- Friday
Warm, not much wind and a 200km ride to Alexandra to collect Phillip on his Vespa PX200. Both PX200’s running well but the Trojan isn’t quite right. A new NGK BE8 plug, a couple of plug chops and mixture adjustments later and all is good. A couple of comfort stops and a nice days riding into Middlemarch for the night. BBQ tea and a few bevies with friends to finish.
Check out the Middlemarch holiday park if you are up that way – www.middlemarchholidaypark.co.nz
Good amenities, quiet and clean.
- Saturday
Bugger – looks like rain !
BBQ breakfast and off to the Kissing Gate Cafe for a very nice coffee and on with the wet weather gear. I don’t think anyone likes riding in the rain but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. A little detour off the main road to Hindon, with recent gravel patched road surfaces, made for some careful riding to Outram. Down to Lake Waihola for fuel and then onto Dunedin via the Taieri River Mouth to meet The Otago Vespa Club at St Clair. A very nice lunch and catchup at Salt Bar & Restaurant. The Canscoot ones were heading to Moeraki for the night and then back to Christchurch.
A small diversion to Baldwin Street and some reporting from the ODT and the day was a good un’.
- Sunday
Bugger – looks like more rain !
Initial rain from Dunedin to Milton and then just a few spots here and there, so cant complain.
Catlins ride was great with a bit more gravel on the road than normal but very hard to beat that ride on any bike.
So a great weekend with scooter mates from around the South Island (and an Aucklander – nice to see you again Chalky). There is a lot more larger capacity automatic scooter riders out there now and no surprises there really. Reliable, quiet and quicker than their 2 stroke predecessors the GTS300 is a good touring machine and a common sight at these sort of things now.
Over 700KMs for the weekend’s not too shabby for an old Italian shopping cart.
No matter what you ride – let’s be careful out there.