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 to do, and with a shock I realised we were already half way through our trip. How the hell did that happen? We’d only just finished the TT? Madness I tell you. It took longer than expected to get ready, overstaying our 10am deadline (and reminded so) but who cares, the TT had been achieved and we wouldn’t stay here again.

I had to add more oil, being almost at the bottom of the sight glass, after being at the top at the start of the TT, but I guess I’d done more than the odd km at pace when winding my way through the tight stuff. The ride was a long one… all of 2km down the road to the Couplands Bakery again, as we knew they had really nice food.

While devouring some nice sandwiches (I had another filled roll) a BMW rider appeared on a R1150RT or similar, and enquired if our food was a late breakfast or early lunch? Breakfast it was. We ended up chatting, before he abruptly left and jumped on his bike and rode away. When Toto and I traded bemused glances he declared I’d been rejected by my own kind and I almost choked on the powerade I was drinking. Road riders don’t understand all this off road stuff and adventure riders don’t understand the love of the road… I’m in a special place called Gremlin town… population? Me.

It was time for a change in pace. Our break changed from the mileage eating requirements of TT to the laid back approach of having roads we wanted to do, but with no deadline other than booked accommodation each night. We could drop or add roads at will and neither of us minded munching a few miles. Since finding adventureguide.co.nz I’ve been almost addicted, reading most reports and finding all the cool roads I never knew existed, but now yearned to do.

This was Day 1 of the adventure stuff. West to Oxford before heading down the path less trodden, the Lees Valley Rd which turned into Okuku Pass Rd. All gravel, and a decent sized river to cross along with some smaller streams and puddles. I’d made sure I sent plenty of pictures to Toto so he knew what he was signing up for on his Hornet but he reckoned he was game for the lot. Speaking to riders he’d found during the weekend, they’d stared at him in disbelief when he explained he’d be doing the Rainbow and Lees Valley the following week.

I’d been itching to do some more adventure stuff, but having a mate around to help pick up the fractionally larger Jessica when it went wrong was a good idea I reckoned, and hence I conned, no, encouraged Toto to come along. The road started innocently enough, being easy gravel with stunning vistas down into the valleys below. This was clearly not enough for Toto, as I offered a path down to the river we could explore and he jumped at the chance. Hitting the river bed and it was as far as he wanted to go (while I was sitting on the gravel bed above).

We took some pictures and I stripped off some layers as it was warming up really nicely and since we were moving slowly and stopping frequently I was getting hot. Toto danced in the river (if you don’t believe me just look at the pictures) and we decided to move on, because too many distractions like this and we’d never get anywhere. The GPS was already telling me that the ETA to Amberley was 3.30pm and we had to get to Hanmer Springs for the night.

We carried on and the road got much more entertaining. We had our first water crossings, basically large puddles and small streams but we’d never really done it before, so it was all very entertaining to us and required copious amounts of photos and videos. I’m sure we’ll look back and chuckle how excited we’d got at a puddle once we’ve gained some more experience. We got into a good rhythm of passing through gates. Whoever was in the lead would open and whoever was last would ride through then close once first had gone through.

The major hurdle was in the form of the Okuku River, which was a decent sized river to cross. Toto had his doubts so got his feet wet again dancing across the river to check it out. I was more interested in dunking my bike… I mean, using an adventure bike for its real purpose. He advised which route to take (with our huge amount of experience of course) and I went first while he videoed it. The start was a bit rocky and I went slightly off course twice, but pausing in the middle on the bar I took aim I made it across looking more like a pro… only to drop the bike on dry land on the other side.

All captured on video of course, the drop quite harmless, but I didn’t realise how soft the gravel was, tried to cross the bridge between wheel tracks but the front wheel decided it didn’t want to. A bit of a chuckle and I had to make Toto stop filming so we could get the bike up. No sense trying by yourself if a mate is so handy, is there? Toto went next and did admirably well (Ok fine, he didn’t drop it). We continued, crossing more small puddles and streams and generally having a smashing good time, dodging wildlife and even herding the odd animal who insisted on staying on the road.

We ended up at another large puddle/stream, which looked kinda deep, but there’s only one way forward isn’t there? More videoing and I should have closed my visor. Almost across the water shot up, through my open visor, I can’t see but can’t stop, bugger it, carry on until you feel solid land. Bike didn’t seem awfully happy with the crossing, but cleared up in moments. Toto decided to make a more impressive crossing, crossed up for a second or two at the end… and he wondered why he went skew

We thoroughly enjoyed it and probably looked like silly idiots, grinning from ear to ear. The combination of roads plus crossing water and stunning scenery was a mix we liked, and the next two days only held more of that. We only arrived in Amberley (slightly dirty and a bit hungry) at 5pm. It was 80km to Hanmer, but I checked with Toto. He definitely needed gas, but we preferred food now as we hadn’t really eaten since the late breakfast at the bakery. Unfortunately, our favourite stop, the Spoon Café was well shut, at 4pm, but a worker at the gas station recommended the Nor’Wester Café just up the road so we went in search after Toto’s Hornet was topped up.

It was a bit flash and I subsequently found out it’s a bit of a foodies place (so much too flash for simple blokes like us), but we enjoyed a delicious tomato/vegetable soup each, with garlic bread. A bit hot and we both burnt our tongues, but I told you we were simple. The soup was thick and had herb stuff we liked. We decided the waitress with glasses had a very cute face… the advantage being Toto left them to me (and I of course didn’t act on anything), but it was a fun game to play.

Tummies satisfied, there was only 80km to knock off (and use SH7 for the 3rd time in under a week) which we did in just under an hour, arriving at the backpackers at 7pm on the dot. Traffic was again light and I thoroughly enjoyed getting back into the road groove of getting your lines right and matching your speed to the corner. After half a day on gravel I was again loving the sensation of flowing from one corner to another, up and down hills.

We checked into Hanmer Springs, paid the excellent value of $58 per night for twin share and unloaded the bikes. GiJoe and I have stayed there before, so I requested the same room if possible, which they obliged, as I knew (when asking nicely) we could get the bikes around the back and right outside the room. Nice and safe, mostly invisible from the roads and very easy for unloading.

Toto had a shower and after some suggestions by me, we decided we’d have a light dinner as well, so went in search of a suitable place. We settled on Piccolino and after first fancying a pizza (I’d thought we could share and had mentioned pizza at the backpackers) we settled on pasta instead. It was delicious and the owner said we should try their pizzas then. Full for the day, we still had another night in Hanmer, so perhaps tomorrow. We gave into the homemade cheesecake on offer, so no desire to have the free ice-cream on offer at the backpackers (as tempting as it was…)

Back to the motel we spent the night copying each other’s pictures and videos for safety, viewing them, re-viewing them, and Toto constantly watching pieces of the same video… yes… it was slightly annoying to hear the same 2-5 seconds over and over (and over) I got stuck into my blogs, now several days behind. Day 1 hadn’t been completed and we were already ending Day 6. Toto had blogged Day 1, and GiJoe was making subtle hints about at least one person was keeping people up to date… He should have come if he wanted up to date accounts

Toto headed for bed first just before midnight and tried humping his bed as he settled into it and I carried on until 1am doing more blogging and finally getting Day 1 up and Day 2 started.

Pics: http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/b...0TT2000%20D06/