Here is a great guest post from Alan! Enjoy
Don and I decided to head to Collingwood for the Nelson C&VMCC rally. We left Palmerston North at 10.30am on Thursday 17th and joined Keran Osgood and Red Walters at Otaki BP. Don rode his recently completed Suzuki GT500 and I took the H2. Keran and Red are members of the Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Club, and rode a 1970 Triumph Tiger 100 and 1971 Triumph T150 Trident respectively. We caught the 2.10 sailing to Picton and upon arrival checked in at the Picton Top 10 motor camp were Don, Keran and I pitched tents just as the rain started.
Next morning turned up blue sky and sun and we headed off over the Whangamoa saddle to Nelson, and met with Don’s brother Nick. After a coffee in the sun at Zumo, Nick (on his Triumph Scrambler) led us around the Nelson water front and off to Motueka via Upper Moutere and a stop at New Zealand’s oldest pub. We fuelled up at Motueka and while Red headed for Collingwood we took a detour out to Kaiteriteri. This was an old stamping ground from my childhood and I haven’t been back for over 30 years. The changes are huge and in some ways a little sad to see. Nick tells me holiday homes sell for a $1 million +! Nick led us back to the Takaka road via Sandy Bay Rd, which was all corners and great fun, and then he headed back home to Nelson. Don, Keran and I rode over the Takaka hill to Takaka, fuelled up and headed for Collingwood. The Takaka hill is a great ride with stunning views and huge drop offs in places. Unfortunately a wasp decided to check out the inside of my helmet (riding with the visor up) resulting in a couple of stings on the chin. Not easy to ride while trying to stuff a gloved hand inside your helmet and catch or squash the offender! Arrived at Collingwood around 5pm and pitched tents, then off to Tinky’s Tavern for a meal and a sample of the local ale, and the good company of Graham McCosh, Dave Griffiths, and John Rushton from the Palmerston North club.
Saturday dawned fine and after a riders briefing we headed off on one of the two organised runs. We chose the ride to the steam museum at Patons rock on the way to Takaka. A great collection of old tractors and farming equipment, and 2 steam traction engines, one of which was running. We enjoyed tea and scones at the Pioneer kitchen, before heading off to Pupu Springs. The water coming up from the springs is crystal clear, 11 degrees cold, and is said to have been underground for between 2 and 10 years. Don looked keen for a swim, but DOC has banned such activity. We then headed back in the direction of Collingwood stopping at the famous Mussel Inn for lunch. What an iconic place that is. We sampled some of their ale, shared Don’s huge bowl of mussels, and enjoyed a good coffee. It was then back to Collingwood and out to Puponga, at the end of the road out to Farewell Spit. An ice-cream was enjoyed at the café which offered a great view across the bay and of the sand spit. Farewell Spit is way longer than I realised, and has a lighthouse out at the end (well out of view) and a large stand of pines that seem to spring from the ocean. We returned to Collingwood and everyone parked up outside of Tinky’s Tavern (filling both sides of the road) for the judging of the bikes. Then it was time for a cold one, prize giving, and then a buffet dinner in the pub. Graham McCosh from Palmerston North took out the people’s choice award with his stunning Norstar; a BSA single cylinder engine in a Norton Featherbed frame. The old H2 got a mention and the Japanese bike prize. This was a real surprise as Don’s GT500 looked superb as did an immaculate and un-restored RE5. Nick came over in his camper van and joined us for a most enjoyable evening.
Sunday was an early start as we needed to get to the boat by 12.15. Up at 6am and packed up in the dark. My $7 Super-cheap cap with LED lights built-in proved a great buy, and made the whole job a lot easier. We left camp at 7am and had a cold ride over the hill. Sun-strike was bad at the summit, and by the time we reached Nelson the day was warming up. Breakfast was at Maccas, then back on the road again and over the saddle to Havelock for coffee. We rode back to Picton via Queen Charlotte Drive, which is a tight twisty road with stunning scenery and mobile chicanes in the shape of camper vans! The day had become hot and I was starting to think the H2 might over-heat as we waited in the queue at the ferry terminal. Don lost the service of the clutch on the GT500 when going onto the boat. The problem rectified itself after the 3 hour cool down during the Cook Straight crossing and wasn’t a problem on the way home from Wellington. As per the plan we were home by 6.30 pm in time for tea!
I would like to thank Steve Carrington and his team from the Nelson Classic & Vintage Motorcycle Club for organising a most enjoyable rally. Nothing just happens, so a tremendous amount of work will have gone into making the weekend the success that it was.
Thank you to Don, Keran, and Red for your good company and for a great trip. We rode almost 1000km over the 4 days, without any real problems with the bikes. We were well fed and watered and spent plenty of time in the saddle; you can’t ask for more than that. I would highly recommend Golden Bay to anyone wanting an interesting ride off the main drag with some stunning scenery thrown in.
Al
