ajturbo
20th January 2005, 22:24
My ride to Gisborne..
The day started out hot and cloudless!
Then the ph. went it was Luke’s grand dad, he was in town and wanted to know if he could come around to say hi….. as we were al ready to jump on the bike and go off to Gisborne I said, no… how about tomorrow when we came back?
I really wanted it to be Friday but he had told me that he was off home then… so I had cut our trip back for him ( he lives in NP).
So off we went, down Pyes Pa Rd to…. Rotorua ( yes I needed to fill up ) only a slight detour, then we got back on track and headed down route #30, this is a nice little windy road, with lots of little towns, where holiday makers have their batches.
With 80k/hr speed limits… which I stuck to (…cough) the radar picked up no cops and I saw none either ! we came out just shy of Awakei. I had never been that way I really enjoyed it .. there were some really fast corners and some testing (for me)slow ones (25-35k/hr).
We then turned on to route #2, and headed off to Opotiki for a coffee and fuel.
We had the coffee in the town, not the “truckers stop” on the main rd… (bit of a hint there)
Then on the route #35, the weather seamed even hotter here and as we cruised off only the way, we kept on looking at ocean and discussed places to that would be good to dive. ( I have enrolled Luke into an open water dive course ).
We stopped at one place that had a big sign on the gate, stating, “ONLY LOCALS OR OWNERS ALLOWED THROUGH THIS GATE”. I thought that this would be a good place to ride down to the beach… so I did, no native came running out …..
The road was in good shape.. mostly … there were times there were road works …with traffic lights…!!! But the views were amazing… no photos sorry, as I thought that they would not do it justness!
Unfortunately storm clouds were gathering in the distance… the air was getting heavy and the wind had changed, the road started to smell of drying tar.. then it hit us and it hit hard! With no warning the heavens opened up and it rained, and as I had taken the weather man at his word….. no wet weather gear… I started to get that rather uncomfortable feeling of something cold and wet in my crutch… and my left boot (why only the left???)
But just as suddenly as it started it had stopped.. we had ridden through it and I was wet! But out came the sun, and I started to heat up again and by the time we got to Te Araroa. I was almost dry, we stopped here for a stretch, a milkshake and Luke was hungry …again.. as we were ( well I was watching Luke eat) I noticed that the rain clouds had begun to gather here! , I told Luke…. Lets go NOW as you could almost hear the rain coming!... I have never seen him finish a plate full of food so quick in all my time with him!!!
We left…(did you notice that I didn’t fill up ….)and by the time we got out of the rain, I had noticed that the fuel light was on………this went on at 195km!!! the worst yet!! My map was not as good as I wanted, I had not much idea where I was, or how far the next town with fuel was…. So I stopped at Te Puia Springs and at $1.50/lt (for 91) I won’t make that mistake again! But it did mean that I didn’t have to worry about the fuel until we hit Gisborne……
Now some of you may have noticed in other posts that, Toad, has offered KBer’s a bed for the night…… but it was really nice of them to offer it to me, via a txt…. With their home Ph number..(cell ph coverage is not…good there).. well some dumb blond decided that I needed some more space in the ph……. So deleted the number… but hey I still have the cell No….it will be sweet…. I txt Toad out side of Makoroi, to announce that we are on our way…. Got to Wainui… no reply… that’s cool still have time .. ( the main problem here is….. the fact that I didn’t know where they lived!!!)
Got to Gisborne… still NO reply, that’s funny I thought, never mind I'll just ph them, this is 5pm, with Luke a “little” tired with a sore butt.. I got the answering machine… then realised that they may not have got the txt’s… O, oh.. it was at least a 3 hr trip home (poor solo dad…$$…) ……. What to do, I knew Luke wouldn’t be happy with another long ride …home….
I know I will txt a couple of KBer’s my problem and see if they could get Toads home ph.. or PM her/them (or as CSL. suggested) put out a new post….
I put a dead line of 6.pm… thinking that I would have to ride home it would be around 10pm.. and with Luke having a habit of falling asleep on the back ……….. not a good prospect.. I may just have to find a motel……
Well, poke me with a rotting fish, it was 5.55pm,when the first txt started to come in.. and by the dead line of 6.pm I was on the bike heading to the gas station with toad’s address!!!!
