Friday morning was 4 days ago but feels like a lifetime ago. A lot has happened since then and lets see what I remember.

4am Friday morning I woke rearing to go. The forecast was for isolated showers and I was hoping they were isolated in parts of the country where we weren’t. Headed over to Meanies for an early breakfast and met up with Meanie, Dogs and Yod. Full up we managed to make a photo opportunity and leave at the scheduled time of 5.30am.
Headed out through the manawatu gorge in the rain excited about the 1000km in front of us. The rain was light and easy to get used to so the pace was fairly solid. Bike felt good so was a pretty quite jaunt through to meet up with Sarge in Danniverke. Had some business to deal with sarge on the side of the road and then headed towards hawkes bay. Somewhere on the way I managed to lose my sleeping bag off the back of my bike. I didn’t even know until Yod pulled me over and asked me if I was missing anything. Lucky I had the concours in hot pursuit with more storage space than mainfrieght and my sleeping bag found a home in the top box for the trip to Houhoura.
The mist and fog got really heavy on the takapau plains and even though I missed the SH50 turnoff we still made bayview by 7.30am for the first fuel stop. (11.19L $19.91)

The weather had come to play by now and would remain fine for the entire east cape section of the trip which setup some fantastic riding on some fantastic roads.
Followed Dogs through to Wairoa where we stopped for a smoke break and to enjoy some of the sun that we thought we wouldn’t be getting.
Onwards to Gisborne for the second fuel stop (13.74L $24.72) We stopped at different servos so ended up doing a parkup on the street for a smoke and chat. Was stunned at how lucky we got with the weather. 10.18am and in Gisborne so time was on our side.
We stopped at a scenic spot to take off half our gear. It was really hot round the cape and being dressed for an early start was starting to take its toll. Found a magic view out over the beach.
Settled in to an abundance of twisty roads following dogs nicely when he pulls over complaining about his footpeg nearly falling off and needing some adjustment. I was going to make comment about Triumph not having the quality jappa workmanship until I noticed that my muffler was barely being held on by the very end of one bolt. Quick borrow of some tools and bit of roadside mechanics and both bikes were rearing to go again.
I cant actually remember where it was but at some point round the east cape Meanies pannier did the big ejection from the bike. I will leave it to him to explain what happened.
Arrived in Te Araroa at 1.30pm to get another card. The guys at the pub were really good value and had a good laugh for a while. I got a 7 clubs to go with my 2 hearts to make the starting of a hand of nothing.
With time wasting away we made a decision to stack up some ks and get through the rest of the east cape. Shortly north of the checkpoint we came across a logging truck that had rolled across the road. Looked like an awful mess and had to do some minor cross country to get round the diesel and oil that was all over the road. Hoping no one was hurt might be a bit optimistic as later on we saw the SCU heading out that way.
Got very used to to winding road very quickly and got away a bit enjoying the constant tooing and frowing of the road combined with some of the most magic scenery in the country.
I had to stop at a café and clean my visor part way round as I cam round a corner and got a faceful of bugs. I am not sure what they were but I hit them hard and made a real mess all over the front of my visor and leathers. Back in the groove and with the others in hot pursuit we made our way to opotiki for a smoke stop at 3.45pm.
There was a little traffic and Mr police heading round the island towards the bay of plenty so radar detectors were the order of the day as we made our way to Welcome bay. Dogs lead this section making a couple of boi-racers look rather silly. Seriously. If you are driving a piece of shit car or a ford and don’t want to embarrass yourself, it would probably pay not to try and race sportsbikes up passing lanes.
Refueled in welcome bay. (17.23L $30.65)
Made the start of the Friday night ride in welcome bay by 5.30pm. None of the other manawatu riders showed up even though I posted the ride a few days earlier so it was just the 4 of us to do the tauranga to ngatea Friday night ride. Got seriously caught up in shitloads of traffic so was really a pootle up through waihi and on to ngatea. Arrived in Ngatea at about 7.30pm
Day one complete
946 km.
10 hrs 8 min moving.
3 hrs 40 mins stopped.
93.4 k moving average.
68.5k total average.

on to day 2 tomorrow.

some pics added online at the moment . should be up soon

Awesome report
I really enjoy reading write-ups like these Makes me all the more excited about getting a large cc bike and touring the country.

dude .. what a wicked route .. that is some spectacular riding around the cape !!!!

and good time too !!! well done .. top effort

it was awesome! here is day 2.

