gijoe1313 and Gremlin invade the Mainland!

[gijoe1313]

Well, the dawning of a new year is not upon me yet ... I have had several restless hours of sleep as I eagerly anticipate the riding to be done ahead!

This is ninjalog 1 ... to go boldly where I have not pootled before, to explore new vistas, encounter new people and experience new experiences! To expect the unexpected!

I have stowed and stashed 95% of my equipment and now await the arrival of my earstwhile riding companion ... Gremlin. I shudder to think what surrealistic and Kafka-esque adventures we shall ride into! :blink:

My Big Ol'Hornet has been serviced, lubed, washed and polished. Parental units have been farewelled and I have started this thread to cement my thoughts and other diatribe into as I have time to enter.

Riding. A nice longish, riding holiday for me, oh boy oh boy oh boy! :woohoo:

:ride: :scooter: :chase:

This is a link to the photos I took and have so far processed! http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=90415

And a tribute to the KBer known as Gremlin http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=90405

[Macktheknife]

Hope you guys have a real blast, ride safe and well. Make sure you post the photo's.

[sinfull]

Bon voyage man !! Enjoy !
Kettle is always on !

[Daffyd]

Look me up if you get as far as the Catlins. Jug's always on! :mellow:

[chester]

Hope you got ya passport :Pokey:

[Swoop]

Warp speed Mr Zulu!

[martybabe]

Bloody marvellous, have a wonderful time GI. I wouldn't presume to advise a long distance motorcycling maestro like your self but beware the camper vans and if ya see something worth looking at, stop and enjoy it mate.

I'm so jealous, God speed.

[MIXONE]

May the weather gods smile upon you.

[ElCoyote]

May you not have to cast your eyes upon Scum Dog in an unclothed state and may the roads be endless corners. PHOTO's :niceone:

[gijoe1313]

Well, the day was just made up of great riding. The early start meant the roads were clear and dry with the weather bowing to the will of the biker gods.

The soaring majesty of God's own land laid its panoramic magic upon our sight. Lush was the land, green was its suit and fresh was the air we breathed in.

The cagers were quite well behaved overall, except for the one where I nearly became a hood ornament in the pie cocks! :angry2:

Gremlin made a nuisance of himself by scaring cagers willy-nilly by doing his "crazy ivans" on his Katoom o'doom. We made good time from Auckland to Taihape, we had an early lunch stop to refresh Gremlin (who had NO sleep :yawn: prior to our trip!)

I'll let him tell his story :slap:

I had several equipment malfunctions where the frikk'n Ventura rack (which I didn't want in the FIRST place ... but certain cretins confided in me that it was necessary to have!)

fell off! Fortunately through blind chance and lady luck the pack was dangling and I managed to pull over a couple of times. Once by two rozzers at Desert Road and the other by Tokora. At Taihape, I pulled it apart and reinstalled it using the patented Honduh cheap arse tool set!

Anyway Pie cocks at Wellywood was good since we missed an earlier sailing and had to go by our original berth. Had a good meal on the boat, lasagne and Gremlin fell asleep. Poor lad he was tuckered out.

So now enscounced at Picton in a backpackers retreat I pen this missive from a laptop using a Vodafone airmodem when we could not get free wireless internets.

[trump-lady]

You rock! If you guys need a sleepout with shower, good host and a secure bike lock up lin Christchurch let me know. Parents always keen to take in strays....and its free ( u might even get BBQ) Dads a biker so also knows some good roads (and possible hook up for you if you want to go to Akaroa Penisular)

[H00dz]

It's life jim but not a we know......hve a good one

[Max Preload]

If you accidently let slip that you're from Auckland to one of them shoulder chip overloaded lot down south, they'll probably call you a 'jafa', to which the correct response is '"What's that?". Wait until they explain the acronym before saying "Oh. Never heard that one before". It really tears their nighties when they think their 'insult' doesn't even reach us!

[McJim]

If you accidently let slip that you're from Auckland to one of them shoulder chip overloaded lot down south, they'll probably call you a 'jafa', to which the correct response is '"What's that?". Wait until they explain the acronym before saying "Oh. Never heard that one before". It really tears their nighties when they think their 'insult' doesn't even reach us!

Jaffa is a kind of orange. It's seedless. Back home we call blokes that can't conceive or can't get it up Jaffas. Gerrit? Seedless - can't conceive babies :rofl:
Seems you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder though - shame, the mainland is simply gorgeous. I used to live in Auckland, I much prefer it down here.

See you soon GIJOE1313 and Gremlin.

JAFSI (Just another friendly South Islander)

[Grahameeboy]

Jaffa is a kind of orange. It's seedless. Back home we call blokes that can't conceive or can't get it up Jaffas. Gerrit? Seedless - can't conceive babies :rofl:
Seems you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder though - shame, the mainland is simply gorgeous. I used to live in Auckland, I much prefer it down here.

See you soon GIJOE1313 and Gremlin.

JAFSA (Just another friendly South Islander)

No no...Jaffas are those chocolate coated sponge bickies with sweet surgary orange jelly inside.....maybe that is the same thing....

[Grahameeboy]

JAFA is soooooooooo last year and the year before that and the years before that etc.

SOAP's is the knew term...Stressed Out Auckland Pricks. :love:

It's good that you now have TV's up there so you can keep up with stuff eh....

[Gremlin]

My mobile alarm goes off at 0730 (the agreed time). He asks for confirmation of what that was, and I confirm. He's out of bed in a flash, toiletries, opens the curtains and goes hunting for brekkie.

:yawn: I find I can start focussing with both eyes, to find him on his bed, wide awake and wondering why I am not up yet. Hell... only 20 min have passed...

Later in the morning, with breakfast consumed, and we start packing, he's cleaned his bike, lubed the chain... the bugger hasn't cleaned mine!! :eek5: I've umm... got myself ready... the scottoiler will take care of my chain.


I'll let him tell his story :slap:
I was going on holiday, and had work to be done. Finished work around 0030 (only realised it was 2009 at 0015), then proceeded to work on my bike gear, last touches to the bike, pack and generally do the stuff you do on the day before (except I was doing work instead then). As I was finishing up, 0330 rolls around. Oh well, time to have a shower and get ready...

Can you believe this... rain has started in Nelson (looks like we're in for a fun day) and he's criticising me for not starting at 0730... pffft, we weren't awake then!!

Got pictures, but too slow to load on dial up at the mo, maybe later today...

Time for some :ride: through Queen Charlotte

edit: piss off with your jafa debate... this is an actual ride thread... you know... motorcyclists riding the country :bleh:
edit2: pictures from Day 1, only mine, coz GiJoe can't organise himself, so we have no way of pulling pictures off his camera :lol:

[Maha]

edit: piss off with your jafa debate... this is an actual ride thread... you know... motorcyclists riding the country :bleh:

You are correct...I have deleted my post and apologise.

[Gremlin]

You are correct...I have deleted my post and apologise.
Careful now... you'll give me a big head thinking I wield some resemblance of power :lol:

Day 2 follows in the next post... (mine, the abridged version :D)

[Gremlin]

So as I have previously mentioned... Day 2 wasn't looking too flash, the clouds thick overhead, rain, and reading the newspaper in the morning, there were storms on the west coast on New Years day. :blink: Charming.

Duly, GiJoe makes his sacrifice to the gods, donning his rain suit. I thought I knew better and refused to put mine on, but made sure to take a while to get ready (I did get the first luggage onto a bike tho), so he boiled nicely in his. Accordingly, rain for the first 10-20km, but dry to Nelson otherwise.

Upon reaching Nelson, we were able to check into the hostel at midday, and a txt was sent to a local (who shall remain secret) to collect a couple of touring aucklanders (or is that jafas... or soaps :wacko:) and show us the best routes in the area.

The local wasn't too happy about the weather, declaring they would depart part way into the ride, due to weather. Since we had about... that much time to do it, it didn't matter what the weather was to us :done: Corners were dispatched in quick succession, with the local continuing to declare they would remain with us "so" far. :laugh:

To cut a long story short (because I am bloody sounding like Gi) the local remained with us all the way to the hostel (we must be addictive). It declared it was tired (we believe we did about 350km with the local), and couldn't imagine doing the ride, plus all the other travel we had done, and were going to do. Besides a little more rain leaving the late lunch stop, it was dry for the rest of the ride, allowing great appreciation of the roads the locals take for norm (seriously, they're fantastic).

We hunted down some dinner (there were no candles involved) and now we're preparing to sleep again. :zzzz:

edit: The local would like to be known as a nutcase nutter34
edit2: pics are up...

[tri boy]

..........:corn:........
Oh, this thread will be a goody.:2thumbsup

[Nutter34]

Mmm, yes, said local had fun...

Now I await the deluge of ridicule for NOT going to the street races...

As was stated above, a quick glance at Metvuw this morning, showed a fair day but with rain supposedly arriving late afternoon. Add to that heavy rain warnings, got me a little concerned. I'm a fair weather rider you see...

Anyhow, since my ZX10 has a radiator with a small hole in it, I managed to procure another means of transport for the day. As such, I never had any intention to get wet.

Anyhow, met the two adventurers just after mid day and we set off for Kaiteriteri. The adventurers wanted to get some photos. Once there however, they realised how busy Kaiteri is on a good day and decided to carry on, so off we went to Takaka. A very good ride, with not too much traffic on the hill, as well as a pretty good surface. Once in Takaka, it was decided to continue to Collingwood, where we had a snack and had a prolonged visit as we sat chatting...
It was decided quite quickly to return home, when the weather looked decidedly poor. As it was, we got some mild precipitation as we left but it soon cleared and once back in Takaka, it was all good.

From there on, it was all fun as we headed back over the hill and filled up outside Riwaka, then continued on and did Mot Valley highway...

All in all, a good days riding and the weather played along and gave the adventurers/tourists and awesome day out...

It was good to meet some people I'd conversed with, in person...
Have fun guys and enjoy the rest of the trip...

[gijoe1313]

Well, this morning was one of those salubrious moments where I teetered on the edge of a precipice. Gremlin is determined to be the anchor to my feet, the millstone around my neck and the one ring in the darkness to bind me! :slap:

I am of course referring to his lackadaisical and laidback approach to a riding holiday! He wishes to lie in bed and take his time and reduce the hours available for riding in a day! :nono:

The morning was filled with anticipation of the precipatation to be in declination while riding to another location ... the steeds of freedom were loaded and once we managed to head out towards Queen Charlotte Drive, the ride actually commenced. I thought we would never get there.

The roads were good, the cagers amusing (read : on our side of the road at times) and then a golden ray of sunshine burst out upon the glimmering vistas of the magnificent mainland, bestowing its jewels for us to see and experience the grandeur of it all.

A local turned up at Nelson after we had stashed away our luggage to show us the way the area should be done. The local had his own Katoom of Doom to juxtapose itself with Gremlin's stern nordic beauty of preambulation.

What a ride. Great twisties, sweeping views of the land beneath as we climbed over Takaka Hill and down into the low lands towards Collingwood. I watched Gremlin ride periously close to a barrier and it turns out he was distracted by a pretty girly walking by (he wanted to take a longer look whilst at the same time negotiating a 35kph bend at his usual KTM warp speeds)

My Big Ol'Hornet and I were content to just pootle along doing our own thing. Terrific time was spent negotiating the tight twisting lanes of freedom and admiring the scenery (while trying not to be part of it).

Now, as I type this, I ruminate and ponder the ramifications of what tomorrow may bring ... I fear I will have to resort to the old ice water on the face trick to bring Gremlin to an instant state of awareness.

Oh yes, Gremlin has found out that I am a night owl and a morning person! :whistle: :innocent:

Will be posting pics when and as possible!

Once again, thanks to the Local for his time in sharing some of the best bits of what makes SI a great place to be!
I could only watch as the KTM's sped off to wend their merry way through the twisties and scoot past the traffic. My Big Ol'Hornet had to be content with making it's own time through. I spent time on the twisties and enjoying the scenery whilst trying not to be part of it! :sweatdrop

Oh yes, Gremlin has found out that I am a night owl and a morning person and the energizer bunny all rolled into one Red Camo Pajamaed Ninja package! :innocent:

Photos to be posted when I am more organised! :o

[Nutter34]

Well, this morning was one of those salubrious moments where I teetered on the edge of a precipice. Gremlin is determined to be the anchor to my feet, the millstone around my neck and the one ring in the darkness to bind me! :slap:

I am of course referring to his lackadaisical and laidback approach to a riding holiday! He wishes to lie in bed and take his time and reduce the hours available for riding in a day! :nono:

I know how he feels, having only got to bed at 5am...

I don't know how he managed a whole day without any sleep yesterday... I'm sure by the end of the week, he'll be chipper as, early in the morning..

[Gremlin]

I'm sure by the end of the week, he'll be chipper as, early in the morning..
:killingme

He is currently complaining bitterly about how its my fault that he missed out on an estimated 3 hours of riding (his calc, I naturally dispute it), which would equate to at least 200km of riding (again, his).

What he doesn't understand, is that with a little training, he'll be stoked to sleep in, ride less than a thousand km per day, and enjoy spending time relaxing, sleeping etc. :rolleyes:

11 days left to go in his re-adjustment program :cool:

[shafty]

Well done Guys, doing what we all dream aboot, a good reminder for us all to JUST DO IT! Awesome, keep the awesome reports comin, be safe, have a BLAST!

[Max Preload]

Seems you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder though - shame, the mainland is simply gorgeous. I used to live in Auckland, I much prefer it down here.

:Offtopic: :Police:

Not in the slightest. Having worked at Edendale, Clandeboye, Timaru & Tiwai Point, I can vouch for the size of the shoulder chips down there - you get a completely different reaction when you say you're from anywhere but 'the mainland' and especially Auckland. I expect you'd never get it if you have a Scottish accent.

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me - in fact I find it pretty damned amusing just how pathetic they are about it! Many SIers are like a teenage boy with the crush on an older girl (Auckland). They'll do anything to get her attention, even insulting her for just a glance, but she's barely aware he even exists.

The south island is a nice place to visit and work for a little while, but I certainly don't want to live there long term.

[Gremlin]

Up again at some stupid time... well... when I say up, thats a bit innaccurate, more like, I leaned over to turn the phone off, at 0730, and got up just before 0800.

He's basically packed now, lubed and cleaned his bike. I've checked emails, a bit of KB, and have both eyes open.

Today is Nelson>Murchison>Westport. If the weather is ok, we'll go up to Karamea, then south to Hokitika, which is the night stop, or we can miss Karamea if we want.

:ride:

[scumdog]

The south island is a nice place to visit and work for a little while, but I certainly don't want to live there long term.

Now THAT'S the kinda talk I like to hear!!

Leaves the roads a tad less cluttered so JAFAs, SOAP's and others have a part of NZ to visit and ride on and enjoy!:bleh:

[oldrider]

Up again at some stupid time... well... when I say up, thats a bit innaccurate, more like, I leaned over to turn the phone off, at 0730, and got up just before 0800.

He's basically packed now, lubed and cleaned his bike. I've checked emails, a bit of KB, and have both eyes open.

Today is Nelson>Murchison>Westport. If the weather is ok, we'll go up to Karamea, then south to Hokitika, which is the night stop, or we can miss Karamea if we want.

:ride:

Karamea is always worth it (IMHO) just for the ride!

Always grab the chance to take the non loop rides when you can, it's amazing how difficult it is to get back another day!

IE: Karamea, Takaka hill, Glenorchy and (especially) Milford Sound etc.

Hey you guys, have a great trip, hope the weather is kind to you. :yes: Cheers, John.

[EJK]

Ooh very nice story. More photos please!

[ElCoyote]

Now THAT'S the kinda talk I like to hear!!

Leaves the roads a tad less cluttered so JAFAs, SOAP's and others have a part of NZ to visit and ride on and enjoy!:bleh:

At least we greet burglars with our clothes on:msn-wink:

[Swoop]

Got pictures
Piccie #5. Surely a skull and crossbones = pirates!

"No Pirates allowed" would have been easier to signwrite...:blip:

[EJK]

Piccie #5. Surely a skull and crossbones = pirates!

"No Pirates allowed" would have been easier to signwrite...:blip:

Why would he rob a transport ship? I mean even skinnys can comandeer multi million dollar ship full of BMWs importing to Australia. :lol:


More pics Gremlin, please.

[Gremlin]

More pics Gremlin, please.
Yeah yeah... we're usually on vodafone dialup, that works when it wants to, so I limit file size and number so some actually exist prior to the end of the trip. Today will have 10 shots, as we stopped quite a few times.

When going to bed last night, someone turned a light on outside... well... within a second, GiJoe is standing and saying he's ready to ride :crazy: You moron... we only just went to bed! "Oh". Once again, dawn came much too quickly, the bugger was trying to ride instantly, with me doing my best impressions of an anchor.

We did have a fair bit of riding to do, heading through Murchison to Westport, up the coast to Karamea, a detour to Denniston on the way south, Westport again, Punakaikai (for the rocks) and Hokitika for the night.

It started fantastically, with GiJoe (having complained about his ventura rack all trip so far) decided not to tie things down properly, and a nice motorist gained his attention, and once he pulled over, was told some gear was strewn across the road 5km back :pinch: A trip back revealed most of the gear in original condition, bar a head lamp that had done its best impression of an explosion (probably run over).

