The next morning, Sunday Feb 18th, after some decent before-breakfast banter regarding which one of us is the loudest 'All England and New Zealand' champion at snoring and farting-in-bed .. ;o) .. we're on our way again, leaning into the many curves and twisties along the short 50 km (31 miles) journey towards Paeroa. Riding time is around an hour in total (not counting the stop-off for coffee). The busy roads are just teeming with motorbikes; most of which are heading towards the street races.
The weather was nearly perfect for the event. Not a cloud in the sky, and almost no breeze.
The racing contestants were just SCREAMING around the little makeshift street track -they must have balls the size of watermelons!
But by around 3:45pm Darryl needs to get away as he had the longest ride of us all back to Whangarei in Northland - around 300 km (188 miles); it could easily take him 4+ hours to complete the journey.I decide to leave early with Darryl too, as I want to head back towards the coast and secure a decent place to stopover on the way to Whakatane, where I intend catching a boat, probably on Tuesday (20/02), to the active volcanic called 'White Island' out in the Bay of Plenty situated some 48 km - or 27 nautical miles - offshore from Whakatane.
So I say my goodbyes to all the guys.
Eventually, later that afternoon, I book into a Best Western motel on the outskirts of the up-and-coming 'chic' coastal city of Tauranga.
I've had a bloody marvellous couple of days with my newfound friends. But I know we'll keep in touch; I really hope so anyways.
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