So the bike all got a bit of a going over to make sure nothing else had fallen off and oiled up chains and a bit of maintance (except Meanie who never oiled his chain all weekend) and we sat down with a beer for the night. Chris and Liz who were hosting us were fantastic with a huge feed ready for us. Feed and relaxed we sat down and pretty soon we were all feeling ready for bed. Dogs and Meanie got a room and Yod and myself shared a room. Didn’t get much sleep the first night because Yod was sleeptalking and all I had to listen to all night was “I wish I had a kwaka” and “Why does that green bike look so good” over and over again.

Actually, I went out like a light and woke about 4am. Got up and sorted out my phone and GPS and worked out some stats and fuel dockets for the previous day. It was nice outside in the early hours. It had rained overnight but the weather looked to be clearing for the day. The others rose about 7am and we had more bacon and eggs before thanking our guests and heading off at 9am for the day ahead. We decided to skip the firth of thames ride due to the heavy traffic we had encountered on Friday and went straight up towards the motorway.

The motorway was fun. Chasing dogs through the traffic it didn’t take long to get to the first fuel stop on the northshore somewhere at 10.25am (13.84L $23.94)

The traffic was really heavy all the way to Whangaraei and the group got split up as we all made our own way round the traffic. Had a couple of moments where the radar detector went off like a Christmas tree to save my arse from walking back to Ashhhurst. Made time where we could and got up to Kamo (Camo?) at about lunch. Pulled into a café and the others were not as far behind as I thought they might be. While having some lunch Meanie noticed his rear tyre was a lot worse for wear with big cracks through it and was obvious that it would not be wise to head towards the middle of nowhere on it. Few phone calls and he found out the Kawasaki dealer in Whangaraei sucks and the Suzuki dealer rocks. Headed back to Suzuki and the guy changed the rear of the concours right on closing. I it was interesting to see how easy the concours rear wheel came off. Quite a good system for the shaft drive there. Being as we were stopped we refuelled in whagarei (8.84L $15.65)

Back up and running we had to make some time up so headed straight for Kaitaia.

I was cruising along in my happy place and enjoying the roads and the weather when a cop went past the other way. The radar detector didn’t even blip. Quick speedo check and I was doing 135k. He waved at me and I buttoned off and waved back and carried on. Shit, that was close. All good. 2 mins later I look in my mirrors and he is right behind me with his lights on. That not flash. Pulled over and as I stopped the radar detector went off like a Christmas tree. Thanks for the warning. I already knew the cop was there by now. Booked at 111km/hr with an $80 fine. The cop was fairly good value and chatted for a while. The others quickly pulled up and got their cameras out and snapped all sorts of pics for the record. They are good like that.

Losing complete faith in the radar detector it was a very quiet trip through to the mangamukas. Had a blinder going up the hill with Dogs in hot pursuit. Fantastic road in the dry and let the 9 do what its best at. Stopped for a photo at the top and headed down to kaitaia for fuel. It was 4.40pm at the fuel stop (9.5L $17.19) and talk of not making it to cape reinga today. Followed Meanie through to Hourhora where we got our 3rd card. That made me with a 2 hearts, 7 clubs and 6 diamonds. Good thing its not about the prizes!

Went up to the batch we were staying at. It is a cosy batch in the middle of a paddock. Although we had been lucky enough to make it all the way to Hourhora without a drop of rain, it had been raining quite hard, quite recently and the paddock was a big boghole. 4 road bikes doing some offroading and we got to the batch. It was fun but I am surprised that no one got stuck. We parked on the deck because the ground was so soft that the bikes would fall off their stands.

Back to Hourhora pub for dinner and play some pool and watch the rugby. It was decided that cape reinga would have to wait for the morning.

Played Dogs at Pool. I won the first game and that must have upset him cause in the second he sunk 7 off the break and then left me no shot and then potted the black. Good o. Gave him something to brag about.

But for the record. I won 1, Dogs won 1. then I won 1. then I went in off on the black to lose 1. then I sunk the black off the break to lose the last 2-3. It was fun though and the food was really good. Little expensive as it cost me $19 for a burger and fries and bourbon. Back to the batch for a nightcap and Dogs and Meanie took the loft and left Yod and I with a set of creeky bunks. I got the top and I was very nervous about falling off. Being bombarded by missiles from above for half the night didn’t help.



Day two was over and we finally got some sleep.



Day two

481 km

5 hours 34 min moving

3 hours 27 min stop

86.4 moving average

53.3 total average

1 ticket.

out of curiosity .. were you going through the middle of hamilton last week at 5pm ish?