After that, it was riding, screeching to a halt to take photos, riding, photos, oh, and more riding. Good mix really, weather played ball most of the time (after two days that were supposed to be miserable, I think the biker gods are looking kindly on our adventure). Buller Gorge was mostly damp, but the roads to Karamea were dry, and FANTASTIC :woohoo:

GiJoe didn't like one stop too much, he got a little mud on him and the bike... silly clod. Bike and him are fine tho, just a bit of mud :sweatdrop

Looking forward to seeing the glacier region tomorrow. We've covered around 1800km I think, average moving speed above 80 kph. (last pic in this post was the relevant stop)

[McJim]

Never mind - you'll soon be able to post big piccies from here through the week. What format of memory card is the camoflaged one's camera?

[Gremlin]

I'm sure GiJoe will write about the day as if he were drunk or writing a novel... neither of which is true... but enjoy it nonetheless...

Here's another 4 shots from today...

Oh, and the campervan trailer was a huge setup that came in as we were fueling up (the bikes and ourselves). Pulled by a double cab modified truck, the trailer was a huge caravan... holidaying in style I guess :eek:

edit: McJim: the great pootler has an SDHC card. I'm carrying a bazillion in one reader, but it doesn't seem to read the card through a normal SD slot...

[Nutter34]

Yesterdays local is concerned...

I hope it's just a simple foot slip, causing GI to be covered in mud?

Sounds like a good day otherwise and yes, was VERY surprised by the weather today too...

Awesome pics too. I was thinking last night, we should have stopped more but generally I get carried away and just keep going, lol. Of course, you guys won't be here again any time soon. My apologies...

[gijoe1313]

The day started it as began with all the others with Gremlin. I was getting things done and being set for an early start ... little did I realise this was merely a fantasy I was entertaining (among many other sordid fantasies, but I digress! :o)

After a long night of listening in to some loud Americans talking about their sex lives, Gremlin was in no mood to wake up and actually do anything remotely useful like packing ... :slap:

Eventually we got out and rode to Karamea and boy was the ride a doozy. The roads out were a combination of undulating curves and like a plate of spaghetti that reminded me of a sexy women, enticing me with it's hedonistic and langurous come hither attitude. The sweep of the Buller Gorge area was a magical experience, transporting my mortal frame into another frame of reference. The sights, the sounds and the feedback my Big Ol'Hornet captivated my rider's soul and I could lap up the manna that was bestowed by the roading engineers who must have been bikers in a previous life ...

The short spells of rain only served as an apertif for the glorious riding ahead ... the trip to Karamea was an uphill duel with the sinuous snaking of curves in proflific abundance.

Gremlin and I could not refrain our enthusisasm and using our Comm units we exclaimed at various times "Yahooo!" "Wooohooohooo!" and other assorted utterances.

The combination of the riding, terrain and scenery enticed Gremlin to greater heights of riding legend ... he flicked his Katoom o'doom with wild abandon ... even when we were stationary he still managed to do devastation with his weapon of choice.

Case in point : I was parked on the side of a road, whilst Gremlin was taking his multitude of digital remembrances for posterity. He then proceeded to fire up his allegiance to the riding weapons of mass destruction and tore up lichen and moss, which were probably decades in the growing ... in a large arc, it was a perfect parabola of muck, which ended up splattering over me and my Big Ol'Hornet .. :pinch: I could see what was going to happen and I tried to hit the intercom button ... but Gremlin's mastery of twisting the wrist meant I was way too late.

Splat. Thud. I ended up wiping off bits of decades old lichen and moss off my visor. I was nonplussed and for a few moments I watched him roar off into the hills with the sound of his exhaust notes ringing off the walls of the cliffs. A symphony of chaos, of which he was the maestro conducting a ride to merry hell.

Eventually we rode back to take in the sights of Denniston, a shortish ride that encapsulated the addictive inducement to ride the South Island. Twisties, switchbacks, snaking lefts and rights with blind crests, drops and all the technical elements that makes a rider's blood thrill. Not me ... nuh uh, I was riding like a nana and graduating to Grandpa status. I could only shake my head as my forks compressed, the suspension diving, revs keeping my Big Ol'Hornet and I upright.

A mockery of the hills was Gremlin making. He threw his gauntlet down and chattered, swooped, backed, wheelied and all sorts of illegal biking manuevers that show the artiste and skill he has (He will hate me for this, but anything that gets his goat is a good thing for me! :msn-wink:) A pity I could snatch glimpses of this as I was merely trying to not end up in the scenery! :o

The ride to Pancake rocks was marked with the usual fiasco that is becoming our combined trademark. Gremlin pulls up in a layby to take photos of the famous NZ landmark ... about 5km too early from the actual touristy location! :thud: I entertained the people there in the usual Red Ninja camo pajamas and I enjoyed the double-takes that was in plain evidence.

gijoe1313 ... making people's lives surrealistic ever since he became a biker!

Well, all fun and games eventually come to an end and we had to make tracks to our hostel accomodation for the night and find sustenance to keep us from tearing strips out of one another! :bleh:

Anyway, looking back over this post I have realised I have once again gone over the top with my allegorical allusions of verbosity and delusions of grandeur.

This is what happens when an English teacher is on a riding holiday! :innocent:

[Nutter34]

Aaah, it all becomes clear...

Yes, I'm sure the Katoom was quite happy to be tossing lychon and moss, celebrating it's motard roots...

Glad to hear it was as simple as that, the mud etc, lol...

[trump-lady]

so g;ad u didnt hit the hail storms dad reported in chch. I told him some ragga muffin bikers were coming and that u both are retarded. LOL. Told him bout your trip so far and he figures he wont put the blow up bed as u two will be too knackered by the time you arrive to care about sharing a queen in the sleepout (which used to be mine) When u get there no stories ok!

happy riding and I await more..........

[Gremlin]

... and that u both are retarded. LOL.
I assume I'm just by association? he's the retarded one :lol:

I should probably point out to readers that any sentences with Gremlin in it, posted by GiJoe should simply be ignored, its all lies or vastly over-exaggerated.

I have also been wondering if I should try to find his limits... even when arriving in our destination, he's talking about riding some more. I think he's just trying to keep up appearances, but if I did attempt to find (and break) his limits... I fear I may not survive the attempt :crazy:

[gijoe1313]

Well I let Gremlin get his posts in first. Everything he says in his posts are under-exaggerated! He is trying to be incognito and I am outing him to the harsh glare of the KB world. Everyone knows I am a fruit selection short of a picnic basket ... but I am finding new disturbing facets of Gremlin's complicated character...

This morning, I let the poor cherub sleep in till 8am before I greeted him with a musical interlude with Elderweiss mispronounced since he let slip that he had viewed "The sound of music" during new years eve while not packing for his trip! :doh:

He promptly tried to get out of bed. But couldn't. And then I thought he was joking. He wasn't. There was a depression the shape of Gremlin imitating a sinkhole the size of Rotorua.

I am now packed, have cleaned my Big Ol'Hornet, lubed his chain and have been dressed for riding since the last half hour. Gremlin is still wearing cargo pants, a casual shirt and sans boots since yesterdays walking at Pancake rocks showed him how seriously inadequate they were for strolling in! :msn-wink:

End of ninja log. More to come. I may have to kill him, roll his body into a ditch, kick the Katoom over on him as a tombstone and continue journey at pace and distance more suited to my pootling ... i.e. 1000km a day! :weep:

[snapperman]

enjoy the ride guys! Hokitika, great place for a skydive., and make sure you ride the buller gorge at some stage..great road!

[Jantar]

Keep the stories and pics coming. This is great.

Where are Tuesday's and Wednesday's routes? I just happen to have those days off work. :ride:

[oldrider]

Will keep an eye out for you if you are in our territory, could hardly miss you in that "loud" camo outfit! :shit:

I am enjoying your trip, hope your guys are as much as me. :lol: Cheers, John.

[Gremlin]

and make sure you ride the buller gorge at some stage..great road!
Yep, done the Buller Gorge already. Unfortunately it was a little damp, and raining in some places, but still a fantastic piece of road as always.


Where are Tuesday's and Wednesday's routes? I just happen to have those days off work. :ride:
Tuesday-Thursday, we're based with McJim, and it will be day rides. One is Milford Sound, another is the Catlins (and hopefully meeting that coppa of the south - clothed). Nothing specific for the other, maybe you have suggestions? What we do on which day depends on what the weather is in the areas.

Always good meeting KB'ers, especially when you're not going to see them regularly :2thumbsup

[Gremlin]

Yes readers... today I found his limit... well, not his endurance for riding, but the surfaces he was able to ride on. I'm sure he'll rabbit on about how its my fault (soooo predictable :rolleyes:) but I never forced him down the beach... urrr... did I say beach, I meant stone, to the potential photo spot.

Well, he followed me, except he changed the plans a little, when he wanted to see the soft sand up REAL close... :weep: I look in my mirrors, to see a rather stumped gijoe standing looking at his bike. This causes me to stop, which makes me lose my own momentum (He even said he thought... if you get stuck too... then we're really stuffed).

By the time I had got out of the sand, turned around and found some stones to park on, he had already tried to lift his bike without success. Very tempting to take a picture of his baby lying in the sand, but priorities. First the bike is lifted, THEN pictures taken. GiJoe is not happy at his poor decisions, leaving me howling with laughter on the beach, and choking on my drink.

His enthusiasm now somewhat diminished, we leave Okarito, and head to our next stop, Franz Josef. Check in, bags dropped, a late lunch consumed (skipped breakfast) and we headed out to the Glaciers. Access roads were used to get closer for photos and then it was on to Gillespie Beach. Lots of gravel riding, great shots and then we returned to Franz Josef for dinner and the backpackers.

Great moments for the day:
- GiJoe delaying our start by a good half hour to look through a store (he has even admitted fault)
- GiJoe saying he had a great day, when in reality, we covered around 300km :lol: (the re-adjustment is back on track)
- When heading out for the glacier ride, I said yep, we're going, and he was ready in minutes. He then had to wait for half an hour while I uploaded extra routes to the gps, packed the gear away, got geared up, equipped the bike etc. I then mis-placed items, meaning it took even longer to get going. That poor little pootler was soooooo frustrated :killingme

Tomorrow is a longer day, we're travelling to Invercargill to meet up with McJim, around 6 hours and 500+ km of riding (not including stops).

He's still muttering about filling his sand with bike, urrr, bike with sand :D

[Gremlin]

Here's another 3 pics... yay for 3G in Franz Josef... you wonder how people survived when back on dial up.

[trump-lady]

looks soooooooooo good. Great Pictures....poor GIJOE. You shoulda got the pic though lol

[EJK]

Beautiful! :sunny:

Thats the spirit GIJustin!!! :niceone:

[gijoe1313]

The day started with so much promise, I would be looking forward to more riding and in places that I had and not been before!

The stay at Jade Mountain was pleasant the night before, there were three Israelian ladies kicking up a ruckus in the dorm. They were doing all in wrestling and the noogie noogie to one another! Very funny and Gremlin and I was bemused. Happy times.

This day, I shall skip past all the usual quips, asides and homilies I am accustomed to making. The lack of riding milage that I normally do was today punished severely by the Biking Gods - I was responsible for my poor Big Ol'Hornet apparently binning into the sand, even though it was stationary at the point of horizontal impact with the ground :weep:

This certainly put a damper on my day and I could only replay the event over and over in my head. I couldn't really get into the rest of the riding after that! Very unusual for me. Once again, I chose to ignore the blatant warning my inner voice and intuition (okay, one of the many voices that clamour for attention in my head :whistle:)

The conversation at Okarito beach began as I recall many days before, Gremlin was insistent on showing me the maps and get me to look at that place. I must have already known something was up as I was determined not to even look at the place!

As we pulled up to the place of my latest riding fiasco with Gremlin, we spoke something along these lines ...

Gremlin : "Do you want to ride across there?"
gijoe1313 : "No."
Gremlin : "Oh come on, it will make a great picture!"
gijoe1313 : "This is a bad idea."

And thus it went, he roared off on his Katoom o'doom making a mockery of the usual slippery substances that is anaethema to two wheeled riding steeds.

All during this time as I throttled on following him ... (:slap:) ... my mind was screaming in technocolour and multiple alarm bells "I have a bad feeling about this" A classic Star Wars quote. Then the next thought on my mind was a statement that I have oft used and even mentioned to Trump Lady. "Always do what you fear most to do, confront your fear you must" (yes, more Star Wars) and this was a definite leap of faith. So of course, me being me - I did the classic Avanti! And proceeded forward, to live and die by my words!

Anyhow all was well until I got to the aforementioned spot whereupon my forward velocity and egress resulted in a delineated non-progessional physical moment, which terminated with my poor Big Ol'Hornet slowly toppling over.

It was officially tired already from the demands of my usual pootling and was now rebelling at the idea of anymore nonsensical riding moments!

I was holding the bike up for what seemed an eternity. I even had time to look over at Gremlin ... his back ... as I laboured to keep it upright, my left hand slipped and ended up punching the horn button, a low wailing note as it berated me for being a plonker of an owner! :o

Now, I am not a weak man by any stretch, I was nonplussed at why I could not keep holding my cherished pride and joy up ... things were slipping, sliding and in the end, it was a slow motion slide into the usual daily fare of KB postings! :pinch:

The stupid packrack which zeocen, Gremlin and others said I must have was the final straw that placed my baby on the deck :crybaby: I truly do not understand why people say they have to have all this frikk'n gear. I only wanted to bring one light backpack for the two weeks of my travels. Tomorrow, I will be bunging a lot of the stuff I brought into a courier box and sending it back to Auckland! :angry2: (this of course, was against my usual intuition of always travelling as light as possible and in the first two days of my journey, my initial thoughts were of course correct!)

Anyhow, Gremlin once he had stopped laughing came over to help. The rest is kismet and destined to be placed into the "One of the many stupid things I have done in my life and will keep doing" chapters.

As for the Big Ol'Hornet, it started up just fine, I got it back to the hostel in Franz Josef just fine (and after taking it through twisty gravels - as a tribute to Trump Lady).

The tramp to Franz Josef glacier was a quick stroll for me, I utilised hiking techniques I had read many years and practised long ago to propel me past the milling throngs to gaze upon the gifts of nature bestowed upon New Zealand for safe keeping. Photos quickly taken and then a quicker ride to Fox Glacier. A chance encounter with Carla, a southern KBer was cool and Danny from Botany Honda was of course a great illumination to me. I had an epiphany at that glacier.

I was given the middle ground of high highs and the low lows at a level that makes biking so special to us. The people, the places and the events that we take part in is what gives us some sort of order in the chaos that marks our time in this physical plane, as our global sphere hurtles its way through the cosmos and the minute motes of molecules that are assembled in the ways that allows us to experience our impact in our spatial-time continuum.

It's life Jim, but not as we know it.

I envisage that there will be more preposterous situations and even more ludicrous postings to be had before the end of this trip! :lol: I have found Gremlin to be an incredible source of strange and weird happenings. With the combination of our erratic, random and seemingly strange energies, there never seems to be a dull moment, hardly ever a serious moment and above all .. the opportunity of more riding.

Gremlin rides like a demi-god, for such a young lad he has a wealth of experience of riding and plays his black beauty of burnished brazeness like a virtuoso. I am content to ride in his wake and behold the mayhem he oozes on and off the bike! :sweatdrop

This is ninja log 5 signing off ... today is a new day to ride! (and by the biking gods, I hope this is a more than 500km day! They have been few and far between for me on this trip! I had aimed to do 1000km a day for 14 days!)

To recap :

1. Get rid of the excess luggage
2. Get rid of the packrack when back at Dorkland
3. Smack Gremlin, zeocen for recommending packrack
4. Ride more. Ride, much, much, much more
5. Smack myself
6. Repeat steps 3 and 5 repeatedly
7. Do step 4 as much as possible

Anyone who gets to this point is to be congratulated!

[Swoop]

(the re-adjustment is back on track)
Do you think it is possible to get him up to the stage of an 11am wakeup???:rofl:

P.S. The Israeli ladies were probably doing their combat PT, since they will be on standby for Gaza!

[Gremlin]

Do you think it is possible to get him up to the stage of an 11am wakeup???:rofl:
Unfortunately, the chances of this are looking slim...

The alarm rang at 0730, like always, except I turned it off, looked towards his bed... empty, oh well :yawn: rolled over

He comes in, says I should get up. Apparently he woke up at 0500, went back to sleep, woke again at 0530, felt energised so went off and had a walk and shower, all before 0700, so he just hung around.

I came out of the shower around 0830, to find him all packed and ready to go. Right now, he's not showing the anguish as usual, but I bet me surfing KB and emails etc is killing him on the inside, as I am carefully not showing any visable signs of being ready in 30 minutes...

:wari:

[gijoe1313]

Well, I see Gremlin's last post and the preceding ones have started to validate my conspiracy theory. It is a plot by KBers to throw an anchor around my pootling ways.

I woke up early to satisfy my wanderlust, I resisted getting on the Big Ol'Hornet for fear if I started riding, I would never return back for Gremlin :innocent:

But I realise all things happen in life for random purpose, synchronocity and all that. Gremlin is my touchstone where I need to learn some lessons from. What, I am not entirely sure ...

