pritch
24th August 2007, 16:53
The gap between Queens Birthday and Labour Day being lengthy, and the weather usually tending toward the depressing, I like to take a week or two off about midway through. It just happens that there is an occasion in Papanui mid August each year, nothing grand but enough to provide an excuse for a ride.
The only wet weather encountered on the trip was on the ride down the motorway and Ngauranga to the ferry. The very slow 20kph speed of the morning rush hour traffic took me rather by surprise. Filtering didn't look to be a viable option with the panniers on the bike so I was later for the ferry than planned, but not too late.
My previous experience with ferry crossings led me to believe that the Interislander was a better option than the Bluebridge ships. Following my experience on the Kaitake this view has been modified somewhat.
Unlike the Arahura, the Kaitake has no motorcycle specific tie down points. It's all about extemporisation. There were three bikes making the best of a bad deal when a crew member approached us and asked us to hurry up they wanted to clear the deck. After a very brief conversation we basically just ignored her and she went and stood on a corner and glowered at us until we were all finished.
The Kaitake apparently has doors at both ends. The trucks drive on the stern in Wellington and off the bow at Picton. Brilliant for the truckies. Normally it's bikes on first and off first but this time the bikes were held until near the end of unloading. This meant I spent the next hour or more passing cars and trucks on the road south. Overall I was less than impressed with my Kaitake experience.
The road south from Blenheim to the start of the Canterbury Plains is my favourite stretch of SH1. Sadly I note that the coastal road south of Kaikoura now has an 80kph limit. I assume this to be relatively new as there was a :Police: parked part way through the restricted area. He wouldn't have been doing much business as most of the mumbies weren't even doing 80 at that point. (And after the detector alerted me to his presence, neither was I :-)
As I headed down the Canterbury Plains the temperature seemed a bit chilly so I checked the thermometer on the bike. At 3.00PM on a sunny day it was seven degrees. Welcome to the South Island! The highest temperature I saw the whole time was nine degrees.
Saturday I did a little tourist riding up toward Waddington and Oxford, hopefully to take picures of the mountains but the Alps didn't come out to play that day. Boring roads of course, but the scenery was new to me and the radar detector picks up potential problems from a mile away on those long straights.
Next day I went over the Geddes(?) Pass to Lyttelton, potentially a fun road but very busy on a Sunday morning. Lyttleton looked picturesque with some nice old colonial cottages but it doesn't seem to get much sun being on the wrong side of the hill. A quick U turn and back out of the gloom to the sunshine.
On Monday another chilly but fine run up to Blenheim. I arrived about lunch time so went to see the Aviation Heritage Museum at Omaka. There is a Hurricane outside but that's a bit misleading. The aircraft inside are a mixture of original, and replicas of, WW1 aircraft. Some of the replicas are fully functional and apparently in regular use.
On Monday when I visited two Focker Triplanes were missing as they had been flying that weekend and hadn't yet been returned to the collection.
The displays (diaramas?) have been created by Weta Workshops and are to the sort of standard that the name implies.
Somewhat surprisingly it wasn't the 'planes that impressed so much as the memorabillia collection. Personal effects of famous aces from both sides of the war: the Red Baron, and other members of the Von Richthofen family, a flying suit formerly worn by Eddie Rickenbacker the most famous American ace, uniforms and effects formerly the property of several German aces as well as Italian and New Zealand pilots.
It'll be a few months until I get down Marlborough way again but I'd willingly visit Omaka tomorrow.
A surprise at the Motel I had booked through Wotif, the owner was a former comrade-in-arms that I hadn't seen since about 1969. We had a nice little reunion at his bowling club that evening.
The return crossing was on the Arahura was in stark contrast to the Kaitake experience.
There were only two motorbikes, myself and a young guy on a Kawasaki 250 Ninja. Almost first on and straight to the specifically designed bike tie down points. All ships should be like this. After a while a crew member came over and asked if either of us needed anything. He then showed the young guy a better way to use the supplied tie downs. A total contrast to the Kaitake , hard to believe it's the same company. The bikes were first off the ferry in Wellington although I was only going as far as Papakowhai.
The weather forecast for the trip home from Wellington on Wednesday was grim. A wet front was to pass up the country, I thought that if it wasn't raining when I was ready to go I'd leave before breakfast. No rain but another cold ride, I stopped at Wanganui for breakfast and to warm up. I had good gear and thermals but I might buy a thicker jersey before I go again.
