Gremlin's Tall Stories

We wanted to be up later, but the free breakfast finishes at 9am so we set our alarms for 8.30am. A nice big bowl of cornflakes and a scone or two was a most excellent start to the day. There was no rush either, so we slacked off in our room, browsing the internet and blogging for the entire morning. I got a couple of days done, with the word count rapidly passing 9000 words for the trip. It’s clear I must lay the blame for so many words squarely at the feet of GiJoe, for without him I’d still be stringing the odd sentence together with grunts.

Shortly after midday and Toto is making comments aimed at getting some sort of riding done, food consumed and sights seen. We’ve been watching the weather all morning. It was meant to rain the previous day but we’d had a good run. It had meant to rain today but while the clouds often threatened, very little rain was forthcoming. It also seemed to vary between the two sets of hills Picton was nestled between, with one looking good and the other rather horrible.

The blue sky puts in an appearance so we take some nice shots of the outlook on Picton
As Toto is making motions and grumblings to get us into action it’s looking positively stunning and it looks brilliant. Toto has clearly made a newbie mistake when leaving his boots out overnight. He put them near the edge of the patio so the rain during the night has soaked them nicely. Mine were further in, and are nice and dry. Toto rigs up a contraption with the poor communal hair drier to try and dry out his boots. Unfortunately it protests about being constantly on the highest setting by turning off, so he has to settle for low heat.

By the time we’ve geared up and thrown the necessary kit in our luggage for an exploratory outing (Toto was ready well before me and asking if I actually wanted to come along ) the blue sky was gone and replaced by dark clouds. We rode all of 1km down the road to the local bakery, which I’d wanted to try but never had, as breakfast was always provided at the backpackers. Choosing an item or two each we start to eat and it’s raining.

I make joking remarks that wow, what a ride, back to the backpackers then, which Toto grins at, but neither of us was really thinking that, except it was already after 2.30pm. After a fill up of gas at the Z (under revamping from Shell to Z) and more oiling of a certain motorcycle’s drive CHAIN (some clever bikes don’t have such maintenance intensive devices) it’s 3pm but we head out through the Sounds anyway. Toto is in front so he can stop and photograph whenever he wants to.

Like a previous day he isn’t stopping much for photos but by the amount he’s looking at the GPS he has a plan in mind. When we reach Linkwater he’s looking at the GPS a lot so it’s clear he wants to go through to Portage. The roads are still wet so we take it easy while it slowly dries out. It’s as winding as I remember it from previous trips except now there’s also a lot more road works. A stop for some photos the clouds are blocking the blue sky but let’s see… work or riding? I wonder…

As the road winds on we have to avoid the odd car that thinks it can use our side of the road as well, but we reach Portage safely. Toto fancies more of the panoramic shots and down the road we stop on the roadside to take pictures which ends up in riding onto the beach to take waterside shots. Toto makes me go first, I don’t like the look of the entrance, looking a bit soft, calls me a chicken so I run his foot over. More video footage but the waterside shots are awesome. More to the point they’re more successful than trying the same at Okarito with GiJoe who decided to throw his bike in the sand. I suspect the BMW breaks a rock while on the beach, but perhaps it was a very weak rock?

We head beyond the Portage area, the road works become more frequent and we get waved over by an oncoming pilot vehicle. Choosing a slightly wider section to stop in a large truck and trailer unit comes the other way taking up most of the road… mmm glad we pulled over then. More oncoming road work vehicles then Toto gets the biggest surprise. I round a corner and find him braking hard… what on earth… then an enormous truck and transport trailer unit come around the corner. He must have thought the road was a bloody one way road, but thankfully we’re nowhere near as wide as cars so think thin thoughts and he gives us enough room.

Just before we reach the intersection at Kenepuru Head Toto gives a crack at being a Horse Whisperer. I don’t think they were speaking the same language, or who was more nervous of who, but he got to pet them, which was what he was after (the fact he kept his helmet on probably didn’t help). At the T intersection I told him it basically turned to gravel beyond that and while there was good scenery time was marching on and it was late afternoon already. If we did head out it would be very late by the time we got back.

We turned around instead taking a leisurely ride back to the main road, found the road workers and trucks at accommodation just down the road and Toto set about photographing everything that moved (or didn’t) on the way back to Picton – or perhaps it just felt like that. He photographed numerous letterboxes through The Grove driving me nuts, but I did photograph a little wooden pukeko with legs that rotated.

We saw a what Toto suspected was a rental V-Strom overtake us when stopped and then I suspect we saw a world traveller on a blue BMW I didn’t recognise (but had plenty of stickers) going the other way, so I gave him a hearty wave. A few more stops including the lookout over Picton (ferries from Interislander and Bluebridge were both docked) and back to base. Toto needed gas (again) as he had an early start and it would mean he could head straight north after getting off in Wellington. I went to the backpackers, photographing the humorous Gravesend Place and No Exit sign at the cemetery then unpacked.

Toto was catching the first boat out of Picton in the morning at 6.25am so I parked in first so it was easier for him to get out. Toto had a shower and we changed and strolled out for dinner, back to Kentucky Eataways. This time I took advantage of their special of pizza and chips while Toto had the snapper he had eyed up the previous evening. The pizza wasn’t really anything flash to write home about, suffice to say I’d have the burgers or fish and chips next time, but at least you know.

Back to the backpackers (is there a routine developing? How horrible for a holiday) and more blogging for the evening, although Toto was fast losing his enthusiasm for writing what he was up to. Through reading KB and some messages I find out about the weather bomb about the hit the North Island and that the Cancer Relay ride that was supposed to take place on Saturday (and why I would be crossing to the North Island tomorrow) had been postponed to Sunday.

I was scheduled to escort the relay riders for the entire trip, so a txt to KoroJ to check he was OK with me bunking down for an extra night, which he was, and I confirmed with Maha I was still on track to escort one of the batons.

No hijinks on Facebook, just a regular evening, but we only ended up going to bed around 1am, despite me reminding Toto he had to be up at 5am (and by extension I was hardly going to sleep through his alarm and moving around, so had to wake up then go to sleep again).

Pics: http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/b...0TT2000%20D09/