In turn, I am sure I am Gremlin's touchstone for him to learn some from lessons. What, I am not entirely sure ...

The time is now coming close to the agreed departure time of 9.30am. He is still in cargo pants, casual shirt and bare feet :slap: :thud:

Never mind, at least sometime there will be some riding involved ... I do so love to ride :love:

Riding? Yes?

Riding? Yes?

Riding? Yes?

This is the conversation I have just now had with Gremlin.

I think you get the gist of the theme ... :eek:

[zeocen]

If you have had the packrack earlier and learnt to ride with excess luggage like any SANE tourer, you would have been fine in every single time the "pack rack" failed you.

Yeah, I put it in quotes because we all know you failed the pack rack.

LRN2TOUR, if you take the pack rack off when you get home I'm just going to come by at night and put it back on :P

[madbikeboy]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (Camo Ninja fan)

[portokiwi]

:rockon: Great going soo far guys. Look forward to the updates. I cant belive how far the glacers have recided back since I did that trip on the bike (mind you that was way back in 1990):Oops::2thumbsup have fun.

[Swoop]

Well, I see Gremlin's last post and the preceding ones have started to validate my conspiracy theory. It is a plot by KBers to throw an anchor around my pootling ways.
Quite untrue! "Pootling ways" are a North Island phenomenom (boop doo da loodle).
Their powers in the South Island are innefective. You must learn different powers... possibly those that contain plenty of "rrrrr's" so that you will be held in high esteem when in Gorrrre!

[Jantar]

Tuesday-Thursday, we're based with McJim, and it will be day rides. One is Milford Sound, another is the Catlins (and hopefully meeting that coppa of the south - clothed). Nothing specific for the other, maybe you have suggestions? What we do on which day depends on what the weather is in the areas.

looking at the weather forecast, I would suggest Catlins/Riveria of the south on Tuesday and Milford on Wednesday.

Wednesday looks like fine at Milford till mid-afternoon.

[Daffyd]

looking at the weather forecast, I would suggest Catlins/Riveria of the south on Tuesday and Milford on Wednesday.

Wednesday looks like fine at Milford till mid-afternoon.

I'd second that.

[Lucy]

1. Get rid of the excess luggage
2. Get rid of the packrack when back at Dorkland
!


Agreed. I use a couple of soft pannier bags, no bigger than when I toured the South Island on a pushbike.

But for me it may be a genetical thing. My Mum took some of my siblings to Europe in the 70s and they took a backpack the size of a day pack each.

Too much luggage is like a millstone around the neck.

This is a fantastic thread. I'm loving it!

:clap:

[trump-lady]

Then the next thought on my mind was a statement that I have oft used and even mentioned to Trump Lady. "Always do what you fear most to do, confront your fear you must" (yes, more Star Wars) and this was a definite leap of faith.





As for the Big Ol'Hornet, it started up just fine, I got it back to the hostel in Franz Josef just fine (and after taking it through twisty gravels - as a tribute to Trump Lady).



I trusted you and your wisdom..... you should only do what you fear most when guided by someone sane......... and wakes before 7am

welcome to my world GIJOE king pootler and forest god lol

[Gremlin]

LRN2TOUR, if you take the pack rack off when you get home I'm just going to come by at night and put it back on :P
it gets worse, I suspect he is going to try and get rid of it all while in Invercargill (courier it back to auckland, along with the gear he "doesn't need"), and get himself a backpack instead. Ironic then that I am usually carrying some of his gear :laugh:

looking at the weather forecast, I would suggest Catlins/Riveria of the south on Tuesday and Milford on Wednesday.

Wednesday looks like fine at Milford till mid-afternoon.
Just been looking at the weather, and yes, I was suspecting I would do it that way around. We may delay by a day, depending on what we want to do where etc, but I'll discuss with the pootler tonight

[Gremlin]

We have arrived safely in Invercargill and welcomed by our favourite ducati-riding scot. Insults were made about his ducati, threats were made about gardens, and it was almost like when he was back in auckland :first:

Hoses and buckets were offered and gratefully accepted, and gijoe and I set down to clean the bikes (mcjim did start gijoe's, but thats not the done thing is it? Or is it? :clap:), while mcjim chucked some meat on the bbq in our honour (or did he just want meat, and we were a good excuse? We did leave him the huge steak) and chickadee prepared a fantastic feast. GiJoe was pedantic as always with his cleaning, I cleaned mine for the first time in about 4000km. Can't clean it too much, otherwise it might think its entitled to it :nono: We have covered about 2800km on the trip already, at the completion of Day 5.

The trip south was relatively uneventful, and beautiful (photos will follow later this evening) down the coast and through Haast Pass. It was relatively boring after Wanaka, besides a strip I have forgotten the name of already. The barren hills were in stark contrast to the lush west coast, but with bays for chain fitting, I would imagine the winters would vary just a little :crazy:

We have been lucky with the weather so far, able to keep a moving average speed above 83kph, but from the looks of the forecasts, our luck may run out tomorrow, but we will alter the day trips accordingly.

Photos to follow later this evening.

edit: pics are up

[Sharry]

Fantastic guys :Punk:
What a great holiday. Your pics and write ups are fab.

jijoe1313:shifty: you must not delay in taking Gremlin to the nearest emergency department and insisting on him having a blood transfusion laced with caffeine. He will henceforth be alive and bouncing with you at 0530 and fully charged for 1,000kms of riding.

Waiting for the next intallment:corn:

[Daffyd]

It was relatively boring after Wanaka, besides a strip I have forgotten the name of already. The barren hills were in stark contrast to the lush west coast, but with bays for chain fitting, I would imagine the winters would vary just a little :crazy:



That would be the Crown Range.

[Jantar]

Let us know when you are doing the Catlins. I'll come down to meet you at Balclutha.

[McJim]

Let us know when you are doing the Catlins. I'll come down to meet you at Balclutha.

They'll be there tomorrow - I'm in the process of organising cuppas in Papatowai and Balclutha at the moment.

[Jantar]

Perfect. I'm about 90 minutes from Balclutha, so I'll just carry on down the Catlins road till I meet a couple of Hondas (and a Virago perhaps?) coming the other way.

[McJim]

Perfect. I'm about 90 minutes from Balclutha, so I'll just carry on down the Catlins road till I meet a couple of Hondas (and a Virago perhaps?) coming the other way.

Gremlin is on a Katoom. ETA Papatowai 10-10:30ish ETA Balclutha 11-12ish

[gijoe1313]

Well the day began as it has once again like all the others. I was already waiting and packed and ready for more riding.

I spent the time watching Happy Feet on the hostel's SKY connection and the start of another film by the time Gremlin was almost out of his casual shirt, cargo pants and bare feet. Wait, I have posted stuff like this before. I am caught in Groundhog's Day mixed with Deja Vu and Kafka. :blink:

As per usual, the fantastic riding in the South Island was enough to carry my troubles away, I left my doldrums in the depressions of the low glacier lands of Haast, a blast at last through those gates which marks the spectacular march of natures splendour. The roar of water was akin to the roar of the air rushing over one's bike helmet. The sniff of water released from centuries of being locked in ice also touched a primodial energy in one's soul. A celestial orchestral of elements combining into one mellifluous symphony of beauty. :love:

The previous ills of the day was purged by the riding through South Islands paen to natural perfection.

The twisties was interlaced with a stop in Wanaka to pick up a pillion passenger who appreciates the fine art of motorcycling. AngelKwan was there waiting by the beach foreshore and eager to attend to the sights, sounds and experiences of a few days riding with gijoe1313 and Gremlin. The Big Ol'Hornet took the challenge in stride and with a buzz, tackled the tight twisties of switchbacks leading out from Wanaka to Invercargill. Destination Castle McJim and Chickadee's demesne.

Gremlin's use of the comms was helpful when it came to the overtaking, he was point man and weighed all factors into consideration. I ride like a nana. I had extra weight on board and the lay of the terrain. All this made for the typical biking journey, which invigorated my senses. :woohoo:

Towards the end of the ride, the extra effort told on the Big Ol'Hornets endurance, the reserve light coming on 30kms short of Invercargill - but like a real trooper carried on and deposited on tired Angel who had fallen asleep on my back. Not a problem, I saw it as an opportunity to smooth out my riding style to ensure she carried on snoozing peacefully. :yawn:

The hospitality that has always been the hallmark of McJim and Chickadee was mightily appreciated. I commented on the fact that I missed the random visits to their house in Auckland when I was out and about pootling (as you do). I settled into that most important of duties, cleaning my Big Ol'Hornet, akin to the pony express riders of olde when they would sort their steed out first before themselves (this is an important point that the Biking Gods notice).

Dinner was fit for a king, sizzled slabs of steak masterfully rendered into textured tastes of heaven was done by McJim, Chickadee laid on the sides which complemented the meal perfectly. Nothing beats a home cooked meal when on the road as those pony express riders of yore all knew. I was resolved to repay the favour and cook a meal for tomorrow to repay the kindness.

And yet there was more to come, more riding! Angel jumped for joy and clapped her hands when she heard we were heading out again! Truly I admire her spirit and esprit de corp for biking. McJim led us to a Mobil servo to top off the tanks and then he showed us around Invercargill. The beach, Teretonga racetrack, Honda shop, Burt Munro's Fastest Indian residing at the hardware shop. Also I got to ride the Duchess and McJim my Big Ol'Hornet (I put the bling LED lights on just for him :msn-wink:)

Most triumphant and clarion is the throaty growl of the Ducati, she gruffly powered her way through the night streets and wondered about the temerity of this strange interloper riding her around, McJim was easily riding the Big Ol'Hornet - his previous experience on the Duchess serving him excellently.

Alas, all good things come to an end and we returned back to Castle McJim, speckled spatters of rain foreshadowing the foreboding thought that rain will infect the rides to come (to me, of course, riding in the rain is still good since it's riding!)

As I sit here at the keyboard, ruminating on the experience so far I have made a to do list ..

1. Cook breakfast for tomorrow, menu : Mushrooms and gravy on toast, French Toast with baked beans.
2. Get to the Postshop and send back to Auckland half the stuff I have.
3. Disturb Gremlin again early as possible.
4. Riding.
5. Do step 4 as much as possible.

So now, I have an Angel at my back for a few days, the charismatic presence of McJim and his regaling way of relating stories in his Scottish bonhomie lilt, Chickadee's commensensical approach to the mad caperings of fellow bikers and Gremlin's perchance for performing astounding feats of outlandish chutzpah - on and off the bike!

Mmmm, I do so like hawt asian biker babes! :love:

[Gremlin]

We will be riding the Catlins, and a-visiting KB'ers in Papatowai and Balclutha.

McJim has estimated an hour to paps, and then another hour to balclutha, and we plan to leave at 0930, so aiming for paps at 1030 to meet daffyd, and then balclutha an hour after we leave paps to meet 'n greet another.

Jantar will be met somewhere along the way I guess, we have no idea what we're looking for, hell, we're tourists :whistle: (I'll pm you my cell, probably easiest)

pics have been uploaded, 4 to this post, and another 6 to my prior post.

[gijoe1313]

We will be riding the Catlins, and a-visiting KB'ers in Papatowai and Balclutha.

McJim has estimated an hour to paps, and then another hour to balclutha, and we plan to leave at 0930, so aiming for paps at 1030 to meet daffyd, and then balclutha an hour after we leave paps to meet 'n greet another.

Jantar will be met somewhere along the way I guess, we have no idea what we're looking for, hell, we're tourists :whistle: (I'll pm you my cell, probably easiest)

pics have been uploaded, 4 to this post, and another 6 to my prior post.

I will be mightily impressed and I think hell froze over, a 3 headed goat was born in Alexandra, the government will actually make decisions beneficial to its citizens and other apocalyptic omens presaging the end of the world.

Gremlin was muttering things about how we have nothing to pack, we have people we need to meet and other such sensible ravings.

I shall see if this occurs or not.

I shan't be holding my breath :oi-grr:

[gijoe1313]

If you have had the packrack earlier and learnt to ride with excess luggage like any SANE tourer, you would have been fine in every single time the "pack rack" failed you.

Yeah, I put it in quotes because we all know you failed the pack rack.

LRN2TOUR, if you take the pack rack off when you get home I'm just going to come by at night and put it back on :P

Screw it, I have already said my piece on this, as soon as I get back to Auckland I am whipping it off and putting back the original grab rail. Pfft. I cannot believe I wasted time and effort on this particular issue!!

I have pootled to parts and places without needing an iota of the plethora of panoply of stuff that people purport to need. When I saw other bikers with the stacks of luggage on their bikes, it only confirmed my own entrenched views.

You. Don't. Need. As. Much. As. You. Think.

I will do this tour again to the South Island with one light backpack like I wanted to originally! On this trip I am reminded continually about the exploits of an old Trumpie rider doing Australia with the barest amount of equippage. If he can do 30 000 miles with only two saddlebags ... why the hell do you have to have 15 damn kilos to do NZ? Now that's insane!

I really hate to do my ninja stomp technique to mount my bike, I love the feeling of sweeping my leg in a roundhouse fluid movement and straddling my velocity impeller. It is that feeling, which I so dearly love that is missing on this trip. All because of a hunk of metal, which is superfluous to the needs of my journey in the South Island!

[Gremlin]

As he has clearly stated... yep, he has sent some stuff back to Auckland...

It looks like he can't hack this touring stuff... something I never thought I would say :no:

[Gremlin]

As has been previously mentioned, we planned to ride the Catlins. Meetings were arranged with today's guest bikers, Daffyd and Jantar was riding down to meet us as well... (are we a popular side show or something? :lol:)

GiJoe had made his usual sacrifice to the gods and we only left 10 min late, and heading towards Papatowai and Daffyd. Initially we doubted McJim's statement of awesome roads, with straight after boring straight. But then we turned off onto another road... and came across a rather nice road sign... There had been a few spots on the visor, and the clouds were threatening to make a bath look dry, but hardly another drop touched our visors for the rest of the day.

From there, it was pure fun. Papatowai came much to early, and when we got there, I couldn't even send a txt to Jantar... there is no mobile reception. After meeting and chatting to Daffyd, Jantar appears on the road, and comes down the drive.

We are then treated to a South Island escort, to meet the most famous of KB cops (along more fantastic roads). After swapping stories (they know of a traffic light a few towns over, and their one roundabout was removed a few years ago) we are warned about the traffic, recommended a place for lunch, and Daffyd leads us there.

After lunch, Daffyd regretfully announces his departure, as he had other things to do, and Jantar decides he better just show the tourists some more roads, as we simply can't just go back the same way, now can we? Thanks to his local knowledge (gravel roads, and too many normal roads to count) the 150km trip from Balclutha to Invercargill is turned into 220 odd km of fun.

We ended up travelling back via Florence Hill anyway, as we couldn't bypass that without a photo, and tootled to Daffyd as we passed, as he had already got home :lol: (Unfortunately couldn't stop again, as we had promised to be making the dinner - ok, fine, GiJoe was making the dinner).

Home after another trip, more than 3100km has passed since I left Auckland, and coming into invercargill I realised with shock, that we are basically half way through the trip (end of day 6, of 13)

The sniveller pootler is still crying about the minimal distance travelled... he obviously isn't very sociable. I mean, how often do you see people from the other end of the country? (GiJoe shouldn't answer this :rolleyes:).

This post has tried to compete with GiJoe standards, and we need to leave at 5am tomorrow for the Milford Sound trip (which means an even more stupid waking hour) so to bed I go.

Enjoy the pics. :ride:

[TOTO]

Oh my god , you guys are having good fun. cant believe I discover the thread just now.

Happy pootles, and I'm interersted in that pack rack of yours GiJoe when you get back in dorkland.

Shiney side up and happy pootles again.

[Jantar]

...The sniveller pootler is still crying about the minimal distance travelled......

Its his own bloody fault. I did offer to show you both a totally different way home that would have added another on 100 kms or so, and taken you over another of the famous routes in the Motorcycle Atlas. But the sniveller pootler wanted to get back in time to cook tea. :devil2:

Anyway it was great riding with guys and by the time I travelled 7/8 of the way to Invercargill to meet up with you, I did manage a moderate 540 kms for the day. :clap:

[zeocen]

it gets worse, I suspect he is going to try and get rid of it all while in Invercargill (courier it back to auckland, along with the gear he "doesn't need"), and get himself a backpack instead. Ironic then that I am usually carrying some of his gear :laugh:

Yup, everywhere him and I go together it's "Can I put my helmet in your top box?" "We have to take this over to xx, can I put yy in your top box?" "Man why didn't you bring your top box? We so could have used it right now!"

Maybe if *I* get rid of *my* luggage he'll see the importance of it! :innocent:

[Daffyd]

It was great to meet up with the guys, (and gal,) had a good ride over to Balclutha, the wee Virago had the best workout it's had in a while.

Unfortunately, I had to leave them in the Riviera of the South as I had some pressing engagements, but did see them as they passed on their return trip.

Despite expressing my surprise at them not tearing each others' throats out, they really do seem to get on quite well.

Ride well, ride safe.

[trump-lady]

WWWWhhhere areeeeeeeee u guysssssssssssss

[gijoe1313]

Well, the usual feet dragging and slackjawed reaction by Gremlin yesterday was par for the course. Gremlin has done a spiffing job relating all the main points from yesterday! :yes:

I think I only yelled and blamed him a half dozen times instead of the hundred or so times as per normal.

