-
Just back from a few days around the East Cape with Jo. We had planned to use the weekend to head North for the Mangawhai Adventure ride that KR were holding but that’s been postponed. Plan B then was to join our Auckland friends John and Linda on Ray and Carolyn Holmes (Mount Motorcycles) Saturday overnighter at Lottin Point, top of the East Cape.Shod the HP2 with Metzler Tourances and, with TRX850 faithfully trailing, we headed off early Friday morning on the first leg to Paengaroa, where my Mum lives. The weather wasn’t flash leaving Wellington but the Hill was reasonably dry and new tyres didn’t prove to be too much of an issue. We made pretty good time up SH2 aiming for a brunch stop at Woodville. The rain set in just North of Masterton, hence the lack of photos on this particular bit of the journey, so any excuse getting out of it for an hour or so was not a problem for me. As it happened, as we were finishing a great round of bacon and eggs, the sun eased out and stayed with through the Manawatu Gorge. After I’d stopped to fill up at Ashurst, we headed out through Colyton, over to Vinegar Hill and on up the main route to Taihape. That’s when it started getting cold!!A brief stop at Waiouru for coffee was in order, and time to throw some extra gear on. The road was okay but the steady drizzle was very cold and stuck to the outside of my visor with a degree of fervour, you know that stuff that’s not quite snow or ice but just won’t blow off. I had heard that snow was forecast for the Desert Road later in the day, typical on the weekend of Desert Storm though.Anyhow, by the time we passed Rangipo the sun was back out and the road was drying off a bit more. Plenty of road works through this stretch though, of course it is nearing the end of the financial year for most Councils so you’d expect that, and to be honest a couple of stretches of freshly graded gravel liven things up a bit.A quick stop in Taupo for more gas, coffee and to pick up some wine seemed like a good idea, then it was on to Reporoa via Broadlands. This great stretch of road takes you out past the much-improved motorsport complex, an excellent job done there by all concerned and it now look likes a proper racing venue. Nothing going on there though, so we kept going.We hit Rotorua about 4:00 p.m. and weekend away traffic just starting to get heavy. The wee bit of road through to Paengaroa from Rotorua is known to be quite heavily policed these days, so a cruisy run was the order of the day, and just as well because they were all out on Friday patrol.Jo and I enjoyed a great evening with Mum and Dennis, great food, watched some golf and the Hurricanes beat some other mob, nice.Saturday, sleep in – excellent. Anyone who was going out to Lottin Point needed to be at Mt Motorcycles by 10:00, but since we were on the way all we had to do was be at the Whakatane turnoff just after Te Puke by about 10:30. We loaded up after breakfast, got some gas and headed down to the turnoff to wait. Sure enough, after a few minutes, loads of bikes started to zip past and head toward Whakatane. Shortly after, John and Linda turned up, he resplendent on the K1200GT and she looking equally at home on the 650GS Dakar John has just bought for her. The sun was out, it was very warm and the road not too crowded for the first leg of the journey to Opotiki to re-group with the others over lunch. The ride along the coast was just magic, the lure of the beach tempting (especially for the HP2) but we have a ways to go. I was surprised to see the progress made at Matata since the floods a few years ago, some damage is still very evident but on the whole the place is looking much better.Ohope Beach has changed a lot since I was last through there as well, some huge houses that I suspect are only holiday homes.Pretty soon, we arrived in Opotiki. I figured I’d better top up the gas as I’d used 5 litres from Paengaroa to Opotiki, about 20km per litre. When your tank only holds 13L the run around the East Cape requires a ‘gas where you can get it’ philosophy. We trundled around to the bakery to find about 30 people on variety of machines enjoying the sun and some very strong coffee.
The run to Lottin Point is sublime to say the least. Sorely disappointed to have to pass the Motu turnoff this time around, it’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of taking that route. Living in Wellington, you can’t help thinking you’re on a different planet passing through places like Opape, Torere, Hawai and Omaio. Even the larger settlements like Te Kaha and Waihau Bay appear desolate, with many of the buildings in varying states of disrepair, with some operators relying on the meagre tourist income to eek out a living. It’s very beautiful though. I’ll let a few pictures do the talking.
Plenty of the boys were having loads of fun along the twisty SH35 route. Daryl, the service technician at Mt Motorcycles, passed me (two-up I might add) on one of the new R1200R bikes at about 140Km per hour. I thought I was doing okay already, but gave it a handful to try and keep up with him. The next 15K were pretty furious but I couldn’t get past him, but happy to follow his lines and he didn’t get much further ahead.Just before Potaka, you take a left-hand turn and head 14K coastward along a windy, and very narrow, road. This turns into gravel about 2k in and it was here that the HP2 was very much in its element, with several of the bigger sports tourers being dispatched pretty quick smart, in the nicest possible way of course.Our stop for the night is the Lottin Point Motel, run by Bruno and Ducky – a very colourful couple. I first met Bruno and Ducky when I stayed at the motel while I was working on the East Cape back in 2001. Things have not changed much. The motel is idyllically situated right on the coast with pohutukawa tree framed ocean views in all directions. It’s about 18km from Hicks Bay, has 18 self-contained units with double & 3 single beds plus kitchen. There’s a licensed restaurant, lounge and full bar service. Bruno also runs fishing charters, and he reckons it’s the East Cape's best fishing right on your doorstep.The units are comfortable and the beer is good.
