Linda and I arrived at The Asure Adcock in Ashburton mid afternoon on Friday to a warm welcome from Aaron the manager and we settled into our accommodation. The trip down had been mixed with some very hot weather on the ride down the north island to catch the ferry and it got quite chilly on the ride from Kaikoura to Ashburton. Fortunately it stayed dry for the vast majority of the journey.
Friday evening we congregated in the Tinwald Tavern a fifteen minute walk from the motel. The draught Guinness was excellent but the seafood basket probably wasn’t the best choice for me but I just couldn’t resist!! It was great to see everyone and catch up. Logan did a great job getting around the club members and giving us all a brief outline of the next day’s activities and a ‘stands up’ time of 0845.
Saturday morning we were greeted with an overcast sky and cool conditions. This, however, didn’t prevent Edwin Musto donning shorts and tee shirt for the day and looking distinctly relaxed!!! We all set off with a first stop at a beach. The sealed road became a gravel surface much to Peter Moore’s consternation and the air turned blue!! “I don’t do gravel” was his only printable comment. The rest of us paddled our way carefully over the surface and parked up. The air was bracing and the sea was crashing in. Invigorating stuff.
We continued on to Ashburton Airfield and made quite an entrance to their open day. Lots to see in the museum and lots of aircraft parked up on the apron to the runway. Jenny Harris got permission to climb the control tower and take photos from there and invited me along. Great view and an opportunity to see the old control room too. Some interesting exhibits and the Harrier and Mig (27?) the picks of the day. The line up of Gold Wings attracted quite a few people and many questions including the evergreen “is it a Harley Davidson?” There was a nice display of half a dozen custom cars and a lovely display from the Holden Enthusiasts group tool. Lurking almost unnoticed amongst all this was a Yamaha TD2 250cc race bike in prefect restored condition. Very nicely done.
We departed gracefully and rode on to Lake Hood for lunch. What a lovely place and the food was excellent. A very pleasant restaurant and my seafood chowder with garlic bread really tasty! While I waited for my food to arrive I took a stroll outside and watched the boats and ski jets whizzing around. It looked great fun.
On the ride back to the motel we stopped off at a rather interesting “man cave” where the inside of the roof was insulated with empty beer cans! There was a Harley parked up inside too and a rather large TV showing a live concert of Status Quo. An interesting place.
A short ride back to the motel and a chance to relax and ready ourselves for the evening dinner that was held at the garden centre next door. We all assemble around 5pm for drinks and dinner at 6pm. The venue had opened up especially for us and offered a choice of main course and desert. The food was excellent and the service equally so. We had several guests in attendance. Friends of Paul and Marguerite Story from Sweden Olle and Agneta Palmqvist who joined us for the whole rally on a GL1800 kindly loaned to them by Paul. Eunice Weir also joined us. Her husband Stan was a long time member of the club. After dinner Dave Coatsworth (substituting for Janis Moore who had to return home on family matters) did the honours welcoming us all and thanking the kitchen staff for a very enjoyable dinner. Olle Palmqvist spoke and thanked us all and particularly Paul and Marguerite for their hospitality. He handed over some memorabilia from the Swedish Goldwing Club which at the time of writing no one has seen since!!!
A great weekend rally. Thank you Dave Coatsworth, Logan McLean and Jenny Harris for organising it.
Richie Winn
11th February 2025
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