Day 2 began with the establishment of our new ritual, the ‘Morning Coffee Hunt.’ Luckily the rally includes two veterans of the hunt, Boyd and Igor, and they are usually hot on the trail of all things gastronomic. On this day we actually found our own barista and he got us going in the right style. I’m sure our hunters will be back on form soon.
We had a great drive on the way to petrol with Grant in his very British liveried V8 MGB on some absolutely gorgeous road. We weren’t pushing too hard but had a lot of fun. We got scolded at the petrol station by a fellow motorist (in form if not in spirit) for ‘not staying inside the lines’!!
From there the traffic got really heavy and it wasn’t too much fun to Rotorua where we stopped for lunch before setting off to Taupo via two of the erstwhile “closed road” sections of the event.
The Waimangu Thermal Resort road is very nice indeed and the Waikite Valley Road is a little more open so you can sit on the speed limit pretty much the whole time. The only scare we had was when we came over a brow and there were to figures standing by the road in the distance. Of course we were proceeding at a legal pace but I hauled a lot of speed off very rapidly just in case. It turned out to be just a couple of looney Lamborghini pilots filming the cars going by.
After a quick stop to look at the awesome Huka falls we went into Taupo to find our accommodation. We had a beautiful place by the lake shore and had a lovely meal in their restaurant. The Millenium motel is recovering from a fire but is doing a very nice job in spite of it. And there are still two bottles of 04 Basket Press left at what can only be described as a bargain price. The price isn’t on the menu but you should ask.
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