All up, around 50 people made it for the overnighter. Dinner was absolutely amazing, a huge selection of roast meats, ½ a crayfish each and steamed vegetables for Africa. Plenty of dessert as well. Where else would you get this for $30 a head?Ray had plenty of prizes to give out. Jo and I picked up the prize for furthermost Southern travellers, I got a prize for having the dirtiest bike (as you do) and for having the hardest butt and Jo picked up one for being one of the two female riders. All up, a great night with plenty of stories and a bit of a catch up with register members we’d not seen for a while or had yet to meet.It rained overnight but dawned a beautiful day on Sunday. Most riders headed back to Tauranga but a number elected to head east over to Gisborne and take the SH2 route back to Opotiki through the gorge. Jo and I were heading for Napier for an overnight stay before the trip back to Wellington on Monday. After saying goodbye to all and sundry we headed out to hook a left turn back onto SH35.
The plan was to find somewhere for breakfast and I remembered a great café at the place where they make Manuka honey between Hicks Bay and Te Araroa. Sadly it wasn’t open on a Sunday, and this seemed to be a running theme along the coast. We kept going and stopped in at Ruatoria to top up with gas. Even the gas station was closed, but the supermarket has a couple of pumps (one for diesel and one for 91) that they open on demand, flipping expensive though at $1.75 per litre. Still you can’t be choosy when you’ve not got a lot left, I could have made it to Te Puia Springs, but again who knows if they’d be open.As it happens, we ended up in Tologa Bay by the time we found anything open and alluring enough to draw us in for food. Appears that this was the case for many of the others as the three outside tables were full and there was a half hour wait on meals due to the number of us waiting to be fed. Was not a problem though, and the food was worth the wait. Was just nice sitting outside and watching the world go by. Appears that in Tologa Bay this is mostly done on horseback.
After brunch, it was more beautiful weather and surprisingly good roads down the coast to Gisborne, some pretty good waves at Makorori with the local surfers out in force. The run down through the Wharerata forest was just gorgeous and we were soon at Morere, a delightful wee place to stop for coffee.
Across the road from the café is the Morore Springs reserve. Rakai Paaka, a hapu of Ngati Kahungunu used these springs for many years before Europeans began using them. In 1895 the Lands and Survey Department gazetted the Nuhaka Thermal Springs Reserve under the Land Act 1892. Since 1987, renamed Morere Springs Scenic Reserve, it has been administered by the Department of Conservation.After gassing up in Wairoa, the last stretch for the day was down to Napier. I love the road between Wairoa and Napier, it’s just stunning to ride and I marvel at the engineering feats undertaken in constructing the railway. We live in a country in which it has not been easy to build railways but more than 2,600 bridges and viaducts carry railway tracks over river and gorge. Some of these bridges are noteworthy for their length; others are relatively short but high. The longest railway bridges are in the South Island however, most of the very high steel viaducts are located in the North Island. Indeed, the highest of all New Zealand railway viaducts is the one over the Mohaka Gorge, on the line between Napier and Gisborne. It stands 95m above the river. On the same railway are four other viaducts ranging in height from 65.5m to 78m.I had decided to surprise Jo with a bit of luxury for our stay in Napier and had booked us into the Anchorage Motor Lodge on West Quay, Ahuriri. We found ourselves in a well-appointed self-contained studio with a large corner spa bath, and the balcony overlooking the marina/harbour. West Quay is Ahuriri's most popular restaurant/bar/cafe zone, with six great restaurants/bars within a couple of minute’s walk along the pier from the Lodge - more just around the corner in the village. It had started clouding over and just as we’d finished our al fresco dinner at the Thirsty Whale (I can recommend this place to eat) it started raining. A nice night to tuck in and watch the Superbike racing on Sky.
It was still drizzling a bit on Monday morning so instead of getting breakfast in Napier we decided to head South as the forecast was for better conditions coming up. I hadn’t been on SH2 around this way for ages, usually electing the route along SH50 for any travel through the Hawkes Bay, so we decided to head for Waipukarau for breakfast. Sure enough, by the time we were heading around Hastings the sun was out and we enjoyed a brilliant ride, pretty much with the road to ourselves all the way through. We did take time out to watch a chap getting back to the basics with his ploughing near Takapau. It was just lovely to see his Clydesdales having a bit of fun as well.
Picked up the last of the gas I needed at Waipukurau and we headed home. An uneventful trip through to Woodville and back down the way we had originally come up.This was a magic getaway for the weekend for us both. All up we travelled a total of 1,448kms, spent time with good friends, enjoyed some great riding and saw a part of the country we do not spend enough time in. We’ll be back next year.CheersGarryPost count: 2134
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.