Waikato Double 50 Rally 2023—Finale

Here we got an extra instruction to turn around and go back to the Clubrooms. What fun!

It had been a really lovely relaxed day, travelling on lovely sealed roads, seeing different things, enjoying our cars – and being part of a group of like-minded people, supporting each other. Dinner was back at the Clubrooms, where a really lovely meal was dished up to us, there was lots of chatter and camaraderie, ending with the prizegiving. 61 vehicles took part in the rally from Waikato, Auckland, South Waikato, North Shore, Eastern Bay of Plenty and of course, our 5 cars from Bay of Plenty. We entered the teams event, and came second by default after one of the Waikato cars broke down. Graeme and I got first in Post Vintage and 3rd overall so we were extremely excited.

Our weekend ended with a lovely breakfast enjoyed with Deidre and Tony and an uneventful trip home in the Crusader and it wasn’t even too dirty! Bonus!

Winter Woollies Rally 2023 by Raewyn and Graeme Fenn

Just 3 short weeks after the Waikato Double 50 Rally, we were on the road again, heading to Warkworth for the Winter Woollies Rally on Saturday the 1st of July. Weather forecast for the weekend – complete rubbish! Rain, high winds, added to the fact that the Dome Valley north of Warkworth had been closed from the Wednesday due to major slipping. Great weather! Still any day out and about in the old vehicles is a great day, so lets go.

With the generator fixed on the Bluestreak, we were getting ready to go the day before, when I noticed a tiny track of water down the block. Graeme checked it out and found we had a leak in the top tank, better to find it here. Tried the usual potions but we decided to fall back on Old Faithful for such a long trip on busy roads. Out came the Crusader again.

We have done this Rally many times before and love the roads and friendliness of the people in Warkworth. As usual, we left home at 10am Friday morning and headed for Puhoi where we have traditionally stopped for Seafood Chowder for lunch around 1pm. We had a fabulous trip up and Old Faithful never missed a beat. By the time we got to the Johnson Tunnels north of Orewa, we were right on time and pulled off the newly opened highway to head into Puhoi.

The Puhoi Pub has obviously changed hands and was fair humming when we arrived. Work groups playing pool, bikers having a break and a good number of locals enjoying the ambience. The kitchen facilities have been updated, but the Seafood Chowder was just the same – beautiful!

Time to head into Warkworth – on the old highway……. What! Yes the new Mega Dollar Highway has one off-ramp, at Puhoi, and in the future there will be an on-ramp heading back to the City at Puhoi, but for now, there are absolutely no on-ramps and the only off-ramp is Puhoi!! How sad for this beautiful little village, there will be no reason to stop there if you can’t get back on and Warkworth is only 10 minutes up the road.

Still fine weather, as we enjoyed a very quiet old highway, as most of the traffic was on SH16, headed for Whangarei and there was only the local traffic on this normally heaving road. By the time we booked into our motel, it was starting to drizzle. There were very few cars in the car park at the motel and we were put right around the back in what used to be “overflow” units. Strange we thought, then we went in! OMG, not what we were expecting, as well as cold and damp, torn curtains – yuk. Just as we were deciding what to do, our friends from Auckland, Murray and Penny Firth arrived into the unit next door – safety in numbers we thought!!

By the time we arrived home from our beautiful Thai Meal that evening, our room was drying out and the bed was warmer and dryer, so we slept well in preparation for a busy day and we were not disappointed.

The gathering and briefing were at the Masonic Hall in Warkworth where we were told that the route had had to be changed because of the closed Dome Valley and also SH16, which we would have to travel on now, was going to be very busy. A much smaller group than usual saw 35 cars leave the car park and head south before turning right onto Woodcocks Road and following that road all the way to the opposite coast.

Winter Woollies Rally 2023– Continued

On arriving at the Kaipara Coast Highway (SH16) intersection, we found there was indeed a huge amount of traffic on a narrow two lane road that has broken up badly due to the amount of traffic and of course, the rain of previous months. So we travelled in a very long convoy heading north towards Port Albert – our Instruction was: LEFT onto Port Albert Road and keep left until RIGHT at Port Albert 7kms.

Upon seeing the sign for Port Albert, we turned left and continued on keeping left until we came to the sign post “Port Albert 7kms”, but it was going the wrong way for us.

Oh no! Graeme said to me, “Did that sign say Port Albert or Port Albert Road?”

Oh dear!, time to turn around and think again, but

Oh Goodness Me!, the side of the road was much softer than we thought and down, down, we went until there was no way up. Oh Shitty Mud! Another first for us. Time to call Tail End Charlie for a tow……. Until along came a Farmers Wife and her husband in their ute. He jumped out and disconnected their trailer, hooked us up, while she towed us out! Well that was fantastic, so after much thanking and a quick chat about the older vehicles they owned, we were off again. By now we were a good half hour behind most of the cars and as we had started later in the pack, we decided to carry on from here and cut our losses.

From here there were some interesting things to see: Minniesdale Chapel, built in 1867 and is absolutely immaculate sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the water.

Next question, What colour is the Kiwi? Turned out to be white and on a sign post.

Turn right onto JOURNEYS END and the question “What body part is watching you from The Swamp?”

Journey End was a very long road, unsealed mostly that went through farmland, Avocado orchards, swamps, estuary like surfaces and finally ended at Birds Beach, an awesome little settlement on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour. Probably about 18 houses there, sealed road, no shops, but it looked well kept and we were amazed to find it there. Heading back on Journeys End and still no answer to our question, we came around a corner and there was a sign on an old piece of corrugated iron saying “The Swamp”, and on the opposite fence post was a very large eyeball! What a great question!

Lunch was at the Tapora Community Hall, where we were giving a choice of homemade soups and sandwiches. The children from the tiny school next door were selling Avocados, oranges, bunches of flowers, Tea Towels and candles for funds for the school. We were miles from anywhere on an isolated coast, and I am sure most of us contributed to their school funds. I saw lots of goodies heading for cars. The afternoon run started with timing, but only for 11 miles and then there was a tricky section which was not hard, you just had to be thinking clearly and not always possible when you are warm and snug in the sunny car – (what happened to their rain and strong winds?), and the next question was “You can have a good laugh here”, answer “The Funny Farm”. You had to laugh.

Winter Woollies Rally 2023 - Finish

Anyway, we headed into Wellsford, then turned towards the East Coast again for a run home through Matakana and back into Warkworth around 3.30pm having covered around 118 miles at a comfortable speed. Another lovely day in our old car.

At dinner that night, there was the Famous in Warkworth, 2023 Winter Woollies Wander Quiz, a beauty every year, to be completed before Dinner is finished. Graeme and Roy Sharman from Auckland had quite a bit of fun working out the names for various makes of cars before our meal. They had 77 out of 100 correct. (Could be a good challenge for a club event?)

Anyway, we had had another successful day, we missed two checks when we went wrong, nobody answered one of the questions and we lost one point in our timing, resulting in first in Post Vintage and 2nd overall for us. (If only I had read that Port Albert “Road” sign correctly. Our first ride on the new highway was amazing – incredible!, and our trip home uneventful, with great memories and a very dirty car to clean……Thanksforanotherinterestingreport-Ed