Well, it’s probably going to cost us an arm and a leg, but our better halves allowed us out to play for a whole weekend, bless their hearts! Two Blackbirds from Auckland (Hammer and Dave Easey), plus yours truly from Tokoroa, with JP from Tokoroa on his ‘bus on Sat to carry our bags and RS on his BMW R1100 RS from Pyes Pa on Sun to do likewise. Doesn’t hurt to show a bit of compassion to Suzuki and BMW riders as they don’t have many friends. (Only joking guys, honestly, hehe!)
Saturday saw us head from Tokoroa over towards Rotorua and then towards Murapara where the top speeds of the ‘birds and ‘busa were closely tested down the 7km Murapara straight. Or if Bykey Cop or Scumdog see this thread, we retract that last sentence. From Murapara, we hooked up the backroads to the Matahina Dam and onto Whakatane for lunch. Everyone rightly raves about the Coro Loop and similar rides, but there are some fantastic empty roads in the CNI. From Whakatane, it was a blast up the coast road to Te Puke to the Autobarn (classic cars and bikes - well worth visiting), on to the Mount and then a VERY quick blast over the Kaimais to the Okoroire Pub. Very fast because the ‘busa pilot was getting sick of our jibes all day and wanted to rub our noses in it (just). Met Slim’s partner on his 916 at the pub which was great, then off to Tokoroa for a birthday tea for Dave Easey, followed by a few more cold ones.
Today, it was off to Whangamata by as many back roads as we could find. The Karangahake Gorge was fantastic although a few cages got in the way. Lots of boot-scraping in the twisties to Whangamata followed, where a nice lunch was consumed. Saw very few bikes around in this neck of the woods today. Hammer and Dave Easey headed back to Auckland whilst RS and I safely headed back down south. Only one Highway Patrol car seen all day.
Wonderful weekend, wonderful company and makes you appreciate being alive and living in NZ.
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