Mid-Winter Outing To Waihi
After some weeks of seriously cold and wet weather we were all looking forward to escaping the winter “blues” with a good drive. About 18 plus cars gathered at the Wairoa Bridge with everyone well dressed in layers. Fortunately we had peeps of sun and a sheltered spot to stand about and chat before setting out for Waihi. Along the way we picked up a few extra members to add to the convoy.
Waitete Café, north of Waihi off SH2, was easy to find with its big yellow sign, and there was plenty of parking for everyone. By the time we had all arrived at the cafe from different directions there were 24 Jaguars and 48 members. A great turn-out for the middle of winter!
Inside we found a very welcoming restaurant with sun streaming through the windows. Over the next couple of hours we all enjoyed catching up with various friends while having a delicious lunch of our choice which ranged from steak, fish, omelettes etc. to tasty desserts of the speciality – homemade icecreams and cheesecake. For those who wanted, there was a bar serving German-style beer and wine.
Unfortunately the sun did not continue and in fact a small weather “bomb” dropped heavy hail over Waihi later in the afternoon making some of the streets appear snow-covered. Very pretty, but Jaguar drivers tend to get a bit nervous about their pristine paintwork in those conditions. Fortunately everyone had left the area by that time, so a lucky escape. The return home was made independently and I am sure we were all glad to have had such a cheerful Sunday outing with good company.
P.S. Since writing this I have heard that some members didn’t in fact escape the hail. Some were caught in the hail storm whilst driving home through Paeroa, Te Aroha and Katikati! Thankfully no damage was done to their cars.
By Gill Sutton
Footnote from Sheryl:
When I originally thought about a day outing for our members for August (usually the worst month of the year weather-wise), I envisaged possibly around 20 hardy souls may venture out so I named this outing our ‘WINTER HIBERNATION RUN’. Obviously there were far more people suffering cabin fever than I anticipated – 48 people in fact!
Once our numbers exceeded 30 people, Roland, the owner/chef of Waitete Cafe politely requested that we pre-order our meals to make it easier for everyone. To exacerbate the matter, Roland had also just recently had hip replacement surgery (on both hips at the same time) and although he had brought in two additional cooks to help in the kitchen, he was still trying to oversee everything that was going on in the kitchen on a pair of crutches!
Although I don’t like having to ask our members to pre-order our meals, sometimes it becomes necessary in certain circumstances, and this was definitely one of those instances. Thank you all for obliging without a murmur of complaint from anyone. That just goes to show that it’s the camaraderie and driving around our beautiful countryside in our Jags that are the most important aspects of our club outings and food comes third!!