and I think was more than a bit unkind. For $42.50 each, seven of us had 3 courses each, and 3 bottles wine, which thanks to Steve’s excellent taste has led to a new DSWMC house wine. Old Coach Rd Cabernet Malbec Merlot (http://www.seifried.co.nz/tnotes/1cabmmO.htm) is a short palette, fruit oriented taste experience, and is cheap enough to allow a pleasant path to “pissedness”! For $9-$10 a bottle it out performs many $30 plus Bordeaux grape varieties I’ve had of late.
The next morning dawned crisp and clear. The third photo shows the view from the front veranda and upstairs bedroom. Just wonderful! The fourth photo shows us heading out to breakfast at about 9:15am. Note the frost! We all need petrol so I took the opportunity to ask the petrol station attendant at the Motueka Caltex for a breakfast café recommendation. It was really refreshing to keep running into friendly, helpful people who actually gave good advice. She suggested “Moorings Restaurant” (http://www.harlequin.co.nz/Menu/Restaurants/Moorings.asp) and it was really good, even though we had an obvious newbie waitress. The food was lovely (Again! What is it with the Nelson/Golden Bay region??) and it was lunchtime before anyone could move.
The Takaka hill. What a gem. You lucky, lucky, LUCKY bastards who live nearby. It was icy and gritted heavily, but it was an ideal way to check out the lie of the land for a Summer trip. I followed Effel up the hill and even though we weren’t pushing at all I still lost the front twice, once badly enough to hit myself in the solar plexus with my hand that was still attached to the throttle grip. Thankfully I didn’t fall off, and the previous day’s experience had reminded me to stay on the gas or even go a bit harder on the throttle when the front walks away. The F650GS on dual-purpose tyres was probably by far the best bike for that particular trip.
We stopped at a lookout near the top of the Motueka side and it wasn’t until I read a guide book back at Barnstay that I realised that the odd looking “granite” was actually marble. Guess where I’m coming for my next bench top :). Effel made me take the next photo, so that she could have a copy to, “Show the kids how stupid their Dad is”. I was happy to comply.
Coming over the top of the Takaka hill and seeing the Upper Takaka Valley spread out in front of you is a supremely beautiful moment in clearness of winter. It is a picture book scene from a fairy tale, and the road on the Golden Bay side is MUCH more challenging. This place must be filled with knee down sports bike freaks in Summer. After carefully threading down the hill through more grit and ice, we headed for Collingwood over some of the most flowing, best surfaced roads of the trip. Still as a group, though at speeds much below those that the speed siren sings to me from the darker Neolithic caverns of the faintly stirred porridge that suffices as my brain.
More to follow…….
PS The pictures are really lo-res. I will post high-res copies at request.
We came across a refrigerator truck on the descent toward Nelson who kept insisting that we pass by driving onto the shoulder at every opportunity and showering grit everywhere. Little did he know that we were all completely happy to let him cut some regular grooves in the grit in front of us, and that his pace was perfectly acceptable for a bunch of frozen fish fingers pretending to be human motorcyclists. We passed him as we approached the bottom of the hill. The great thing about riding with these people is their common sense. Madam P led the group for this section who is one of the safest, most quietly competent riders I know. This meant that we stayed together and everyone knew how the person in front and behind was doing.
By the time we got to Nelson it was getting to late afternoon and the Sun was quite low on the horizon. It was much warmer down here, but we all really felt like a coffee. Nelson is SUCH a wasteland (no insult intended - there are either top notch restaurants or industrial parks and bike shops down this route :)) round the route that leads to the Richmond bypass and on to Motueka. We only spotted one Cafe and it was closed - at about 4:30pm! At least there were decent loos next to the closed Cafe.
