Southward Bound (Auck to Wellywood) 3-7 Jan

[marks]

Must come down sometime and ride this little hill.

I'm sure we can arrange a group to keep you company.

I'm keen to try and get up in one run - might have to bring the trailbike methinks

[Woodman]

i'm sure we can arrange a group to keep you company.

I'm keen to try and get up in one run - might have to bring the trailbike methinks

klr klr klr ....................

[marks]

klr klr klr ....................

the klr was hard enough to get up the first gnarly bit and it gave me a major 'shit my pants' moment on the way back down
Aint no way its going up the 'Scree of Despair' as Pampara so aptly called it

[.chris]

Hi Guys

Arrived in Fairlie after a longish day down from Blenheim yesterday.
Bart, thanks heaps for the guided tour on wed, that was bloody good fun, definately one of the highlights of the trip so far, that Takapari road was excellent, truely mind blowing views.

Dave, great to catch you in Ekatahuna, always nice to see other riders out on the road especially ones you know.

Joe, cheers heaps for the bed for the night and the BBQ, your hospitality is legendary, look forward to seeing you guys on your trip to the south.

Also thanks to Marks, Andy and bart for taking me up to the cnut hill, sorry I did not make and run at it, but figured I would just end up making a cnut of myself and break something.
I have not done much hill climb stuff like that before and had already had a moment or two getting to the bottom of it. That was enough adventure for me.
Great track up to the hut tho, was bloody good fun.

Cheers to Andy for riding with me through the ranges into Wellington, that was pretty hairy through there, but worth it to cruise into wellington along side the train, and make it to the ferry early enough to catch the earlier one.

I just uploaded a few of the photos I have taken so far.

Trip South

Bart, can I get some copies of those photos you have uploaded full size please?
Great work with the camera too, you are so active with it good job

[marks]

Some really great photos Chris - makes a gret slideshow

where is Meremere Track - looks worth exploring?

Keep the photos coming

cheers


Mark

[.chris]

Meremere Track is up near Lake Rotorangi North east of Hawera, if you hvae a look at this tracklog, it was the last section of that it is incomplete and I am pretty sure I got onto it from Meremere road, it was a seasonal track I think it was closed for winter due to the clay surface, was good fun even with the luggage on the bike (would have been nicer without it)

Had a fun trail ride today with my bro (xt400) and mate (XR400R) had a rip around my mates farm and up and down the local riverbed, bike is looking much cleaner now it has been dunked in a few clean rivers - tracklog here.
No photos today, but my mate got a few. Will upload when I get them off him.

[bart]

Bart, can I get some copies of those photos you have uploaded full size please?

I'm not at home at the moment, so will sort it out early next week.

Severely pissed about most of the photos from Cnut not coming out. Must learn more about the manual settings.

[.chris]

I'm not at home at the moment, so will sort it out early next week.

Severely pissed about most of the photos from Cnut not coming out. Must learn more about the manual settings.

No prob, just like to have some highres versions.

Mangaed to get the photos from my mate, and have uploaded.

Opihi River & Pages Run

[NordieBoy]

Some sweet shots there

[bart]

No prob, just like to have some highres versions.

Mangaed to get the photos from my mate, and have uploaded.

Nice shots.....that poor XR looks like it gets a hammering

Photos now up in my signature thing. Keep clicking on the photo and they will eventually get big.

[.chris]

Nice shots.....that poor XR looks like it gets a hammering

Photos now up in my signature thing. Keep clicking on the photo and they will eventually get big.

Cheers, you got some great photos there.

Yep he sure likes to ride like mad, if the XR had not been there I am pretty sure he would be doing the same jumps on the XT.

From Opihi River & Pages Run

[Waihou Thumper]

Nice photos Chris, looks like that route near Hawae is a good one. Might have to try that sometime. Nice to see you had a good time and see you in Fairlie...

[.chris]

Survived the Dusty Butt and got a few photos along the way.

Dusty Butt 1000km Motorcycle Rally

Also went for a ride up to Tekapo and had a look around which ended poorly, but that is another story for another day.
Got some good photos anyway (more photos clicky clicky)

From Tekapo, Macauley Ride

[.chris]

Phase 1 of the trip is now done and dusted, back in the north island now for a few weeks, then back into phase 2.

And news on the bike front is good.
But I guess I should go back and explain this one. It happened here

From Tekapo, Macauley Ride

Now what happened was I drowned the 690 while crossing the Macauley River above Lake Tekapo. First of all, stop laughing you cheeky bastards!
Somehow while doing one of the easier crossings I had done that day I managed to hit a rock and knock her into neutral and if you have ever been in the Macauley River you will know that is not going to end well.
The current on rivers like that is pretty different to most rivers, it moves damn fast and the bed of the river shifts under your feet/wheels as you cross, makes for tricky crossings and means you need to check every crossing in both directions to make sure it has not changed too much when you return. I had checked the crossing and should have been ok, but got caught out regardless.
I was quite proud I did not panic and let go of her, just let the bike be swept to the downriver side of me and yanked her back up, a total of about 2 seconds in the water.
That is where the fun began.
Field stripped her down to try and remove as much water as possible, and gave her some time to dry out.
No luck getting her started.

I at least had the foresight to have removed the bags from the bike so I did not drown the camera/phone at the same time.
I started up the phone and much to my suprise I had reception, called the AA for a pickup.
At this stage after about 2 hours in the middle of the river, with no shade I was starting to feel a bit rough, had plenty of water and some food (standard solo adv touring equipment) and I had already taken a page out of Bear Grylls book and had my teeshirt wrapped around my head like a turban so I was at least not terminally sunburnt. I then cracked into pushing the bike back down the river to at least make it easier for the AA guy. After about 2 hours I reached a spot they could get at me easily enough.

Then spent another 2 hours in the shade waiting for the AA to arrive.
Got the bike back to my Dad's workshop and had a go at getting her going, but had no luck, tried all the usual guff.
Not wanting to cause any more damage to the bike while trying to get it going, decided to send it to the pro's.
And I have just heard back and the guys at Superior Motorcycles in CHCH have got her all sorted. Big up's to those guys!

Now that is what I call and adventure!

[cooneyr]

Sounds like you had a bit of "fun". Hope you get some advise on the tricks to dry the bike out and get it running again from Superior. Next time your might not have reception (seriously suprised you had any up the Macauley!).

So its been a while, about 20 years to be presice since I was at Lillybank and I'm wondering what is the likely hood of getting bikes and gear up the Macauley hut (outside bath that you light a fire under sounds interesting). It's probably not the best time of year to go exploring up there with the all the melt water but that obviously wasn't bad enough to put you off, or should it have been?

Cheers R