I was walking to my car, and watched a zx9 and zx12 sitting either side of a car at some traffic lights.
They were loaded with gear (pack racks etc) and the 12 rider looked like a shielas bum (uh-oh .. might bet myself in trouble saying that)

nope . we went round the edge of whatawhata. Missed hamilton all together.

More rain overnight but as Sunday morning dawned the weather cleared. I was very keen to get up and see the lighthouse. I got up at 5.05am and after some discussion if it was an appropriate time to be up in the morning the others scoffed some coffee and we hit the road north. It was weird being so far north and still heading north. We left the batch at 5.30am and the roads unveiled through the darkness. It was a surreal feeling of being way out in the middle of no where. As it got lighter the scenery was breathtaking. It took us 50 mins to get to the lighthouse carpark from the batch and by then there was plenty of light and the sun was just thinking about waking up. The gravel ride was up and down. Reports of 21k of gravel but I think it is more like 15. Some stretches were like riding on road and some were like riding over a mountain. When we pulled into the carpark I couldn’t see the lighthouse and there was a lot of construction around. There were a few people already up there sleeping in their cars waiting for the early morning.

We parked up and looked at the very long hike to the lighthouse itself. The wind was horrendous. You could barely stand up and before long we decided that we had better find a closer park (cause yes, we are that fucking lazy)

Found an access road for construction and made our way down and around and parked in next to all the machinery. A shorter walk now but still quite a distance so we considered riding down the path to the lighthouse. The wind was so bad and if you got blown off the path it would end in tears so we all took a HTFU pill and hiked down to the lighthouse. It was just magic. Took a heap of photos but some moron broke the sign that has the distances to all other parts of the world on it.

I don’t think I can give credit to the feeling that is standing in such isolation as far as you can go so I am not going to try. The sun coming over the hills was just magic and tried to capture in on camera. It looks nice but nothing like being there. I highly recommend everyone doing the trip up there at least once. Definitely the highlight of the whole trip for me.

Got back to the bikes at 7.20am and went to head back to the batch when the concours decided that it was a good place for the key not to work. Bit of drama and if any of us didn’t realise how far out into nowhere we actually were it all came rushing to us here. After some fiddling round it decided that it would work and we headed back to Houhora.

Heading in through the gateway to the batch is a big mud puddle. Meanie lead us through it followed by Yod and then Dogs. I followed Dogs through the gate and was a little surprised to see his brake light come on mid gateway. Being on a downhill slope I couldn’t move backwards and I knew it was coming. A spray of mud coming off the Daytona as dogs enjoyed his little burnout mid puddle only to look behind him and realise that I was covered in mud. Not mint. Quite funny though.

I am not sure if he didn’t see me there or he had thought that the murky water would compliment my green bike.

While packing our gear the concours did another, I don’t want to turn the key on, trick and we were stuck again. While Meanie made some phone calls Dogs and I had turns at pressing the key. Apparently if you press the key 567865847365 times in a row it works. So with Meanie on strict instructions not to turn his bike off again we were off.

It had started to rain now and the rain was pretty on and off all the way down to whangrei. The roads were greasy and the wind was getting really old, really fast. The low light on the trip really but we had been so lucky for 2 days we knew we were going to hit rain somewhere on the trip.

Yod had a huge moment where he prayed to the 383 gods in 0.00002 seconds (he talks really fast) but will leave that for him to explain better.

The plan was to take in Rawene ferry and SH16 but the weather being what it was and the concours playing up we decided to hit Auckland straight down the line.

Refuel in Kaitaia again (13.64L $24.68) and headed south.

We stopped at a nice café slightly north of wellsford where we got accused of being the wild hogs. Not sure what to say about that.

Refueled again in Wellsford. (13.5L $24.02)

Pretty solemn trip down to Auckland and the rain was on and off. Did the motorway. Called into motomail on the way through Auckland and Dogs brought some wets.

Down to Ngaruawahia where we hit the back roads to Kihkihi to stop at my parents for the night. The roads were dry but now and got a nice little wind in our sails for the last stretch of the day. Today was the hardest day on the bike for me. My arse was aching. My wrists were sore. Actually, I don’t think there was a part of me that didn’t hurt. I started to worry about my rear tyre and if it was going to make the trip.

There is a german exchange student staying with my parents at the moment and when we pulled up she was very excited and wanted to go for a ride on the bike. I was knackered but had to oblige so Yod lent her some gear and I took her round the block. She was happy with that so it was time to sit down to a drink and some food.