The road out to Motueka was torture, only because the Sun was directly in our faces, plus we had to find an unsignposted gravel driveway to get to Barnstay (http://www.nelsoncoastalbarnstay.co.nz/location.htm), our accommodation for the next two nights. Why do people insist on giving complex, garbled, meandering directions to difficult to spot locations? In our case turn left at Mapua and take the second driveway on the right after Marriages Rd would have done it. Poor old Madam P had about two pages of scratched out directions, and it took us about 45 minutes to find the place after we'd gone through Ruby Bay proper. Then when we arrived at about 5:45pm there was no one to be seen and we had to try an make sure that we were in the right place by matching the views shown on the printed version of the web page that Madam P had with the real views. Luckily there was no "Get Orf My Laaand" moments and David Short who owns Barnstay arrived around the agreed time of 6pm.
We quickly unpacked and parked the bikes in the Barnstay carport, well everyone except Madam P who was forced to leave her bike in the open as we ruthlessly exploited her discussion with David and wedged our respective rides into the single bay carport. Luckily David provided a tarpaulin and a couple of bricks, and also offered to take us to Mapua village so we could do something about dinner. David turned out to be the regional restaurant critic and was quite obviously steering us somewhere expensive. Some careful probing netted a more temperate selection called “Flavour Restaurant & Bar”. (http://www.flavournelson.co.nz/) Well it was just excellent. The second picture shows us all enjoying ourselves. The staff were memorable, including the kitchen staff, the presentation was superb, and the prices were truly reasonable. David had described Flavour as a “Family Restaurant” a la Cobb & Co. and I think was more than a bit unkind. For $42.50 each, seven of us had 3 courses each, and 3 bottles wine, which thanks to Steve’s excellent taste has led to a new DSWMC house wine. Old Coach Rd Cabernet Malbec Merlot (http://www.seifried.co.nz/tnotes/1cabmmO.htm) is a short palette, fruit oriented taste experience, and is cheap enough to allow a pleasant path to “pissedness”! For $9-$10 a bottle it out performs many $30 plus Bordeaux grape varieties I’ve had of late.
The next morning dawned crisp and clear. The third photo shows the view from the front veranda and upstairs bedroom. Just wonderful! The fourth photo shows us heading out to breakfast at about 9:15am. Note the frost! We all need petrol so I took the opportunity to ask the petrol station attendant at the Motueka Caltex for a breakfast café recommendation. It was really refreshing to keep running into friendly, helpful people who actually gave good advice. She suggested “Moorings Restaurant” (http://www.harlequin.co.nz/Menu/Restaurants/Moorings.asp) and it was really good, even though we had an obvious newbie waitress. The food was lovely (Again! What is it with the Nelson/Golden Bay region??) and it was lunchtime before anyone could move.
The Takaka hill. What a gem. You lucky, lucky, LUCKY bastards who live nearby. It was icy and gritted heavily, but it was an ideal way to check out the lie of the land for a Summer trip. I followed Effel up the hill and even though we weren’t pushing at all I still lost the front twice, once badly enough to hit myself in the solar plexus with my hand that was still attached to the throttle grip. Thankfully I didn’t fall off, and the previous day’s experience had reminded me to stay on the gas or even go a bit harder on the throttle when the front walks away. The F650GS on dual-purpose tyres was probably by far the best bike for that particular trip.
We stopped at a lookout near the top of the Motueka side and it wasn’t until I read a guide book back at Barnstay that I realised that the odd looking “granite” was actually marble. Guess where I’m coming for my next bench top :). Effel made me take the next photo, so that she could have a copy to, “Show the kids how stupid their Dad is”. I was happy to comply.
Coming over the top of the Takaka hill and seeing the Upper Takaka Valley spread out in front of you is a supremely beautiful moment in clearness of winter. It is a picture book scene from a fairy tale, and the road on the Golden Bay side is MUCH more challenging. This place must be filled with knee down sports bike freaks in Summer. After carefully threading down the hill through more grit and ice, we headed for Collingwood over some of the most flowing, best surfaced roads of the trip. Still as a group, though at speeds much below those that the speed siren sings to me from the darker Neolithic caverns of the faintly stirred porridge that suffices as my brain.
More to follow…….
PS The pictures are really lo-res. I will post high-res copies at request.