For a change of pace I will now turn this post into a cooking episode and relate the carnage performed in Chickadee's kitchen (which she so nicely relinquished to me for the evening!)

McJim, Gremlin, Angel and I had previously went and purchased supplies from a supermarket and I got to preparing the ingredients for the dinner yesternight.

Basically the bill of fare was :

Stir fried beef and veges (garlic marinade, soya sauce, sugar, salt & pepper, paprika)
Deep fried wontons
Stir fried noodles
Rice
Seashells and mixed veges for the wee 'uns
Beef bolonaise

Gremlin was made useful in the kitchen by being an extra pair of hands and doing the bum boy chores. Chickadee, a domestic house goddess already had plenty of the culinary skills to help prepare the base materials.

Angel, befitting her culture and background made wonton after wonton ready for the deep frying. The wontons were very popular, the two batches I prepared from the hot oil resulted in only 5 left before the meal even started! :lol: Goes well with sweet thai chilli sauce.

Things were boiled, sauteed, fried, panstirred, drained, steamed, chopped, diced, mixed and all the other techniques associated with providing a full stomach.

My upbringing means I actually miss cooking when I don't get to do it for a while, also it was a good chance to repay back Chickadee and McJim for the kindness and open home they have always provided me! (and at this point Gremlin)

Dessert was a delicious banana chocolate cake made by Chickadee and French Vanilla ice cream.

I've given up posting about riding, since we seem to do so little of it on this trip! I do recall gravel, some twisties, meeting Daffyd and Jantar and Scumdog ... I think Jantar is the SI equivalent of Ixion and the awesome plans Daffyd wants to do later is inspiring! Scumdog proved that the Police do have more interesting work stories! :yes:

Was awesome meeting a few of the colourful characters of SI KBers! As for me killing Gremlin, I have decided to await for an opportunity to increase the pain he will suffer before it happens! :devil2:

[McJim]

Well the intrepid travellers made their merry way to Milford sound today - I have seen the pictures.

[Ixion]

Ah so. AngelKwan eh?. Asleep on Mr Joe's back. Practically, that is to say, in his arms. The news of this Angel binti will promptly be relayed to Mama San. It will be a great relief to her.

Full (meaning FULL) details of said Angel will be required ASAP for due consideration by the mah jong group. (And does Trump Lady know about AngelKwan ?)

I must go spread the gossip. Sounds like Mr Joe's carefree pootling days may be numbered.

[Gremlin]

The sparrows were still in lala land, when my alarm went off at 0400 this morning. Lying in was sooo tempting (but altogether predictable).

Haste was made to get ready, a quick breakfast of toast and spaghetti/eggs, and on with the gear. We were under strict instructions to leave at 0500, don't bother if you leave at 0515 (one has to ask, just how crucial is riding huh? :rolleyes:). We were finally ready at 0510.

It seems like our luck has decided to go on holiday like us, so while it was perfectly natural for GiJoe to don his rainsuit for the first portion of the trip, even I did so, and a good thing it was indeed, as it only stopped raining around 1100. Gas was purchased in Invercargill, leaving a non-stop run to Te Anau, and because of the bad weather and slightly delayed departure, we took the main route. This was a bad decision for one wascully wabbit, who didn't get out of my way, and literally got a boot and footpeg up its arse when it tried to race me. GiJoe reported seeing it limping/wobbling to the roadside and falling into a ditch. Making good time, we arrived in Te Anau shortly before 0700 (when the gas station opens) and were able to take the last two premium pumps while we waited for them to open.

The trick for doing Milford Sound is to be the first vehicles on the road so you get a clean run. Coaches and buses are not allowed prior to 0900 (when the homer tunnel lights start operation) so you get out before everyone else, get your pics etc, and then head back while everyone is going there. It didn't stop raining. The roads were slippery. Just north of the homer tunnel, the roads were ridiculously slippery, I can only imagine it was diesel and small stones, as we were tiptoeing through, and the bikes were still sliding.

The obligatory photos of clouds and rain were taken, and we realised we sorta fitted in with the rest of the tourists, as our rainsuits didn't differ too much from their jackets and gear :lol: I counted I had 5 layers on my upper body, and 3 pairs of gloves. Warm as toast (bit too warm for the visor) and dry as a bone. Not too bad, better than being wet right through.

Heading back to Te Anau, the weather started playing ball, the roads dried up, and we wanted to take our rainsuits off. Lunch was Miles' Pies (delicious :2thumbsup) and then it was back to Invercargill via Manapouri and Tuataupere (pootler wanted sausages, then he bludged space in the top box for them... typical). I discovered the value of chest armour, when a bird presumably commited suicide head on into my chest (all I saw was an incoming bird, then feathers, then quiet again). Chest armour took the entire hit, and all I had was the impact pushing me back a little.

Upon entering Manapouri, I even managed to avoid a cyclist trying to carry out their death wish. Heading towards a blind right hander, I could see cyclists ahead, so positioned myself very close to the centre line and slowed a little. This left me room either way (cyclist or oncoming car). Or so I thought. The cyclist decided they wanted to quickly steer to the centre line (only god fucken knows why), which meant I had to brake rather abruptly. Said cyclist then perhaps had a change of heart on their position in life, steered back to the side of the road, and sure enough, there was an oncoming car as well.

McJim had decided to ride out to meet us coming in, and once he came across us, we all headed back to Invercargill together. Good thing we did, as the Europeans had to stick together, with the KTM coming to the aid of the Ducati's loose sidestand in the form of a 6mm allen key (once I had dug beneath all the custom wiring to get the toolkit).

We have now covered approximately 3600km with tomorrow being a bit of a rest day to do maintenance and see Bluff. The pootler even needs another rear tyre, and he has the audacity to blame ME for HIS tyre wear :weird: He is actually satisfied to do minimal kilometres tomorrow, and.... WE ARE SLEEPING IN!!! (times to wake may differ)

[EJK]

Why is he kicking his bike? Did it break down? :laugh:

Ah the great Milford sound... One of very few 5 Star rating on the Motorcycle Atlas...

[Gremlin]

Here's the last 3 pictures... and now my bed beckons, and who am I to refuse? :zzzz:

[Gremlin]

Why is he kicking his bike? Did it break down? :laugh:

Ah the great Milford sound... One of very few 5 Star rating on the Motorcycle Atlas...
Ah yes... the milford tunnel is to blame, or so he will tell you. Actually, come to think of it... can't remember the last time he admitted he was to blame for anything <_<

We were going through the tunnel, and I was rather enjoying the sound of my twin (as y'do) and he was enjoying the sound of his nautilus? (whatever floats your boat). That was until he managed to overload the circuits, and blew the fuse for the dash/horn. That was a quick fault find and a spare chucked in, at Milford Sound.

Road wise, the Catlins is a better route than Milford, but the scenery to and from Milford is outstanding (if the cloud hasn't made it go away).

[gijoe1313]

Well, yesterday was a great days riding. The return back to Milford from my own solitary sojourns four years prior by cage was counterpointed by the precipitation engulfing the region. Apparently Gremlin said it rains two out of three days and is the wettest region in Godsown green and fecund land.

I love the early morning starts, the chill of the morning and the darkness presages great riding and exploration ahead. Even if it was raining I still go out and ride ... having a rainsuit is mostly a novelty for me! Gremlin lead us out as per usual and we made great time to Te Anau, the portal to the gates of magnificent Milford.

With liquid fire coursing into the receptacles of our mobility purveyors of explotation we danced with the trio of road, weather and the denizens inhabiting those lanes to freedom.

With the sparse and vast areas of South Island beckoning, as dawn broke (amazingly it wasn't Gremlin's fault for it breaking) it revealed the splender and soul bewitching beauty of this rugged land. Soaring heights of hills beneath the ever eternal eyes of the mountains looked down on fields of green and gold, patches of flat plains undulating through were traversed by long roads, the occasional curve to remind us what bikes were actually bred for.

The clouds above, roads below accompanied the sound of rushing wind, the note of engines pulling us to our destination.

With the wet roads, we took our time and glided our way through the sheer slopes of weather-beaten rock faces, crusted with the foliage unique to NZ. Every so often the tantalising view of a waterfall with its withering rush of its liquid cargo would give hints of what was to come.

Traffic was very light and the comms that Gremlin and I employed enabled me with my precious pillion cargo to overtake in safety. The mouth of Homer's tunnel beckoned and we made our way down, a stygian gloom I remembered now dispersed by the addition of lights, I remembered how a greek story told of a hero descending into the pits of Hades to retrieve something dear and precious to him.

To me, it was a return to the place where I had previously been a mere cager. I had always promised myself the next time I visited the South Island I would be riding a motorcycle. The sharp turn to the left as daylight flooded the end of the passageway emerged into the lower area of Milford Sound.

The synapses of my memory were fired off by the soaring heights as we descended to the lower area, fields of rocks were surrounded by the towering heights of the mountain walls around us, rivulets of water cascaded down their faces and the rugged life of plants clung pecariously to their anchors.

It was a short and twisty route to the end of the road, twin bridges with room for only one came and went, the forlorn and sad sight of a small yellow car with its front stoved in told of a woeful note in someone elses journey, the debris strewn here and then on the roads was a reminder of nature's power - we are the interlopers here.

Paradoxically, the natural beauty of the area was occluded by the artificial constructions that humans are wont to lay on the land. Gremlin has related the details and I will only add that after kilometres of travel with water, falling rain, waterfalls ... only served for us to want to hurry to the bathroom! :o :lol:

Obligatory photos taken, Big Ol'Hornets fuses were looked at and replaced and all was well with the world again. The clouds aboved looked down and were pleased and decided to ease up on their gifts to the parched land below.

The return to Invercargill was dry and quick, the distance eaten up quickly by our conveyances of experience. A surprise guest came in the opposite direction in the shape of McJim. He was riding his duchess with gusto and panache as he powered through the hills on his red lady of locomotion.

A quick turnabout and we were now riding as a triumvirate. It has been a long time since I have ridden with McJim and it brought back many a happy memory of our riding together. Angel was taking many photos from her position and it was great to see the antics of Gremlin forever enshrined as a picture for infamous posterity.

Getting back to McJims and Chickadee's place revealed the startling realistion that I needed a new tyre :gob: I was gobsmacked by the fact that it was 3000km too early for me to require a tyre at this stage in the tour! The only factor I could think of ... was loudly chortling ... in his black leathers, KNOX armour and gleeful chidlike-schadenfreudian overtones.

Gremlin pointed out in detail the characteristics exhibited by non-nana riders. Cupping. Pitting. Lack of tyre nipples. Edge of tyres being used. And other squid-like behaviours. :Oops: I blame Gremlin. His style of riding is so far and away from my pootling style, that it wasn't until I was riding with Jantar just how much I had tried to adapt to the way Gremlin flings his Katoom o'doom through the mainland! :sweatdrop

Well, as there is a new day beckoning, with not much riding, I will turn to mundane matters. Like hitting up Gremlin for the lend of some moola to put the new tyre on (my planning budget blown apart by the destructive force that is Gremlin personified) :crybaby:

I know there is a lesson in this tour for me, I'm still not sure whether I am being blessed or cursed by the biking gods. All I know is that I am riding on roads untravelled by me on two wheels, with great company in some of the most stunning scenery in our God's green land. And at least that's enough for me! :woohoo: :niceone:

[gijoe1313]

Ah yes... the milford tunnel is to blame, or so he will tell you. Actually, come to think of it... can't remember the last time he admitted he was to blame for anything <_<

We were going through the tunnel, and I was rather enjoying the sound of my twin (as y'do) and he was enjoying the sound of his nautilus? (whatever floats your boat). That was until he managed to overload the circuits, and blew the fuse for the dash/horn. That was a quick fault find and a spare chucked in, at Milford Sound.

Road wise, the Catlins is a better route than Milford, but the scenery to and from Milford is outstanding (if the cloud hasn't made it go away).

The funny thing is I know I am the source of all my own misfortunes and travelling mishaps when I ride ... alone!

I have noticed how incidents that stretch the realms of credulity and sanity is only increased with Gremlin around. And not to mention, Gremlin makes such an easy target to blame. If there was a police line up, the victim(s) would just automatically point at him.

The fact that I have to point out to Gremlin when we visit places "Don't break anything!" shows his perchance and appetite for destruction. It wasn't until last night I found out he had a job as a labourer and gleefully loved to destruct things rather than construct! :slap: :thud:

On a lighter note, that KTM and him are well matched. They go around wrecking merry havoc and the wake of destruction left behind would do a viking raiding party proud. :dodge:

[gijoe1313]

Ah so. AngelKwan eh?. Asleep on Mr Joe's back. Practically, that is to say, in his arms. The news of this Angel binti will promptly be relayed to Mama San. It will be a great relief to her.

Full (meaning FULL) details of said Angel will be required ASAP for due consideration by the mah jong group. (And does Trump Lady know about AngelKwan ?)

I must go spread the gossip. Sounds like Mr Joe's carefree pootling days may be numbered.

Dear sir,

Thank for your kind observations regarding my status as a bachelor and happenstance meant that this journey could occur with AngelKwan.

It somes as some small surprise to me, that such inference that a more intimate and closeness of relationship could be noted from this.

As some are well aware, the solitary cruising of my way through life, as a simple and learned man is of a vexatious and galling note in my maternal parental unit.

She has laid down dire threats, evinced horror and guilt about my failings to do as one is meant to do in life's journey. I fear that my happy and contented ways is not to be the way of things and that I am also meant to suffer the highs and lows of a matched pairing.

So, in summary sir, I do so humbly beseech that such quips, allusions and other nefarious suppositions about my personal life be reduced to "How d'you do sir" and "The weather is quite changeable isn't it?"

Herein ends the communicative missive that hopefully puts paid to anymore musings on the matter.

[Donor]

As some are well aware, the solitary cruising of my way through life, as a simple and learned man is of a vexatious and galling note in my maternal parental unit.

She has laid down dire threats, evinced horror and guilt about my failings to do as one is meant to do in life's journey.

Yer... and that's just from Angel... the grief he is copping from Mum is WAAAAAY much more lots worserer (and that's pretty bad, as ANY 6 year old will tell you!) than as he has described above.

[Mr Merde]

Dear sir,

...... "How d'you do sir" and "The weather is quite changeable isn't it?"

Herein ends the communicative missive that hopefully puts paid to anymore musings on the matter.

Justin,

Is it only now, that personages other than myself have only just realised that you are subserviant to the matriarchial aspect of you family?

Is it only now that the idea that if you dont find a suitable mate then on will be found for you.

Have I not been pondering this for a number of years now, with you?

Merde

[trump-lady]

Ah so. AngelKwan eh?. Asleep on Mr Joe's back. Practically, that is to say, in his arms. The news of this Angel binti will promptly be relayed to Mama San. It will be a great relief to her.

Full (meaning FULL) details of said Angel will be required ASAP for due consideration by the mah jong group. (And does Trump Lady know about AngelKwan ?)

I must go spread the gossip. Sounds like Mr Joe's carefree pootling days may be numbered.


Do I dare ask...... scared

even more scared as I scroll through.....

[PrincessBandit]

Love the pix! That one on page 2 taken from the Paekak hill lookout looks very much like one of mine - you sneak into my camera or summat???
Our trip left Aucks on Dec 22, crossed ferry Dec 23, then returned to Wellywood Jan 2, rode back up to Auckland (9hours of riding in non-stop rain the whole way) on Jan 3.
Pity we didn't get to see each other along the way!
Look forward to following the rest of your adventures.

[Gremlin]

Crikey, I had 7-8 hours sleep, and I still just about fell asleep reading that long post. :zzzz: (I was again woken by GiJoe, it seems he was non too pleased by the video :lol:)

As time passes inexorably, I am reminded that we are more than half way through the trip, and tomorrow begins our trip back north taking a mere 5 days (even after 3600km, I have a twinge of sadness that the trip through the SI will end).

To counter the sadness, GiJoe has not ridden his bike once today. Not once. Not even started it. We will head out shortly to replace his tyre, a trip to Bluff, but all in all, not even a tank full. As I type this, the bikes are again sitting in the garage with tanks on reserve, a sign of the good times.

Off to go observe GiJoe, and see if any signs of madness are creeping in :devil2:

[Ixion]

Dear sir,


It somes as some small surprise to me, that such inference that a more intimate and closeness of relationship could be noted from this.


Psshwobbly. You don't imagine that mere facts are going to get in the way of a nice juicy bit of gossip , do you? Never fear (well, actually, do fear), you will once again be topic de jour at the Mah Jong evenings. But this time on a more hopeful note. If Mamma-San can track down Angel's Mamma, then it's all over, rover - literally .:devil2:

Jolly good thing too. Why should you young blades be footloose and fancy free, able to tour all over the country , enjoying yourselves, having a ball, whilst we married persons are inextricably tied, every one of us, to a Little List of Things That Need to be Done Around the House. Misery seeks ever a companion, and if we must suffer the deprivations of domesticity then you should all suffer too. So there. :clap:

[Mr Merde]

...... Little List of Things That Need to be Done Around the House. .......:clap:

Spoken by one who has had years of domesticity and depravation hammered into his very essence by "those who must be obeyed"under threat of removal of conjugal rights.

