News

Club Night - 21.08.19

Every month at Club Night we ask attendees to bring a wrapped raffle gift. This can be anything ... large or small - chocolate, lollies, gifts, funny stuff ... If it's your birthday month, you are asked to bring a wrapped bottle for the raffle. The idea is to raise 'incidental' funds that mean we can use the money in a fun way to do some fun stuff.

We decided that we would pay for an attendees meal at the Club Night every month at Club Night - we will put all attendees name into a 'hat' and draw a lucky winner. The first winner ever was Bryan Sutherland who we also welcomed to the Club!

Joy was the lucky winner of the coveted Daft Dragon award for ... putting the team off their dinner to organise the AGM in Blenheim. She was telling a story about a cow that had mad cow diseaseand was scratching it's udder ... We gave her a hard time for putting us off our dinner.

Taranaki Odyssey - 18.08.19

Martin and Gemma arranged the Taranaki Odyssey ... a good couple of fun filled hours for Ulysses members and their family / friends. The idea was to organise an event that others could take part in which they may be deprived of doing if they didn't ride.

Once all the teams had arrived ... who were ALL on time except for Alan (who earned a hefty fine) ... the games started. Fear Factor was up first ... one team member could volunteer to eat either a dry Weetbix or a Sardine with Mustard.

From there, the teams were given their first sets of clues - The Main Drag. They had to drive between certain roads in town and answer some questions e.g. What is the Kings Society?.

They also received In Search Of - where they had to provide photos of certain items e.g. Street Art.

Photo downloads or snap shots from the intranet were illegal.

When The Main Drag was done, the teams returned to collect two more clue sheets ... Jumbled Streets where they had to unscramble a street name and then get there and then answer a question e.g. The 2nd (blue) picture at 34 Devarepens Street depicts what creature? Some argued that 'A Fish' was an accurate description of the 'whale' at this address.

They also got Moto GP where they had to find photos of street names that started with the letters Q U A T T A R A R O - and got double points if the streets were photographed in the same order.

These are the teams in no order:

The Joneses - who couldn't attend Prize Giving

Al and the babes

The Seniors

Panda

3rd Time Lucky

The 29-ers

There were prizes galore but 'The 29-ers' took home the Trophy and first place.

All in all it was a really enjoyable inaugural event.

Club Ride / Club Lunch at Opunake 21.07.19

A well attended lunch out in Opunake ... lots of chatter and catching up! Some came on bikes and most in cars ... food was great but the company even greater-er (!!).

We welcomed Kevin Beetham as a new member!

And Blair turned 25 Years in Ulysses!

Mid winter Xmas Fun

What a festive evening had by all ... loads of laughs, games, prizes and fun. A huge thank you to Shane and Jo Le Bretton for not only giving up their home to us, but for doing such an amazing job to recreate a Xmas atmosphere. It was truly spectacular.

Needless to say the spread was delicious and no tummy went without!

Having to dress up the to the letter "X", the winners of the evening were Wendy Hern for Xena and Alan Foster for the "aXe man".

If you've not been to a Mid Winter Xmas Party, do come along next year.

Ulysses Taranaki Club - New Logo

At the AGM in Hastings, NatCom encouraged each Ulysses Branch to come up with a logo that it could identify with. Taranaki was one of a few that had not come up with a regional logo so the committee set to work to get one organised. The deadline for submission to NatCom was 24 June 2019. After a couple of attempts, a selection of logos was produced by a graphic designer (at no cost) and these were voted on by the committee. We are pleased to have this logo for our region and we will decide how we will incorporate it in the future.

If you have any ideas

on how you would like to see

this Taranaki Logo being used,

be sure to put them forward

to a committee member.

Club NIght- 19.06.19

Andrew takes his Sheriff job very seriously and his first evening in the role saw him show no mercy as he doled out fine after fine. Let is be said that we all quietly scoffed at his list of 'Rules" where he cited that the current Sheriff was unable to be fined!

Great job Andrew ... he awarded the Daft Dragon to Wendy as she insisted on calling very grunty, masculine, noisy, heavy motor bikes as "Cute". Have a look next month to see what Daft Dragon has got up to. Scroll down to see him driving a Fire Truck!

Club Ride- Whangamomona Overnighter - 15-16.06.19

Departing 3A in a timely manner, we headed to Toko Pub for a 'hot drink'. We were delighted to have Stan and Rob with us. Shane came along for the ride to Whanga leaving us to head back early in the evening.

Those staying over were: Andrew and Suzie, Alan and Wendy, Martin and Gemma, Graeme and Janice, Graham and Kevin.

We all arrived safely in Whanga and with some staying at the Hotel and others at the Lodge, we met for drinks and snacks at the Lodge. With the sun going down and dragging any warmth with it, we moved to the hotel pub for the rest of our evening.

The evening was lovely and cozy in the pub. The boys clanned together and played a couple of competitive games of Pool while the ladies entertained themselves and encouraged the boys ... especially when they bent down to take a shot! Dinner was just marvellous and we all went to bed satisfied.

We woke to a spectacular morning and after a hearty brekkie we geared up to head off ... except one of the KTMs had clearly made an 'evening of it' and took some cajoling to get started!!

We were soon on our way and all got back safe and sound after a hot drink stop in Stratford.

All agreed that this overnighter was one that should be done more often!

Daft Dragon's Antics

Daft Dragon checked out the inside of one of the Fire appliances at the Opunake Fire Brigade recently!

Luckily Dafty's not a fire breathing dragon, or it would probably cause more fires than it would put out!

Who's going to get Daft Dragon next?

Club Lunch - Stumble- 02.06.19

Another well attended and well enjoyed Stumble Lunch where we welcomed our newest member, Kelly Gates to Ulysses Taranaki

Club Ride- 19.05.19

Able-bodied Ride Leader, Martin, had it all mapped out and led us expertly round the back roads of Waitara Valley, Lepperton, Egmont Road ... to lunch at Volca-No-View.

Early weather misgivings were soon quashed as the sun came out and blue sky was visible ... a feisty little breeze did not deter the keen bunch! We will not mention that, at an early point the leader was asking his wife for clarification of where the roads went ... and this is a woman who still gets lost in her own bedroom. Helen mentioned that a hefty fine was due for that!

Stan caught up with us in Lepperton (we think that was worth a fine for being late!). Everyone who attended said that it was a lovely ride. The roads, although a bit wet and shiny in places, were all generally in good repair and the pace of the ride was encouraging for those among us who are cornering-impaired! It was a really good ride to renew those skills. I couldn't help but feel that those who didn't attend, missed out on a great event.

Quarter Master Harry, did a fine job of selling some merchandise to us as Helen modelled the latest long sleeved jersey. Shane too was sporting a Ulysses TShirt but would unfortunately be fined as he left his bike keys in his bike. The venue, new to most of us, was warm and pleasant. The service was fast and very friendly - the food was good and the prices not bad. We all felt that it would be a good place for us to come back to at some stage.

Shane did a great job of polishing off an Apple Streudel Pancake (the size of the entire plate) after a huge steak sandwich ... doesn't Graeme look amazed! Unfortunately, some one else's eyes were a little bigger than their belly and were defeated!

All in all a good day out!

Club Night- 15.05.19

Sherrif Alan gave a couple of people a fine or two which caused raucous laughter ... but then he gave Suzie the Daft Dragon. The reason being that Suzie, tried to remove a plastic bracelet from her wrist at the National AGM using a knife. Needless to say, she ended up with a cut on the bridge of her nose as a result!

One of the first agenda items of the newly elected committee is to assign portfolios to various committee members. Sherrif Alan was a little too pleased to hand over his badge and tasks to Andrew. Be aware everyone ... there's a new Sherrif in town!!

Stumble Lunch- 05.05.19

Fab lunch

Fab people

Fab chatter

Fab venue

Fab weather

Fab fun

Fab laughter

I guess it was a fab event then!

Taranaki AGM- 03.05.19

Quite a small turnout for this year's AGM. It was held on a Friday night for the first time which is the only reason we can think of as to why there was such a small turn out. However, it was a great meeting and enjoyed by all those who attended. The current President took us through a couple of official agenda items, while the current Secretary scribbled notes (and had a back up tape record just in case) ... and our Treasurer took us through some very well put together 'wall art' (thanks Helen!) of the year's finances.

We welcomed our newest member - Janice Weston. Welcome Janice!!!

Soon after, the official committee gave up their posts and Blair did an expert job of organising this year's elections. We are pleased to announce the following:

President - Suzie Pentelow

Vice President - Alan Foster

Secretary - Graeme Weston

Treasurer - Harry Bayliss

Committee - Blair Campbell, Martin Peyerl, Gemma Peyerl, Bill Kidney, Andrew Pentelow, Shane Le Bretton

Stumble Lunch- 07.04.19

Another well attended, well watered and fed catch up on a well chillier day ...

National AGM - Hastings - 29-31.03.19

We had all been glued to the weather forecasts for the weekend and all packed our wet weather gear! After waiting for a certain rider who thought the Inglewood departure was at 8.30am, we all met up in Hawera. Riding initially through 'pea soup fog' we made our way towards the East Coast stopping in Whanganui and Taihape. From there we heading in to the Gentle Annie. About 45 mins of the road was dry and in good condition ... but as the weather set in, so did the regularity of resurfaced road patches and gravel. It was a good ride through ... but more challenging for some than others. Regrouping on 'the other side', we headed to The Filter Room for refreshments and light hearted banter where we elected the "Team Taranaki Doughnut Eater" for Saturday night.

We headed to the Top Ten Hastings and argued over double vs single beds ... some double bed recipients commenting that they couldn't wait to get their pants off !!

Thursday night dinner was pizza ordered off a phone app (other shops were closed). We were all delighted with the results and tucked hungrily into various flavours and garlic bread.

