Rally Preparation
Both bikes (Adrian’s 04 ST1300 and Alyson’s 04 Bandit 1200) had to be fully serviced and I replaced a front tyre on mine that was only 2/3 worn. The main reason for doing this was that I knew there would not be time for any tyre changes or major mechanical repairs. I decided in our distance planning to allow 1 hour for unforeseen problems to be fixed. I was using the theory that the problems would have to be a major one if it took more than 1hr to fix. I also bought us both orange fluorescent vests to wear on the rally and an emergency puncture repair kit. I did not book any accommodation, as I was unsure how far we would get each day, and didn’t want any pressure on us to travel when tired.
We Travelled Wellington – Opunake to be ready for the first checkpoint. We stayed at the Club Hotel Opunake with John (Whangarei), John (Napier), Graham (Putaruru) and Steve (A fellow Ulysses member and first time attendee from Wellington). I had met Steve the week before the rally on a Ulysses Castlepoint ride, and we were all to end up riding a lot of the rally together.
Day 1 Opunake – Egmont – Kawakawa
We left Opunake nice and early in order to arrive at the Cape at 11am. Travelled through Pungarehu and was cruising along when I noticed a couple of bikes coming the other way! All 4 bikes stopped at the side of the road and consulted the map. It appears we had missed the turn off! A quick U Turn and a few k’s down the road and we were safely at the first checkpoint. What a start! Over 100 bikes were lined up for the start. We walked up to the light house and took some photos. I was able to catch up with a few fellow ST owners and discuss optional extras and where they were mounted.
The checkpoint opened early at about 11.15. A fair enough decision - given it was the first day, and the amount of bikes and riders that needed to be processed. We signed the book and were off on the big adventure. Pete on a similar ST to mine who I had been chatting with set off at a cracking pace and we decided to tag along. The Mangotaki Gorge was an excellent road for motorcycles and we enjoyed riding in a group of about 7 bikes. I received some sage advice from many previous entrants – ride at your own speed. We were passed by many riders and passed quite a few during the rally. The gratifying thing was that I never saw anyone riding at what I would consider to be a dangerous speed. All those riding in the higher speed bracket were clearly capable of doing so. Before we knew it, we had arrived that the first fuel stop at Otorohanga, and caught up with Steve on his Hayabusa, who rode with us at the rest of the day. We had pre determined to turn left here and bypass Hamilton using SH39 ending up at Ngaruawahia. Then it was straight up SH1 to Auckland. We arrived at the top of the Bombay’s at 3:30pm, and were through Orewa at 4:30. I hadn’t ridden through Auckland for some time, and it’s amazing how the motorway traffic just comes to a stop all of a sudden, then carried on. I considered 1 hour to be a pretty good effort though. We then travelled north to Wellsford for tea and arrived in Whangarei at about 8pm. I reckon it had been about 10 years since I had ridden a long distance at night, and it took me a while to “dial in” to night riding conditions. I was to feel more and more comfortable doing so as the rally progressed. We were all feeling pretty OK, so decided to continue to Kawakawa for the night. The bikes were excellently looked after at the Kawakawa Pub. The landlord let us put them under the pub, closed a roller door behind them, and locked the compound with his dogs running around inside it. We hooked up with another couple of rally attendees and shot the breeze about the day’s events. Martin and Andrew also gave us an excellent tip for the route the next day.
Distance Travelled 666km – 8 Hours (Including Stops)
Day 2 Kawakawa – Cape Reinga – Te Puke
We lefty Kawakawa at 9am on the way north. There was a bit of fog between Kawakawa and Kaitaia. The trip through the Mangamuka Gorge was an absolute delight. I would rate this as one of the best motorcycling roads I have travelled on. It has the twisties along with inbuilt undulations, making it a challenging road if one pushed it a little through here. Needless to say, we caught up with Steve in Kaitaia! Fuel and then onwards to the Cape and the inevitable 20 odd k’s of gravel. Gravel roads I find are generally in one of 2 states: Bare and corrugated, or newly graded and deep. This one had it all. Mainly, though, it was in the former state. About ½ way through, we saw a lot of bikes heading the other way. Obviously they had opened the checkpoint early! We arrived about 11:30 and pulled in to the car park. I was just getting my helmet off and I hear a sickening crunch of plastic on tarmac. Aly had done well to make it all to the way to the car park without incident, but she came to a stop and her knee gave in. Luckily some fellow bikers were on hand to help lift the bike. Gladly she was OK. We were very lucky to get away with a broken RH indicator assembly and a few minor scratches on the fairing. Needless to say, this was the last time Aly indicated right for the trip! I have often reflected that a stone through the crankcase could have ended our trip right there, so I consider that we were very fortunate. So off back south it was. Alyson and Steve stopped for gas in Kaitaia. I have a 29 litre tank, so didn’t bother. Amazingly, after 5 hours riding, we went back through Kawakawa and actually started out journey south! As we were approaching a planned stop at Wellsford, I noticed my electronic fuel guage move to one bar. The ST has a wonderful feature, in that when the fuel gauge moves to 1 bar it flashes and gives you a digital range to run. A quick calculation said that 1 would be 6 km short of our next planned stop at Wellsford. No problem - I’ll back off a smidgen, and I’m sure Mr. Honda has allowed enough leeway to get me there. WRONG! The bike spluttered to a halt about 4km out! Yes, I had successfully run one of the largest fuel tanks on a production motorcycle out of fuel! Aly went back about 1km to the nearest gas station and got some fuel to me and we continued after a 20 minute stop.
If I were to imagine the worst time possible to be going over the harbour bridge heading to Auckland, then I would say 5:40pm was it. The Traffic was pretty much stop-start from Takapuna to Manukau and added another 30 minutes to our northbound time from Orewa to Bombays. We lost Steve somewhere up ahead, and ended up going via SH2 then SH27 to Matamata then SH24 and SH29 over the Kaimais to Tauranga for fuel. Excellent roads in the darkness, just and Martin and Andrew promised! We pulled in to the only motel in Te Puke about 8pm. Luckily we secured the last room they had and ended up staying the night there with Kerry, a Gold Wing rider also on the rally.
Distance Travelled: 895km - 11 hours
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