Emasculation by depravation.

So be warned GIJoe.

The muse thus spake. Or will he for ever suffer the curse of Cassandra.

[Gremlin]

Misery seeks ever a companion, and if we must suffer the deprivations of domesticity then you should all suffer too. So there. :clap:
I hope you get a doubly long list for that from your SWMBO.

My list is non-existent, because SWMBO doesn't exist either ;)

[Gremlin]

Well... you didn't expect that we wouldn't, did you?

A fantastically late start to the day, GiJoe pondering if he should read a book, and generally looking edgy. Since I was paying for his tyre, I held the power, and I wielded it with little mercy. The trick is to be totally relaxed about time ticking by, while he waits for me to get ready like a child waiting for Santa.

The pootler had already been out with Chickadee, and shown where to go when he rides there, to get his new tyre. Lo and behold, after a few wrong turns he pulls over. I accuse the obvious, and he announces he has to make a phone call. He has no idea of the name of the shop, or the street it is on (and he wants to tour alone? :weird:) Phonecall made to Chickadee, I'm checking the GPS, and we eventually have a road name. I resume control again, and the shop is reached within 5 minutes.

While the tyre is being fitted, we head over to the Southland museum, where GiJoe attempts to add some culture to Gremlin's life. The Burt Munro exhibit is visited, along with Henry the Tuatara. Some other crap is visited, but Gremlin wasn't in the mood to become cultured :sick: I did like a portal that showed the sea. Watching it, my body instantly started swaying to the rocking it portrayed. Rather interesting how the brain controls the body.

The tyre had been fitted, GiJoe had his pootling license, and it was time for some sushi for lunch. It had started to clear, so it was now or never to head for Bluff, and get the classic photo of the bike underneath the sign. I took Angel on the back, to give GiJoe some time to scrub his tyre in (not easy when the roads are wet either), so she enjoyed taking some shots as we were riding, of him.

As we were completing the photos, a family pulled up, with the husband and wife riding harleys, with a kid each, on the back. Had a great chat with them, time flew, and it was time to return to Invercargill. We stopped in at the look out first, and as we headed out of Bluff, who should we see, but ol' McJim, who had set out to find us again. Back to Bluff for more photos. (Hey, after all, we are Aucklanders, more time spent posing that we ride, than actually riding :rolleyes:)

Course was set for Invercargill, with Angel now taking shots of both McJim and GiJoe from my back seat, and had her first wheelie as well (only a small one) with the usual giggle afterwards.

A grand total of 70km was covered today, shattering aye? (perhaps for GiJoe :lol:). Tomorrow we sadly say our goodbyes, and return to Wanaka, and start the return to Auckland and our lives.

[Nutter34]

You guys are a crack-up....

Good to hear it's all still going well...

Have fun and take it easy on the return home...

[gijoe1313]

Well this was a rest day and no mistake, I left Gremlin to his own sleeping demise and Angel was also in the land of the fluffy white bunny rabbit dreams.

I was up and about doing very little of consequence, but did manage to go with Chickadee to the local postshop to deliver back to Auckland half the useless stuff that went into the useless pack on the useless rack.

There was a disturbance in the Force as I passed over the courier box I had jammed with the stuff I was returning. It was the immense relief that my Big Ol'Hornet was feeling that freedom from the shackles of servitude of supposedly useful supplies.

I felt immensely happy as the stuff I had left over was still quite a bit more than I would like, but since the ventura pack was now half filled I could live with that. The trip to the Yamaha place was as the usual farce that I am well accustomed to, but I enjoy getting lost! The people in the dealership were incredibly helpful and friendly as most South Islanders are.

Leaving a stash of sopping wet gear in the dealership, we trotted over to the pyramidal treasure trove of antiquities in Invercargill. I was loving the fact we got to visit a museum! Exhibits were hummed and haaed over, evoking my eclectic interests in topics far and wide. Life long learning is something I have as a personal philosophy and I was rather chuffed that Gremlin spent a long lingering time in the Maori section.

Angel practised her English pronounciation of the astronomical lexicon associated with space photography and as I am wont to do, I read every scrap of signage pertaining to informative aspects of the displays. Gremlin even spoke eloquently and with clarity about aspects of Victorian life and the physical development of doorknobs!

Lunch was a delicious almagam of eastern delights, sushi in all its wonderful guises were tossed down esophaguses with slatherings of wasabi, pickled ginger and soya sauce. As it had now dried out, my sacrifice to the Biking Gods appeasing them. The ride to Bluff was quick and it allowed me to bring my limited riding ability to scrub in the black delivery device of freedom. A Battleax 021.

To be cont...

[karla]

Having arrived home safely with all our useless baggage intact (I wish I had off-loaded it!), I just caught up with your trip report.

I realise now after enjoying the entries what a priviledge it was to cross paths with you both :) You're not just riding the length of the South Island, you're entertaining all while you go. :niceone:

I know I walked away shaking my head in disbelief after chatting briefly, but you now have a thimble more of my respect. You only seem to be completely loose units and a page short of a book. <wink>.

Glad you're enjoying and learning from your trip, and hope the journey back up the island is as much fun as the ride down, with a lighter load and a few more miles experience to your credit!

May we all cross paths again some sunny day! I know on my trip home, I kept thinking, I must come back ...

[Gremlin]

You only seem to be completely loose units and a page short of a book. <wink>.
That's very nice and all, but GiJoe really is mad... I have barely survived so far, and fear my sanity is already lost :crybaby:

pics are uploaded to my previous post

[Highlander]

I did manage a moderate 540 kms for the day. :clap:

Barely enough to warm your tires mate, what did you do after Breakfast?

GIJoe / Gremlin, really am enjoying this read. You sound like you are having a ball. Good stuff.

[gijoe1313]

Well, the night was spent gawping at the World's Fastest Indian - I have actually taught this film to my senior students and the opportunity to visit the store with the legacy of Burt Munro was not to be passed up.

Gremlin has already highlighted the ride to Bluff so I shall not tarry there. Instead the recreational activities were watching Isle of Man TT '07 and such friviolities. I had a hankering to see Lithgow St. where Burt's garage was and the set of the movie was based. This was at 10pm.

Slipping the fulsome yoke of Gremlin's anchor I cruised the streets of Invercargill. I felt the nostalgia and the immensity of Burt's achievements as I passed the location.

This inspired me and since I was out n'about, the Big Ol'Hornet happily burbling beneath my loins, I pointed it out to Bluff and zipped out that way at night! Parking up at Bluff again, I took some night photos, the blue LEDs attracting the interest of a tourist VW campervan parked up for the night. I heard the doors being double checked and relocked :blink:

What am I? Filthy biker scum or summit?

From there, I had told Angel I would be returning in a hour ... but the need to ride was a clarion call to my suffering soul, the lack of milage shriving my mood and decanting into a ball of ennui and anome.

I did what I do best.

I pootled.

I rode up and down every street in the greater Invercargill area. I cruised with the boi and grrl racers, some of the girls even pulled their tops up to show me their headlights, entranced as it were by the allure of my blue LED bling. I wholeheartedly approved naturally and the look where you go rule was definitely true! :o

As a side note, I did get a boi racer earlier into trouble with the rozzers. The classic side by side scenario, Mitsi, backwards baseball cap, low bucket seat and the doof doof of an audio system. He revved his cage at me. I saw the obvious siting of a popo car. I revved back. He revved harder and nodded at me. I looked at the cop. I looked back at him and did the same.

Lights green. I accelerated and led all the way to 50km/hr. Boi racer flat tack to 70+ beating me handily in the end. The end coming with the dance of disco lights. As I pootled 50km/hr passed, the rozzer gives me a bemused look as I looked on at this whole sad, sordid scene. Tsk tsk. :innocent:

Back to the Invercargill pootling, I did the highways, the by-ways and side streets in between. I stopped to take piccies of my Big Ol'Hornet parked up with its glowing tones of chilled ice beneath. Locals very perplexed and bemused. Doing double takes, slowing down to check out the Red pajama camo ninja. :shifty:

From there I rode back to Lithgow St. once more and felt the spatter of liquid moonshine freckle my face, riding with visor up and enjoying the feel of the cool breeze and freedom of deserted urban streets.

As I turned back into Castle McJim I could only feel the glow of good riding in the way I do so enjoy. Somehow I resisted the magnetic pull of riding out to Riverton. After all, I had empty roads, a full tank of gas and a warm Big Ol'Hornet who has always been keen to ride those lanes to freedom with me.

Why did I not? I guess to be charitable, I had others that needed not to feel concern for my absence. Gremlin, McJim, Chickadee and Angel were home and I returned to the nest to be sociable. Very unlike me indeed! :innocent:

Herein ends the report for the 8th day of riding on this tour. At this stage, I think I will need another riding holiday to make up for the sheer lack of my customary pootling on this supposed riding holiday! Yes. I am mad. Spectaculary mad with the whole ensemble of fruitiness and nuttiness that makes me so eccentric! :shutup:

Right. Time to splash some ice cold turnip water onto Gremlin to get him into some semblance of wakefulness! Angel has of just now poked her head around the corner with toothbrush and Castle Chickadee is resplendent with the sound of Kids TV and Chickadee slumbering silently on the settee.

Ninja log 9.2 over and out.

[madbikeboy]

GIJoe - the nice thing to do would be take photo's of the headlights. :)

[gijoe1313]

GIJoe - the nice thing to do would be take photo's of the headlights. :)

I actually for a brief fleeting moment considered doing a kewl biker thing and sidle myself up to their open windows and lean my elbow onto the window sill.

Then the next brief fleeting moment would be me skating on my arse down the Invercargill roads as my sleeve got hooked up on something!

The crack up thing was, that initially only one of the girls was doing it - I then asked loudly "What about the rest of your friends?" :blip:

Quick as a flash she tells the others "Flash him yer tits girls!" :gob: :love: :woohoo:

Quick as a flash the others do so. :shit:

Ahh Invercargill, twice I have been here, twice the girls have done it loud and proud (the 1st time I shall not relate here!)

[Gremlin]

I was already awake.... no need for turnip water.

He's back to his old self. Terrible. Muttering and bumbling about riding in some over-excited way... the riding he did last night has set my schemes back at least a couple of days...

But then... I am a master at this... and we're still not ready to leave. He's quickly returning to his down-trodden state, where he doesn't expect to ride any time soon :banana:

Today is just up to Wanaka, less than 400km, but it looks like rain for the rest of the day. Subsequent days look much better. Once the commute to Wanaka is complete, we may end up detouring to Alexandra and back, depending... we'll see.

Time to don the rain suit I guess :ride:

[Chickadee]

Enjoy the rest of the trip boys and Angel, hope you have good weather, dry gear, comfortable beds and yummy food to keep on pootling.

It's been lovely having you visit, shame I had to work at 4am for two mornings of your visit or I'd been happy to chat the nights/mornings away instead of having to go to bed and being TIRED as on the return from work.

Thanks for the cooking, hope you enjoyed my food, empty plates and noshing noises indicated success. Remember Justin, they sell big containers of icecream for your next visit, I'll bake more banana choc chip cake to eat with it!

Shame I had no wheels to join you on any rides but maybe next visit. McJim certainly enjoyed his mini rides with familiar company.

Ciao, see ya's, bye..... and see you sometime in the future.:Punk:

[Daffyd]

I had a hankering to see Lithgow St. where Burt's garage was and the set of the movie was based.

I hate to prick your bubble, but the Lithgow St site was used for the movie, but, in fact is at the wrong end of town from his garage. He lived in Bainfield road in Waikiwi. There is a street named after him where his garage was.

[McJim]

I hate to prick your bubble, but the Lithgow St site was used for the movie, but, in fact is at the wrong end of town from his garage. He lived in Bainfield road in Waikiwi. There is a street named after him where his garage was.

Yep - we told him that. I even took them down Bainfield road a few times so they could get a feel for the area.

[trump-lady]

WISHING U ALL BESTEST SAFEST RIDES............
Feel free to advertise GIJOE pm sent and thread started.... hey u giys,,,,,, no one loves u guys yet but posted late and have faith in my cantabrians. Post up ur route maybe u can pick up some

[trump-lady]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=89936 19 veiws one response dam unsociable cantabs

[mikeey01]

I've just (well took me an hour to read all them posts) slow reader...
What a dam hoot! :laugh:

see you boys tomorrow night!

[Gremlin]

Yeup... it was a wet rain that fell when leaving Invercargill. I cunningly tried to beat it by leaving late, and announced smugly to gijoe that ignoring his complaining, now it wasn't raining.

It got us later. Good. We were prepared for it, so it wasn't an issue re getting wet. Just the annoyance of the rain making the roads slippery, and stopping for shots wasn't that appealing, as it meant getting cameras wet etc.

I was dry as a bone beneath the one piece rain suit and over gloves. About as nimble as an elephant, but dry. Ever tried using a GPS with rain off gloves over normal gloves? Funny at first, but then you realise you can barely do ANYTHING :blink:

We left just after midday, and wiggled our way (technical term) up to Alexandra, using a mixture of main routes and gps inspired routes. A quick fill at Alexandra, and on our way again. We arrived in Wanaka roughly 4 hours after leaving Invercargill, dropped Angel off to her car, and we headed over to our accomodation for the night.

Suddenly my five layers of gear (shirt, thermal, body armour, leather jacket, rain suit) and bright blue skies ordered the fastest shedding of gear I have ever done. Boy, the relief I felt when I was left standing in a T shirt :yes:

Walked into town to find ourselves a late lunch, and then photo processing at the backpackers. Another walk, a nice playground, a clean up, and time for dinner. Over dinner I did confess that the days riding had seemed rather short, with no proper stops necessary (just one gas), and less than 350km. His reaction was a little unnecessary. :sunny:

GiJoe is currently escorting Angel to Alexandra, as she is continuing her trip, while we have to head north. He'll be back after getting lost countless times, but at least I can have a moment without him whining about not riding (and I'll shortly be sleeping too :D)

[trump-lady]

goodnight gremlin and i suggest u get sleep.....dads quite the talker :)

[Gremlin]

We had to do the usual travel stuff like always, but during a nice walk after lunch, we found a swing hidden in a tree on the beach. A quick test (aka, Angel, the lightest person) we discovered it was well made. Then it was time for the fat guinea pig (GiJoe) and it still didn't break. Then Gremlin was forced into having a go, since he had pushed everyone else so hard, and spun them as well.

Luckily, they didn't really know what they were doing, so I never got giddy, but I did manage to kick GiJoe for his efforts :D Then we found a playground. Naturally adults never use them, but we sampled each piece of equipment a little, to see what it would do.

There were metal poles where you stood on plates, and spun yourself around it. There was a see-saw as well, much more fancy than the beams we used to have, with springs and comfy seats. A few moment of abuse, and Gremlin managed to nail GiJoe's tailbone, and get some air time for himself (ah the good ol' days of see-saws).

But by far and away, the bestest toy was a circle that wasn't level, and could spin. First attempts were made by all to get to the highest side, but that was a rather epic failure, considering GiJoe and Gremlin are around 100kg. Several moments of falling off, and Gremlin had managed to stay on while spinning it the fastest.

The best way to use it however, was for all three to jump on at once, and then try to force the wheel one way or another with their feet, to get the others to fall off. Between the falls and goading, I believe we entertained the whole playground, several adults laughing, and a couple of bemused cops.

Gremlin had a reasonably good bail, somehow ending up straddling the circle, but at least not in all the water that was around it. Angel finished up with the bestest bin, falling in the middle on her arse, in the water. Gremlin was covered in dirt, bark and dirty water up to his knees, which he washed off in the lake (which was firken cold)

GiJoe tried to argue he was the best, with the deluded argument that surfing helps, but the ditzy lout kept crashing into me when I spun the circle (he blamed me for falling off too).

Must get some pics of it, funnest time evvaaaaaarrr :yes:

edit: and here the pics are, gijoe couldn't resist another go, and declared it as fun as yesterday

[mikeey01]

McJim
"Welcome to The South Island.Ducati Heaven"

Rgr that!

:woohoo:

[oldrider]

Mrs O/R and I were travelling through the Lindis to Wanaka this morning and approaching Tarras I mentioned to her:

Keep an eye out for a couple of specific bikes today as I think there are two young KBr's from Auckland in our area!

She asked how she could tell them apart from any other bikers?

I replied, one has a very loud red coloured camo suit which you don't see every day.

No sooner said than around the corner comes Gremlin (in front) followed closely by a rider in a loud redish camo suit with a red helmet!

We waved but of course that was a bit futile, A because you had no idea who we were and B we were in a cage!

Never mind, I felt better because we saw you and waved!

Sorry not to have struck you at a stop somewhere but you had good weather.

You should have had a nice ride to where ever you were heading to today.

We passed you about 10:30 just North of Tarras. (Cluden Hill)

At least we were thinking of you. :ride: Cheers, John.

[trump-lady]

Just checked in with the olds....they have arrived and theres about 10 people over at the house bout to have a BBQ. Awesome Cantabrians. I owe apology,..... It appears I was drunk and put the wrong ph number for dad last night. All in all has worked out. Ive been told the pootlers were going to go to Akaroa, but now with all the visitors are now staying in. Mum says Justin talks alot hehehehe and asked me if they talk about anything else but bikes. I said no, that will be convo all night.

