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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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Well returned today from my first bike rally ever!...The Waimate March Hare..apparently the biggest and best in the south island and a great one to use as my virgin rally run....from all accounts it usually rains..and I wasn't disappointed...it Rained! and Blew! and did it dampen our spirits?..not at all! "Bring it on" we cried, determined to enjoy...yeah right, Saturday morning we gave it two hours to clear or we were packing up! The threat worked and the sun showed its face and we stayed. ...

My TT2000 for 2012.

I have a R1150GSA but managed to fall off that a few months ago in a farmers paddock at 10 kph and break my foot in the process. So for some reason I decide to take my trusty old K1100LT which I had fitted some extra lights to last year before the Grand Challenge. Also rigged up my radar detector on the LT, with a cool LED flasher in the middle of the dash - I had used the radar detector on the Grand Challenge but it is positioned way out on the handle bar well ...

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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Day 3 – Friday 24.02.12 – Preparing for the TT2000

It is an early morning wake up at 9am. The TT2000 official start is at 6pm and we have to get ready for the event. That includes get the bikes all packed, chains (ok my chain) lubricated, stock up on cereal bars and water etc. I had a slight suspicion that I had forgotten to get WOF done on the bike and more importantly the old one had expired. Further check on my part reveals that it had in fact expired about 20 days ago. Oops. That's ...

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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I think its the pictures... My brother came back from his honeymoon travelling round NZ in a crusty old van. It wasn't the photos of the cows in the fields, or the streams or glaciers, but the amazing roads around the south island. Ever since watching "The Long Way Round" the amazing TV series with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, ive wanted to travel round NZ on a bike.

The thought of the smooth winding rounds through the canyons and valleys around the south island fill me with ...