My mate Dave Warren and I spent nine
days blatting around the North Island of New Zealand on our
motorbikes.
We started the journey by riding from
Auckland to Taranaki for the Patua Music Festival. Many thanks to
all, especially Vanessa, for all your generous hospitality towards us
payload limited bikers.
The day after the festival we took the
Forgotten World Highway, with stops in Whangamomana, Tahora, Raetihi,
Whanganui and finishing up at Dave's mum's place in Palmerston North.
Now I see how Dave got to be the way he is. :-). We also got to spend some
time with Dave's sister.
Next day we are headed north up the
east coast, via the wind farm, Peter and Mary's place, Napier and
ending up in a cabin in Gisborn for the night.
From Gisborn we rode around East Cape.
White Island was putting on a show for us with it's eruptions.
Stopped in at the Whakatane Pub for lunch, then on to stay with Geoff
Ellett in Tauranga.
From Tauranga we rode all the way to
Northland, meeting my mate Larry along the way with all three of us
riding to Larry and Karon's place for the night.
Next day Larry acted as tour guide,
showing us some of the beautiful rides up to Kaitaia. From there,
Dave and I rode up to Cape Reinga, then along the northeast shore of New
Zealand back to Larry and Karon's, where we took Larry out for a nice
Italian meal. We also finished off the bottle of amazing Ardbeg that
had been a good companion on the journey.
Last day. We said goodbye to Larry and
Karon, took the ferry from Opua to Russel and rode down the east
coast of the North Island back to home, via Tutakaka. Final stop
before parting ways was at the Puhoi Pub to toast the completion of a
marvelous week of great riding and companionship. Thanks Dave!!!
Kevin Welch and the lovely Jamie stayed at our house while Kevin was doing songwriting workshops in Auckland. It was very nice to hang out with such lovely folks and to share a cozy Walt Wilkins jam by the fireplace in The Bunker. Any time, y'all!!
Spent an intense weekend tracking the Pipi Pickers for their album "As Is Where Is". After a bit of editing, mixing and "Micheal Magic", i reckon it turned out to be a very nice album.
Ayi Soloman, percussionist extraordinaire, after performing with a band at The Bunker, was stuck in Auckland due to bureaucratic BS while the rest of the band departed for Europe. We made the best of the time by hanging out at Roger and Hilary's place, sampling whisky and exploring the philosophy of music. Fortunately he was on his way home the next day. Twas a pleasure to hang with you, mate!
My mate Dave Warren and I spent nine
days blatting around the North Island of New Zealand on our
motorbikes.
Next day we are headed north up the
east coast, via the wind farm, Peter and Mary's place, Napier and
ending up in a cabin in Gisborn for the night.
Last day. We said goodbye to Larry and
Karon, took the ferry from Opua to Russel and rode down the east
coast of the North Island back to home, via Tutakaka. Final stop
before parting ways was at the Puhoi Pub to toast the completion of a
marvelous week of great riding and companionship. Thanks Dave!!!
We had exceptionally fine weather this year which seemed to lift everyone's mood. Not being a booked performer this year it was nice to relax and not have to worry about having too much fun, which i didn't and did.
A group of ten of us spent a week traveling via five canoes through Whanganui National Park. Jenine did a fantastic job of planning the whole thing, including meal plans, purchasing the food, sorting out who was going to do what, when and where, as well as acting as general tour guide. Thank you!!!