The funny thing here was that, through out the day’s ride I was thinking that, the internet was a great tool, it had brought a LOT of like minded people, from an amazingly different back grounds together with one thing in common, motorcycling, and if it wasn’t for this medium, I for one, wouldn’t have met some really good people… and in that one hr it was proven to me yet again!! How good they were, to help out a guy, that most had never even met before.. or had only met once!
I had even got a txt from dangerous!!!
The real funning thing was I had the address… I had a cell No.,…. But how the hell do you pronounce “Whatatutu” .. ???? when asking the way???? I asked some of the locals, they just laughed at me… WTF ??? showed them the ph. With the address…. They laughed even harder!! Smart little……
Found the right way.. I was hooning along when suddenly I felt the ph. Ring…. Hit the breaks … ( I have learnt that you must come to a complete stop, put your foot down, before you should take out the ph and answer it…) YES! It was Mrs Toads……. She gave me the directions.. PASS the pub, school, some twisties , down a hill, there she was waving!!! YES WE HAD MADE IT!!!!!
Got in and met the Toad tribe….. well some of them.. there are 8 all up!!!( I trouble coping with one!!)
They are a great couple! They feed and watered both Luke and myself, gave us a bed for the night! And made me feel at home!, they have a wonderful place…. I would love to have something like that!
The ride home the next day was fun, we used route #2, lots of gravel… we chased a car though the gorge,.. just had to over take it…
We started to head back on route #30 to Rotorua.. then I stuffed up, Luke told me I had gone the wrong way, we missed a turn of, no I said, I was right!!... I was wrong!! I had missed the turn as Luke had said and was heading up route # 33 !!!! it wasn’t until I had seen 3 cops (radar picked them up before me.. also a speed camera!) that I had second thoughts on my choice of route….too late now. As we turned off on to welcome bay …..
And home, I had just got out of the shower, ( yes we had water!!) when Luke said that he had got a call from the grand father saying that he would be around tomorrow!!! The bustard!!!!!! No need to rush,, could have stayed another night……
But we did over 900kms…(Speedo is out a little I think).
Bike never missed a beat, met some really lovely people… what more could you ask for???
Andy and Luke
The day started out hot and cloudless!
Then the ph. went it was Luke’s grand dad, he was in town and wanted to know if he could come around to say hi….. as we were al ready to jump on the bike and go off to Gisborne I said, no… how about tomorrow when we came back?
I really wanted it to be Friday but he had told me that he was off home then… so I had cut our trip back for him ( he lives in NP).
So off we went, down Pyes Pa Rd to…. Rotorua ( yes I needed to fill up ) only a slight detour, then we got back on track and headed down route #30, this is a nice little windy road, with lots of little towns, where holiday makers have their batches.
With 80k/hr speed limits… which I stuck to (…cough) the radar picked up no cops and I saw none either ! we came out just shy of Awakei. I had never been that way I really enjoyed it .. there were some really fast corners and some testing (for me)slow ones (25-35k/hr).
We then turned on to route #2, and headed off to Opotiki for a coffee and fuel.
We had the coffee in the town, not the “truckers stop” on the main rd… (bit of a hint there)
Then on the route #35, the weather seamed even hotter here and as we cruised off only the way, we kept on looking at ocean and discussed places to that would be good to dive. ( I have enrolled Luke into an open water dive course ).
We stopped at one place that had a big sign on the gate, stating, “ONLY LOCALS OR OWNERS ALLOWED THROUGH THIS GATE”. I thought that this would be a good place to ride down to the beach… so I did, no native came running out …..
The road was in good shape.. mostly … there were times there were road works …with traffic lights…!!! But the views were amazing… no photos sorry, as I thought that they would not do it justness!
Unfortunately storm clouds were gathering in the distance… the air was getting heavy and the wind had changed, the road started to smell of drying tar.. then it hit us and it hit hard! With no warning the heavens opened up and it rained, and as I had taken the weather man at his word….. no wet weather gear… I started to get that rather uncomfortable feeling of something cold and wet in my crutch… and my left boot (why only the left???)
