The rally takes place every year about 10km from the town of Waiouru in the central North Island. Joining me for the torture this year were two friends, Neil and Steve.
The Coldkiwi rally is held in one of the coldest parts in the North Island and certainly lived up to its name this time around.
We rode up to Waiouru on Friday with the intention being to camp at the rally for the next two nights. The ride up was truly horrible with driving cold rain for most of the way. Neil’s bike got water into its electrics and broke down. It took us ages to sort this out and meant that it was very late by the time we got to Waiouru. None of us really fancied setting up the tents in the dark and the rain, so it was fortunate that Steve knew someone who lives at a nearby army base, and who was gracious enough to put us up for the night.
We woke up on Saturday morning to find that the weather had turned even colder and the town was covered in a blanket of snow. On top of that we had a 4hr power cut and also found out that Christchurch in the South Island had suffered a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. On this inauspicious note and after waiting an age for most of the snow to melt, we set of for the campsite.
It was a real pleasure to finally arrive at our destination, not least because the weather was now lovely and sunny, if not overly warm, but hey its not called the Coldkiwi rally for nothing!
The rest of the rally followed the usual formula of hill climbs, burn-outs, rock bands, burgers and beer, which is just fine by me. The rest of the trip was uneventful enough, though Neil did provide some additional entertainment by falling of his bike in the mud, a fate I only narrowly avoided.
It was a fun weekend away and I am sure we will be back for further punishment next year.
Saturday morning in Waiouru.
The roads were very slippery so we had plenty of time to walk around until the snow and ice had melted enough for us to safely get to the campsite.
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