Gremlin's Tall Stories

It’s 9am and the bloody alarm is going off. I had used the other bed in the room this time, which while still soft at least wasn’t like the other bed which did its best interpretation of water. I’d woken during the night cold, so had stolen the other thin blanket from the other bed (this time there was a pillow and blanket for both beds, not the one like my previous stay).

It was hard packing everything up already and I could have slept longer on a better bed, but we had more riding ...

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The alarm is going off at 4.30am, our pre-arranged time. I have some 1200km to cover before completing the TT2000, which I budget to be 14 moving hours, 16 hours all up (rough maths), plus a buffer of one hour for safety, so I want to be on the road at 5am. I send a txt to Toto to confirm he’s up (as our rooms are not near each other) which he confirms and I complete packing.

Most of my gear had already been packed where it needed to be, but there are always the final tweaks. Sticking ...

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Danseys was much easier than Hakataramea, except I rounded one corner while we were still on the seal to find Whatastoner picking up his bike. I go to help, but he’s off up the road almost as quickly, so I hop back on and follow him. All action in this ride so far… We photograph the cattle grid at the top with our bikes side by side. Next up is the Danseys Hotel and Naseby Fire Station. We find those, photograph and carry on. It’s excellent that we’re like minded, stopping only for a photo ...

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A rest day in Christchurch means a nice slow start to the day, then tackling a few things that needed sorting. Both of us were going to check-in for the TT2000 in the evening, but while I would head south in the evening, Toto was heading back to the accommodation for sleep, then leaving early in the morning. With that in mind, and most places offering a late checkout of midday, we booked the accommodation for Friday night as well, to give us the most flexibility.

9am and by mutual ...

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8.30am and we’re up. The night’s sleep had been OK, only disturbed a couple of times by ol’ freight train. We head down to the breakfast bar for the complimentary breakfast of scones and cornflakes (and to admire the female batch of backpackers of course). The day had started very promising with nice sunny skies, but the rain clouds were in the distance looking threatening.

Breakfast complete, we packed and got ready for the day. I ended up chatting to Forklift Driver for a while, ...

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I could probably sum up the entire day with one word… wet. However, GiJoe has taught me real good, so why say 1 word, when several hundred will do?

Up at 5am (yes, really), and most of my packing has been done the previous night. I have breakfast, finish packing and I’m out the door just before 6am. Down the road for gas and I’m only slightly late to meet Toto at the BP Papakura Autobahn. He’ll try to claim 5 minutes, but it was 3, and he can’t argue with a BMW clock!

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It’s been a little while coming, but was always thought of as an eventuality, rather than a possibility.

Provided to me for work at the start of 2007, with 26,000km on the clock (she’s a 2005), she ticked over the 100,000km mark on Thursday. I know only of Toto’s Hornet (130,000km) and a courier’s Hornet (200,000km+) that have higher mileage. Bulletproof things they be.

She’s proven to be incredibly reliable, low maintenance and excellent value for money. Tyres (Michelin ...

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Saturday

The reason for fitting the dual purpose tyres was a weekend of exploring the Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sound. I’ve been around the Nelson-Picton area several times already, but normally on tight schedules, going up Takaka Hill, across to the West Coast or heading south to Christchurch.

This time, I guess I could have done a couple of long days going down the west coast for example, but I’ve done most of the roads before, and will do a lot of them in February. ...

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