A Cold Kiwi.

After finally getting some heated grips on my motorbike I decided 2012 was the year to pop my Cold Kiwi cherry.

I took half of the Friday before off work so I could enjoy (parts) of the ride down. And that seemed to be a great decision as it was a near perfect day. First up was a quick stop off near Huntly to check out the river and give the bum a post motorway rest.

Then it was a nice series of minor roads which had me searching for gas around Taumaranui. The trip through town was interesting spending more time waving at fellow bikers than holding the bars, this sort of social activity can be hazardous it seems. But fantastic to see so many bikes out on the roads and all being friendly. But then again, who is grumpy on a sunny winters day when you are out with your two wheeled friend. While out riding my 690 hit a milestone, figured I would snap a photo.

After more sealed roads than my tires cared to deal with I found myself near Owhanga with enough time to get through the 42nd Traverse before dark. I had a quick chat with some mountain bikers who were just finished and found out the river crossing was pretty low so off I went.

Since I was in there alone and heading into most of the traffic I figured I would take it easy, I came across a large group of trail bikers, I am pretty sure I smelt the 2 strokes before I heard them. Then I ran into some chaps on huge Polaris quads, certainly make the average farm quad look pretty tiny and pathetic. I was very glad I met them on a wide bit of track.

The river crossing was a little deeper than the mountain bike guys had let me to believe, and it seemed to have a pretty soft base which is a bit different to other times I had been through (there was also a pretty big sand build-up on the shores, as can be seen in the video below).

I had a little issue with the rock wall after the first river crossing, but I will let the video tell that tale.

The rest of the 42nd was pure joy and I popped out on SH47 with a great view of the mountains shrouded in clouds.

It was getting pretty late in the day at this stage, and the temperature was heading the same direction as me, south at a reasonable tick. Heated grips were switched on ride through National Park and Ohakune I rolled into the Cold Kiwi a good 40 minutes before sunset.

It took a few laps around the place to find the crew I intended to camp with, it was more of a case of them finding me. Much easier for them to spot a guy riding a orange adventure bike standing on the pegs than it was for me to find a random tent among the many.

After getting my tent setup, it was off for a beer and watch some fireworks.

My camp-mates had a hankering for some giant marshmallows, so the toasting began.

The overnight experience was quite something, I am pretty sure the loudest bikes on the planet were hooning around the campsite half the night and when there was a minute of silence there was always someone with some kind of massive explosive device to shatter the silence. All this combined made for a rather dis-jointed nights sleep. I think the temperature got down to -1deg overnight (from a camp-mates thermometer) but I was still toasty and warm in my tent. Before coming I had a look at the coldkiwi site and saw all the photos of them camping in 2 feet of snow, so I was reasonably prepared for extreme cold.

Saturday morning was another beaut day, the mountain was looking inviting, so of course we had to go investigate.

I was very impressed with the quality of the ski access road to Turoa, not quite an adventure ride but still a great view. Snapped a couple of pictures of the guys on the way down (some sneaky Photoshop work to remove the cars from these, apologies to the photography purists). Ohakune Reserve These few were taken on a little diversion Eddie found for us (Ratamaire Road) The mountain looking a quite different later in the day.

The wheelie competition was great to watch. Some seemed to be taking it pretty serious, others not so much.

The "jug pour" event, which involved your pillion(s) pouring jugs of coloured liquid into a small tube without the rider touching the ground. The best I saw as 6-up.

A few teams got pretty creative with their attempts

Then the burn-out competition started, what a noise and what a smell. I had never really seen the attraction of this particular event but it was certainly entertaining. I think my lungs and ear drums will recover in a week or two. Sunset and burn-out smoke while a Triumph rider escapes to some fresh air. The bonfire burning bright, with people throwing aerosol cans and other explosives into the fire kept things pretty entertaining.

I really wished that I had enough room to take a decent tripod with me. These photos would have come out much better if not done hand-held after a few beers. The road home was feeling a bit boring and tarmac based, so I made a couple of little diversions to keep me entertained. Lake Taupo eastern shore.

I then finished the ride with some new minor roads (new to me) on my way out of Taupo and then a near non-stop trip from Te Awamutu to Auckland.