But just as suddenly as it started it had stopped.. we had ridden through it and I was wet! But out came the sun, and I started to heat up again and by the time we got to Te Araroa. I was almost dry, we stopped here for a stretch, a milkshake and Luke was hungry …again.. as we were ( well I was watching Luke eat) I noticed that the rain clouds had begun to gather here! , I told Luke…. Lets go NOW as you could almost hear the rain coming!... I have never seen him finish a plate full of food so quick in all my time with him!!!
We left…(did you notice that I didn’t fill up ….)and by the time we got out of the rain, I had noticed that the fuel light was on………this went on at 195km!!! the worst yet!! My map was not as good as I wanted, I had not much idea where I was, or how far the next town with fuel was…. So I stopped at Te Puia Springs and at $1.50/lt (for 91) I won’t make that mistake again! But it did mean that I didn’t have to worry about the fuel until we hit Gisborne……
Now some of you may have noticed in other posts that, Toad, has offered KBer’s a bed for the night…… but it was really nice of them to offer it to me, via a txt…. With their home Ph number..(cell ph coverage is not…good there).. well some dumb blond decided that I needed some more space in the ph……. So deleted the number… but hey I still have the cell No….it will be sweet…. I txt Toad out side of Makoroi, to announce that we are on our way…. Got to Wainui… no reply… that’s cool still have time .. ( the main problem here is….. the fact that I didn’t know where they lived!!!)
Got to Gisborne… still NO reply, that’s funny I thought, never mind I'll just ph them, this is 5pm, with Luke a “little” tired with a sore butt.. I got the answering machine… then realised that they may not have got the txt’s… O, oh.. it was at least a 3 hr trip home (poor solo dad…$$…) ……. What to do, I knew Luke wouldn’t be happy with another long ride …home….
I know I will txt a couple of KBer’s my problem and see if they could get Toads home ph.. or PM her/them (or as CSL. suggested) put out a new post….
I put a dead line of 6.pm… thinking that I would have to ride home it would be around 10pm.. and with Luke having a habit of falling asleep on the back ……….. not a good prospect.. I may just have to find a motel……
Well, poke me with a rotting fish, it was 5.55pm,when the first txt started to come in.. and by the dead line of 6.pm I was on the bike heading to the gas station with toad’s address!!!!
The funny thing here was that, through out the day’s ride I was thinking that, the internet was a great tool, it had brought a LOT of like minded people, from an amazingly different back grounds together with one thing in common, motorcycling, and if it wasn’t for this medium, I for one, wouldn’t have met some really good people… and in that one hr it was proven to me yet again!! How good they were, to help out a guy, that most had never even met before.. or had only met once!
I had even got a txt from dangerous!!!
The real funning thing was I had the address… I had a cell No.,…. But how the hell do you pronounce “Whatatutu” .. ???? when asking the way???? I asked some of the locals, they just laughed at me… WTF ??? showed them the ph. With the address…. They laughed even harder!! Smart little……
Found the right way.. I was hooning along when suddenly I felt the ph. Ring…. Hit the breaks … ( I have learnt that you must come to a complete stop, put your foot down, before you should take out the ph and answer it…) YES! It was Mrs Toads……. She gave me the directions.. PASS the pub, school, some twisties , down a hill, there she was waving!!! YES WE HAD MADE IT!!!!!
Got in and met the Toad tribe….. well some of them.. there are 8 all up!!!( I trouble coping with one!!)
They are a great couple! They feed and watered both Luke and myself, gave us a bed for the night! And made me feel at home!, they have a wonderful place…. I would love to have something like that!
The ride home the next day was fun, we used route #2, lots of gravel… we chased a car though the gorge,.. just had to over take it…
We started to head back on route #30 to Rotorua.. then I stuffed up, Luke told me I had gone the wrong way, we missed a turn of, no I said, I was right!!... I was wrong!! I had missed the turn as Luke had said and was heading up route # 33 !!!! it wasn’t until I had seen 3 cops (radar picked them up before me.. also a speed camera!) that I had second thoughts on my choice of route….too late now. As we turned off on to welcome bay …..
And home, I had just got out of the shower, ( yes we had water!!) when Luke said that he had got a call from the grand father saying that he would be around tomorrow!!! The bustard!!!!!! No need to rush,, could have stayed another night……
But we did over 900kms…(Speedo is out a little I think).
Bike never missed a beat, met some really lovely people… what more could you ask for???
Andy and Luke