[Sharry]

That is so cool of your dad Trumplady :niceone: May the pootlers have a great night entertaining your dads guests :woohoo::woohoo:

Surely they must be in need of a good nights snoozing after all these antics :zzzz::zzzz: :zzzz:

[dangerous]

Mum says Justin talks alot hehehehe and asked me if they talk about anything else but bikes. I said no, that will be convo all night. hahaha... and then lemans turned up, heheh now Justin cant get a word in edgways :chase:

[karla]

Just checked in with the olds....they have arrived and theres about 10 people over at the house bout to have a BBQ. Awesome Cantabrians. I owe apology,..... It appears I was drunk and put the wrong ph number for dad last night. All in all has worked out. Ive been told the pootlers were going to go to Akaroa, but now with all the visitors are now staying in. Mum says Justin talks alot hehehehe and asked me if they talk about anything else but bikes. I said no, that will be convo all night.

You have the best "olds" (they're young really!) - I'm surprised that you ever left home :)

Had a lovely bbq, good to chill out and listen to the stories being told, and not just from the NI loose kb units! After days of extreme highs the evening was a cool way to end the day (in both senses of the word).

Little boy has left a jandel there (I think) so we have an excuse to go back again one day :Oops:

All good ~ :wari:

[laRIKin]

Just checked in with the olds....they have arrived and theres about 10 people over at the house bout to have a BBQ. Awesome Cantabrians. I owe apology

No problems at all glad we went and had a great night talking shit.
I'm sorry I bit back on the other thread.
Would be great to go for a ride one day with you and your old man.:scooter:

[trump-lady]

You have the best "olds" (they're young really!) - I'm surprised that you ever left home :)

Had a lovely bbq, good to chill out and listen to the stories being told, and not just from the NI loose kb units! After days of extreme highs the evening was a cool way to end the day (in both senses of the word).

Little boy has left a jandel there (I think) so we have an excuse to go back again one day :Oops:

All good ~ :wari:

Yeah I do have the best olds eh. They are young, had me at 17. When bills come in I wish I had stayed home lol, they just raised me to be very independant but we are very close :)

Glad you all had fun and Im sure u can always drop in. You ight wanna call dad though cause there is a puppy running round who loves to chew. He might need to rescue it lol.

I will be down 2010 on the bike because I do the hog rallys with dad so hopefully we will meet up then....

Awaiting lastest news from the pootlers, guess you guys talked them out :)

[laRIKin]

I will be down 2010 on the bike because I do the hog rallys with dad so hopefully we will meet up then....

Awaiting lastest news from the pootlers, guess you guys talked them out :)

WIll be great to meet you as well.
Just put a Big Kick Ass thread about you come down, with a bit of warning.
Tell Dangerous as well so he can spread the word.

When we left Gijoe was geared up to ride to Akaroa and back and then was going to do it again in the morning before doing it again with Gremlin and your Dad.
Before head in north to Hamner Springs.

[mikeey01]

I had the pleasure of meeting up with GiJoe, Gremlin and a few other kbers last night. A couple of down to earth great blokes who share the same as we all do, the pleasure of riding and exploring.
Yes their antics have been hilarious thus far and yes they're a couple of real hard cases in the flesh!
Great to catch up and I'm glad I made the effort!
Thanks to trump-lady's folks, I swore the dogs were going to eat my pasta eating arse when I arrived.
What a great bunch of people who are from the salt of the land, no bullshit posers just fine folks and fine company, thank you so much guys and girls I enjoyed the evening and many laughs and hell my guts aches this morning from laughing so hard!

Guys hats off to you both for actually cracking on and doing it and I wish you well on the rest of the travels and look forward so much to the write ups yet to come.:niceone:

[laRIKin]

We seen the lads heading North at the Waipara turn off about 5-ish??
When we were heading home after doing the Mt Lyford loop.

We did the KB wave and they did it back.:msn-wink:

[McJim]

Good to hear that our intrepid travellers are still pootling northward. I wonder how many NZ roads gijoe1313 hasn't travelled along - it's gotta be less then the number he has travelled!

[alanzs]

Great thread. I am planning on coming down south starting this weekend, so the routes/experiences have been awesome to read.

And, from one teacher to another, well done!

[Gremlin]

Well, reading back, it has been a while since the last update... we have been busy meeting kb'ers and umm... riding :ride:

The last update was in Wanaka, with GiJoe escorting Angel to Alexandra.

The next day was Wanaka to Christchurch, and trump-lady's parents, Steve and Mary were putting up with us for the night (or is that putting us up? :crazy:). There was also a BBQ and meeting some kb'ers planned. The day started with fine weather, GiJoe had made it back, slept some stupidly small amount, and was buzzing to ride (stopping his desire is like trying to sink a buoy).

Tekapo was passed, the lake photographed (as y'do) and onto Fairlie for the one necessary fuel stop. It started to rain as we entered Fairlie, the clouds were dark and heavy, and it generally didn't look too fun ahead. Re-fueling the bikes and ourselves (it was lunchtime, and time for the countless servo pie, errrr, all in the course of sampling :confused:) I also chucked on a jersey, as the temperature had dropped several degrees.

On the way to Christchurch, in an attempt to avoid the boring straights on the main drag, we detoured through Methven and Darfield. Of course, we found more straights. At least one damn straight must have been over 5km long. Stretching past the horizon, we made jokes about the great corners to keep us awake. Ah for an auto-pilot. I can see why Akaroa is sooo popular. At one point, about 500m above sea level, we hit heavy cloud on a back road, visibility was down to 20m. Eerie, but rather fun (in a mad sort of way). GiJoe blames Gremlin for breaking the weather.

We arrived in Christchurch early, around 4pm, probably 2 hours ahead of the planned schedule, for those meeting us. Naturally, we thought about more riding, and GiJoe had never ridden Akaroa. A call is made to Shrek, turns out he is right around the corner (one of those coming to pinch and prod us). When he arrives, we find out that trump-lady has mistyped her Dad's number (GiJoe read her posts and realised she was rather pished) so no-one could ring him.

Since they didn't have a computer, out comes my laptop, and I jump online to communicate and post the correct number. The plan for Akaroa goes out the window (delicious, gijoe suffered - but he hid his disappointment well - he's had a lot of practise) we start chatting, more of the chch kb'ers turn up, and the evening gets under way. Steve and Mary put on a fantastic BBQ, drinks are consumed, stories are swapped (ie, one was where a guy wanting a hardley described it as great british iron :lol:), and time passed fast.

As the kb'ers left, gijoe displayed his dissatisfaction with the days riding by heading out to Akaroa around 11pm. Not surprised by his antics any more. Steve was rather bemused. I catch up on some route planning and costs etc, and turn in.

GiJoe comes in at some point, again has a small amount of sleep, and leaves for Akaroa at 7am. Much to my amusement (I'm easily amused) he laters tells me all the servo's were shut, so he couldn't ride out, goes around the city, and returns to cook breakfast. Obviously, I'm still examining my eye-lids at this point. :zzzz:

hmm... wasn't concentrating, and started writing the next day in the same post... Day 11 continues in the next.

update: pics have been added, first one was me starting the day off, frustrating the hell out of gijoe...

[McJim]

I should never have let Angel near my computer - she has (ab)used all my braodband allowance for the month and I am now reduced to dial up speeds until the billing cycle clicks over (note to self - do not let visitors use your broadband :rofl:) Glad you fellas are alright - I was beginning to get a bit worried by the radio silence (lack of posts) for a while there.

When my connection speds back up I will maybe post some of the piccies from your trip.

Happy travelling!

[Gremlin]

GiJoe had been busy cooking, so I set to devouring the food, the only way to compliment a cook isn't it?

After breakfast was finished, Steve had decided he would like to ride with us, and since he actually lived in the city, it made sense to put him at the front, and show us some of the local roads (Locals usually know them best :lol:)

He took us out towards Akaroa, taking in Summit Road, and bits of other roads around the hills. A brief stop in Akaroa (sure is a busy little place) it was more winding roads and a drink stop at the Wheatsheaf. To his surprise, we had never been through Lyttleton tunnel (hell, we didn't even know one existed), so the route back included that. Amazing how your mental age can go into single digit figures when you ride through a tunnel :whistle:

They were fantastic hosts, demonstrated by the fact that we only left them around 4.20pm. Previous route ideas had been purged, as there wasn't enough time, but we'd take the local routes every time, as the country ones can be ridden any time (and gives an perfectly good excuse to come back) so it was straight to Hanmer, a total of 150 odd km (the mornings ride had been around 210km).

We checked in to our Hanmer backpackers just before 6pm, and set to unpacking. We had already tossed up ideas about doing Inland and Leader Rd after check in, while going to Hanmer Springs via the comms, and thought it a good idea. There was some sort of Adventure ride going on in the area, and the lady in the backpackers hadn't been too helpful when I was enquiring about gas availability. Asking the riders, it was basically closing. :crazy: Excess gear was thrown into the room, jumped back onto the bikes, and made for the servo. At this point, GiJoe deals a masterful stroke.... and locks our room key IN THE ROOM :pinch: I go to the servo to delay them from closing. :no:

Turns out the adventure riders have done the job (apparently there were around 150 of them), and we fill up successfully. The route through Inland Rd, down the coast, and back through Leader Rd is 255km, the outer range of our tanks, but hey, it will be fine (and there is probably 1 fuel station anywhere near our route, and not on the route itself). At this point, you're probably thinking we ran out, or something happened.

Nope. We returned to Hanmer around 10pm, 3 hour total time around the loop, and had a useless walk around Hanmer for grub. I told him things would be shut, but does he ever listen? He ends up finding the free food rack in the backpackers, and we raid that while talking and organising, and then fell into bed. The main trip for the day was 600km, and GiJoe, with his earlier pootling, had covered 650km for the day.

pics are going to follow later when I have been through them.

edit: This will be it for right now, as we're leaving picton, after "technical issues" (they couldn't open or close the stern door).

[SDU]

-Hey guys I have finally caught up with the thread. Awesome write ups can't wait to hear the rest. Good to meet you both & hope to catch up with you both when you make it back down this way.
Thought you were running a bit late to do the leader & inland rds when we saw you but you were lucky to get some fuel in Hamner to do them.

[vifferman]

Great stuff, Travelers! Makes me miss the Southern Isle, and yearn for a bit of traveling myself (Yurp, Uk and Mrka don't count, as none of it was by bike).

[rachprice]

Did i see you outside wellington motorcycles today?

[zeocen]

When are you two due back?

[TOTO]

When are you two due back?

in the next 3 - 6 months ...

[gijoe1313]

Well at this moment, I have ensconced myself at home - the first I did was to take off the pack rack and put back the original grab rail. The relief I felt from my Big Ol'Hornet was tangible!

Gremlin and I parted ways at the Takanini off ramp, we didn't try a last chance to kill one another and parted with the vulcan farewell wave "live long and prosper"

Will commence pictures, write-ups and the other crazy things I have been party to on this invasion of the mainland! :sweatdrop

[EJK]

Well at this moment, I have ensconced myself at home - the first I did was to take off the pack rack and put back the original grab rail. The relief I felt from my Big Ol'Hornet was tangible!

Gremlin and I parted ways at the Takanini off ramp, we didn't try a last chance to kill one another and parted with the vulcan farewell wave "live long and prosper"

Will commence pictures, write-ups and the other crazy things I have been party to on this invasion of the mainland! :sweatdrop

Congrats captain. Welcome back. Now get those pics!

[TOTO]

cant wait :)

[gijoe1313]

Did i see you outside wellington motorcycles today?

Yes, you are correct mon cherie! We were meeting up with Crasherfromwayback after Trudes told us to go there. Gremlin needed some more oil for his Scottoiler and lo and behold, a used bottle is produced and topped off.

We were there for a short while - admiring the bikes and doing the yakkity yak! Ahh pity we missed you - but then again, Welly is my home stomping grounds and I'm always pootling down thataways! :yes:

[Trudes]

Good to hear you both made it home safe and sound..... and in good time too, how's your rear (tyre)?:lol:
Glad Pete and the boys down at Welly MC took good care of you guys too, they are bloody good like that!! :niceone:
Lovely to see you again and meet you too Gremlin, make sure you call in on us again next time you're through won't you!:sunny:

[Sharry]

Wonderful that you two managed to have such an awesome time :woohoo::woohoo: while managing to return to the fold unscathed :yes:
You both deserve a sleep in :zzzz::zzzz:

[Gremlin]

Did i see you outside wellington motorcycles today?
You did indeed... You can only oil ya bike while riding if the scottoiler has oil... which mine had very little of. Plus it gave an opportunity to meet another KB'er (crasherfromwayback). How come ya didn't say hello? Unfriendly lot you are :dodge:

When are you two due back?
Now? :innocent:

in the next 3 - 6 months ...
blardy hell... where'd that pootler go to now? :wacko:

More updates in the following days when I have time... back at work today (weds) and have meetings and things to catch up on :crybaby:

The South Island is calling... :laugh:

[rachprice]

You did indeed... You can only oil ya bike while riding if the scottoiler has oil... which mine had very little of. Plus it gave an opportunity to meet another KB'er (crasherfromwayback). How come ya didn't say hello? Unfriendly lot you are :dodge:

Now? :innocent:

blardy hell... where'd that pootler go to now? :wacko:

More updates in the following days when I have time... back at work today (weds) and have meetings and things to catch up on :crybaby:

The South Island is calling... :laugh:

Sorry I wasnt sure if it was you guys and I was on my way to meet someone..

[gijoe1313]

Sorry I wasnt sure if it was you guys and I was on my way to meet someone..

Hmmm how many Red camo pajama ninjas do you know of? :scratch: All good, will be plenty of more opportunities anyways! :msn-wink: Ooh and was this a romantic rendezvous? :love: :o :innocent:

[rachprice]

Hmmm how many Red camo pajama ninjas do you know of? :scratch: All good, will be plenty of more opportunities anyways! :msn-wink: Ooh and was this a romantic rendezvous? :love: :o :innocent:

No no just a friend I hadn't seen in about 5 years! Im a bit OC about not being late for things
And yes there will.... I was supposed to bring my bike up to Auckland last week and got a lot of shit because I didn't, so I may be up in easter or something....

[Crasherfromwayback]

No no just a friend I hadn't seen in about 5 years! Im a bit OC about not being late for things
And yes there will.... I was supposed to bring my bike up to Auckland last week and got a lot of shit because I didn't, so I may be up in easter or something....

Well you best come and introduce yourself to me as they did...KBers get good discounts on gear!

[Crasherfromwayback]

Yes, you are correct mon cherie! We were meeting up with Crasherfromwayback after Trudes told us to go there. Gremlin needed some more oil for his Scottoiler and lo and behold, a used bottle is produced and topped off.

We were there for a short while - admiring the bikes and doing the yakkity yak! Ahh pity we missed you - but then again, Welly is my home stomping grounds and I'm always pootling down thataways! :yes:

Hey man...great to meet you guys, and glad to hear you got home safely.

Pete

[gijoe1313]

Well, just finished mowing the lawns and was about to do some ditch digging, but the heat ... screw that! :oi-grr: I ran out of HTFU pills.

I shall now be cleaning and washing and polishing and loving my Big Ol'Hornet and getting it spanky new again. It has a service booked in for next Tuesday, and I guess I better ride lil'ol'hornet to ensure I am not 3000km over the service interval again! :innocent:

Will process piccies and do write up of the days I am missing from the trip!

I'm sure Gremlin will hate the expose I will be conducting in minute detail about him ... :whistle: :devil2:

I has keyboards, now the boot is on my foot!

[Mr Merde]

.....
I has keyboards, now the boot is on my foot!

Be very careful it doesnt finish up in your gob.


Nice to see you back in town Justin. Read the story of your travels with great delight.

Glad you enjoyed your brief visit to the city of my birth (where McJim resides). I havent been back the since 1977 and then only for labour weekend. One of my Aunties was up here for a holiday last week and she has insisted I come down to visit all the rellies. Sharron told her we will try and make it for this years Burt Munro rally. I'll have to practice that strange accent again.

Chris

[rachprice]

Well you best come and introduce yourself to me as they did...KBers get good discounts on gear!

Oh excellent, you work there? Hmmm had a wee look around, I need some new gloves and would also like kevlar jeans...but may have to wait a wee while till I get paid

[Crasherfromwayback]

Oh excellent, you work there? Hmmm had a wee look around, I need some new gloves and would also like kevlar jeans...but may have to wait a wee while till I get paid

Certainly do...been here for 15 years!

Come and see me before you buy anything. Even though I'm in bike sales, I'll help you beat up on the spares/acc staff!

Pete

[gijoe1313]

Well after the last two weeks of touring the Mainland via two wheels of locomotion, I did a slow come down rather than an abrupt cold turkey of no riding.

Giving the Big Ol'Hornet a rest and onto the lil'ol'hornet! I can hear them both giving sighs of relief! :yes:

Pootled around the Hunuas, back block of Mercer, out to SH22, back around to Mercer and the Bombays and then back home.

