Hitcher
22nd January 2007, 17:14
While I am one of those members of New Zealand’s workforce lucky enough to get public holidays off, Mrs H is not. So her getting this Sunday off was a welcome bonus and an opportunity to get our under-used motorcycles out from under their covers and out on the highway to celebrate the annual anniversary of the Wellington province.
Saturday morning we threw some smalls and other accoutrements into the FJR’s panniers and headed northwards. First stop, some early lunch at Raumati, and then some stunningly boring riding to Bulls amongst the usual hordes of trucks and Meanderthals(TM) and then up SH3 in the direction of Taranaki.
The fine weather deserted us at Maxwell, where we donned our wets and continued into the billowing ick. At Hawera, local knowledge persuaded me to decide on SH3 via Eltham (I’d forgotten to pack my banjo, so we didn’t stop), rather than usually more interesting but presumably wetter SH45. By Eltham the weather improved markedly and we were in good spirits when we stopped for gas in Stratford.
A BMW-owners’ club of some sort was out in force astride an extremely catholic selection of things German, with the possible exception of the Pope. We had a short chat to a few of their number, some of whom had started to drool on my FJR. They had just ridden back from the Republic Day at Whangamomona, which inspired us to add this to our list of things to do for the following day.
And on to New Plymouth. We stayed at our usual biker-friendly haunt – the Landmark Manor on Leach Street.
Saturday morning we emerged at a reasonably seemly hour and headed for the North Island’s best brunch at McFarlane’s Café in Inglewood. Gas in Stratford, and then we were off out along SH43 to Whangamomona via the settlements of Toko, Douglas, Strathmore, Huiakama and Pohokura. The Republic was still buzzing after the previous day’s Republic Day (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews/3935582a6002.html ).
After a chat to some members of a local classic motorcycle club, we continued further out through Marco (that place definitely needs a polo club), and Kohuratahi to the Kaieto Café atop the Tahora Saddle (http://www.kaietocafe.co.nz/). Bob and Annie Fletcher are members of the Rusty Nuts Motorcycle Club and made us most welcome. The views from up there are breathtaking.
The weather was warm with heavy high overcast, but perfect weather for riding. The ride in required a high degree of caution as there were regular campervans and gypsy buses exiting after the previous day’s events. The ride out? Well let’s just say the FJR got spanked hard up and over the Whangamomona Saddle and again over the Strathmore and Douglas combination. Apart from that I was extremely happy to nerdle along with Mrs H. We stopped at the site of the old Te Wera store for a bit of nostalgia – I spent four months working for a local farmer there 30 years ago whilst I was an Agricultural Science student at Massey.
We also stopped briefly outside the Douglas Boarding House and again at the lavender farm, just outside the Stratford city limits on East Road. The round trip from Stratford to the Kaieto Café is almost exactly 150km.
Our return to New Plymouth took a bit of a detour from Tariki into Lake Ratapiko and then back out to Inglewood via the magnificent Tarata Road.
And today it was home again to get Mrs H back ready to go to work at 4:00pm.
Just over 1,000km covered for the weekend. The FJR is now overdue for its 20,000km service. At 11,000km off the rear, the Conti Road Attacks are holding up well. I predict that it will do at least 13,000km but will probably chuck the new Avon Storms on at the service. The Road Attack front looks like it will last two rears. Impressive wear, but I wish they felt better to ride on.
Photos to come.
Saturday morning we threw some smalls and other accoutrements into the FJR’s panniers and headed northwards. First stop, some early lunch at Raumati, and then some stunningly boring riding to Bulls amongst the usual hordes of trucks and Meanderthals(TM) and then up SH3 in the direction of Taranaki.
The fine weather deserted us at Maxwell, where we donned our wets and continued into the billowing ick. At Hawera, local knowledge persuaded me to decide on SH3 via Eltham (I’d forgotten to pack my banjo, so we didn’t stop), rather than usually more interesting but presumably wetter SH45. By Eltham the weather improved markedly and we were in good spirits when we stopped for gas in Stratford.
A BMW-owners’ club of some sort was out in force astride an extremely catholic selection of things German, with the possible exception of the Pope. We had a short chat to a few of their number, some of whom had started to drool on my FJR. They had just ridden back from the Republic Day at Whangamomona, which inspired us to add this to our list of things to do for the following day.
And on to New Plymouth. We stayed at our usual biker-friendly haunt – the Landmark Manor on Leach Street.
Saturday morning we emerged at a reasonably seemly hour and headed for the North Island’s best brunch at McFarlane’s Café in Inglewood. Gas in Stratford, and then we were off out along SH43 to Whangamomona via the settlements of Toko, Douglas, Strathmore, Huiakama and Pohokura. The Republic was still buzzing after the previous day’s Republic Day (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews/3935582a6002.html ).
After a chat to some members of a local classic motorcycle club, we continued further out through Marco (that place definitely needs a polo club), and Kohuratahi to the Kaieto Café atop the Tahora Saddle (http://www.kaietocafe.co.nz/). Bob and Annie Fletcher are members of the Rusty Nuts Motorcycle Club and made us most welcome. The views from up there are breathtaking.
The weather was warm with heavy high overcast, but perfect weather for riding. The ride in required a high degree of caution as there were regular campervans and gypsy buses exiting after the previous day’s events. The ride out? Well let’s just say the FJR got spanked hard up and over the Whangamomona Saddle and again over the Strathmore and Douglas combination. Apart from that I was extremely happy to nerdle along with Mrs H. We stopped at the site of the old Te Wera store for a bit of nostalgia – I spent four months working for a local farmer there 30 years ago whilst I was an Agricultural Science student at Massey.
We also stopped briefly outside the Douglas Boarding House and again at the lavender farm, just outside the Stratford city limits on East Road. The round trip from Stratford to the Kaieto Café is almost exactly 150km.
Our return to New Plymouth took a bit of a detour from Tariki into Lake Ratapiko and then back out to Inglewood via the magnificent Tarata Road.
And today it was home again to get Mrs H back ready to go to work at 4:00pm.
Just over 1,000km covered for the weekend. The FJR is now overdue for its 20,000km service. At 11,000km off the rear, the Conti Road Attacks are holding up well. I predict that it will do at least 13,000km but will probably chuck the new Avon Storms on at the service. The Road Attack front looks like it will last two rears. Impressive wear, but I wish they felt better to ride on.
Photos to come.