EEEEE - Waikaremoana Dec 3rd/4th

[kiwipeet]

Hey.

A great weekend. Thanks again to Rosie and Clint for organising the ride.

I've posted my photo's and a bit of an RR on Rosies Parallel thread on Advrider: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=740788

[.chris]

Great weekends riding, thanks to Rosie & Clint for that (and a bed/great food).

Had a quick sort through a few of the photos.


Friday night camping at Minginui











Breakfast



Self timer photo at the waterfall.















Map check to start the day.



The group.



Rosie and Clint



Rosie, Phil & Dawn and Paul



On the norther shore of Waikaremoana















Lunch stop at Waikaremoana



From a lookout point above the lake.











Parked up at the Tiniroto Community Hall



Drinks at Tiniroto



The nice sunset Tiniroto put on after the rain.







Motu Road



The Motu getting wetter and wetter.

[gunnyrob]

pretty pretty!

Need to get Max Gravelly at some stage soon, but he's been doing stirling public service duty doing Marathons, Elite Triatlons and this weekend, elite cycle races.

[clint640]

Great pics Chris, it certainly was nice doing a relaxed pace & having time to faff around with the cameras a bit, investigate local history etc.

pretty pretty!

Need to get Max Gravelly at some stage soon.

Indeed, been too long since we've seen you on a ride! Just remember to notify the AA a couple of days in advance if you're going through the Motu... ... (sorry)

Cheers
Clint

[Phreaky Phil]

A few pics. Sneaking around the gate to get up to the lookout and the HUGE landslide on the Erepeti rd.

[Phreaky Phil]

A few from the Waikaremoana rd

[Phreaky Phil]

And a couple from the Tiniroto Tavern. Great spot. I'm sure Colin didnt charge us enough. I even asked him as we were leaving and he reckoned he had. We'll be back

[GPS MAN]

From the looks of the Pics you guys/gals had a GREAT Time!

Sorry I had to miss this one...But, I am AWOL and Going to the WAR ride come Hell, or High Water

I think I'll turn my phone off early

[Rosie]

Ok... I finally got around to editing my photos.

Friday night at Mangamate campsite



Chris returning from a firewood expedition



Chris making custard



Saturday morning lineup by the Mangamate Waterfall



The Tuhoe say that the rain is a blessing... we were certainly blessed at the start of the Waikaremoana road



The weather improved as we got closer to the lake





Clint and I took our time, and messed around taking a few photos





Finally the sun came out



Mokau Falls





Kiwipeet took us on a side trip to the Redoubt at Onepoto, where the local Constabulary had been persuing Te Kooti in the 1870's



The rear of Panekiri bluffs, and the lake beyond them.





From the lake we went along Ohuka Rd, which is officially still closed with a very large slip, but they have just about finished reconstructing the road, and we got through without any trouble.

It started to rain again when we got to Tiniroto, so us campers were offered use of the Tiniroto hall for the evening.



We had a very pleasant evening at the Tiniroto Tavern, watching the Fight for Life to support local boy Shane Cameron

The next morning some of the local youngsters were keen to check out our bikes.



Peet took us for an explore up Parikanapa Rd, which should make a scenic addition to future MMMMM rides







Peet accompanied Clint, Chris and me to the general vicinity of Gisborne, then we continued along the general route of the MMMMM rides towards Matawai. Somewhere along the way we managed to mislay Chris, so he missed out on Rakauroa Rd:





Back on the highway, we found this:



Which was kind of bizarre. Especially when I later checked on Facebook, and couldn't find its page

We met up with Chris again in Matawai. Fortunately the signposted route that he took was more direct than Rakauroa Rd, so his concerns about running out of fuel hadn't materialised.

From Matawai, it was only natural to continue down the Motu Road





Where it started to rain again



But the scenery was still pretty cool





From there it started raining quite heavily, so we decided to mostly stick to the highway back to Clint's and the camera decided to stay tucked up in its drybag.

[kiwipeet]

Wow, great photo's guys (& gals)

[pomgolian]

Some more pics - my scenic ones are not quite as good

[pomgolian]

The road from SH5 to Minganui had a huge wash out - time to think another 100 kms back and around Taupo or find a way round it, followed some four wheel drive tracks through the trees & up the riverbed to the other side. Then bumped into two hunters on the other side you can just see thier van on the other side of the wash out who gave me some hints on dealing with any trouble on the otherside like keeping it pinned & dont stop !!!! Oh **** i thought.