A Write up from CLINT about a typical CD's ride
PAEROA STREET
RACES
I always look forward to the Paeroa trip it’s one of
my bigger rides that I do and is seriously enjoyable. Heading off on
Friday morning I catch up with Steve Parker on the mighty DN-01 and we
head for Feilding to Steve Hurst’s place were Steve, Malcolm and Brian
Ralph are waiting (a small crew this year, most years the club number 12
to 20 on this trip). We headed off up through Vinegar Hill and then
State Highway 1 to Taupo for a stop for lunch on the waterfront. From
Taupo we went north to Putararu then following one off Ralphy’s infamous
short cuts we went east over to the base of the Kaimai's and followed
them all the way to Te Aroha, on the way we went past a waterfall coming
out of the ranges that was truly spectacular (I am still amazed at this
country of ours, after a lifetime of riding driving and working all over
the place, there are still so many places I have never seen), from Te
Aroha we went through to Paeroa were Brian left us as he was staying
with friends, on to Thames and then on to Tapu where the usual
accommodation at the motor camp awaited us (and a couple of cold beers
and a feed at the pub across the road). Camped up next to us was a
family from Germany who had been riding around New Zealand since new
year’s on their Harley with a vintage sidecar and vintage trailer
attached, the sidecar had a kiddys car seat mounted into it, so their
young son could enjoy the holiday with them. Being German, the sidecar
was right mounted so their son was situated on the centre line closest
to the oncoming vehicles and they were have a fantastic time touring the
country.
On Saturday morning we headed for Coromandel for
breakfast, this is some of the best riding in the country, winding
flowing roads with very little traffic. Over coffee and eggs Malcolm
suggests the road to Port Jackson is very good but has a bit of gravel
at the end (at least that’s what I thought he said, I think he actually
said something like, the road to Port Jackson is in too halves the first
is an absolutely fantastic flowing tarmac road then the second half is
slightly more dangerous than a disused goat track with a number of quite
deep forwards) so off we head to Port Jackson, now somehow I had a
picture in my head of a nice little town, great place to stop for coffee
but turns out Port Jackson is a place on the map only in name, there is
nothing there, so without even knowing it I went past and kept going to
the road finished at Fletcher Bay (at least I can tick this part off my
map). After a bit the too
Steve’s turned up but no Malcolm so after a short rest we head back to
find that he had stopped half way and decided to wait for us to return
after he tipped his bike over in the thick gravel (luckily no damage
apart from a couple of small scratches). We carried on back to
Coromandel for lunch (yes a 120 k’s took us from after breakfast to
lunch time to cover) then we headed south to Whitianga, after Tairua I
headed off over the Kopu-Tairua road to visit some people and others
carried on to Whangamata, Waihi, Karangahake, Paeroa and back up to
Tapu. During the days ride Malcolm had his video camera mounted to his
helmet and has posted a clip of the ride on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3txDTjTssIw
named “a ride in the coromandel” (please note the video only shows us
when we are being good boys).
Sunday always rolls around to fast so it was off to
Thames for breakfast then on to the racing which was good but they seem
to have more and more classic, vintage and other old crapper classes
appearing and less real modern race bikes (I guess this is a sign of the
times as racing has become so expensive), near the end of the day we
catch up with Brian and say good bye to Malcolm who is heading in a
another direction. From Paeroa we head to Tirau were over coffee we are
joined by Eddie and Richard who are on their way home from a concert in
Jaffaland then on another of Brian’s short cuts that brings us out on
the road to Mangakino followed by the western access road to Turangi,
Dessert road and home for tea. A great weekend with a great bunch from
the club and I’ve already booked for next year.
Cheers Clint