Friday saw us all do different preferences. Some visited parents, friends and others went in search of breakfast ... the loooong way round. Some then took a trip past the View Point and then went shopping. Our President had to attend the National Meeting from 12.00pm.

We had agreed to meet at the venue at 3pm so we could register for the weekend and book the ride etc. After buying raffle tickets, we headed to the Top10 to refresh before dinner. It was very thirsty work!

Friday night saw us fed with a delicious meal of lamb shank, bok choy, mash and gravy (or jus as it was called). Prizes were handed out and we discovered a NP Member that we didn't know was there. He won the prize for travelling 42kms in a 3km radius ... he got lost and was not happy about it! Shane (our newly elected "Team Taranaki Doughnut Eater") won a prize for being at the AGM with a disgruntled spouse at home! I t was a really lovely evening where some sampled an electric bike.

Saturday, after a not-so-wonderful-raw-egg-brekkie for some, we headed into the AGM. Main news was the change in National President from Mike to Tiny, a new (male) committee member, blue tooth prizes donated for that evening, Rebates on Rego Costs from ACC if you do rides training, new products on Bike Insurance from AON, Odessy memberships presented to 3 long standing members, and a free pen from AON for every 3rd seat!

After the AGM closed, the ride commenced with lunch along the way. And there were quite a number of bikes there! Most of the Team Taranaki went on the ride and there were urban myths of certain riders being stuck behind 3 wheelers and being too polite to overtake ... until another rider set the pace! Apparently, the trip back was at a way faster pace where all Team Taranaki riders kept up! There was news where Andrew and Suzie had parked up after getting petrol - unbeknown to them outside a gang's room. Andrew, wearing his Ulysses decals, was verbally accosted by gang members driving past. Andrew and Suzie quickly moved back into the parking area!

So then we get to Saturday night ... the highlight for us competitive ones in the team. The theme was "Last of the Summer Wine" ... and it was a great team effort as to how we would go dressed! We all represented Taranaki with matching Taranaki Hard Core TShirts and all had a hat similar to those from the show. Andrew had done an amazing job of making the wheelbarrow --- and bringing it to Hastings on the back of his bike! We decorated it with straw, bottles, grapes, glasses and flowers. We were so proud of our efforts! Have a lookout for where Wendy's hand is on the 'back' photos!

All the men took turns walking the wheelbarrow to the venue. At the venue, we put 'our precious' in pole position and took some really awesome photos of the team! We did deserve to win ... and win we might have had the MC not seen that we won it last year. However, give credit where it's due and the team that won had really done a great job of dressing up!

Got to say that we cleaned up on the prizes ... with Derek's and Shane's earlier prizes, Martin won a TShirt for doing his best interpretation of a motor bike ... Gemma won a prize for being an idiot who was supported with general knowledge answers by the team and a "phone a friend"!

During all of this, Shane was building up his courage for the feat ahead ... doing his best to cite peer pressure, bullying, physique, etc, etc to try and get out of it!

Shane did an incredible job of shoving a super sized cream doughnut down his throat. There was deafening support for his efforts and we were so proud of what he did! Well done Shane!!

Alan, later, decided he'd do his best 'Shane-in-action' impersonation!

After all the fun and festivities, a delicious buffet meal followed after which, we boogied the night away to rock ballads!

After brekkie the next morning, we made our way over to Taupo spending the afternoon shopping and eating. Dinner was at the Cosmopolitan Clubs rooms ... NP Club comparative. We all needed an early night and set off by 7am on Monday morning in an effort to avoid the 'weather bomb' that was heading over the island.

We all made it home safe and sound after a lovely weekend!

Next year's is in Blenheim with the theme of Pirates. It is a fun time ... come along!

Club Ride - Mokau - 24.03.19

Awesome turnout for this short ride to and from Mokau on a gorgeous sunny day. Great to see some new faces joining the group ride! In no order Suzie Pentelow, Andrew Pentelow, Bryan Sutherland, Martin Peyerl, Gemma Peyerl, Graeme Weston, Janice Weston, Stan Walmsley, Justin Walmsley, Paul Cole, Astrid Molenaar, Bruce Lester, Shane Le Breton, Kelly Gates, Ray Senior, Anne Senior, Bill Kidney, Margaret Kidney were all there! We were joined a wee while later by Jeff Kerr and Bettie ... Jeff thought he had a flat battery but after some prodding around, realised he'd hit the 'kill' switch!!! So lots of 'fines' material ... keys left in ignitions, helmets not being done up ... Most of us headed to Mud Bay Cafe for a 'cold one' on the way back.

Kia Kaha Christchurch - 15.03.19

In light of recent events that have occurred in Christchurch, many members have expressed their desire to show support for the people involved in this senseless act and the people of Christchurch.

Mike Dew has kindly agreed to arrange for a wreath to be laid on behalf of all members of the Ulysses Club NZ Inc, to reflect the sentiment of our support for all the people affected by this horrible tragedy.

We would also like to thank and recognize the selfless dedication of the NZ Police, the Emergency Services and the Health Care professionals whose bravery and courage should never have been tested in this way.

Kia Kaha Christchurch, Kia Kaha New Zealand.

With great sadness
From the National Committee

A give-a-little page has also been setup to support the victims of the attack:

Click here to make your donation through the official web page ... Victim Support Official Page: Christchurch Shooting Victims' Fund

Stumble Lunch - 03.03.19

What an epic turn out today ... we were a party of 35 (two arrived after the photo was taken) ... has to be the biggest turn out to date! We were so pleased to be able to welcome 11 new faces to our lunch ... and we hope to be seeing you all regularly at any of the many get togethers we have. It was lovely to have you come along today!

Donation of DVD Players to Kids Hospital - 26 February 2019

With some of the profit from the Taranaki Energy Rally held last year, we were able to purchase and donate four much-needed DVD Players to the Children's wing at Taranaki Base Hospital. What an awesome thing for our club to be able to do. Thank you to Andrew for organising the purchase and delivery and thank you to the team that were able to gather and ride to the Hospital.

24 February 2019

The "Fab FIve" (Martin Alan Blair Shane and Gem) were the face of Ulysses Taranaki at the Shiny Side Up Bike Best and Talk Series. We were thankfully upstaged by Alan's KTM which was the talking point of many that walked past ... so we were able to engage with people quite easily. We were the only bike club represented and it was an absolute treat to talk to many people about what we do and how we do it. We managed to secure about 22 names of interested parties that you may see on a bike ride sometime soon! We were there setting up from about 9am and the doors officially opened at 11.30am. There was a constant flow of people throughout the days. The talks were all interesting as were the other displays. On the tables we had our merchandise The Stof of Ulysses books, print outs of the Dec Ulyssian and flyers detailing what our club does and when. We also had a slide show which scrolled through endless pics of all the fun times we've had. It was a really neat opportunity to meet others and to talk about our fab club!

Club Ride - Whangamomona - 17.02.19

Looked like a 'wet day' for a ride first thing ... but not a drop fell as they weather turned to a cloudy blue sky. Meeting at Z Inglewood, Shane arrived bang on time as the group were departing. A fairly uneventful ride to Whanga ... except for someone (who shall remain nameless) who shall incurr fines of note on Wednesday at Club Night!! The Republic was fairly busy meaning that lunch was a bit delayed. This of couse didn't stop the banter during which Harry (Possum Bayliss or Indicator King) got stung by a wasp on his arm. It could have been another part of his anatomy as he stripped off his riding pants in favour of his shorts, thankfully worn underneath! After a festive lunch ... a stop at Midhurst Tavern to wet the whistle ... and then off home. Another great ride organised by the Ride Team!

Those in attendance were Martin, Harry, Helen, Jeff, Blair, Alan, JP, John, Shane, Graham, Bill, Marg, Ray and Kevin (new attendee!).

Club Night - 23.01.19

First 2019 Club Night was a noisy affair sharing the space with many teams from the Bowls fraternity as well as the usual Mahjong players. Clearly, quite a few birthdays are in January as was told by the amount of wrapped bottles in the raffle. There were also, what turned out to be, regifted Xmas presents which made it a festive raffle with Oohs and Aahs when the prizes were opened. There was polite giggling and envy from the female contingent when Helen opened her calendar - Kilty Pleasures! There was a slight delay and some confusion with the Peyerl's dinner but all was sorted in the end. We were delighted to welcome two new members ... Jeff Ransley and Scott Mills. And as you can see, Harry thought he'd won Lotto when he was awarded the Daft Dragon by the gleeful Sherriff - for having a faulty bike indicator that randomly doesn't switch off --- which he clearly struggles to get fixed because it continues to be a problem!

Welcome (back) Jeff Ransley

Welcome Scott Mills - who unashamedly 'struck a pose' with Suzie and Shane!

Club Ride - 20.01.19 - Te Kuiti

Setting off from 3A, we made our way to Te Kuiti's Riverside Lodge, stopping every now and again to regroup. Not a bad turn out - good to meet a potential new member, Mark and have him on the ride with us. Lunch was great value for money and some of us even scored a free drink (due to an EFTPOS malfunction). Someone forgot her cell phone and purse at the hotel ... not mentioning any names. A lovely ride in glorious summer weather enjoyed by all that attended.

Toto - 11.01.19

While not an official Ulysses Taranaki event, some members made a night of it at The Bowl ... it was a perfect Taranaki Summer evening ... much enjoyed by this group of members. This is the great thing about our Club ... it's not just about motor bikes ... it's about socialising and having some fun making memories together!

Stumble Lunch - 06.01.19

Club Ride - 16.12.18

We set off from TTH down the back coastal roads ably led by Andrew. The weather was just amazingly perfect. We stopped off at the light house after which we headed towards Rahutu Tavern ... our lunch destination.

BonBon sported her Christmas outfit ... of Santa up front!

