By Tony Maulder
On Sunday mid morning 17th March a small group of minis formed up on the roof carpark at the Northwest shopping centre for our run to Matakana. Four of the cars on their first club run.
TO KAUKAPAKAPA
We were going to be led off by dads Chad and Willie in a limo Mini with 3 kids in the back, but they were unsure of some of the roads so Steve decided to lead us to our first stop at the Kaukapakapa hall, through twisty, windy Old North Road.
We were warned that it was market day at the Kaukapakapa hall so we stopped at the pub. The kids in the limo saw me there and said I must be following them as they saw me at the start. They were busy watching movies (Cats?) not the road today as they were on a day away from their mums! They had lollies, ice creams, etc. from their dads in the limo.
TO WELLSFORD
Steve, his wife, and daughter in the Rover Sport were eagerly followed by Julie and Gwyn in the bright red JCW from the pub for about 20 minutes to our next stop at a lookout near the road to Port Albert.
Getting up to the lookout was quite a climb and Simon worried that his 1000cc Mini would struggle, being the smallest horsepower of the group. But no, his little beige beauty performed as good as the rest of us and he was pleased.
At the lookout Jedd in the rather grunty grey 1275+ Mini got going photographing the vista with a rather professional looking camera. He then explained his partner was a wedding photographer, hence the good gear. We waited here for the silver limo to catch up as they had visited friends on the way.
We did a short stint to the Caltex petrol station at Wellsford. Steve parked on the TRAIL (see photo) in front of all the road signs we had to follow to the next stop at Matakana.
TO MATAKANA
Mini limo lead us off now as they knew the road to take. Steve's car had the heater stuck on and made it a bit uncomfortable for his daughter who needed a stop for fresh air.
More good hill climbs. No problems for my BMW silver supercharger.
We arrived at the little Matakana wharf car park and all the children rushed off to the playground, while most of us made our way to the Rusty Pelican for lunch. A really quirky, rustic place.
The mums and children joined us soon after to have a brilliant lunch of fish and chips, pizzas, chicken burgers, and more, as you can see in the photo. Plenty of life stories and catch ups were had.
BACK TO OREWA / AUCKLAND.
Mid afternoon we wandered back to our cars in the park, loaded up and headed off. At Warkworth, we hit the traffic. Slow at all the lights and on down highway 1 to the satellite dishes where there had been a small accident. Then I had a good run back into Auckland looking at all the new motorway work on the way to Puhoi. It won't be the same as the roads we had enjoyed in our Minis earlier in the day.
Thanks Steve for plotting our explorer run, and I enjoyed the pleasant company of our new club travellers.
On Sunday mid morning 17th March a small group of minis formed up on the roof carpark at the Northwest shopping centre for our run to Matakana. Four of the cars on their first club run.
TO KAUKAPAKAPA
We were going to be led off by dads Chad and Willie in a limo Mini with 3 kids in the back, but they were unsure of some of the roads so Steve decided to lead us to our first stop at the Kaukapakapa hall, through twisty, windy Old North Road.
We were warned that it was market day at the Kaukapakapa hall so we stopped at the pub. The kids in the limo saw me there and said I must be following them as they saw me at the start. They were busy watching movies (Cats?) not the road today as they were on a day away from their mums! They had lollies, ice creams, etc. from their dads in the limo.
TO WELLSFORD
Steve, his wife, and daughter in the Rover Sport were eagerly followed by Julie and Gwyn in the bright red JCW from the pub for about 20 minutes to our next stop at a lookout near the road to Port Albert.
Getting up to the lookout was quite a climb and Simon worried that his 1000cc Mini would struggle, being the smallest horsepower of the group. But no, his little beige beauty performed as good as the rest of us and he was pleased.
At the lookout Jedd in the rather grunty grey 1275+ Mini got going photographing the vista with a rather professional looking camera. He then explained his partner was a wedding photographer, hence the good gear. We waited here for the silver limo to catch up as they had visited friends on the way.
We did a short stint to the Caltex petrol station at Wellsford. Steve parked on the TRAIL (see photo) in front of all the road signs we had to follow to the next stop at Matakana.
TO MATAKANA
Mini limo lead us off now as they knew the road to take. Steve's car had the heater stuck on and made it a bit uncomfortable for his daughter who needed a stop for fresh air.
More good hill climbs. No problems for my BMW silver supercharger.
We arrived at the little Matakana wharf car park and all the children rushed off to the playground, while most of us made our way to the Rusty Pelican for lunch. A really quirky, rustic place.
The mums and children joined us soon after to have a brilliant lunch of fish and chips, pizzas, chicken burgers, and more, as you can see in the photo. Plenty of life stories and catch ups were had.
BACK TO OREWA / AUCKLAND.
Mid afternoon we wandered back to our cars in the park, loaded up and headed off. At Warkworth, we hit the traffic. Slow at all the lights and on down highway 1 to the satellite dishes where there had been a small accident. Then I had a good run back into Auckland looking at all the new motorway work on the way to Puhoi. It won't be the same as the roads we had enjoyed in our Minis earlier in the day.
Thanks Steve for plotting our explorer run, and I enjoyed the pleasant company of our new club travellers.
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