Guess I should start typing up the missing days of reports and other whatnots ... but ... I feel like I still want to keep riding! :msn-wink:

And ride again I shall tonight! :innocent: There will be much posting and musings from me tonight later on! :innocent:

[gijoe1313]

Well the day was spent once again waiting for Gremlin to get up, this is now day 9 ... or the 9th of January and it seems the plan we each have to destroy the other is now in its final stages.

My compassion for his lack of sleep is sorely tested, but since I know that we aren't going anywhere fast I allow him his little refuge from the full on energy that is my lot in life.

It was most highly amusing when I told him that breakfast was waiting for him, he eventually gravitates to the kitchen with the speed of a snail stuck in tar and discovers that I have lied.

Muwhahahaha! The look on his face when he realised there was no delicious meal prepared by my hands was to be savoured. A lost, forlorn puppy-dog face before it is run over by a large truck. Most excellent :devil2:

Before long, we are gearing up, aiming to reach Wanaka quickly so we can drop Angel off to her parked car from three days ago. The trip went quickly and Wanaka loomed after a most excellent ride through the soaring twisties and curves that characterises the SI.

The road vanishing beneath the wheels of our sure footed mounts was counterpointed with the illustrious company of the scenery. Russet browns and hues of green in all its myriad guises created a visual cacophony to our vision. I would occasionally tap Angel's left knee now and then to ensure that all was well with my precious cargo. Often, the grandeur and unfolding beauty of the land would take my breath away, snatched glances as corners beckoned their promise consumed my attention.

Gremlin smote those corners. He was master and champion of those lanes and with his KTM brooked no argument as they gave up their treasure to his Faustian handling of his ride. I watched as he glided past obstacles ... cagers and road hazards alike. He was breathtakingly arrogant and humble in repose as he despatched corner after corner with aplomb.

I was privileged to watch this paen of riding par excellence. Honoured I am to be a mere chronicler of this keen KBer, humble in his riding, but girt with steel in his demeanour when he is astride his chariot of war.

All the more galling and disappointing when later events in the evening transpired!

The time in Wanaka was spent in the lovely company of Angel and the unfortunate face of Gremlin, we walked a merry caper along the foreshore of the lake, we skipped stones and cheered as we made them dance. We winced as the use of muscles unuse to the skipping of stones made known! Angel had also left her cellphone in the casa of McJim and Chickadee. We made arrangements for this to be passed to Jantar via the tender mercies of NZ post!

Wanaka welcomed us with open arms, a magnificent lake ringed with the protective arms of hills and it's heights. Angel was dropped to her car and through her mistake of putting her gloves and forgetting them on my Big Ol'Hornet, when we rode away they dropped off and she had to stop her car and pick them up. When I looked back I saw her zipping off a road and thought she must have wanted to leave for her next rendezvous early! My mistake! :o As it turns out, she lost track of us and had to use her ingenuity to find our hostel! Sorted, she turned up when Gremlin and I had sorted out our stuff. We were hungry at this stage and wandered for lunch and found it in the form of pies, burgers and chips :niceone:

Gremlin has already pontificated about the swings, the playground and our antics on equipment made for smaller beings than us (apart from Angel who was the right size for them!)

And now the crux of the report where Gremlin comes crashing to earth, like Icarus but lacking the trying bit. After Angel had impregnated herself with the bits of bark and dirty water and had to go shower (jokes made about webcams), I stumbled upon two lasses having dinner in the outside courtyard - a lovely conversation ensued after I was offered stuffed red baby peppers with goat's feta cheese.

"Where does a girl go in Wanaka to have a good time?" Egads! I rushed to Gremlin and dragged him out to discuss more of this!

Turns out she was working full time at Franz Josef as a hostel operator and this was her first weekend off in a year! She was entranced and mesmerised by the fact that Gremlin's dulcet voice had tinges of Yarpie (South African).

I watched and listened as they bantered. Ooer :o I think she wants to be shown a good time! Seeing as I had already contrived to ride more milage this night to escort Angel to Alexandra, I nudged and winked Gremlin.

Then I had to outright hit him with a barrage of pointed innuendo and sly intimations that the room would be free for several hours! :shifty: This was a good wicket and the batting average would be high! So off I tootled with Angel in her car, I following at the first to ensure she got her driving skills out again. She drove well, but took us through the Crown Ranges (which she did not want to do, but twisties? Who was I to argue!) Fuel at this stage was an issue, but I knew that Frankton on the outskirts of Queenstown had ample supplies. We had some small spatterings of rain as Alexandra was reached. I had discharged my duty to Angel, but like a knight finishing a quest, I felt that there was still more to do.

The ride back to Wanaka saw the appearance of more wascally wabbits then you could shake a stick at. I hit and killed more wildlife in that trip then I have ever done in my time riding. At one stage I could smell something delicious cooking. Turns out it was rabbit cooking on the lower parts of my Big Ol'Hornets engine! :sweatdrop

By the time I got to Wanaka and back to the room, I listened carefully to the door to see if antics and bedroom shenanigans were on the way. Nada. Zip. Bupkiss. I rustled up my room key and went in nosily in case I was wrong.

I was confronted with the spectacle of Gremlin abruptly poking his head out from under the covers, glances in my direction and promptly goes back to sleep. Aye caramba! The man is a riding legend, but when he steps out of his black scuffed leathers, he reverts to mild mannered IT geeknerd! :slap:

Oh well, by this stage, I shrugged my shoulders, got out of my insect plastered red cammies and slid into the soothing sheets of my bed.

Happy I was. Riding I did. More riding at night. And the prospect of more riding tomorrow. If Gremlin ever got up that is.

He looks so innocent, all I have to do is reach across and take my pillow and ... oops! Internal monologue at this point! :rolleyes:

[gijoe1313]

Well the opening gambit of the day was a ride out to Christchurch from Wanaka. This was a pleasant prospect as the proposed milage was around 460km. A start for me, but given the low milages I have done so far on this trip, I found it to be a giddy figure (Gremlin's plan to have me think this way was bearing fruit, to think I would be actually grateful to only ride 460km!)

The ride to Lake Tekapo was entrancing, the blue waters was like a drop of heaven, placed there by God. A small reminder that we are but mere motes of molecules given form and an internal intelligence to appreciate our lot in this vast universe we are part of. The shimmering waters sparkled like dancing diamonds, daring us to stop and appreciate their beauty for a while longer yet.

Eventually we made Christchurch and found the home of Trump Lady's parents. They were down to earth and welcoming, our original plan to ride to Akaroa scotched when we found out that the local KBers were all descending to poke and prod the latest imports! A feast of epic proportions was barbequed up by Trump Lady's Dad (Steve), the KBers turned up thick and fast and many a story was told, each layer regaled by another funny quip, anecdote or tale! Bikes were admired, the compulsory HarlyAbleson and Tractor jokes bandied, I felt like a viking of old, around a messroom where legendary stories were told and liquid flowed into cups, loosening lips and paving the way for the vocal cords to give rent to tales of daring-do!

Alas, good times and company must part, like the sea to the tide, like the day to night and we farewelled our august friends. They tarried a while longer, to burn the revels into their memories, they suited up like gladiators of old, to challenge the threats and hazards of the open road. The throaty roar of Ducatis, Triumphs and other marques careened off the roads, lights spilling onto the black top to guide their riders home.

At this stage I had to keep riding. I suited up and asked for directions for a servo opened at this stage of the night. GXSR pointed me and actually guided me to the petroleum distillate holding facility! Yes, I was getting lost again! I took this as a good sign to come.

The trip to Akaroa was done with the tight twisties and gliding roads in the pitch of night. Black was it's name, with one hand it fanned left, with the other it laid to the right. Bliss. Riding nirvana. I love the feel of riding at night. A pure visceral riding experience where you are at one with machine and the road. As I rode, my mind was filled with classical tunes, Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven - all this was I matched notes with turns, the soaring crescendos with the rise in elevation, the soft notes with the slow approach into hairpin turns. A melody of movement that suppled my soul and lured me with the next bar.

The twinkling of small lights in the distances presaged the small settlements that made up Akaroa. The french influence apparent in the signs as they flashed by in the dark.

Eventually I made landfall in the town. I was an alien presence as my blue LEDs gave the late night revellers pause. The time I spent was appreciating the place by night, four years ago, I had been there.

As I left, I left with the knowledge that I would return again in a few hours in the day! Oh happy musings, that I should be so privileged by the Gods of the Ride to ensconce myself with more travelling on my wondrous contraption of velocity!

The ride back was uneventful except for the speed of its passing. I was perturbed and felt I could ride forever. I settled for cruising into Christchurch city and settled into the Hornet Swarm Night Ride I did in Auckland. Maps? Pfft! I got lost in the best of my traditions. I did every road in a grid, up and down, left and across, I made my way into the Botanical gardens via the walking posts, I took shots in the landmarks, I got looks from the nighttime revellers double taking as a red camo ninja on a blue LED lit motorbike soireed in their midst.

I rolled home around 2.15am and settled to sleep. Sleep was a canker that delayed me from riding and as dawn rolled by I was up again, too early for servos and checking the fuel levels, my Big Ol'Hornet woefully told me that we could only go for a short 50km jaunt.

So jaunt we did.

I rode back to Tai Tapu in Akaroa, turned and did Lincoln to check out the university there. Bemused cricketers up at the crack of dawn saw me wend my way through the paths and buildings of that hallowed place of higher learning. With fuel light on I made my way back and as Trump Lady's parents were up, I volunteered to cook brekkie! The barbie they had was a wondrous implement of culinary preparation. Snarlers, bacon, tomatoes were all sizzled with the griddle and plate. Cackleberries despatched last of all and a meal fit for kings of riding was on display. Somehow a miracle was performed, Gremlin was roused by Steve (Dad) and Mary (Mum) and we fueled our bodies ready for the prospect of riding ahead!

Steve offered to ride his hog to show us the best of the local sights and roads. An offer we could not refuse and grateful for! Steve can certainly ride that hog of his and was smooth handling it around the tight and twisties of Akaroa. He was a wealth of local knowledge and told us stories of his life and Trump Lady's upbringing in the area! Very enlightening! :whistle:

All good things come to an end alas and we returned back for a late lunch before we made ready to ride to Hanmer Springs. The end of our riding tour looming large. This has been one of the best days on tour so far. Great roads, even better people and fantastic food and sleeping quarters. For hospitality, look no further than the people of South Island, they are the real deal!

The late start to Hanmer made for some interesting riding. Gremlin took up the slack and really rode those roads. I shall paraphrase a certain speech by a King in Lord of the Rings ...

"Forth! Down fear of blind corner twisties! Arise! Arise, riders of the South Island roads! Tyres shall be shaken, rubber shall be splintered! A riding day ... a red day ... and the sun rises! Ride now ... Ride now ... Ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending! Death to fear!"

And rode those roads Gremlin did. His artless guile as he dueled with the cunning of the roads was evident. Not small his speed, great was his lean angle, mighty was his throttle control and away stripped the land. Sundering might he hewed the kilometres away. The setting of time was stayed by his flexing of purpose and his countenance brooked no argument. Spellbound, I watched as he was one corner ahead. I came around it. He was now two corners ahead. I came around them. He was craftily smashing his KTM over potholes, ruts and grit strewn before him, in awe I saw him sidle around decreasing radius up hill blind crests and emerging victorious, time and time again.

Awesome. Bewitching. Compelling. Deftly. Enervating. Ingenious. Finesse. Gumption. Hustling. Incredible. Jussive. Keen. Laudable. Masterful. Nebulous. Orchestrating. Peerless. Quasi-deity. Rapacious. Scylla. Tempestuous. Ultima. Virile. Winsome. Xebec. Yahoo. Zeitgeist.

There are words in every letter of the alphabet that cannot begin to frame the riding spectacle I was treated to. I was content to ride my Big Ol'Hornet in the parameters that it was designed for, by the nana that was commandeering it! :eek5: If ever there was a rider and a bike that was made to be paired, it is Gremlin with his katoom o'doom. He and it destroy everything that comes into contact with it. My rear tyre. My budget. My sanity. The local flora and fauna.

I was pushed out of my comfort zone and had to extend my skills, in essence, a riding lesson meted out in the fashion of Gremlin's wake. As I slowed into corners and emerged slowly out, I could only shake my head as I wondered how on earth he and his machine zapped through it! When his KTM shook, I took notice - it has twice the travel allowance of my humble steed and the rough juddering and ball-bouncing stacatto on my groin was testament to how well set up the katoom o'doom was.

The roads to Hanmer were paved with the nectar that salves rider's hearts. Twisties and challenges galore. The layering of the land revealing it's treasures to two riders, for the most part alone on those South Island roads. The steady thrum of engines, wind and the sound of rubber on the ground was our refrain.

Ride! And ride we did. Gremlin has related the events of our quick turn-around in Hanmer to fit in more riding. Even more salve for my blistered soul from the lack of milage I keenly felt. This was a red day, a day to ride to ruin! Fuel be damned! The ride out to the coast allowed the smell of the sea to waft over our nostrils, mixed with the unguents of oil, petrol and rubber. The pitiless nature of the sea wearing away at the rock of the earth dared us to emulate its effect on our tyres. We rode home with 10pm showing, the late laying of the sun's rays a salvation to two riders returning from their patrol of more riding roads.

I actually settled into sleep before Gremlin, to dream of those roads and the thought of more to come.

And somewhere in the recess of my mind I hear ... "My precccioussssss". It is my imagination that I am Frodo Baggins, being led astray by Gollum. Gollum being the man-bullying height of Gremlin ...

I finish my thoughts with the prospect that I shall delay killing Gremlin with my concealed string and needle with poison dripping down the thread into his mouth ... for it has been a good riding day.

[Gremlin]

miiiiiiii god you talk a load of rubbish :yawn:

[mikeey01]

crikey Gi Joe I needed the Dictionary for half them words!

[Mr Merde]

crikey Gi Joe I needed the Dictionary for halve them words!

Bugger the dictionary I say, give me the Lexicon so that I can even attempt to understand the language

[gijoe1313]

The morning broke to the "Sound of Music" in my head. As I got up visions of big bosomed Bavarian milk maids danced through my head, choruses from "Do-Re-Mi", "Edelweiss" and other such kitsch but entertaining songs got me smiling. I even did some yodelling! :blink:

Up at the crack of a brisk dawn, I walked down the road to marvel at the semi-alpine type view from the main road, little chalets dotting the higher points. All post-card picture perfect! There were people wandering around here and there all gusseted up in mountain wear ... :blink: I was walking around in a muscle t-shirt and shorts! I took some pictures and then got the Big Ol'Hornet cleaned again.

Since we were riding to Picton on this final day in the glorious South Island, I even had time to do some reflecting. The past few days were so great for the riding for me that I had no time to post on KB. There were moments of magnificent memories making a tear come to the corner of my eyes.

It has been four long years since I last commenced a tour of the SI, albeit in a cage, long before I was a biker. There were roads and areas people told me I had to go and see. I ignored them. "What do you mean you didn't do the Buller gorge? Are you mad?", "Hanmer springs? You didn't go there?" ... they were not aware of my master plan.

I would only see those places for the first time by motorcycle. When Gremlin's GPS lead us unerring to those places, the culmination of a life-long dream played out before me. It was a taciturn and doldrum life I had led, unaware of what biking does for me.

The epiphany that struck me as I crested a corner and espied the glory, the power, the majesty of the places I had seen and treasured in my mind's eye casted aside all the time I had been patient to wait.

Riding the roads from Hanmer and out made me feel a keen nostalgia and wistful feeling that I had not tarried enough in these lands. The call of home, the lack of funds and reality making itself intrusive in my riding experience now and then. It was at this juncture that I set myself my next riding goal.

A return to South Island. Doing it Frank Sinatra like, to wit "My way". I will compose my inner being and plan accordingly to make the SI the riding home as I do the North. Now I know what is on offer, I will no longer resist the lure of the Ferry at Wellington. I will now ride on randomly as I desire and just ride. Ride the length and breath of NZ in my random pootles! :sunny:

But I digress, lurching you my fine reader (egads I have broken the 4th wall!) back to my travels on this last day in the South Island. The road out were almost sullen towards us, resenting us as if it knew we leaving its embrace. Straight roads. To the horizon. Biking hell.

I would occasionally glance around Gremlin in the front, to see if it would change. Nope. Just straight. Every now and then I would lean to the left, I would lean to the right to see if it would change. Not a chance.

The comms were used to say mundane things like "bored, bored, bored" or "are we there yet", the occasional kink in the road was treated like a long lost friend, but gone oh so fast. Gremlin's katoom o'doom seat was acting like a blacksmith's hammer on a heated bar. Getting flattened and pounded.

My Big Ol'Hornet happily rode with me, giving me comfort and the occasional reminder if there were some curves to be rode through. I would pat the tank and tell him that it would be alright. Through a biker's twisty travels, straight roads must be endured so we can appreciate the good bits when they come! (hey, you have to be able to delude yourself if only to stop the voices in your head coming out to play! :whistle:)

As the kilometres fell away the route to Reefton, Blenheim and Picton finally merged into the place of our arrival and thus the place of our departure. The ride to Picton was a microcosm of the place South Island is. Heights studded with trees, resplendent with the foliage of green, hirsute in the golds, browns, reds that dress our fecund and verdant lands. Patches of purple, yellows and snatches of other exotic colours testament to the livery of nature's joy. I rode with my visor up often to enjoy the breeze and the smells of this God's given land.