Some of the roads were a little more challenging than others but it was good practice to hone some of those metal road riding skills.

The lunch setting was perfect ... and the meal was well worth the $ expense.

A lovely ride, a lovely day, a lovely challenge and lovely company!

Christmas Fun - 15.12.18

We came with hats on ... and then we took off the hats and put a plate on our head ... and drew a Christmas picture! After a rigerous judging, winners and losers were declared and prizes awarded. We feasted and shared a Secret Santa with many a present-steal! A quiet beautiful sunset with great foot-tapping music ended a really enjoyable afternoon!

Stumble Lunch - 2.12.18

Super weather

Super chats

Super food

Super people

Super laughs

...

And

...

Super Support for Movember!

Taranaki Rally - 22-24.11.18

Long long ago, at a committee meeting far far away ... it was decided to hold a Taranaki Rally. Not been seen nor heard of on on our shores for the last decade, the committee decided to 'rally' together (see what I did there?) and get behind it to support it.

From Friday night to Sunday morning, a group of up to 65 Ulyssians, gathered to eat drink talk ride and be merry.

Through persisentence, arm bending and coercion, we were lucky to attain a wide variety of local sponsorship which aided the festivities of the weekend. Thanks to all our sponsors!

Friday's weather was super hot and summery. We spent the evening outside on the 'patio', chatting and enjoying some cool refreshments. Dinner was hamburgers and sausages with salad, onions and sauce ... yummo!

We woke to an inclement saturday morning ... so there were concerned expressions on the ride team faces! Some said "rain before 7 gone by 11" which we hoped would prove accurate. aFTER A SAFETY AND RIDE BRIEFING, Rain or shine, the bikes set off round the mountain (skipping DAWSON FALLS), LUNCH AT cOLONEL mALONES AND BACK HOME BY ABOUT 3PM. iT WAS A SAFE AND WELL ENJOYED RIDE.

thE WEATHER LOOKED SO MISERABLE TO THOSE WHO STAYED BEHIND THAT 'WE' GOT A FIRE GOING FOR THE RIDERS TO DRY THEIR GEAR OUT ON THEIR RETURN. i USE THE TERM 'WE' QUITE LOOSELY ... IT REALLY WAS LEFT UP TO bLAIR TO ORGANISE! bY THE TIME THEY GOT BACK, THE FIRE WAS READY TO HELP DRY OUT THEIR MORE THAN MOIST GEAR!

wHILE THE FIRE WAS DOING ITS THING, THE GIRLS SWUNG INTO ACTION WITH PREPARATION OF 'VITTALS' FOR THE EVENING MEAL. tHE KITCHEN WAS A HIVE OF ACTIVITY OF CHOPPING, SLICING, DICING, BAKING, ROASTING, MIXING, STEAMING ... WELL YOU GET THE PICTURE! aLL IN ALL THE MEALS THAT CAME OUT OF THE KITCHEN WERE AMPLE, VARIED AND SATISFYING ... AND DELICIOUS!

The evening kicked off with a number of raffle winners and prizes being awarded ... and of course, the mandatory bevy of sherrif fines!

jACK dANIELS rAFFLE wINNER

aLAN fOSTER (aka The Sherrif!)

$100 cOOKS hONDA vOUCHER Raffle wINNER

mAURIE bRIDGE

mOTOR bIKE gLOVES rAFFLE wINNER

aLISTAIR wINDELBURN

Best Poker Hand WINNER WAS aNDREW pENTELOW WITH TWO DOUBLES; We raised $242 for prostate cancer!

Suzie Pentelow (aka President) was the first to register for the rally!

John Paku hadthe oldest bike (1987 Honda CBR1000) and most kms on clock - 287,311

Newest Bike - Alan Foster!

Lowest Ulysses number = Maurie Bridge ... number 18

First registered trike - Rosalie Romero

Highest Ulysses Number - Jacqui Phillips - 9840

Best Hard Luck Story - Allan Brizzell - fell off his bike going over a curb!

Longest Lady traveller - Margaret Teale - from blenheim

Oldest registered Ulysses member at the rally - Alistair Windleburn

dirty harry ... oh sorry he got the prize for the dirtiest bike - harry bayliss

first registered from south island - john laing

Lowest Ulysses number South Island - Allan Brizell

Birthday Boy - Keith Cockburn

Happy birthday!!

After prize giving, our Sherrif Alan FOster did an incredible job of fining all and sundry for transgressions! no one really argued so he must have been right!

One member only braved the elements in a tent!

Margaret Teale who travelled from Blenheim on a suzuki GN 250!!

Everyone arrived safely and everyone got back home safely ... albeit perhaps a bit wet!

All in all an lovely weekend enjoyed by many ... rumours (or drunken ramblings?) surfaced about 'same time same place next year' ... watch this spot to learn more!!

Club Overnighter - Taihape - 27-28.10.18

What an awesome overnighter! The weather was just about perfect and the scenery was breath-taking. Graeme led the way through his and janice's stomping ground ... and we ended that day's ride at a really nice motel ... within strolling distance to the gumboot (and Bottle Store!). Dinner was delightful at a boutique restaurant with unusual offerings on the menu. Back at the otel, Rugby ruled the men's time while the ladies retired to play "Cards Against Humanity". Well let's say that some of us did and others, well ... they fade early!! Beautiful ride home the next day through some amazing scenery ... what a beautiful part of the country!

Club Ride - Tawhiti Museum - 23.09.18

A good group of us met at TTH with a timely departure to Stratford. It was awesome to see some newcomers - scott, Bev, Adrian and their daughter ... and a new-comer-to-the-saddle --- Joy! We headed to the museum and then to lunch at Morrisons in hawera where we enjoyed the normal fun and banter as well as some yummy food... on the way home we stopped off at Colonel malones to enjoy some sunshine!

Club Night - at the movies - 19.9.18

It was not a 'normal' club night ... we went to the movies to watch 'Wayne' - a movie about Wayne Gardner - a bike hero from the 1980's. We had dinner at Crowded afterwards. It was a lovely way to do something a bit different!

Sunday Stumble Lunch - 02.09.17

Father's Day

A great turnout with a couple of new faces to welcome ... and a few faces to say Welcome Back! ... and a special Birthday wish for Annie ... and some antics from the boys for Father's Day! If you haven't been, do come along. We'd love to see you there!

Club Ride Toko Pub - 19.08.17

Setting off from The Tree House, 9 bikers were led through the back roads from Bell Block to the Toko Pub. Riding through spectacular scenery able to admired by only those who were stuck behind a Triumph Bonneville T120 ... sigh! We managed to dodge the rain clouds that threatened to moisten the roads. All in all a good ride with only a little bit of a slippery surface outside the Tunnel. It was a great turn out ... Martin Gemma Blair Harry Alan Wendy Terry ... with some faces that had taken a break ... Ian and some new faces ... Wendy Elaine Darryn Peter. We were joined later by Derick, Ray and Scott.

Impromptu Ride - 12.08.17

An impromptu ride on a glorious day to Awakino Pub for a bite. Mart Gem Harry Helen Terry JP and Bill all enjoyed getting out and about in some golden rays of sun.

Stumble Lunch - 05.08.17

Good people, good food, good conversation, good service, good turnout, good warmth ... enough said!

Mid Winter Xmas - 21.07.17

Our hosts, Harry and Helen Bayliss, had prepared their beautiful home to be warm and welcoming ... oozing Christmas charm. There was a good turn out of characters beginning with the letter "B". We had a Brown Bear (Harry), Bumble Bee (Helen), Batman (Andrew), a Beautiful Bear (Suzie), a Bandit (Martin), Bandit's Blonde Babe (Gemma), Biker (Peter), Biker's Babe (Carol), Braveheart (Blair), a Blind Blonde (Joy), a Bandit (Alan although we called him Zoro all night!) and a Bumble Bee (Wendy). Jeff and Bettie also joined us. It was a great evening of great food and laughter and of course, gift giving and the mandtory gift stealing!

And the well-deserved winners are ... Braveheart (Blair) and Bumble Bee (Wendy) ... This makes it Blair's 3rd consecutive win at dress ups ... someone has to break this trend!

We were very pleased to sing Harry a Happy Birthday for his 60th the next Wednesday. Helen's carrot cake was delish!

Kaponga Hotel - 15.07.17

Man it was cold, wet, bleak and miserable that Sunday. Way too much to have a ride so Mart and me headed out by car to the Kaponga hotel to enjoy a meal and game of pool with Derick Bates

Stumble Lunch 1.07.18

Yet another cold and wet winter day made warm with good friends and a hearty meal at Stumble.

Butlers Lunch and Ride 17.06.18

We met at The Tree House at 11.30am and made our way through to Butlers for lunch. A great group of people enjoyed a really nice lunch! After, as the weather looked a bit too dodgy for a 'round the mountain' trip, three bikers decided to go the back roads to Urenui for a hot drink. Once there, we went to The Old Town Hall and enjoyed some English tradition with hot tea, scones, jam and clotted cream. The tea cosy was the dominating conversation piece!

Hit and Giggle 10.06.18

A mottley group assembled on a chilly and rainy morning at the Waitara Golf Club to hit some small round balls round some green fields with some long sticks. I've heard Golf called the game of Gentlemen ... but the explatives that were heard from one particular female player could not be described even as 'gentlemanly'! It was a great morning out enjoyed by all. Afterwards we headed to the Waitara T&C Club for some lunch and were serenaded by those brave enough to stand behind the 'open mic'!

Sunday Lunch at Stumble 03.06.18

On a chlly and miserable day, a few of us got together to share a meal and swap some stories. We zipped the door closed and cranked up the gas heater ... and after a somewhat lengthy wait for our food, we tucked in. Jeff and Betty joined us later.

