Phreak

Okay, thought I'd write a little down about my journey around the North Island over my holiday...

Got the CBR back up to spec again, thanks to the guys at Cycletreads for the new chain and sprockets, you have restored my faith in people!

Starting from home, on Auckland's North Shore, I left yesterday at about 10am after filling up with gas and packing the minimum gear I figured I'd need into my bag. (Spare change of clothes, shaving gear, laptop, cell-phone, and chargers...) Suffice to say, even though it's coming into winter now I have a strategy: I have friends and family at pretty much every stop I will be making, so will at the worst only be wet (if it rains) between stops. And I trust my Ixon gear to keep me dry!

So, anyways, left Auckland yesterday at about 10am, got onto the southern motorway and traffic was good, carried on to Ngaruwahia (is that how it's spelt?) for my first gas stop. BP on the main road is always a good place to stop 'cause the Cafe has the best lasagne squares! Quick munch (and a quick clean of the helmet - bugs in the Waikato are fierce!!!) and I'm back on the road again, bypassing Hamilton heading for New Plymouth. Figure I should have enough gas to get me all the way through to N.P (my GPS says I'll make it barely!) so away we go.

Pretty easy ride, sun is shining, minimal traffic on the back roads, cagers let me past nice and politely when we hit straights, I'm smiling under my lid. God I love being on the bike on a long haul! Get to maybe 5 or 6 minutes out of Te Kuiti and all of a sudden the exhaust is WAY louder, so I pull over and inspect, yep, the silencer has come out. Pull the bike safely off the road, and wander back to see if I can find it... (not overly hopeful but hey, you never know!) Turns out about 300m back up the road its lying in the middle off the tarseal, thank god no-one has run it over! Trudge back to where the bike is waiting, head into Te Kuiti to find an engineer to fix...

Cant remember the guys name, but found a small engineering place not far off the main road. He did an awesome job, Mig welded some nuts to the inside of the silencer and fitted new bolts so that it wont rattle loose again! REALLY nice guy! And no charge, either! Cant thank you enough, mister! So, silencer back in exhaust, back on the road again in no time at all.

Come to the hills between T.K. and N.P, and the road looks a bit wet, and I know some of these corners are pretty tight, so no rush, sit behind a cool looking SS Commodore with another Holden behind me, good gaps between all of us, happy to just cruise through the twisties. It strikes me as amazing how nice it is to take your time, and that people that use the same roads in their cars are happy to take their time too. I don't like to rush when I'm not too sure about the road conditions, and the two Holden drivers seemed more than happy to maintain a relative speed, not rushing but not dawdling either. Yup, cool. :-)

Pull off to run on my own after the hills, after the little village with the whitebait cafe, (cant remember it's name but must stop in there one day!) over the long bridge and the late afternoon sun hits me WHACK! straight in the eyes... Hate it when that happens! Remind myself to take my time, still plenty of daylight before it gets dark, gotta clean my visor again soon 'cause the bugs are starting to get pretty thick... See a sign for a rest-stop just up the road a little bit so decide to pull in. The view is amazing, on a little rise overlooking the beach - what a beautiful country we live in! Check the GPS, only about 70 km to go to New Plymouth, all good!

Oh yeah, might I say at this stage, the bike is going MINT! Temperature gauge (which I'm used to going up to about three quarters on a really hot day's ride) has sat at just under half ALL day; sweet! Silencer is still nice and firm in the can, tire pressures are good, everything is good! :-)

Back on the black stuff, hear a couple of coughs and splutters from the engine, reach down to flick the gas-tap over to reserve, check the trip counter - 220kms. Hmm, was expecting to get a little bit more than that... Oh yeah, I was going up a hill and the fuel pick-up in my tank is a little forward of the middle so I guess that makes sense. Into Waitara for gas again, find a BP (but no BP cafe this time LOL), fit just over ten litres in, gotta love being on a 250! Lady behind the counter cant believe that I last filled up some 230 kms ago, for only ten litres of gas. Hehe...

Traffic starts to queue up on the way into New Plymouth, the typical 5 oclock rush to get home after work, but being on a bike I slip past most of it on the shoulder (at a safe speed of course!) and get to my Dad's place without hassle.

Destination 1 reached. Yay! :-)

Relaxing for today, gonna clean all the bugs off the front of the bike, maybe go shopping for a birthday present for my step-mum, then off to Wellington tomorrow! Stay tuned...!