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Gremlin's Tall Stories

TT2000 Break: Day 10-11 (02-03/03/2012)

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Friday

Two days of blogs in one, as neither was particularly busy, and mostly about getting myself in position for escorting a cancer baton to Auckland.

Toto’s alarm disturbed my peaceful slumber at 5am but he was on his feet far faster than I. I offered to return his key and he left via the ranch slider to catch his ferry. I never heard him leave as I was already back in bed fast asleep.

My alarm went at 8.30am and I seriously thought about turning over and grabbing some more shut eye, except there was free breakfast on offer and I still had to vacate the room by 10am. Another breakfast of cornflakes and scones, but then I add some toast and jam because I feel like it (eating it, not actually feeling like it of course).

I pack and do a final check of the room, hopefully we’ve left nothing behind and leave my jacket and helmet with the bike. I check with Lynne, one of the owners and she’s more than happy for me to be in the common areas for a few hours while I wait for my ferry. I’d chosen to take the 2.35pm ferry to Wellington to get me in just after the close of business and then meet with KoroJ. I had three odd hours to burn before I was due to check-in, so I spent it uploading some of the pictures of the trip and writing blogs.

The area was almost as quiet as a mouse (people were off on their adventures for the day) save for two chicks chatting about their travels, so it was interesting to see what they thought as expensive and what had been a good time. One had been travelling for a year, the other had only been travelling for 6 months, but had less than a month left. It’s amazing how much of the world they see, as they station themselves in places for days or weeks at a time.

The time passed quickly and it didn’t feel like long before I was packing everything away and coasting down to the ferry check-in. The sailing was set as moderate, perhaps the highest I’ve seen and I was told to proceed to the front of Lane 9. I ended up chatting to a couple of guys who’d been travelling the South Island as well (but in a car), and had also come to the realisation that we have some really good roads and scenery, perhaps even questioning why you would travel elsewhere when home offers so much.

Upon loading a lot of vehicles were sent on before me, but it never really worries me as I’ll take as much time as I need to strap the bike down, regardless of what workers might say. For the first time I think, I was the only bike on the sailing, and the first time I strapped it down by myself. I’ve had enough practise with the layout of the bike and the crash bars make it extremely easy. In the midst of making sure the bike was upright a worker advises I should put another strap around the rear wheel. I sort of look at him blankly and say I’m still in the middle of it… I guess they get all sorts of riders on the ferry.

I head upstairs, having to take all my gear like jacket, laptop etc with me wherever I go… such is the slight inconvenience of being by yourself. I grab some fruit and a drink while the lasagne is being cooked and grab one of those when I see them being put out. I station myself right next to the food court on the tables with power so I can use the laptop and work on my blogs. I found it a little difficult travelling backwards as the wave motion was reversed and I wasn’t by a window. My stomach wasn’t entirely happy with the 1-2m swells as the boat rolled about but looking at a screen all the time probably didn’t help. Still, it was a good time to get some blogging written up.

My boss rings me to let me know I am needed in Wellington (originally I asked, as it would mean I take an earlier ferry – but he didn’t require it) as a computer at a client won’t start. With me in the area I can take a quick look to confirm, or if there is anything else we can do. It’s fortunate that the ferry, client and KoroJ are all within minutes of each other, so it makes it very easy. I visit the client, it turns out to be a dead hard drive, so nothing we can easily do, but I report in with my findings.

I txt KoroJ and he’s already home so I head over to say hello, as I hadn’t seen him since the Capital Cruise last year and he’d decided to miss the TT2000 due to a lack of riding and not really being prepared. The garage door is already open, a nice BMW sized space waiting for the bike. His driveway is a tricky one so I do the same as him, going up the road and coming back down. Ann’s presence in the road (she was heading out) however distracts me in the road and I go right past the driveway , resulting in another U-turn, but I don’t bother going all the way up the road again.

The evening was spent catching up with KoroJ, and he had lots of questions about the TT2000 (he shoulda been there huh?) and Ann made a delicious lasagne for dinner. The rain and wind from the so called “weather bomb” arrived, and I wondered just how serious it was going to be.


Saturday

I had set my alarm for 9am, and I’m lying in bed wondering when it was going to ring until I give up and look at the phone… dammit, it’s dead. Explains why it didn’t ring then. I had chucked it on the charger as it was going flat, but clearly it decided not to. Back on the charger then.

The “weather bomb” was in full force, but KoroJ’s house lies in a valley between two hills, perfect for this weather. We could see the tops of the hills were getting a hammering but it was relatively quiet around the house. It was indeed hard to believe the reports of power outages, but Ann was checking on relatives who were in hard hit areas, checking they were OK, and it seemed they were lucky (others lost roofs among other things).

The day was pretty much spent writing blogs (they had got rather behind) and reading some of KoroJ’s blogs, as he cleverly prints out each year’s worth and prints and binds them into a book for easy reading when he feels the urge to read a bit. In between the writing was a bit of breakfast and then a bit of lunch.

Ann made a yummy chicken curry dish thing (I’m not a cook Ok, so don’t ask) in the early afternoon which served as lunch or dinner, ended up having dinner a bit later as I was in the midst of a blog. In the early evening I finally stopped procrastinating and checked out the bike, prepared some of the gear and did some re-packing ready for an early departure the following morning.

Ended up heading to bed a little after midnight… hmmm not a lot of sleep, but oh well.
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Comments

  1. raftn's Avatar
    When I came back at Christmas I was the only bike..actually I was the only vehicle on the top deck, I had three guys giving me advice on tieing the bike down!
  2. gijoe1313's Avatar
    Now this was a boring blog, the only riding bits was when you missed the driveway! At least you didn't mess up anything at the backpackers and KoroJ's place this time!
  3. Gremlin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by gijoe1313
    Now this was a boring blog, the only riding bits was when you missed the driveway! At least you didn't mess up anything at the backpackers and KoroJ's place this time!
    Obviously you didn't read... we rode the waves between the islands...

    I haven't broken anything at KoroJ's (and uh, long may THAT continue)