Dawson Falls Overnighter - 2-3.6.18

It was the perfect weather for an overnighter at Dawson Falls. Shane and Jo (first to arrive) had the fire cranking so we walked into a snug lounge area. The rooms were quaint, cosy and inviting. After a cuppa or two, six of us decided to go for a walk to the pools. Of course, the boys strode on at high speed making sure they were in pole position of others walking the track! At the pools, Andrew quickly chickened out of skinny dipping ... and were were all quietly relieved! After a shot on the bridge, the boys decided to walk on to Stratford Platteau ... so us ladies elegantly decended and returned to warmth. The lads took a bit of time to get back and the reason was the snow man they built when they got there!

With the lads back, and with Alan and Wendy's arrival, we spent a while quaffing our tipple of choice ... and then migrated to the lounge area to chat and drink some 'legal' drinks. We spent some time loudly surveying and commenting on each other's rooms ... but all rooms were different and really nice. Ron and Surayah arrived just in time for us all to sit down to dinner. The 3 course meal was a choice between two dishes per course and arrived hot and hearty ... and we all ended up eating too much.

After dinner, we moved to the lounge listening to music and chatting. Jo had brought some 'ambiance' lights so we dimmed the main lights and chilled out. Slowly we drifted off to bed except for some who enjoyed the good company into the early hours.

After brekkie the next morning, we all staggered our departures noting to make this either an annual event - or if that's too often - to make it every 12 months! (sorry ... on tour joke!).

Sunday Lunch at Stumble 04.05.18

We had an unexpectedly large crowd at Stumble for our "First Sunday of the Month" club lunch. There was heaps of conversation and laughter. The food was great too! Only two 'die hard' bikers came on their bikes!

AGM 02.05.18

Another really well attended AGM where the President's Report (see Minutes section) covered off a year of full activity for the Club. We have grown as a club and are pleased that we have welcomed a number of new members. The Club is also stable financially with the Raffles and Fines adding to the coffers to aid incidental expenses. An election was held and some new faces are on the Committee (see Contact Us section).

Ron won a Trophy for his bike when we attended the RATS (Riders Against Teen Suicide) fund raising day a while ago. Nigel, the new Chairman of RATS, presented Ron with the trophy.

Sunday Lunch Col Malones 15.04.18

A well attended lunch with some new faces that we welcomed! The weather was too erratic to go for a ride.

National AGM 2018 - Mosgiel

March 2018

Well ... over a year in the making but departure day arrived sooner than we anticipated. Due to Andrew needing shoulder surgery, he and Suzie were confined to the 4 wheel option while Alan and Wendy, Harry and Helen, Bill and Marg, Gemma and Martin challenged the elements on two wheels.

Departure was from a wet NP on Wednesday morning. We met Andrew and Suzie in Wellington and travelled in convoy from there to Mosgiel. The crossing was relatively calm so not any 'green' faces.

It's said that "What goes on tour stays on tour" ... I'm just quoting the saying ... no other reason!

Wendy introduced us to her 'camel-toe' gloves ... need I say more? You can imagine that this became our 'anthem' and source of ceaseless ribbing throughout the trip! But she did have dry gloves ...

The two wheel club members suffered through wind, rain, cold, butt-ache, leg-ache ... Particularly through Kaikura where the road works had slow and challenging riding as well as many lengthy stops. Andrew and Suzie were nice and comfy, toasty and dry in their car ... sipping BEERS! Did they take pity on us and bring us sustenance along the way when we stopped for the road works? Hmmmmm!

For some obscure reason, Gemma opened the motel bed-side bible and read a few pages from Exodus ... she was so entertained by the story that she was happy to share it with the team ... and for it, suffered ceaseless ribbing about being a the 'holy' one on the team!

We arrived in Mosgiel in one piece with no drama along the way - thankfully. It felt good to be there. While there was a bit of drama with the remit of reducing the joining age to 35 years, it was all quite uneventful ... UNTIL the evening party. Our wounded egos from not winning the best dressed at the 2017 Masterton AGM were healed ... we won the Best Dressed Branch ... and coveted the trophy! The theme waas Otago Gold so our theme was Goldi-gger Locks and that 'Naki bears. Well done Suzie for your drive and energy!

With the strong Scotish history, the Mosgiel team put on a bit of a show with bagpipes, kilts, a rendition about the Haggis history/ceremony and we all got to try some Haggis too. See photos of how much it was liked by the men!

We were all hanging out to win the motor bike .. but none of us did. Wendy did win a basket of soaps and scrubs though!

I have to say that we were the most lively branch there ... up on the dance floor at the start ... and we kept going. We are a really great club ... not that we're biased!

There were many tourist stops on the rides from Mosgiel over to the West Coast. Bill and Margaret were AWESOME tour leaders ... their knowledge of the South Island was incredible and they took us to so many things.

We all corraled for our last night together in Hari-Hari where the sherrif excelled with copious fines to one and all.

Let it be said that we endured torrential downpours ... the heavens opened and it felt like there was no part of us not rain-soaked. In an exuberant effort to dry his helmet, Martin melted it!

I speak for all when I say that we had an amazing time. It was a really fun trip with 4 seasons in one day and amazing countryside. We all got on very well together but I think we were all happy to get back home!

Next AGM is 29-31 March 2019 in Hawkes' Bay. Andrew has already booked some rooms so please let Suzie know if you are keen to come along. You can visit http://www.ulysses.org.nz/national-rallies-and-agms/ for more information.

What is it about social media being anti-social?

Haggis Tasting Faces

Hanging out for beers ... none forthcoming!

Goldi-gger Locks and the 'Naki Bears

Ulysses Taranaki Representatives at the Mosgiel AGM

Click here to read a note from Allan Pratt #9186
International Liaison Officer
Ulysses Club Inc.
Australia

Stumble Inn - Inaugural event!

4 March 2018

Well that experiment worked well ☺

Today we had our inaugural '1st Sunday of the month lunch' at the Stumble Inn in Merrilands and THANK YOU to the 18 hungry folk who arrived to make the event a success!

The attendees were Joy, Wendy, Margaret, Bill, Andrew, John, Jeff, Possum (Harry), Helen, Colin, John, Blair, Shane, Alan, Martin, Gem, Suz and Betty!!!

Perfect weather, (nearly) perfect food and great company meant that, as usual we all had a good time catching up, strengthening friendships and of course, spinning some $"!@ LOL!!

Alan was sporting a badly banged up nose that he TOLD us was from a fight with a step at school, but we were all left wondering if Wendy wasn't involved somehow.. She was looking rather mischevious! Shane arrived on his push bike, so I think that needs a fine at the next meeting! Bill also racked up a few fines when he gave Gem a heart attack by telling her her bike had fallen over! ☺

One of the big topics of discussion on the day was the costume making happening behind the scenes for the National Ulysses AGM coming up very soon down in Mosgiel. The menfolk are 'chomping at the bit' to get down there and get dressed up - Don't worry guys, your furry bits will be the talk of the night I'm sure!!

I can't go into details about our costumes just yet - another branch might be snooping to get the cool ideas LOL! You'll just have to wait till we publish the photos after the AGM!!

BBQ at Gem and Martin's

17 Feb 2018

Another successful BBQ night!

The spots of rain didn't dampen our hunger and as usual there was a huge spread!

The night was spent discussing various subjects including - wether Andrew could ride his bike to the AGM in Mosgiel, if Alan was going to be safe sitting 'that close' to the edge of the deck, politics in South Africa and what the heck is killing the grass in Gem and Martin's lawn???

Thanks to Gem and Martin for hosting the event - it had been a long busy day of AGM costume making at their place, so a couple of furious vacuuming sessions had to take place to pick up the fur, cotton and glitter before all the dinner guests started arriving.

Hawera Big Kids Toys 2018

11 Feb 2018

There was no sign of snow at this years Big Kids Toys Charity Motorama in Hawera and our Ulysses PR tent didn't need a car to hold it down! Whoo Hoo!! ☺

Ron, Surayah, Colin, Derick, Blair, Andrew and Suzie took on the PR roles this year and did an awesome job selling the raffle tickets for the $100 Scratchies and promoting our friendly branch to the public. Thanks peeps!

We had a number of folks express interest in knowing more about the Ulysses Club, so maybe we will be welcoming some new faces joining us at events soon! ☺

The winners of the raffle were Lyn and Jon with number 8 - Good luck with the scratching folks!

At the end of the day Andrew was able to hand over $100.10 on behalf of Taranaki Ulysses to Dwayne and the Conductive Education Trust to support the education of Taranaki children with special needs.

Pukeiti Ride

21 January 2018

Another well attended ride, with 17 people on 14 bikes making the most of the great weather

Martin led the group out of New Plymouth, consisting of Gem, Harry, Mark, Paula, Blair, Jeff, Shane, Margaret, Bill, Kath, Brett, Andrew and Suzie, with Rod, Derick and Colin joining in at Stratford.

Jeff's bike took a while to warm up, Blair had to make a stop on the roadside after his bike tried to shed an indicator light along the way.

After a 'leisurly' ride along the Wiremu Road, the narrow, windy road up to Pukeiti was beautiful - We were glad we didn't meet any motorhomes or trucks! We hear a slippery fern frond on the windy bits gave a few riders 'the slip', but other than that it was a great ride.

Ray and Anne couldn't come, so sent their neighbours Kath and Brett Tanner along as their 'proxies!' Nice to meet you both ☺.

After a mostly yummy lunch it was time for a quick check out of the views from the raised walkway, then home.

Club Night

17 January 2018

Club night was NOT much like any others ... there were all sorts of things happening.

The place was abuzz with heaps of people from the Bowls fraternity ... ordering food and holding up our growling tummies from being sated!

Jeff Kerr was awarded badges for 15 and 10 year's membership. Congrats Jeff!

The Sherrif did his normal thing of issuing fines ... wish we could fine the club for their creative spelling of our club name! I mean ... how would you even pronounce that word???

And Harry won the Daft Dragon and was knighted with the name 'Possum Bayliss'. Legend has it that there was a dead possum at Burgess Park and it took not 1 ... not 2 ... but THREE attempts for Harry to fling its carcas into the bush! He looks so proud of being awarded the Daft Dragon ... A well earned Knighthood ... now, send us a photo of what Daft Dragon has been getting up to!

And lastly ... have we ever seen so many bottles of wine for the raffle ... I think I counted 4 bottles! So many January babies ... was there nothing on TV in May in years gone by???

Mokau Ride and Summer BBQ

14 January 2018

An impromptu ride to Mokau on a spectacular day was well attended. Seriously ... the weather was incredible and we all had a good ride to and from the Whitebait Inn.

Later that afternoon we had our first Summer BBQ at Nigel and Donna's place in Stratford. What a gorgeous house with very hospitable hosts and the weather (always a feature in these write ups) didn't let us down. There was a great turn out with great conversation and a sumptuous spread! Light-heartedness flowed as easily as the drinks.

Nigel organised some in-house entertainment with Alan doing his 'let's fall down the stairs' routine followed some time later by the lovely Wendy! Nigel hauled out the white paint and made the deck safe by artistically painting stripes - which perfectly matched the zebra mat!

Kudos to Nigel for perfectly cooked food!

There was the finale of the unannounced "Jandal Tan" competition with two winners (who were also the only entrants).

There was the 'Hot Chicks' incident where the ladies all took to the pool - well those without sock and jeans on anyway!

Colin won the Poker round with two pairs ... the rest of us had nothing! He very generously shared out the un-melted box of chocs. He then showed off his foot-tats.

We seem to have been obessed with feet at this BBQ for some reason!

Amateur Selfie Stick Owner spent a redic amount of time trying to get everyone in the pic.!

Suzie started a new fashion trend ... she said we'd all be jealous later when it got colder ... we weren't and it didn't!

The Sherrif promised he'd remember (rather than write down) all the goings-on but the fines were light at the next club night!

All in all in was a really great afternoon - heaps of fun for all who came along. Thanks to Donna and Nigel for being such fabulous hosts!

RIP Susan Christine Kerr

9 January 2018 - Taranaki Crematorium

Sue was a very supportive and loyal member of the Taranaki Branch of the Ulysses Club. Sue was involved in organising all the food for our many Rhodo Rally meals; this was something she did so well because of her background in catering. I have had the pleasure of knowing Sue since 1998. That was after she had met Jeff at the Rock and Roll Club, where Sue taught Jeff how to dance Rock and Roll, they danced very well together. Jeff and Sue were married, then Sue started a big battle with failing lungs, she did this without complaining as always, Sue then was given a new Lease on Life when she had a successful Double Lung Transplant. We had just short of 9 good years of the old Sue again until declining health again started. We have spent many a trip away on the bikes over that time. One of the more regular trips we did together was to Taupo each August, as we remember our past Ulyssian friends at the Remembrance Service. This year we will be remembering our dear friend Sue as she lost her battle with Cancer (this was a battle Sue fought without any of us knowing how much pain she was in). It was only 4 months ago that Jeff and Sue along with many others said farewell to a very good friend, Dianne Armstrong. Never did I think we would be doing the same to Sue so early. None of us know when the time clock is going to “ring time” for us, that is just as well too. As the saying goes, Growing Old Is a Privilege Denied by Many, this has rung true for our dear friend Sue unfortunately.

Sue your spirit will live in us all forever, Fly Free now my special friend.

Signed: Your Buddy and Good Friend, Blair Campbell. #2772.

It was an honour for Ulysses Taranaki to accompany the hearse from Burgess

Park to the Crematorium.

Daft Dragon

December 2017

December - found Daft Dragon in full Christmas lighting mode at Alan and Wendy's place!

Dafty wishes you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

We are looking forward to keeping track of Dafty's travels in 2018, as it visits more Ulysses members' homes LOL!

Club Ride - Waitotara Hotel

17 December 2017

Again with the weather ... but goodness me what fantastic weather we had on this ride!

We decided to add a game of Poker to this ride to make it a bit more exciting.

We had a really good turn out with Ray, Anne, Harry, Ron, Sereya, Derick, Gem, Shane, Bill, Martin, Graeme, Janice, Alan, Wendy, Colin, Andrew and Suzie. Suzie's bike was having its 'rim' repaired ... so she rode pillion with Andrew and tried hard not to tell him what to do!

Interestingly, Ron left Sureya ride-less at the Z Service Station so Harry took her on his bike ... At the Waitotera Hotel, Sureya thanked him for the best ride of her life!

We were delighted that Alan and Wendy joined us a short while after we arrived at the Hotel. Note to Self: When riding past Al and Wendy's place, remember to hoot! :-) After a toss up between doing their garden or a ride (with us wonderful people), the ride won!

Harry won the Poker round with a hand of three Kings! (hmmmm ... reminds me of a Christmas carol). His excitement had been building throughout the ride ... and he was so chuffed to get his prize of melted chocolate - which Anne had so carefully cared for but lost against the dazzling heat of the day!

Gemma was scorned and fined (unfairly she felt) for being organised and having summer clothes under the biking gear ... jealousy makes people nasty!

We had fun loading the 50 songs on the JukeBox and some of us quite loudly and possibly out of tune, bellowed out Bohemian Rhapsody! Simon Cowel would have said "it's a no from me!" to the rendition!

The hotel did a really good job of feeding us and getting our order correct. Well done Team Waitotara Hotel! We had a lovely meal in the shade, quaffing ice cold beverages while the JukeBox tunes wafted outside.

Another amazing ride with great weather, food, drink, music and mates!

Xmas Party 2017 at Shane & Jo's Place

9 December 2017

Sing along now ... "Oh what a night, early December back in 2017 ..." What an amazing turn out. Everyone dressed up to the letter P ... we had Pirates (one w ith an Ostrich as a Parrot), Purple, Patsy, Plumber, Pilot, Pregnant, Punk, Pikachoo, Pretty in Pink ... to name a few!

Gotta mention the weather ... it was an incredible display of what Taradise weather can turn out!

A designated few brought some kind of edible contribution to the fest ... some that were supposed to bring a certain tuber salad, forgot. This prompted a jaunty drive by the sober Marg to the closest store. However, the not so sober others were true back seat drivers and unclicked safety belts, lowered seats, and generally made a pain of themselves! Truly acting 'disgracefully'. Wotfun!

Thanks to Shane and Andrew for doing the BBQ ... yummy!

Clearly not enough photos were taken of this event!!! Have fun scrolling through them all.

Secret Santa was an amazing success with Alan scoring a bottle of lavender hand cream that no one wanted to steal off him so he could get a more masculine present!

Donna won the female dress up as Pregnant and Blair won the male dress up as a Pilot. Is there no stopping this man? Mid Winter Xmas Dress Up winner and winner of the Scratchies from the RATS day!

A huge thank you to Jo and Shane for hosting this fun filled evening! We were amazed at how organised your Notice Board was!

Righteous Rides Car & Bike Show - Inglewood

Taranaki Ulysses had a 'Righteous' time advertising our branch at the R.A.T.S (Riders against Teen Suicide) event in December.

Setting up saw Gem, Martin, Andrew and Suzie all feeling a tad thirsty (It was HOT!).

Then we had a steady stream of Taranaki Ulysses folk arrive to support the PR venture - Nigel, Ron, Derick, Blair, JP, Bill, John B, Ray and Anne.

To support the R.A.T.S cause, we had a $100 Scratchies raffle running during the day and when all tickets were sold Andrew handed over $107.90 to Nigel (Ulysses and R.A.T.S member).

Winner of the raffle? Check out whos got the biggest smile in the photos! ☺

(Blair C with ticket number 67!)

2 December 2017

Club Night - Hawera

15 November 2017

Our very first meeting down South in Hawera. There was a good general turnout but also great to see South Taranaki represented!

Upstairs at Rough Habits, we held our committee meeting and had a great social night - with lots of raffle prizes and where the Sheriff did his major fund raising campaign from the misbehaviours at Raglan.

Alan won the "Daft Dragon" for being the most well behaved on the weekend and not incurring any fines. Some say he bribed the Sheriff for this outcome ... such is the popularity of the much coveted Daft Dragon Award! Can't wait to see where Daft Dragon is photographed next!!

Raglan Overnighter

18-19 November 2017

We all awoke to blue skies on Saturday morning! Why is weather so important to a biker? Oh well ... it was a great start to a brilliant weekend!

What a turn out at 3A! Suzie, Andrew, Alan, Wendy, Martin, Gemma, Ray, Anne, Harry, Helen, Graeme W, Janice, Graeme V, John, Shayne, Bill, Margaret. We were also delighted to welcome Cookie Monster to the team - who also gave the safety and route briefing before we set off!

The ride to Mokau was uneventful as we all settled into our riding styles and positions. I say 'uneventful' but to be fair, one of us had to pull over to do up her helmet incurring the first fine of the weekend!

Rehydration at Mokau brought a barrage of fines from the ever-alert Sheriff mostly for bike keys left in ignitions! He's an avid fund raiser!!

From there we tore up the tarmac on some back roads where we had to endure magnificent scenery! Our ride leader had Googled the back roads to make sure that they were up for a good ride. We landed in Waitomo for a laid back lunch. There was much debate around the nationality of the flags ... and how the imposing deer head would fit in everyone's lounge!

After lunch, we headed to Otorohanga to fill up our bikes' bellies. With a fair amount of traffic, we all took it easy and we arrived in Raglan safe and sound. In an effort to purchase rehydration supplies, some of us blocked a foot path ... which managed to piss off some not-too-friendly pedestrians! After checking into the motel, we gathered ourselves together for some quaffage and story telling resulting in outrageous ribbing and laughter!

We commandeered the tables at the Pub and put a fair amount of stress on the staff as we ordered drinks and dinner. Could this event go down in the annals of time as the "Dinner Disaster of the Decade"? Clearly the pub was not equipped to manage with such a rowdy bunch as us ... Poor Martin and GraemeV were the last to receive their Steak Meals ... about 1.5 hours after ordering.

Now ... what goes on tour stays on tour ... so we won't mention the clapping when GraemeV's meal EVENTUALLY arrived ... and we wont mention the snide comment from Michael, the Senior Barman when he cleared away some dishes!!

Pop-Quiz: Can you see the two Photo Bombers? Clue: Shayne's Photo (covert photo-bomb) and the Weston's Photo (overt photo-bomb) ... is it strange that the 'PB-ers' are related?

A subdued morning ensued ... we all met back at the pub and were ready to set out to Te Kuiti for some brekkie when Janice discovered she'd left her bag behind at the motel (definite fine offence material!).

At Te Kuiti, we met up with the Hamilton / Waikato Ulysses club. Thankfully GraemeV was one of the first to get his brekkie! No clapping required.

Our esteemed leader aka Cookie Monster, posed reluctantly for a photo which we needed as evidence that he was wearing his TShirt the wrong way round! This was turning into one serious fund raising weekend!

We broke into a fragmented team after refuelling our bikes and Suzie, Martin and Gemma did some low-flying to catch up. Slowing for the road-side GraemeV who signalled us on ... he was doing up his helmet.

Somewhere along the ride, John and his bike nearly parted ways as he ran over a large rock in the road. Skilled biking meant he stayed on his bike and skilled bowel control meant he continued to ride to Mokau!

Later on, Marg and Bill peeled off and refuelled at Awakino ... his petrol gauge was tricking him!

At Mokau, some said their farewells and the others made their way to the Mud Bay cafe in Urenui. After gathering around John's bike and dubbing him "Rocky", we enjoyed chatting in the gorgeous "it must eventually be summer" afternoon weather!

All in all, a spectacular weekend away - very well organised "Thank You Andrew!" The only thing missing was another day! Roll on the next Over-Nighter!

Where's Daft Dragon?

October - found the Daft Dragon sharing some feed with some interested cows.

Club Night

18 October 2017

This was one of our most well attended club nights! Our President did a great job of welcoming "Spoon" Mark Holton, "Peter KD" Peter Hofmeyr and Carol Burgess to the Ulysses Taranaki Club!

There were lots of good quality prizes for the raffle ... although it must have been rigged - with the new members taking the lion's share of them!

The Sherrif spent some time assessing who was to be fined ... Those that literally had received speeding fines (who may also have been riding his brand new bike!), some for dusty bikes (which also won him the Daft Dragon Award), others for not wearing their name badges ...

Donna had done a great job of making one of our mascots Ulysses identifiable!

All in all, it was a great evening with lots of chatting, laughter and good old honest fun.

White Bait Run - Mokau

We all arrived at 3A in a timely manner (for once) and after some gentle jibes about some dusty bikes, we set off on our way to Mokau.

We intended to meet up with the Taumaranui Ulysses Club at 12.30pm. The ride was spectacular with the weather and roads playing along!

At the WhiteBait Inn, we also met up with the Tapou Ulysses Club. The place was a hive of activity with little seating space available and a bit of a wait for your meal.

Everyone was in good spirits and it was really good to start recognising some faces from other clubs!

15 October 2017

Whangamomona

27 August 2017

A quick impromptu ride to and from Whangamomona ... enjoyed by Harry, Helen, Gemma, Martin, David and Shane. Weather was great and so were the roads - mostly. There were some road works which satisfied the initial bravery of wanting to ride on Metal roads past Whanga. Half way through lunch, look who arrived! Some of us stopped in at Fern Lodge for a 'cold one' on the way back. A lovely ride with only one fine going to the Sheriff who didn't put his stand down properly.

Black and White Cafe

It was yet another raining and grey winter day. There wasn't a whole lot of excitement abount climbing on a bike to face those elements ... die hards Alan and Wendy met car-loving Ray and Anne and Martin and Gemma, at the Treehouse asking if we'd seen any Ulysses Members ... as we were a BIKE CLUB!

Heading off to our first pit-stop at the Opunake Hotel we faced wind and the odd bout of rain - no major downpours. "Pole Position Peyerl" sliced and diced his way to be in front of other drivers who were taking a more leisurely drive. Just a few 'hand-brake-elbows' were applied to his ribs in an effort to get him to slow down. Alan struggled to keep up in places!

A hearty fire greeted us at the Opunake Hotel. The lads reminisced about the trip this far and the quality of other drivers on the road.

Good intel from Suzie by phone meant that, on our way to Hawera, we glided past an oncoming police car, event free! Very innocent faces we had too! Wouldn't cross our minds to break the speed limit! Yeah right.

Arriving at the Black and White Cafe in Hawera, there were many who had opted to go by car. Helen and Harry were of the same ilk as Alan and Wendy, bracing the elements and arriving on their Triumph.

Ray, who had 'forgotten' to hand over the Daft Dragon Trophy at the last Club Night, made a point of passing it over to the Sherrif. We all secretly know he loves the dragon and didn't want to give it up!

There was lots of brave talk about dragons and comparison to partners ... fines were lavished out to those without name badges, those who came by car and those who did not come ... Derek's great idea for fund raising! Roll on Club Night!!

A lovely lunch with lovely people was enjoyed by us!

20 August 2017

Mud Bay Cafe

On a stunning mid winter morning, we met at The Tree House and set off to Z Inglewood. The weather was gorgeous - crisp but dry with blue skies and virtually no wind.

After a 'team brief' at Z, we set off down the back roads of Tarata. It was a slow paced ride as the roads were a little mucky in places and the wet patches were potential skid-zones. The country side was breath-takingly beautiful ... what a great place we live in!

Stopping briefly for a photo on Bertrand Road Bridge, the club headed out towards Mud Bay Cafe for a hearty feed.

Andrew and Suzie, on their way back from Napier, put in a call to check that we were all ok. Ian sent a couple of texts hoping we'd all enjoy the ride.

Blair and Joy and Stan and Raewyn met us at the Cafe.

The rides team are keen to set up some more rides and promised to chat about this at Wednesday's Club Night.

16 July 2017

Hawera Big Kid's Toys

8 July 2017

It was 9am when our hardy (or was it crazy?) promo team of Andrew, Donna, Nigel, Colin and Suzie arrived at the frozen tundra that was the Furlong Motor Inn carpark.

With the tent ancored at the back with two 25lt drums of oil and tied at the front to Nigel and Colin's bikes, we were ready to decorate! Up went the banners, flags were tied and table displays laid out.

We then spent a productive (but freezing) day talking about the Ulysses Club to prospective members, holding the tent down in the wind gusts, holding onto hot drinks like they were hot water bottles, eating sausages and bread, selling raffle tickets and helping Nigel to market his Honda.

Andrew and Nigel also spent time helping out their other clubs - Andrew - the Red Knights (firefighter motorbike club) and Nigel - the RATS (Riders Against Teen Suicide). Nigel will have some of his RATS patches available for sale at our next Social night, so have a chat to him if you want to support the cause.

The tent had been inching it's way slowly forward the whole day, and tried to make a break for the Hawera watertower at packup time. Luckily a member of the public helped us to bundle it back into it's bag and then, after agreeing it had been a good day, we all 'gapped it' to try and find somewhere to warm up.

Jay from Wellington won our raffle with ticket number #49 and we handed over $96 dollars as a donation from Ulysses Taranaki to Dwayne, the organiser of the event.

All money raised on the day went to the Conductive Trust - A service that helps children with special needs.

Mid Winter Xmas

"Here comes Santa Clause, here comes Santa Clause, right down Santa Clause Lane" ... well, almost! The Ulysses Clan gathered for a bit of Mid Winter Xmas, festive nosh, Xmas presents and good hearted fun. Mostly everyone wore some kind of Xmas-related attire and it wasn't long before we were all in the 'spirit' of it (except Martin and Gemma who were doing Dry July)! We even had our very out cute Minion. Andrew kept assuring us that although Mum had sewed his outfit, he'd sewed the pockets on. Suzie kept wanting to play with Blair's tassles! Joy lit up the room with her stunning outfit and Gemma had her own gymnastic try out in the bathroom to avoid her costume landing in the loo. Donna had Santa on her mind ... well, on her head, actually.

Chatter and laughter filled the Kidney's brand new home - our Thanks to Marg and Bill for their hospitality and for making it festive and fun. Everyone brought something for the meal and a Secret Santa. Some went the economy route and only provided 1 present for two of them ... not mentioning any names Donna.

Around 6pm and we gathered for "Secret Santa" where there was much ado about nothing ... Certain coveted bottles of wine were declared as a 3rd swap when in fact, it was a 2nd swap only. Toy motor bikes were stolen. $10 in two plastic bowls got dizzy at the amount of times it got snatched back and forth. Newt was under strict instructions from Townie-Hilary to reclaim it one last time for her week's parking money. Nigel showed how to wear a burka.

Dress up was judged by Donna and Nigel who claimed that 'Fallen Angel Jen' and 'Too-Tight-Tights-Blair' were the winners!

We moved onto a delicious feast of ham, turkey, lamb and all the trimmings with egg-ceptional salads (see what I did there Wendy?).

Bill showed that he was able to work out how a dish towel could be used!

It just happened that the All Blacks were playing the 2nd series game against the Lions ... and the TV just happened to be on the right channel - so we settled in to watch the game. We were all supporting the ABs although Donna, Andrew and Suzie's costumes begged to differ!! Hmmmmm. Wendy did a sterling job of shooting whoever stepped out of line ... Including Harry when he clapped for the Lions scoring a Try (serioulsy dude?) and the ref who kept referring to 'the feet' ... and SBW for being Red-carded.

After some delish pud, we wound down the lovely evening wishing Newt and Hillary a wonderful holiday.

A really lovely night enjoyed by all who attended and we missed all those that didn't make it.

Next Time Y'all.

1 July 2017

June Club Social Night

21 June 2017

Our monthly club social nights at the New Plymouth Club are proving to be a hit - with 20 of us at the most recent night, its a great way to get to know everyone in the club :)

The format we are currently using seems to be working well:

6pm Committee Meeting starts upstairs.
6pm Partners, other club members and prospective members socialise downstairs.
6:30ish Committee meeting finishes and we rejoin everyone downstairs.
Dinner is ordered.
Secretary Donna sells our 'in house' raffle tickets, then oversees the drawing of winners.
Sherriff Martin conducts the 'Fines session' - where he appreciates 'dobbing in' if you know of something!!!.
The rest of the evening is spent having a laugh, getting to know prospective members, reminiscing about past rides, discussing new destinations and events, catching up and generally having a good time strengthening friendships.

Come along to the next one in July where we will have something NEW to show off :)

Lunch at Headlands

18 June 2017

Making the most of a beautiful winters day, 19 of us made the trek to Opunake's Headlands Restaurant for our monthly ride.

To add interest to the day we decided to re-introduce an old idea - The 'mini-poker run' concept that Ingrid had shared with some of us at Blair and Joy's April BBQ.

The idea is for riders to each pay $1 and then they draw a card at each stop and at the destination we see who has the best hand. Ron was the winner on Sunday, with three Aces! Thanks for sharing the chocolate prize with everyone Ron - it was a great entree to the yummy lunches we all had afterward.

Thanks to all that attended! See you at the next one :)

And the winner is ...

Tirau Overnighter

20 May 2017

Waking up to a howling gale and torrential downpours pelting against the roof wasnt the most positive of starts for this "Overnighter". After rapid successions of texts between the only two female riders going, and indepth consultations with their 'significant other' who furiously consulted the metservice through any portal available, it was felt that the weather would calm at about 10am to sporadic showers ... hmmmm.

Meeting at 3A everyone waited for the newly appointed Sheriff and his wife to arrive ... who were suitably late and were immediately fined.

Setting off at 10am-ish towards the black horizon, the 13 rode through wind and rain with incredible style and finesse. Getting to the Fat Pigeon in PioPio, we all sloshed our way to the outside veranda to warm up and dry off. Noting that Shane was sporting a summer TShirt, he was immediately fined.

Nothing could dampen our spirits (did you spot the pun?) so we rode onwards!

Getting to Tirau mid afternoon, we checked in, changed, dried out and in our inimitable fashion, started to eat and drink ... to warm us up of course! Bill and Marg's was declared "Partaaay Central".

Some of the girls went off on a shopping expedition ... coming back with Tirau treasures of necklaces, napkins, key rings, dresses, tops, scarfs and fudge. We did our best to support local enterprise ... although one shop literally shut the door in our faces with a sour looking attendant saying "We're closed".

Back at Partaaay Central, Bill wanted music from the 70's, Suzie got her Spotify going. We tried to take panoramic pics on Gem's phone but she was lacking in this department so her husband-Sheriff did a good job. Suzie took a photo to send to all Members with a "Hi From Tirau" ... which was upside down - so she got a fine. Bill nearly did a handstand to try and get it the right way up - so he got a fine. Suzie's phone went flat after playing a few 70's tunes ... so she got another fine. Andrew decided that he didn't like Gemma drinking wine so he stealthily knocked it to the floor - so he got a fine. Ray was given a fine for the only member to remember his Ulysses name badge.

Andrew had phoned ahead and arranged for his childhood babysitter to open her "Twisted" restaurant for us for dinner that night. A lovely menu added to the splendiferous atmosphere (nurtured from Partaaay Central!), and we all had a lovely time. This included singing our lovely Margaret a very loud "Happy Birthday" for the Sunday. There are no stories to tell about this dinner ... what goes on tour stays on tour!! But we did get a fabulous group photo under the Ram and Sheep.

Sunday morning was -1degrees. Bikes were covered with frost - BUT there was no rain. After a hearty brekkie (and another stunning rendition of Happy Birthday to Marg!) we set off. OMG was it cold! Fingers, toes and faces were numb. But what amazing country-side with gorgeous autumn colours. After about 1.5 hours we stopped to stand in the sunshine to defrost. From there we headed to Mokau for lunch. We were met there by JP, John, Pam and Ingrid.

We had a brilliant ride home - joined by a mysterious friendly biker waving at the side of the road, who turned out to be Blair!! It was a great weekend and we wished you'd all been there.

Roll on the next one!!

Club Night

17 May 2017

17 May 2017 was the first Club Night with the newly elected committee. It was great to have Anne and Ray back with us after their long holiday in SA.

Ray handed over the Coordinator pin to Suzie saying that he was looking forward to all she was going to do for the Club. Suzie reiterated her thanks to Ray for all the years he'd been Coordinator and all the great work he'd done.

The following committee members were elected to their various portfolios :

Martin Peyerl - Sheriff

Nigel Scott - Deputy Sherif

Andrew Pentelow - Quartermaster

Suzie Pentelow - Hospitality/PR

Gemma Peyerl - Hospitality/PR

Ian Laird - Rides Team Coordinator

Martin Peyerl - Rides Team
Ray Senior - Rides Team
Nigel Scott - Rides Team

Bill Kidney - Rides Team

Raffles were again very successful with a new member John Bird taking home a stache! The items on raffle were really good with one of the prizes being a digital photo frame!

Taranaki AGM

This year's Taranaki Branch AGM was attended by 32 people! This was a huge improvement on some previous years.

Blair Campbell ran the meeting in Ray Senior's (Branch Coordinator) absence. Suzie Pentelow (Secretary) and Andrew (Treasurer) were in attendance to assist Blair.

Blair read out the "Coordinator's Report" from Ray who had managed to write an email despite having a ball in South Africa while enjoying very hot temperatures (maybe that's where our summer went!).

We would like to thank Ray for his time as Branch Coordinator as he has been a dedicated and committed leader. We won’t be letting him get away that easily, so he was elected onto the committee. We also want to thank Anne as she has been Ray’s ‘right-hand lady’ and a great supporter of the branch!

We were thrilled to be able to hand out long service badges to:

25 years – Ian McNab, Newton Frewin, Ian Goodwin, Doug Ward, Don Young.

20 years – John Traylor, John Newport.

15 years – Derek Bates

Badges to be given out later: 10 & 15 years: Jeff Kerr. 25 years: Stan Walmsley

Newt Frewin proudly sported an amazing collection of Taranaki Badges.

The following were elected:

Branch Coordinator - Suzie Pentelow

Vice Coordinator - Alan Foster

Treasurer - Andrew Pentelow

Secretary - Donna Scott

Thank you for your willingness to stand and be elected into these positions! Additionally, the following Committee was elected.

Nigel Scott

Ian Laird

Martin Peyerl

Ray Senior

Bill Kidney

Gemma Peyerl

The AGM was the first time that Donna arranged for raffle tickets to be sold. Apart from Gemma thinking '3 for 5' meant she got 5 tickets for $5 (which she later corrected!) it was a resounding success. We managed to raise enough to fund the $10 a night charge for the meeting room at the NP Club. Awesome! Wendy won a raffle three times which she kindly donated back to someone else - as did Martin with his win. Well done Donna! It was great fun!

Once the formalities were over, everyone hung around for a drink, some snacks and a chat.

We'd like to thank Donna of the Inglewood Club for looking after us so well!

3 May 2017

Click on photos to enlarge

Blair and Joy's BBQ

29 April 2017

Wondering how Blair was going to stay dry in the rain was at the foremost of everyone's thoughts before our Social BBQ this month - But - on arrival we discovered that Blair and Joy have a house very suited to large gatherings in incliment weather!

Blair was ably supported by his BBQing wingman, Jeff, as he grilled the sausages, steak, kebabs and patties to perfection.

The 'Pool Sharks' circled the massive billiards table downstairs, where poor shots were met with laughter and rules taught to newbies (Gem won't miss any shots anymore!). Upstairs, 'Leaning Towers of Pasta' were created on the kitchen bench.

New faces Jo Le Breton, Graeme and Janet Voss joined us and a post-op Ian arrived to show off his bandaged foot - soon to be put into a cast.

Bill shared a great idea with us that we though needed to be shared to every one who has a bit of trouble remembering their Ulysses number - He's written his on the back of his name badge! Brilliant.

Some of us even got to see Blair's Triumph too!

It had been Joy's birthday the day before and Blair and Joy's 10th Wedding Anniversary too! Congratulations to both of you!

Thanks for an awesome night Blair and Joy!! Great venue, hospitality and food!!

Click on photos to enlarge

Ride of Respect

Round the Mountain 23 April 2017

Gorgeous weather set the scene for an early departure from Inglewood by Bill and Margaret Kidney, Alan, Steve, Wendy Hern and Alan Foster, Gemma and Martin Peyerl.

Arriving at the Hawera RSA around 9am, Martin (leading the convoy) showed us which entrance not to go in with a nifty swerve! There were already a good number of bikes there but this increased greatly as 10am approached.

At 10am, a wreath was laid and we all saddled up for the ride round the mountain. It was an impressive sight to have so many bikes in one long convoy. The ride was event-free and really well run by the Red Knights - of which Andrew and ('the lovely') Suzy Pentelow are members. Intersections were well managed and the leader (adorned with a pink Hi Viz) kept the pace steady.

Afterwards, we were fed and watered at the RSA with Sausages and chips. Wendy sported blue hands and we guessed she had auditioned for a role in the remake of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'! It was good to see such a good attendance of Ulysses Taranaki members!

We all took part in auctions to raise money for the RSA. All tallied, the contributions were $500 from registrations (I'm sure there were more than 50 bikes there!!) and about $850 from the auctions.

It was an awesome day enjoyed by everyone and great to raise some much needed $$ for such a worthy cause.

Click on photos to enlarge

National AGM

Saturday morning saw us all (bar one who opted to stay horizontal for a while) desperately seeking brekkie. AGM started at 10am went through various reports, discussed the Ulyssian Magazine costs, we voted on some remits that were in the latet magazine and a new National Committee was formed with 4 new members.

Soon after it finished, we were taken on a ride through town, to Mitre 10 for photos and then out to the Tui Brewery via the back roads ... when the weather packed up! Riding through driving rain was a miserable experience ... had we had intercoms, the Taranaki Team would have headed back to Masterton at the earliest opportunity. But we didn't so we soldiered on. Chaos at Tui meant we gapped it back to a dry and warm pub in Eketahuna.We walked fully dressed up from our motel to the venue - enduring comments from passers-by. Our costumes were distinctive and the boys were all greeted with "Hey Fred!" ... Success! The regions had to step up to the stage to present their costumes. We decided for Ian to start with "Kick it in the guts, Trev!" and then to sing the first line of "If you ain't got your gumboots where would you be? You'd be in the hospital or infirmary!" to which everyone sang along.

We won the "Funniest Gnome" ... see pic and words on Flag = "Taranaki Like Gnome Udder"!!

Sunday morning we were nearly ready to depart when one of us lost their bike key and wallet. This started a search of note. Gemma was vindicated from her comment about the boys having a 'man-look' when she found the bike key where 2 males had previously looked! Fortunately, the wallet was retrieved later after being turned in the local Police.

Sunday saw us depart after a hearty breakfast. We all got to our various destinations safe and sound and fairly event-free. I say 'fairly' event free ... because Gemma found a way to cure a Hangover and Constipation all in one go!

Masterton 14-16 April 2017

Taranaki Ulysses was well represented at the National AGM by Andrew Pentelow (Boulevard M109 with Shep on the back), Suzie Pentelow (Boulevard M109), Ian Laird (Ducati Monster S4) , Gemma Peyerl (Suzuki GSX650F dubbed "Bikie"), Martin Peyerl (KTM Superduke GT), Bill Kidney and Margaret Kidney (Gold wing).

Collusion and collaboration began about 6 weeks prior planning our dress up costumes and Gnome decoration.

Departure Day was heralded by severe weather warnings as Cyclone Debbie made her way south. Not to be daunted, we clung to our Met forecasts as if winning the lottery! The weather leaving Inglewood was disheartening but by the time we met up with the Pentelows in Hawera, we were feeling more optimistic about the trip.

Martin, Gemma, Bill and Margaret can neither confirm nor deny that we were travelling in excess of the speed limit when we were pulled over by the Police. When he passed us going the opposite way there was a collective bout of swearing while we slowed down. Seeing nothing more, we continued, Some time later, we spotted the flashing lights and we were pulled over. The Pentelows had gone ahead by this time. Thankfully, he was only warning the Kidneys that their speed limit was lower as they were towing a trailer! Phew! No fines were issued.

Arriving at our destination, we registered, took a walk around the venue and returned later for dinner and entertainment. We were all very thristy after such a long ride! After gulping down a substantial burger and quaffing our 'tipple of choice', the entertainment was wheeled in. Literally! Motorised toilets and a race track!

Our competitive spirit came to the fore and Taranaki won! Not without wounds to prove our exuberance - Martin with a chest bruise of note and Ian with a limp that was still evident days later.

Click on photos to enlarge

Jeff and Sue's BBQ

1 April 2017

It was no April's Fool at Jeff and Sue's! It was a magnificent evening of good weather, seeing some new faces and delicious food! Our hosts were very welcoming. The point of fascination was the water feature which emitted 'fog' in changing colours when the water was not running. Jeff had spent the morning cutting and trimming the copious amount of hedges to allow us all an imaculate display of what hedges should look like. Suzie and Gem tried on their AGM Dress Up clothes while the boys bashfully kept theirs away from sight. All in all, a lovely evening spent with a great bunch of people!

Click on photos to enlarge

Ride to Toko

19 March 2017

Mart and Gem had spent time a few days before the ride scouting out a path through the twisty back roads of Inglewood and this meant that we had a great time wending our way to the Toko pub for lunch.

Once we got there, Martin's bike decided it didn't like where he had parked it and tried to move itself forward a few metres. It quickly discovered that moving 'sans owner' results in painful scratches!

That was the only 'mishap' of the day luckily.

After a good catch-up, yummy lunch and a few liquid refreshments we went our seperate ways home, with some going back the Inglewood way and others doing the 'circuit' around Mount Taranaki.

We welcomed a few new faces on our ride, which has resulted in a new club member! Welcome Shane!

Click on photos to enlarge

First Social Club Night

After the first social at Mart and Gem's place, at the splendid suggestion of Nigel and Donna, we decided to have our first Social Club Night on 15 March. This took on a new format from the previous Committee meetings and we were all game to give it a go!

On the night, after a bit of room organising, it was a good opportunity to work out how the meetings could run going forwards.

The format evolved to: 6pm committee meeting upstairs in meeting room - all welcome. Wrapped Raffles upstairs - bring wine wrapped for raffle if it's your birthday that month - others can 'donate' raffles if they wish (wrapped). 6.30pm Social downstairs.

Bill had a tinkle on the ivories ... hidden talent Bill?

We tried this format 'for real' on 19 April and it worked well - we stuck to the 30 min Committee Meeting (just) and we can improve on the Raffles - which we'll kick off at the AGM.

15 March 2017

Click on photos to enlarge

Ride to Mokau

5 March 2017

Click on photos to enlarge

On Saturday, Mart and Gem decided they'd go on a ride to Mokau on the Sunday. Letting Suzie know who had been talking with Ian about a ride on that Sunday, she put it out on a general text ... and we were all delighted at the 'flash mob' that arrived at 3A for the ride.

It was the one day of our Taranaki Summer 2017 so riding was great!

The food from White Bait Inn was exceptional as the conversation flowed!

Additionally, it was JP's first ride with the Club and the first time Jen Laird had hopped on the back on Ian's Ducati Monster! Awesome!

March 2017 Newsletter Click here to view it

News

Club Night - 21.08.19

Taranaki Odyssey - 18.08.19

Club Ride / Club Lunch at Opunake 21.07.19

Mid winter Xmas Fun

Ulysses Taranaki Club - New Logo

Club NIght- 19.06.19

Club Ride- Whangamomona Overnighter - 15-16.06.19

Daft Dragon's Antics

Club Lunch - Stumble- 02.06.19

Club Ride- 19.05.19

Club Night- 15.05.19

Stumble Lunch- 05.05.19

Taranaki AGM- 03.05.19

Stumble Lunch- 07.04.19

National AGM - Hastings - 29-31.03.19

Club Ride - Mokau - 24.03.19

Kia Kaha Christchurch - 15.03.19

Stumble Lunch - 03.03.19

Donation of DVD Players to Kids Hospital - 26 February 2019

24 February 2019

Club Ride - Whangamomona - 17.02.19

Club Night - 23.01.19

Welcome (back) Jeff Ransley

Welcome Scott Mills - who unashamedly 'struck a pose' with Suzie and Shane!

Club Ride - 20.01.19 - Te Kuiti

Toto - 11.01.19

Stumble Lunch - 06.01.19

Club Ride - 16.12.18

Christmas Fun - 15.12.18

Stumble Lunch - 2.12.18

Taranaki Rally - 22-24.11.18

Club Overnighter - Taihape - 27-28.10.18

Club Ride - Tawhiti Museum - 23.09.18

Club Night - at the movies - 19.9.18

Sunday Stumble Lunch - 02.09.17 ​Father's Day

Club Ride Toko Pub - 19.08.17

Impromptu Ride - 12.08.17

Stumble Lunch - 05.08.17

Mid Winter Xmas - 21.07.17

Kaponga Hotel - 15.07.17

Stumble Lunch 1.07.18

Butlers Lunch and Ride 17.06.18

Hit and Giggle 10.06.18

Sunday Lunch at Stumble 03.06.18

Dawson Falls Overnighter - 2-3.6.18

Sunday Lunch at Stumble 04.05.18

AGM 02.05.18

Sunday Lunch Col Malones 15.04.18

National AGM 2018 - Mosgiel

March 2018

What is it about social media being anti-social?

Haggis Tasting Faces

Hanging out for beers ... none forthcoming!​​

Goldi-gger Locks and the 'Naki Bears

Ulysses Taranaki Representatives at the Mosgiel AGM

Stumble Inn - Inaugural event!

4 March 2018

BBQ at Gem and Martin's

17 Feb 2018

Hawera Big Kids Toys 2018

11 Feb 2018

Pukeiti Ride

21 January 2018

Club Night

17 January 2018

Mokau Ride and Summer BBQ

14 January 2018

RIP Susan Christine Kerr

9 January 2018 - Taranaki Crematorium

Daft Dragon

December 2017

Club Ride - Waitotara Hotel

17 December 2017

Xmas Party 2017 at Shane & Jo's Place

9 December 2017

Righteous Rides Car & Bike Show - Inglewood

2 December 2017

Club Night - Hawera

15 November 2017

Sunday Stumble Lunch - 02.09.17

Father's Day

Hanging out for beers ... none forthcoming!

29 April 2017

Round the Mountain 23 April 2017

Masterton 14-16 April 2017

19 March 2017

15 March 2017