Elina, Gavin and Mark's "Stepwagon"

Gavin took us to the NZ Motorcycle Rentals first thing in the morning. There were 20 Americans kicking the tyres or their bikes, packing things, and ready for their adventure. We left our suitcase there, and told we'd come back around noon. Once again we didn't have enough time to visit Kelly Tarlton's aquarium, so we just had some brunch and looked for some souvenirs. We also bought a topographic map of the East Cape. Then we called Greg, who was more than willing to leave for a dayride with us. We agreed to meet in the rental shop around 1:00 p.m.

Ready to go

It took almost an hour to change to the riding gear, and pack all our things to those tiny panniers we had. However, we could fit everything we wanted. At the very moment we finished packing the bike, Greg was outside with his Guzzi. After compulsory photos we hit the road. After few kilometers I realised, that the rental shop guys had forgotten to give me the chain lube. Later I heard, they'd run out of lube, and just forgot to mention it. I wasn't sure whether they would refund it if I buy one somewhere, so I ended up borrowing some oil there and there, where ever I found it.

The first impression of the bike was, that the seat has room enough for two, the engine feels powerful for a single, but needs some revving, and that the gearing is way too tall. One tooth smaller front gear would have made sufficient change for my taste.

After riding south from Auckland for a while, we turned towards Clevedon. After few U-turns, and guessing some corners, we ended up to the right road. Actually I noticed, that if we had turned one junction earlier east from sh1, there would have been good signs for the route we searched. Actually it had also a name: The Eastern Pacific Highway.

The shellbeach

In Clevedon we stopped for refuelling. That moment Greg felt very stupid. He had just replaced his ignition lock, so he had his new ignition key in his key ring, but no more the old one. He could not open the tank cap. We tried to find some locksmith, police, car thief, whoever, who could open the cap, but found none. Greg had no other choice than to turn back to Auckland and hope that there is enough fuel to get back to his key. We also considered to fill the tank through the fuel cock, but that would have been too slow and difficult, and we had to go on.

We separated with somewhat confused thoughts. In a way Greg was lucky not to continue with us. Greg wore leathers, and we got an instant heavy shower on us. Even our all-weather goretex suits let some of the water through. After the rainstorm we stopped to a white beach to have a chocolate bar, and dry ourselves a bit by opening our jackets and letting the wind do the job. The beach was so white because it was all covered with crushed shells. Fortunately we got no more rain, so during the rest of our ride our clothes dried totally.

The scenic Coromandel

Between Waitakaruru and Kopu there are the most boring straights of the NZ. We rode against the wind, and the baby-Beemer didn't want to struggle with such a load and heavy wind. I kept the speed down, around 90 kph, and so all the grandma's passed us with their old Datsuns. After Kopu, and the legendary one-line-bridge with stoplights, we turned north, and the road turned better and more interesting. It was twisty coastal road up to Coromandel. The views were magnificent.

In the Coromandel, we had some pizza and thought how to go on. It was already so late, that we decided just to continue on the road 25, that runs around the Coromandel peninsula excluding the very tip of it. It was partly gravel, but very easy. I calculated, that we, in our full riding gear, plus our packages weigh together over 180 kilos, and all the weight is loaded behind the tank. It wasn't a surprise, that the front end felt quite lightweight.

Coromandel Paper World

In Whitianga we again had a short break, length of a chocolate bar. We finally decided where to go for the night. We wanted to check the Hot water Beach, so we chose to go to Hahei, also because there were two backpackers lodges. Either of them should surely have still some room. We arrived to Hahei, and tried first Tatahi Lodge, and bingo. We got a six-bed dorm just for two of us.

In the evening we had a short walk on the beach. The water was pretty cold, so we decided, that instead of going to the Hot Water Beach, we'd go for a couple hours' bushwalk to the Cathedral Cove, that is a nature formed cave joining two distant sandy beaches. The shower rooms of the Tatahi Lodge were just painted, so we couldn't have a shower until in the morning. Then I thought I could recharge my GSM phone battery, just for noticing that my charger was safely in the suitcase in NZ Motorcycle Rentals, Auckland.