We were early to the ferry again. I did point out to Gremlin not to break anything in Picton (again) and having a little tete-a-tete with the nice lady in the booking booth, we rode up to the opposite twisties from Queen Charlotte's drive. Nice roads and an unexpected gem after the loutish straights we had endured before. Up and up our motion enablers of freedom took us, oncoming cagers shocked that someone else could possibly be sharing the road with them!

And what a stunning sight. There was a gravel road off to the left and Gremlin and his Katoom o'doom perkily piped up "want to go that way?"

I responded in the negative.

"Pussy" he said.

My intuition giving me little alarm bells this time, I was not ignoring it. I would not be riding down the side of a steep crevasse going "I hate you Gremlin!" at this stage of the ride! I also replied that "I am not going to pull you out of anything that you fall down into!"

relaxed on my iron steed, I drank in the final sights of the South Island. Clear blue skies, green as the grass grows, high as the heights and low as the plains ... gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. With a quick downward run, we reached the ferry and waited for the ship to load. I had a quick word with the workers to make sure they were aware bikers were aboard and Gremlin was disparaging me beforehand that there were no special considerations for filthy biker scum. Oh how I enjoyed the fact that they made sure we were among the first aboard after the large trucks! :niceone:

As we tied down our mechanical creations of circumnavigation, it transpired that we were the only bikers aboard this sailing. Somehow Gremlin managed to break all the other bikers! :gob:

The resulting wait was a farce of epic fail. We were delayed 2-3 hours due to technical issues with an important piece of equipment on the boat. The tannoy at intervals saying things like "due to technical issues ...". What was eventually found out was that the rear doors would not close, thus we could not sail. Then it was found out that they could not open. Thus we at their mercy. They had the temerity to work out that they could offer two screenings of films, the first Quantum of Solace, the second Madagascar 2. In true mercenary fashion they charged for it as well! Choruses of rueful jokes and jeering attended this!

A bloke wandered up and started chatting with us, I espied a KTM logo on his shirt and we spent many a minute chatting about bikes. He had a cage with a trailer of trailies and had the biking passion. Great chatting with him and also Gremlin got to wax lyrical about Katooms and other related details of katoom doomness!

Eventually we were underway, texts sent to Kendog and a PM to Trudes keeping them updated of our ETA (no, not the peanuts fool!) The trip passed quietly, Gremlin updating his laptop with its nefarious creations of spreadsheets, he watched me stitch the remaining and new holes in my draggin'jeans, hassling me all the time with "buy some new ones!" Evidently he forgot about my blown budget to hell <_<

Well the journey was shortly over and since we had ensconced ourselves near to the door we were down shortly to the deck and freed our rides from the shackles keeping them upright. A short ride out from the ferry and I breathed in the air that was my birth hometown. Absolutely, postively Wellington! Kendog was very welcoming, staying up late to gather in the lost stray riders and had a quick chat before retiring for the night.

I was sore tempted to ride Wellington by night, but the logistics of keeping the door open for me would be a task too far for this night. Never mind, I am always back to Wellywood and I knew it could wait for another trip. :mellow:

Herein ends this log, I shall appertain and divulge the finality of our next days riding back up to the residence we call home as Auckland, in the final installment of this ninja log.

[TOTO]

great adventure read :clap:

[gijoe1313]

I was up early in the absolutely positively folds of Wellywood. Ironic since I have been using Lord of The Rings analogies and here I am in the home of its making! Almost as if I planned the whole metaphorical witticisms! :msn-wink:

I prepared the usual breakfast with the ingredients I located around the Kendog's kitchen. French toast, buttered mushrooms with cooked tomatoes ala the menu I prepared at McJims.

I shall take a small moment and detail the ingredients and cooking practice!

4 eggs, cracked and whipped into a dish with a tablespoon of water (this breaks the molecules and enables the eggs to be beaten to a more delicate consistency)

Paprika, salt, pepper and a bit of garlic added in.

Dip bread slices and onto hot pan, cook with tomatoes to one side.

Slice mushrooms, sizzle on medium heat in saucepin with a small addition of cooking oil. Add in some milk, dob of butter or magarine (if so, will need to stir in to mix well) once bubbling away, add in some flour to thicken, pepper, salt and paprika as well.

The Kendogs were up and about, Trudes is an early morning person like me and we had a right old natter about the other halves that we had to endure, recounting endless consistencies about how they dawdle, take their time, sleep in and basically waste the best parts of a day! :rofl: Kendog was up next and seemed surprised that there was a cooked brekkie waiting for him (he doesn't like mushrooms which Trudes gleefully pounced on). Work calls and off Kendog rides. Trudes also has things to do so I am left with the white, pasty skin of Gremlin wondering where his brekkie has got to! :devil2: Oh dear, I am so bad. Cereal for him and me only!

Eventually we suit up and ride to Wellington Motorcycles, Trudes got us to make sure we talked to Pete (Crasherfromwayback) and he sourced us a bottle of scottoil from somewhere and Gremlin topped up his reservoir.

A bit of a natter, bike pr0n fest, missing Rachprice apparently and off we rode. The late start meant we took the Waikanae route out and we jauntered off to home.

Homeward bound we rode. My comms all running out of battery power as if in silent protest that they would no longer be used upon returning to Auckland. The roads were fine, the cagers abundant. Welcome back to the North Island with its strange driving behaviours. The Wellington sprints in evident as everyone sped up on the passing straights and then coming back down below the posted speed limits :pinch:

The time passed quickly and as we approached Auckland, large cloud banks with strange phenomena presaged our dreay return home. Large chunks of rain fell with gusto, but as we stopped to don rainsuits all was well. The eventual roads to Auckland were broken up with small interesting detours Gremlin had plotted on the GPS and eventually Taupiri hoved into view.

Welcome home to the two returning bikers, rain washed down as a balm, baptising us for our approach to the Bombays. It seemed like an anti-climax, as I swung into the Takanini off-ramp, Gremlin and his KTM sped by, hand raised in the Vulcan farewell symbol, courtesy of his rain-off gloves "Live long and prosper."

Indeed, we rode long, we prospered. We bickered. We whinged. We moaned. We changed plans. We rode.

I have very rarely spent such a long time in the company of one person, Gremlin is an interesting individual and with all the complexities of being who he is.

This certainly turned out to be a most interesting tour of the South Island. Today, as I sit here typing out the last few words and paragraphs to end this recollection, I am already thinking of the rides I want to do in the future. Planned and unplanned! :sunny: :ride: :scooter:

I shudder to think of the implications when Gremlin quipped on the ferry offhandedly ... "What about the sequel?" :shit:

Herein ends the final log of the travel diary of the Red camo ninja. Watch out for the DVD, posters, mugs and other assorted crapola in the marketing of this trip.

"gijoe1313 and Gremlin invade the Mainland!"

[rachprice]

Sounds like an amazing trip! Pleasure to read!

[MIXONE]

The first trip I did around the mainland was in a car and like you I knew that I would be back on 2 wheels for a decent look.A very entertaining read guys and I think ninge that you should go work for New Zealand Tourism.:niceone:

[Sharry]

Absolutely wonderful :woohoo::woohoo:
The tales of your travels have been eloquently described:yes:
It was great reading about the roads, weather, wild animals and the KB community that has supported your journey.

[chanceyy]

just absolutely brilliant reading have really enjoyed your guys forays into the depths of the south island .. :clap: well done :yes:

[Swoop]

Thank goodness there isn't a ferry to Australia...

[SDU]

Awesome Read! How about an Encore/Sequel:whistle:
Don't forget to look us up next time you're down in the mainland

[Badger8]

Thank goodness there isn't a ferry to Australia...

You can just ride across at low tide, right? :innocent:

[Kendog]

Outstanding read. Was a pleasure having you guys over.

[gijoe1313]

The grins say it all!

From left to right ...

The inestimable Gremlin
The red camo garbed ninja gijoe1313
The Scotsman on an Italian McJim

[windingroad]

Wow, great read guys - I am SO looking forward to the Boulevard rally in March - but I can only afford 1 week afterwards to get a bit of a taste of the SI. Thanks for the supreme and diligent efforts in bringing this account to us, your loyal readership.

[karla]

I see a triology in the making ... film, radio, press, sponsorship ... (wish I'd got your signatures now). :)

Well riden (wridden?) guys! :2thumbsup

[Gremlin]

Ok, pics have been uploaded for some of the days, in posts 133 and 135 (wanaka to chch and chch to hanmer springs)

Been procrastinating and otherwise busy, but writing up the final days now

[Gremlin]

I missed the actual dawn... as usual. Maybe I'll see it tomorrow. Gijoe was wandering around as he usually did, and saw the adventure boys head off at 6am. Explains why we didn't see them partying last night I guess.

GiJoe suspects it was sponsored by Yamaha, as they had their banners up in Hanmer, and their van etc as well. He had had a nice walk around town, declared the bakery was open, and the weather was great (I believe I heard something like ... "the bakery is open").

After another pie (who's counting, everywhere had them, so its not like we depleted their stocks (much) and some fluids, it was time to gear up the bikes and head up to Picton via Reefton. I had already ridden the Lewis Pass, GiJoe was happy to let that dictate that we used the other road (and it was a bit further too).

Beautiful scenery again, as had become par for the course, but riding amongst the trees that almost formed a tunnel, it really was beautiful. Plenty of time was spent screeching to a halt, then blasting off again, in search of the best place to take the obligatory pics - and I think I did miss the best spots :weep:

The Upper Buller Gorge was re-ridden, and GiJoe declared that it was as good as before (he has remarkable powers of observation doesn't he?). Once out of the pass, it returned to the straights of boredom, and us wondering what we had done to deserve it.

Eventually Blenheim loomed, and it was a quick hop to Picton. We were booked on the 6.15pm sailing, so had to check in around 5.30pm. It was 3.45pm. <_< The lady said that they weren't open, but she could check us in, but we'd just be sitting on the tarmac anyway. I dryly pointed out that the carpark right outside the check-in didn't look too different. I did think that perhaps we could head down Queen Charlotte again, as it had been raining on the way down, so we hadn't taken pictures.

Then the nice lady suggested Point Karaka, and showed us briefly where it headed, and that it was beautiful... Affirmation that we had GPS, didn't need the map, and we geared up and set off again. For the Picton foot passenger check-in terminal. :eek: Infernal GPS decided it didn't like Point Karaka, and routed me elsewhere. Told it in simple words where it needed to go, and we were on the same page again :)

The roads were almost a carbon copy of Queen Charlotte Drive, narrow, tight, 50 kph speed limit, just a few more driveways. Not the road to enjoy the road itself, but the view was good. Karaka felt like it came quickly, but as the lady promised... beautiful. An excellent view of the sound, but I wanted more. We decided to head over to Port Underwood, and if time was against us, we could turn around any time. The road lost its markers, and was often as wide as one vehicle, but a very nice sealed road nonetheless.

On the way, I realised that since we hadn't fueled in Picton, it wasn't going to be a long trip, we had already covered 200km getting there, but if we could make the top, we should be able to get some good pics of the other side, and then return. Sure enough, we weren't disappointed arriving at the top. I even spotted a nice dirt road along the ridge, and reckoned it was what I needed to use to get a central shot of the main side of the sound (the road up presented trees right in front of me, and didn't display the true grandeur of the sound (look GiJoe, a big word!!). GiJoe wasn't happy with this idea, and seems to have given up his ideas of doing what he was afraid of. The scared bugger even stated he wasn't going to save my sorry arse if I got into strife... nice huh?

Well, like always, my plan went swimmingly. Not literally, but it turned out how I wanted it, and I got the shot (and IIII wasn't compelled to give my bike a lie down either). Returning to GiJoe, he was ready to go, but I hadn't taken the pictures of the Port Underwood side, so did so. Returning to vehicle check in, we thanked the lady for her recommendation, and checked in.

I think we have covered the leaving of Picton... but in short... we didn't for two hours. First they had technical issues, and since they didn't elaborate, and I am in IT, I know about understating major issues. Then they finally announced it was a stern door they couldn't shut, but nor could they open. Eventually, it was sorted, and we could be under way. Messages were sent to Kendog and Trudes to keep them in the loop, as suddenly a 9.30pm arrival turned into 11.30pm.

We had already had dinner, done some posting on KB etc before we even left, so the actual 3 hour trip was spent talking shit, talking some more shit, reflecting on the trip (and shit) and talking shit with a ktm shirt wearing guy, that along with a superduke, also had a hornet 900.

Eventually it was time to go down, release the bikes from the tie downs and head over to Kendog and Trudes for the night stop. Amazingly, GiJoe didn't make many references to his desire to ride straight off the ferry to Auckland. Well, either that, or I have perfected my selective hearing capabilities. :laugh:

Kendog graciously waited up for us, we talked some more shit, then piled into bed. We tried to put GiJoe as far away from humans as possible, they were nice people, and we didn't want to get kicked out in the middle of the night :mellow:

crikey... this post was a bit long...

[Gremlin]

Well, I missed this dawn as well.... too bad... maybe tomorrow ;)

Kendog had already left for work (urgh... and I was going to be doing that the following day), but we still had Trudes to entertain, and so we did, with snippets of the adventure.

By this time GiJoe was evidently annoyed I hadn't put out, so wasn't making breakfast for me. Hiding my annoyance I foraged for some cornflakes, which were better than his egg stuff anyway. Just milk and cornflakes, no sugar, aahh, the simple things in life.

Trudes left to go get cheek pinched by oldies, so we geared up, and headed for Wellington Motorcycles (on Trudes recommendation) to meet crasherfromwayback, and also see if they had scott oil, as my oiler was getting low, and air blocks in the tube are annoying. More talking shit, browsing the shop (they ain't small are they?) and admiring the sights of wellington (local chicks tottering past in mini skirts) and a little bit of filling the bike with oil.

Time was getting on, and we still had to get to Auckland. Probably got out of Wellington around 12.30, and the roads started opening up a little more (but not the throttle hands, not in the North Island :nono:)

Taihape was a late lunch, in similar pattern to the trip south, and we assumed our usual places at the eating bar, looking at the bikes, and reflecting on the last time we were there, and now its only 12 days later. The route back was simply the route down reversed, yet now the North Island was not nearly as appealing as before, having had a taste of real roads and scenery. Tokoroa was the next fuel stop (and the same station as before, of course) and on to Putaruru where we were going to have a little detour (despite being riding fit, and capable of covering 500-600 km a day, the straights were getting us really tired within 400km.... and they say its fatigue. I blame the boredom of the straights).

At Putaruru, and consulting with GiJoe, we clambered into our rain suits for the last time on the trip, as the clouds in the north were not going to give us blue skies. Mentally preparing for the final leg to Auckland we set off down some minor roads that would bring us out south of Cambridge, but still a welcome break from the straights. It started raining during the detour. In fact, rain isn't a very good word to describe it. It was large drops of water, so numerous that the tail lights of the car in front were the only thing visible. It eased up eventually, but you have to like one piece rain suits... dry as a bone beneath (except my feet, but the boots are sport boots, and never stated as waterproof).

Thankfully it decided to back off to normal rain again, and since no stops were necessary, we waved good bye to each while on the motorway, and gijoe split off and I carried on for home, which I reached around 8.45pm.

No pics for this day. In comparison to the South Island, the roads were mega boring, and after beautiful scenery, why would you take shots of a straight? :weird: The desert road was a highlight, with low volumes of traffic, so I believe a few black lines were left on the exit of corners :innocent:

[Gremlin]

Well, we covered slightly more than 6350km in 13 days, averaging a little under 500km per day, at a moving average of 85kph. GiJoe did a little more, but not as much as you would expect :done:

The bikes performed faultlessly (well, one blown fuse on the hornet, from over-abuse of the horn), despite GiJoe having a tantrum and throwing his bike in the sand. Tyres were left on the South Island roads in abundance in the process of exploring the best sealed roads NZ has to offer (and a few unsealed :devil2:) and meeting KB'ers from corners you didn't think existed. Hospitality was tremendous, even the vast majority of drivers on the road were courteous.

I'll attempt to list all the KB'ers we saw during the trip (some we knew already):
nutter34
karla
McJim & Chickadee
Daffyd
Jantar
Scumdog
Trump-lady's parents (Steve and Mary)
Shrek
Dangerous and Rashika
mikeey01
le mans? and SDU
Kendog and Trudes

Most surprising of all (and to you I am sure) we both made it back alive (despite all threats to the contrary), humour intact, and we'll still ride together (can't let my training of GiJoe slip :devil2:)

Oh... and I have been forced to say this... the South Island is terrible, with everyone nasty to you, the roads are all worse than SH22, and traffic like you wouldn't believe.

Stay the hell away :done:

I'll leave you with two of my favourite shots from the trip...

[_Shrek_]

Awesome Read! Guys
was good meeting you, remember the doors is always open... just don't for get to tell them, the South Island is terrible, with everyone nasty to you, the roads are all worse than SH22, and traffic like you wouldn't believe.

Stay the hell away :shutup:

[TOTO]

Awesome Read! Guys
was good meeting you, remember the doors is always open... just don't for get to tell them, the South Island is terrible, with everyone nasty to you, the roads are all worse than SH22, and traffic like you wouldn't believe.

Stay the hell away :shutup:

Too late - we are all comming over...:jerry: