CD Winter weekend wandering

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No CD weekend is complete without a pre-ride warm up and the winter trip to Lake Ferry was no different
Chilli con carne, bolognaise and beverages were the go up at Greens Road on Friday evening. My housemate, Anne, and Goat decided I needed a patterned carpet so threw their drinks around with wild abandon, thank goodness for a vax. Plenty of fire and ice, rum, bourbon and wine made for a merry evening and the eclectic mix of bikers and dutchies on holiday made for varied topics of conversation. We even got to meet Trumpys new bird

Fatboy is obviously a bit of a pyromaniac and had an urge to see how much wood he could squash into the fire before retiring for the night to the adjacent futon. This would have been fine if he hadn’t forgotten that Goats woolly sock was on top drying out. I woke at 3am to the smell of burning hair and sprinted to the lounge shouting ‘something is on fire’. I was hit by a wall of heat from the towering inferno in the fire and not a single body stirred as I moved the crispy sock and stumbled back to bed, apparently Fatboy woke afterwards, couldn’t see the problem so went back to sleep!!!!!
There was still a strong smell of crispy wool in the house when I returned Sunday evening!!!!

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Day 1 – Palmie-Pahiatua-Martinborough-Cape Palliser - LakeFerry

Brekkie at the Brits was ready at 8am – we finally got there at 9, luckily it was still great. I had surfaced at 7am and disturbed everybody with coffee and paracetomol , however when I went to feed the stock they snuggled back into their sleeping bags and I returned to a peaceful house full of drunken bikers sleeping like babes. I had expected them to be outside raring to go
Fatboy did kindly get the blue beast out of the garage for me whilst I finished packing:

Somehow we made it to Caltex before 10am and were not the last to arrive!!! There were 14 bikes in all ready for the off and El Presidento attempted to explain a route he hadn’t entirely decided upon and off we tootled.

Over the Pahiatua track, Mangamaire and onto SH2 for a short burst before turning left onto Mangaone valley road and heading out through the back of Alfreton (where Fatboy had a quick snooze).

No golf ball injuries and we made Martinborough for lunch in the cafe, where Fatboy had a longer snooze. Nurofen was the most popular treat of the day at this stage.
After fuelling us and the bikes we headed off towards Cape Palliser and said farewell to our conscientious President as he headed home via Featherstone to be home for work on Sunday. Nothing to do with not wanting to take the TL on gravel of course

I had momentary stage fright at the massive river ford on the coast road (30cm deep and level concrete) but fortunately not only did Donna give me a great lead through, she also took the hit by the huge wave obviously destined for me had I not been such a coward.

We parked up at Cape Palliser, all 13 bikes having traversed the gravel and ford without mishap.

The 263 near vertical steps up to the lighthouse were probably more of a trial than any of the riding and plenty of puffing, pauses for checking the view and collapsing at the top ensued. Note, leathers are not ideal tramping gear!!!!

Once we could all breathe we got a group photo which was punctuated by Mama Brits lovely yellow pants on their first outing. Down the steps was definitely easier than up and we then went to see the seals. I don’t know what was more amusing, the look of sheer panic on Gerbils face when he walked around a bush and found a seal a few feet away that was just as shocked and barked at him or the same seal posing for photos

By the time we stopped at the pinnacles carpark it was 4pm and too late for a hike so we headed back to the cabins at Lake Ferry (Richard had to head off for fuel as he had decided that he didn’t need any in Martinborough when we all filled up and then realised that he did).

Blacksheep got his fat arse stuck in the gap in the fence at the motorcamp trying to be nifty and avoid waiting for Trumpy to eventually figure out how the card entry worked. Later he redeemed himself with a little breaking and entering

We found our bunks and unpacked drinks and sweeties for light pre-dinner refreshments, fortunately for Eddie(see later). Glyn and Loopy joined us at this point. A few headed off to look at the beach and to settle into the Lake Ferry Hotel Bar, silly boys not checking that the windows were shut.........

Sillier me for letting one of the room occupants see the pics, luckily he was oblivious, I suspect unitl he got into his sleeping bag at least

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Day 1 dining disasters
Dinner was an adventure in itself, booked the table for 6pm and were seated at 645 in a freezing room, they had just turned the heater on as we walked in. It went downhill from here. The menu had a choice of 4 starters and about 6 main courses...
Orders taken.....20min later – “Oh who ordered mussels ? Sorry we don’t have any”,
10 minutes later – “Oh who ordered flounder? Sorry we don’t have any”.
Meals started coming out in about 30-45 minutes later and slowly people were getting their food.
Steve with the cruiser (Pepper Steve), had to ask about 6 times for some pepper and in the end I went and got some along with the spoon for my fettucine.

We had all nearly finished and poor Eddie still hadn’t been fed. We asked the waitress who proceeded to question Eddie in a Gestapo-like manner to determine that he was sure he had ordered, despite the fact that she took the orders from a full table, I was getting a little testy at this point.
No apology, 10 min later “ How do you want your steak?” 45min later I asked Trumpy to investigate because I was about to get 15 meals for nothing if I had gone anywhere near the bar.
Fortunately the steak that finally arrived was apparently lovely and free!!!

Copious talking shitt and putting the world to rights followed with some people opting for the warm cabins and Richard and Gerbil in particular competing for the worst head in the morning at the Hotel. Apparently lots of water and a morning run made Gerbil feel better and Richard opted to go home for some TLC rather than come to the pinnacles!!!!

Goat made his presence in a confined space very obvious and Trumpy decided that he would go on top, fart, snore and kick me in the back in the middle of the night, who said chivalry was dead.

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Day 2 – Lake Ferry- Pinnacles-Featherstone-Rimutakas- Akatowara Valley- Palmie

Up far too early, snorkers and a cuppa fortified me then I wandered down to the Hotel to see how those opting for brekkie were fairing – another mission ended by Alan and I snaffling 3 of the 4 big breakfasts on the side before the waiter got back. It was after all 40min since the 6 people had ordered (Group wally award for thinking things would improve overnight)!!! Umm I suggest we take supplies and cook at the motor camp next time.

Steve and Richard had headed off before brekkie, Glyn and Loopy waited until we were ready for the off and they too headed home

It was thick mist with a feeble sun trying to peek through when we left Lake Ferry and then as we neared the coast we dropped into brilliant sunshine

Pepper Steve rode to the Pinnacles car park with us but opted not to join us for the walk and Eddie opted out when it was apparent there would be wet river crossings and kindly kept an eye on our bikes and gear and enjoyed a stroll along the coast whilst waiting for our return :

Bike boots are not ideal for tramping, I admit that I am a candidate for a wally award for a) considering going on the walk alone as it was getting dark on saturday, Caroline dissuaded me and b) trying to jump over a narrow area of the river without a good un up. Needless to say I managed a decent dip

I was in good company with Caroline landing in it as well and most others at least getting significantly wet feet and calves. Andrew probably faired best of all of us. Trumpy ran on ahead as a result of all that time in the gym but missed out on the amusing failed attempts to avoid the chilly water.

The pinnacles were impressive and after a few false starts I even got a group photo that didn’t have me stumbling back to the group on it. We made it in just over the 1 ½ hours without serious mishaps and gave new potential explorers pause for thought as we stripped off and wrung out wet thermals n socks.

At this point the sports riders went west and the adventurers opted for an eastern return, initially they planned a dirty route and then after lunch in Martinborough opted for Saturday in reverse due to the time, all had a good run and made it back about 30 minutes before us sporties.

Trumpy and I followed Goat along the western access through a patch of freezing fog :chilly: and into Featherstone and the Sass Cafe for the best pies I have had in a long time

Eddie and Gerbil soon joined us and we had a relatively spirited and unhindered run over the takas and along Akatowara Valley. We got to view Chez Goat from the top of the drive and look forward to the promised summer parties. I enjoyed the Akatowara valley as much this time on the Daytona as I did the first time on SK1PY, what a road!!!!!!!

Eddie kindly led us home from Waikani and we peeled off at various points on the way. A truly adventurous weekend from start to finish, 520ks on the bikes and a couple on foot. Good roads with the barest drizzle on Saturday and minimal traffic and cops, good company and some sightseeing too. Where next ?

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