On a recent trip up north to Auckland, the 'big smoke', it was nice to come across a gathering of Ducatis at Taupo, a tourist mecca in the centre of New Zealand's North Island, which seemed to be some sort of concours event. We didn't have time to stop, so it was just a drive through for us, but what a lovely collection of machines, early in the morning, with some of the guys working on them with soap and water. An MHR Evo, and a Senna and a 917 Paso among them, about 50 machines in total. Then, a few hours later, having a tea at a café in Tirau, a small town just south of Auckland, a red Paso came cruising south down the main street.