The timing was mint because my sister was leaving for India that night so we had dinner with her and then everyone left to catch the plane in Auckland which left the 4 of us the house for the night.

I was falling asleep standing up and so time for bed. Again, Meanie and Dogs had a room and Yod and I were in the far room. We were all in bed and just falling off to sleep when Dogs stomped in asking for another mattress. We found one and he promptly got all the bedding off his bed and moved in with us. Apparently Meanies day was just as hard as mine and he fell into a deep sleep dreaming about foghorns and was making the noise to go with the dream.

Had a really good nights sleep and I needed it too.



Day three

658km

7 hr 44 min

3 hr 57 min

84.9 moving average

56.2 total average

Today was the latest day I slept in and got up around 730am. My parents had returned from dropping my sister off at the airport and mother was making pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

Had a good feed and then got the bikes ready and packed for the last trip home.

Dogs found another accessory for the concours and even mounted it for Meanie.

We headed out through Te Kawa and refuelled at Otorohanga. There was some dogey back road diversion and I lost the group for a bit there. Dogs was concerned about his fuel levels and when the rest of them didn’t show up at mobil I thought we were on for an interesting day of rescue. Got on the phone and found they had taken a turn off and were round the corner at the Caltex so met up again and then headed south towards Awakino.

Fuel was 16.94L and $30.31 BTW.

Had a fairly steady run through to Te Kuiti. Completely lost faith in the radar detector. It picks up about 10% of cops and leaves 90% for chance.

The road from Hamilton to New Plymouth is pretty good so with no excessive speeding we still managed over 100km/hr average to make it to Bell Block. We stopped and took some photos on the top of mount messenger and again when we got a nice view of the mountain. All dry roads, no dramas, the bike started to squiggle coming out of corners and I was getting more and more concerned about the level of grip I had left in my rear tyre. Nice comfortable trip though.

Refueled in Bell Block (11.03L $19.84) and had arranged to meet Monie and Sarge and Horse in Rahotu.

Made our way through New Plymouth and stayed on surf highway round to the checkpoint. Spent a fair bit of time there before a leisurely ride home. I was pleased the rain held off cause my rear tyre was getting really slippery in the dry, it would have been a nightmare in the wet.

Refueled in Wanganui (11.63L $20.68) and had a pie and coke. Being on familiar ground it was a little sad that the weekend was over but I was keen to get home and see Mrs C.

I pulled up outside Meanies place and the rear lost all traction. Just in time. Tried revving the bike and it just wouldn’t go anywhere. Then I realised I accidentally was holding the front brake.

Wrecked the tyre completely.



So that was the end of it.



day four



488k

5 hours 02min moving

3 hours 37min stopped

96.7k moving average

56.3k overall average





Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Many many thanks to chris and Liz for the accommodation and good food at Ngatea, Wayne for use of the batch in Hourhora, Mum and Dad for food and accommodation at KihiKihi and Meanie, Dogs and Yod for making a fantastic weekend.



Only 2 years till the next one.



Overall stats.

5 days riding

3161km

88.8km/hr moving average.

56.52km/hr overall average (GPS stopped at end of each day)

$344.78 on Fuel.

Averaged 6.02L per 100km

Averaged 11 cents per K

Mint! Bike was pretty frugal I thought and your average speeds (moving) were good too.

Awesome write up
Sounds like you all had lots of fun and excitement.

work today was the shittiest of shitty come-downs.....not interested at all

What was missing was a 2nd Connie

What an amazing trip and a fantastic write up Cowboyz. It reads like an exciting novel. I had to go back and read it again. Can't wait for the next instalment.

Fantastic write up Im incredibly jealous

Perhaps in 2 years i'll be joining you lot

With not stopped you get in the zone pretty quickly. There wasnt any major blatting down the striaghts. The top speed for the weekend was only 174k/hr and that was very short lived. Probably just passing a few cars in one stretch. Pretty much sat on 120k the whole time which was really fun round the tighter sections of the east cape.


It was awesome. Cheers.


Feel for ya. I got up at 730am and wandered round not knowing what to do with myself. Wrote up the reports and changed my rear tyre. Took 10mins! The PP are HEAPS easier to get on than the pirellis.
Just had to ride up to Sarahs place to help out with the cows. The ride seemed very very short.




Next time. It would have been good to have a real biker there......

Dunno about that - the GC was a bit hard on me this year. Need to get fitter...