Friday 4th November: We left Tokomaru Bay on another cloudless day, but there was penty of evidence that this area does get the rain. The road yesterday between Tologa Bay and Tokomaru Bay had lots of places where silt was still lying on the road from the recent floods, and as we proceeded closer to the East Cape we started to notice washouts and serious slumps in the road. This was difficult riding with the road in very poor condition, but one advantage of a poor road is - no camper vans.
Te Araroa was a good stop for morning tea, and a chance to explore a real old style country store. From Te Araroa the road conditions started to improve somewhat, and from Hicks Bay onwards there was almost no sign of the flood damage at all. It seemed strange to be riding this same road only 6 months after the Southern Cross, but this time being able to stop and enjoy the scenic lookouts along the way.
As we approached Te Kaha (our lunch stop) we were delighted by the profusion of red on the Rata trees. It was a pity we were still too early in the season for the Pohutaka. A cool breeze sprung up along the coast which was pleasant break from the otherwise hot riding conditions.
Towards Opotoki we saw another motorcyclist heading towards us, the first bike apart from our own that we had seen since the Rimutakas. Then not far behind a cop with his radar blasting away. He must have been one of the lazy ones as his was just on continuously. Opotoki was another short fuel stop and a chance for mrs J to stretch her legs once again. She was definitely not enjoying the tight twisty roads, and much prefers open roads with smooth sweeping corners. On to Whakatane via Ohope Beach, and we lost that nice cool breeze that had kept us comfortable along the coast road. A longer stop at Whakatane for a nice cold drink, then on the road to Tauranga.
Between Whakatane and Matata we were passed by first one, then another boy racer in their hotted up cars. One young lad in a Nissan Skyline gave us a look that bordered on contempt as we wouldn't take up his challenge for a drag. He pulled away from us at around 130+. However shortly after Matata we caught up with him and another boy racer stuck behind a truck on a nice long straight. The truck driver indicated to those behind him to pass, but there was another vehicle approaching in the distance about 1 km away. Neither of the boy racers appeared to want to pass, so I took on all of them instead. The young guy who looked at us with contempt earlier on seemed to drop he jaw in suprise as we went past at a slightly illegal speed. (I still have the speed limiter enabled on my GS1200, so many of you will know exactly what speed we were doing).
It was obviously a friday afternoon as we now saw plenty of bikes heading away from Tauranga all loaded up with gear. A mufti cop just out of Te Puke was trying to do some revenue gathering but although I picked up a number of seperate blasts from his radar, he didn't appear to stop anyone.
We reached Tauranga right on rush hour, and for the first time in my life I witnessed a traffic jam at a roundabout. It appears that some drivers consider it quite acceptable to stop on a roundabout in such a manner as to block any other vehicle from using it.I now know why Highlander waited until he moved from Central Otago to Tauranga before getting back into bikes after such a long break, it would be murder in that traffic in a car.
Mrs J was pleased when this days ride was over. It had been a long day, with a great variety of road and traffic conditions, but I made it up to her with a few beers and a nice steak at the Lone Star in the Strand.
Saturday 5th November: There was a strong wind blowing as we headed away from Tauranga, and the cops were thick on the road. The radar detector was bleeping every few minutes. Traffic wasn't too heavy though, and we made good time to Waihi and breakfast. Then it was through the Karangahake Gorge to Paeroa and straight up to Thames for fuel and coffee. We saw lots of motorbikes of all sizes passing through Thames and heading on up the Coromandel. One guy on a new Ducati ST3 stopped at the petrol station and chatted for a while. His bike was absolutely immaculate, while ours now had around 2000 km of road gunge and bugs splattered all over it.
We received a txt from Blackbird who was just leaving Auckland, and meeting us at Coromandel with his wife, so we headed on up the coast. As we were quite a way ahead of Blackbird we took it quite slowly and just enjoyed the trip while trying not to get too frustrated by the slower traffic. It was still early afternoon when we arrived at Blackbird's holiday home at Coromandel, so we just relaxed with a coffee while we waited for Geoff and Jenny to arrive.
More to come......
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Originally Posted by Jantar
Rugby - A Hooligans Game played by Gentlemen. 
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