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 ...
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 ...
Picton to Christchurch – Thursday 23.02.12. Breakfast was being served from 8-9am and we wanted to catch that so a quick shower at 8am and to the food we went. Three scones and a tea later hunger is satisfied while th tall guy has had a scone and a bowl full of cereal. Today we had to decide on what route to use to get to Christchurch. Do we use the straight down boring route or do we get more adventurous, brave the rain and do something fun? Bugger the rain – we like ...
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 ...
I am happy, I'm feeling glad I got sunshine, in a bag I'm useless, but not for long The future is coming on is coming on…….. Maybe!! After the MDA ride in early December my riding summer virtually came to a halt with just a couple of 2-up squirts up to Patea and back around Christmas. At that point I had a new bike in the garage, as well as the old bike which I‘d just managed to list on Trade-Me, I had two flats which needed their interiors ...
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, ...
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! ...