Blue organised a Car Club run to Rotorua for Friday 25th through to Sunday 27th September. It was the perfect excuse for a weekend away for fourteen Fraser Car Club members.
The group met up in Rotorua on Friday afternoon. Scott and I headed from Auckland, arriving in Rotorua at 10pm after the evening events had already taken place – mind you, a evening of dodging and hitting rain from Auckland to Rotorua was pretty eventful in itself.
Saturday morning proved to be wet and wild, so we all headed out to breakfast to a place called Capers, great food and good service to kick off the day. The group split to do a range of activities and Scott and I spotted a break in the weather and headed to Gisborne in the Fraser. Tom and his family were having a very special celebration to unveil their newly completed Fraser and we were privileged to have received an invitation to the affair.
The night of driving in the rain had prepared us for a day of driving in the rain, a lot of fun if you're going faster than rain – until the moment when the rain was faster and stronger than us. Stinging eyes, unable to see the road. Buckets were being emptied on our heads, as we tried to pull over to the side of the road the puddles catapulted over the guards, nosecone and bonnet, flinging stones, water and goodness only know what else into our faces, all over our torsos and right through the car. Just out of Whakatane we tried desperately to find shelter, there was none. With that we turned back towards Rotorua where we were welcomed by bluer skies and the warmth of the sun.
Needless to say we missed out on the grand Fraser unveiling in Gisborne. We drove around some beautiful roads in Rotorua and visited some stunning lakes. The Fraser basked in the sun and we were able to warm up. After we headed back to the motel the Car Club members had regrouped and were headed back towards the lakes for the scenic drive that we had just completed. The spa pool was calling us…
Late afternoon social time at the motel continued before we walked to dinner at Fat Dog Cafe. The portion sizes were HUGE! Much chatting, laughter and the like followed. It was a very pleasant way to spend an evening.
The next morning a group went back to capers for breakfast again, because it was so good the day before. Another group headed to the Skyline for some fun on the luge. Scott and I headed back towards Auckland as we wanted to go to Hampton Downs for the final open day. It was a weekend filled with fun, adventure and laughter. Thank you to all those who came and made it so, thank you to Blue for organising the weekend. I am looking forward to the next weekend away, the more people the merrier. Bring on Summer!
Ida
