( North Island ). A regroup had us convoy back towards Nelson and a “ not what you know but who you know ” moment had us able to go around a road closure - very handy - and as we met the highway a Traffic Officer backed up a suitable distance and lit up the red and blues to warn traffic that we were coming from our side road . With egos boosted to Presidential Cavalcade levels , the reality check was that we still stuck to the 80km / h speed limit and went up another valley ( Wales aint got nothing on Nelson ). The second half of the throttle was beckoning as we climbed a track to rival Pikes Peak and ended up at the Nelson Crop circles for some SVs and a flyby from a parasailer . As the tailenders filed in , we met a nice bloke from Tasman Pine who welcomed us and gave an induction and safety talk before waving the start flag at our Glen Duan Forest entry , where we didn ’ t exceed the compulsory 50km / h for the ride to the Kingsland fire watch tower for ... more SVs . Time was now against us so a direct route to Rabbit Island for the final adventure of the day , a barge crossing to Mapua courtesy of the Kaiteriteri Sea Shuttle and Barge . Beer O ’ clock was split at first with the first Barge load over-
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