Welcome to 2009

After a nice beginning to the New Year and getting back to work for the past week, we are finally back. Today we went for a scoot up toward South Head to MacNut Farms for breakfast. There is a small cafe there and the food is decent. The service is only so-so as the people working there aren't really friendly and somehow make you feel as if you're inconveniencing them by patronizing their restaurant. The real reason to go here is for the view. We sat out on the deck which overlooks a large pond to the left, another smaller Lily pond to the right and a manicured garden leading off to a walk through the macadamia orchard. Sorry, no photos...D'OH!

In other news, Simon's brother Tim is looking for a scooter after being inspired by ours. He's very interested in getting a Vespa and came out for a jaunt on ours. At the moment, the market for them here in NZ is pretty competative and the prices have risen since we snapped up ours. Hopefully one of these days, we'll be able to post about a ride that we've taken with him and share his buying experience with you all.

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave

On the last Saturday of the month, we went for a nice ride. Down to Waimauku Food Station to eat pancakes, up the back way to Simon's parent's Orewa Beach house, then over to Albany Mega Centre via the Motorway for some shopping, then back towards home. Around...120kms. Whew! All in a day's ride :)

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Playing Catch Up

Last Saturday we had a wonderful day. We went for a flight to Whangerei and had a pie and then came home and went out scooting. The weather was great and we had all the time in the world. It's not often there is no training on at the airfield on a Saturday morning or that we have absolutely no other commitments or plans and can spend an entire day pottering around enjoying the countryside.

Simon is a pilot of microlight aircraft and working on his instructor rating, so he needs to fly as much as possible. Although we had no specific goal in mind for our arrival at Whangerei and could have gotten a much better pie elsewhere, we went for it.

Simon re-fueling the plane in our "back yard"

Pie in Whangerei

Funny signs in the cafe at the Whangerei Airport.

Graffiti "SL <3 4 AL"

As you can see, we certainly weren't the first to leave our mark.

Ready for take-off towards home.

Pre-flight run-ups

Instrument panel

Scenery on take-off

So, after the flight, we got the scooters out of the garage and went for a burn. Again, no specific agenda which is usually the best way. We took the back road from Helensville down past Waimauku and on to the Riverhead area where we stopped at Hallertau Brewery for a pint. We were responsible and had only one and some chips alongside as well. In the past, Hallertau has been a dinner destination for us, so it was nice to sit out on their patio and see it in another light.

Out in front of Hallertau

After our brew, we went to Coatsville and stopped at this store.

We saw another scooter out with a larger motorbike and snapped a photo.

And we shared a thickshake.

The Longest Drink in Town cup our thickshake came in :)

Scenic Saturday

Off we went again for brunch at the Waimauku Food Station. The thought of the blueberry pancakes with cream and Texan omlette breakfast was enough to get us out of bed early-ish this Saturday morning.

Blueberry pancakes with cream.

Texan omlette with vegetable mash and bacon rashers.

We decided this time to take the back road from behind Helensville through what is known as the Kumeu Valley. Such a lovely ride in comparison to the highway we took last time. Some of the scenery is so amazing, you have to make an effort to ignore it and focus on the road. In order that we didn't miss anything, we made several stops along the way. The Kumeu Valley is a known wine-producing region and we made a stop near some of the vines to take the following photos.

The road also boasts a sweeping view of the Kaipara Harbour and Helensville. Here are two photos of the scene with the two of us acting like fools...


Sorry, no map this time as google maps is very slow today!

Did you come all the way from Parakai on those?

That was the question from the cook at our favorite "diner" this morning when he passed us getting back on our bikes after breakfast (he had just run over to the market to pick up some fresh pumpkin). The Waimauku Food Station is what we would call a hidden gem. We started going there for the way above average pies and kept on when we realized that although they are not the fanciest place around, they do the best breakfasts (this morning breakfast was Texan Omelet with Mash and Bacon for Simon and Smoked Fish Cakes with Poached Eggs and Organic Greens for Angelle). The cook is a really friendly guy and has spoken with us on many occasions about the changes happening all around us in our rural area. Today he asked us about the bikes a bit and reminisced about "playing on one of those things" when he was about 15.
The young girl behind the counter who took our order this morning was also intrigued by the bikes...And Angelle's hot pink jacket (she seemed disappointed when told the jacket was a several year old find from Canada). She wondered how fast the scooters could go and if you could ride them with your Learner's License. What sorts of things do people ask you about your scooter? Back in Canada, Angelle often had people asking her "how much" for her 50cc Honda Jazz...
So, back to that question, "did you come all the way from Parakai on those?" The answer, of course! The ride from Parakai to Waimauku was about 20 mins tops. The road is fairly well maintained as it gets moderately heavy use. Today would have been the busiest traffic we have faced so far but we seemed to get respect from almost all the other road users and were passed courteously by the "cagers". Other motorcyclists on the road were friendly as well, giving us enough space if they needed to pass and many a nod/wave/smile.

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