And I'll be crossing both ways on the Arahura if at all possible...
The only wet weather encountered on the trip was on the ride down the motorway and Ngauranga to the ferry. The very slow 20kph speed of the morning rush hour traffic took me rather by surprise. Filtering didn't look to be a viable option with the panniers on the bike so I was later for the ferry than planned, but not too late.
My previous experience with ferry crossings led me to believe that the Interislander was a better option than the Bluebridge ships. Following my experience on the Kaitake this view has been modified somewhat.
Unlike the Arahura, the Kaitake has no motorcycle specific tie down points. It's all about extemporisation. There were three bikes making the best of a bad deal when a crew member approached us and asked us to hurry up they wanted to clear the deck. After a very brief conversation we basically just ignored her and she went and stood on a corner and glowered at us until we were all finished.
The Kaitake apparently has doors at both ends. The trucks drive on the stern in Wellington and off the bow at Picton. Brilliant for the truckies. Normally it's bikes on first and off first but this time the bikes were held until near the end of unloading. This meant I spent the next hour or more passing cars and trucks on the road south. Overall I was less than impressed with my Kaitake experience.
The road south from Blenheim to the start of the Canterbury Plains is my favourite stretch of SH1. Sadly I note that the coastal road south of Kaikoura now has an 80kph limit. I assume this to be relatively new as there was a :Police: parked part way through the restricted area. He wouldn't have been doing much business as most of the mumbies weren't even doing 80 at that point. (And after the detector alerted me to his presence, neither was I :-)
As I headed down the Canterbury Plains the temperature seemed a bit chilly so I checked the thermometer on the bike. At 3.00PM on a sunny day it was seven degrees. Welcome to the South Island! The highest temperature I saw the whole time was nine degrees.
Saturday I did a little tourist riding up toward Waddington and Oxford, hopefully to take picures of the mountains but the Alps didn't come out to play that day. Boring roads of course, but the scenery was new to me and the radar detector picks up potential problems from a mile away on those long straights.
Next day I went over the Geddes(?) Pass to Lyttelton, potentially a fun road but very busy on a Sunday morning. Lyttleton looked picturesque with some nice old colonial cottages but it doesn't seem to get much sun being on the wrong side of the hill. A quick U turn and back out of the gloom to the sunshine.
On Monday another chilly but fine run up to Blenheim. I arrived about lunch time so went to see the Aviation Heritage Museum at Omaka. There is a Hurricane outside but that's a bit misleading. The aircraft inside are a mixture of original, and replicas of, WW1 aircraft. Some of the replicas are fully functional and apparently in regular use.
On Monday when I visited two Focker Triplanes were missing as they had been flying that weekend and hadn't yet been returned to the collection.
The displays (diaramas?) have been created by Weta Workshops and are to the sort of standard that the name implies.
Somewhat surprisingly it wasn't the 'planes that impressed so much as the memorabillia collection. Personal effects of famous aces from both sides of the war: the Red Baron, and other members of the Von Richthofen family, a flying suit formerly worn by Eddie Rickenbacker the most famous American ace, uniforms and effects formerly the property of several German aces as well as Italian and New Zealand pilots.
It'll be a few months until I get down Marlborough way again but I'd willingly visit Omaka tomorrow.
A surprise at the Motel I had booked through Wotif, the owner was a former comrade-in-arms that I hadn't seen since about 1969. We had a nice little reunion at his bowling club that evening.
The return crossing was on the Arahura was in stark contrast to the Kaitake experience.
There were only two motorbikes, myself and a young guy on a Kawasaki 250 Ninja. Almost first on and straight to the specifically designed bike tie down points. All ships should be like this. After a while a crew member came over and asked if either of us needed anything. He then showed the young guy a better way to use the supplied tie downs. A total contrast to the Kaitake , hard to believe it's the same company. The bikes were first off the ferry in Wellington although I was only going as far as Papakowhai.
The weather forecast for the trip home from Wellington on Wednesday was grim. A wet front was to pass up the country, I thought that if it wasn't raining when I was ready to go I'd leave before breakfast. No rain but another cold ride, I stopped at Wanganui for breakfast and to warm up. I had good gear and thermals but I might buy a thicker jersey before I go again.
And I'll be crossing both ways on the Arahura if at all possible...