Kawhia - All North Island welcome - Sat 9th December 2017

[mickeyduck]

Nice! Here's to next time!

[optional]

Well Charlie,
what a great run, a pity you couldn't make it.
It was a great trip, well worth the effort. Just ask anyone who was there.
Since Charlie was not present I was "elected" leader, even though I wasn't even driving a Toyota, let alone an MR2.
After waiting to make sure that everyone who was in transit had arrived, we set off with my Boxster ( well actually Sue's Boxster, but me driving) in the lead and My MR-S at the tail with our daughter driving.
South for a couple of kms to turn right at the roundabout onto the Waitomo road. That's where the only mistake of the day happened: sorry Jamie my fault cause I didn't really have any maps to hand out and neglected to hold any sort of briefing. All my fault mate hope that hasn't put you off. The first part of the run from Waitomo was a bit fraught due to the large amounts of gravel/grit, laid down to soak up the tar bleeding due to the extreme temperature ( that's right extreme; the thermometer in the Boxster touched 30 degrees at one stage) and a fair number of cars, mainly tourists returning from one or another sight. Once past the turn off at Te Anga this disappeared and the road was dry and deserted.
Sue, Libby and I had an ulterior motive in this trip: Libby was born in Taharoa, near the iron-sand mine off this road. Libby wanted to see where she came from, 30 odd years ago.Since we were leading that meant that everyone else also detoured to Taharoa. It was in Taharoa that we realised that we were one short. I tried to ring Jamie but unfortunately his phone was flat. ( Note to self; next time don't put two very similar cars one behind the other.) To make up for the diversion I took everyone out to show them where the mine was and explain how the operation worked. I hope people found that interesting.
From there it was back to the main route and on to the intersection of the Kawhia Road. At this point the remaining two Auckland people decided to head straight home, with the assurance that this will NOT be a one off.I believe that Jamie finally caught up with them somewhere. That's a relief, I would hate to think that he was still wandering aimlessly looking for the rest of us, somewhere in the King Country.
The remaining five cars headed into Kawhia for a cool beer ( bloody fantastic!) and a bite to eat. The fish and chips and burgers on the waterfront, watching the kids diving off the wharf, were delicious. What a magical place and a great drive to get there.
It was on the way back from Kawhia that the gremlins struck! Nathan's SW20 stopped in a cloud of steam, halfway uo the hill just past the Oparau turn-off. No major damage just the "hose from hell" making it's presence known. Nathan was able to coast back down the hill to a shop / service station and contact the AA. We left him there and headed in to Te Kuiti to book into our motel. There was no way to take him as all three cars remaining were full.
Once the girls were in the motel I stole the keys off my daughter and headed back to Oparau in MY MR-S. (The only time I was able to get them off her all weekend. I tried several times but she wouldn't give them to me. I had to make do with the bloody Porsche.) After picking up Nathan we returned to Te Kuiti for the night.
Next morning Nathan and I cruised back to Oparau to put Nathan and the SW20 on the tow-truck, while Sue and the girls went to the caves. When I got back we went to have a look at the Natural Bridge (last photo attached). Pity we didn't have time to take this and the Marakopa falls in on the run. Maybe next time.
All in all a great weekend and great to catch up with people from around the North Island.
Keith

p.S. Sorry about the lack of photos. Both Nathan and I had Go-Pros bit somehow neither was running.

Kawhia 1.jpg (42.23 KiB) Viewed 1535 times

[mickeyduck]

Thanks for the write-up Keith. Nice.

Regards losing Jamie... You're right, two similar cars at the back can get confusing. I find it helpful to ask someone with a very visible or distinctive car to travel at the rear so it's easy to see in the mirror from time to time. If there isn't such a car then it can help if the last car drives with their lights on or at least their fogs.

That said, it's all too easy to travel a good 15 minutes on twisty back roads without managing to spot the last car. Especially if you have more than half a dozen. The only remedy is to find a straight to safely park up on until the last car shows up, but even then it needs to be long enough for all the cars to park up without risk of the last one being shunted by someone coming around the bend.

But you'd know all that from way back, so this is more for AC's benefit in general.

Jamie assured me he had a great day anyway so don't worry about that. Pretty sure we'll see him on the next one.

Anyway mate sounds like you all did have a really good day! I'm VERY much looking forward to the next time! Until then, I'll just have to remain green with envy --->

[optional]

Sure had a great day, hell a great weekend. I didn't even mind the two extra trips to Oparau for Nathan. Gave me a chance to have a decent play with both cars.
As regards the "arrangement" of the convoy. We did put a distinctive car at each end: the pOrsche at the front and the MR-S at the back. That worked fine. It was the two identical cars in the middle that was the issue. Nathan was watching (or so he thought) the one in front of him, Jim was watching the one behind him, I was watching everyone. At least that's what we all thought. Turns out we were all watching the same car without realising it.
As I said a bit of a briefing before the start would have made sure that Jamie knew we were turning onto the Waitomo road at the roundabout, that would have solved the problem.
Keith