THE OPONONI EXPRESS
Well HOLY FUCK! What a ride. First up a big thank to BLACK YOSHI for all your efforts mate, RESPECT!!!!, is all I can say and I hope it say's enough!
Secondly a big CAUTION because shock horror Im gonna talk about the RIDE and my impressions of the whole experience rather than the SATURDAY NIGHT antic's so bear with me! If you guys think its all about the piss-up and party which were . . . dont get me wrong semi EPIC in proportion (GSXRF5 in the bedroom, on ya dover, Yoshis GSXR being wrapped in toilet paper etc) well good on ya, but hell we could do that anywhere and for me it was and always will be the ride. Shit, take away the bikes and were just any bunch of wankers on the piss . . , abet perhaps with a few more risk takers and bullshit slingers.
I've never been up to the fabulous far north before, I've been living France (Avignon) and OZ too long for that. So I must say I really enjoyed the ride up. For a yuppie, fair weather, nanna weekend rider like me it was fantastic. State Highway 16 was bliss, as ever. Nothing like laying it over with the throttle wide open. Doing 200k down a straight and having a ZX10R come past me like im standing still (hmm that 05CBR1000RR is looking appealing, stay tuned).
I really enjoyed meeting alot of you, and vice versa I hope. I must say that I found all of the ladies, without exception, just that, although I did go to bed at 2:30 cause I'm old and soft. As ever I find the average motorcyclist, friendly sociable people regardless of what you ride . . . there is however the odd exception, but I wont go on about the 250 rider telling me how I should ride. Him with 9-12 months of experience me with 18 years? you ...utter little fuck whit!
The best moment/s of the whole tour for me where just after the awesome blast out of Dargiville, where the VMAX shat itself. What a blast. Wha hoo, 160-200k sweepers, mix and dice, cut and slice, absolutely brill. Then we hit the forest, 250 carving territory if ever I saw it, one of the first times in my life I craved my old rgv250. I was happy we left the 250's a little behind before we hit it because I would have been breakfast in there. But the highlight was the mighty Tane Mahuta. What any awesome tree! Thanks for those who watched our bikes and gear while we played all tourist like, back in 5 really 35. And for those of you who shared it with me and made it so special, THANKS, you are part of my longterm memory now, you know who you were, it was bliss in there! The ride down to Opo was heaven, even the gravel mid corner was fun.
For those of you who havent been to Opononi, its a great spot. Nestled on the west coast in the far north it is beautiful and suprisingly cheap. Our motel not only had nice rooms, but a restaurant, bar, public bar next door (cheaper piss), bottle store that was surprisingly good value, tab, a takeaway next door and the otherway a dairy/postoffice/servo. Over the road was the harbour. Nice.
As for the night time activities, all I can say is, get some food in before the takeaways, restaurant, bar food closes. Other wise you will be like me with a skinfull and with the munchies. Or you could end up like some of the people in the other posts.
Anyway, some of us observed the sage rule, said in pilot circles, eight hours from the bottle to the throttle and had a great ride home. Some were decidely seedy, not good. Things got a bit fucked up on the ride back. When you hit an intersection and cant see anyone behind you STOP and wait. I though people knew this. If we loose Black Yoshi becaue of this im pissed, the 4 best KB rides i've been on have been organised by him. Try thinking of others! I stopped at intersections twice but hit a couple of intersections where there was no one infront of me and only Black Buel behind and it was sheer guesswork. I followed the HUGE signs saying Paparoa because thats where we were supposed to be going for lunch. Communication breakdown anyone!
Anyhow the Bacon & Eggs both days were FAB. Im a yuppie fuck and eat this 3-4 weekdays every week for breaky and the food and service at the Paparoa Cafe - old bnz building are TOPS.
Anyhow Black Buek & I caught Indie & Yoshi and followed the signs, since no-one was waiting as per the norm and we even chased a few roads trying to spot people and I wasnt light on the throttle looking but to no avail. In the end we hit gravel/clay. But even that section was exciting in the end. Feet down two wheel sliding off the road on wet clay is something everyone should experience at least once, four or five times in day day does make the undies a little damp though. Not surprisingly, I felt a real sense of acheivement afterwards, ive ridden on gravel before and have been riding for 18 years all I can say is INDY YOUR A LEGEND MATE it was great when we stopped in the middle of nowhere and you said you just switched to reserve, as was the time we hit a Y intersection with no sign post. It was like our own little bit of 'The Long Way Round'.
Anyhow I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, all things considered a great adventure. Perhaps with a little less booze and a little more sleep, the second day may have run a bit smoother.
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Originally Posted by pyrocam
Sounds like you all had more than a bit of fun
Glad you enjoyed some of what Northland has to offer. Hope next time I can be there. 
samples some of Marsha's (Pinkhoggirl) Lipgloss.
YA FUCKER`S 
AVO THANKS YA TALKING MY TALK ITS ABOUT THE RIDE AND THE GROUP AS A RIDE THATS WHY I DO THEM 
BUT THE RIDE WITH MY MATES WAS THE BEST PART 
AS YOU CAN RIDE WITH ME ANYTIME YOU WERE WELL BEHAVED I HAD NO COMPLAINTS OR A REASON TO SAY ANYTHING 
I HAD 40 MATES TO LOOK AFTER 
BLACKYOSHI 
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