Celtic Sea Lily's Maiden Voyage! (Entry 1)

LB · 13th February 2004, 16:00

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

Hey All,
I'm in Tirau at the visitors centre & their PC seems to be having a spz so this will just be a short post.

Basically - awesome weather, awesome riding!

BIG THANKS to Ching Ching! Sorry bro but it's now offical - you are a gentleman!

Will post again soon & write something good & proper when I get back to Wellington.

Only 1 wanker today who got right up my tail pipe one part of it but no sweat!

Hot & sunny here - I just gotta get back on that road!

Really glad to hear all is going well.

**mccool** · 13th February 2004, 16:27

Originally Posted by Lynda Blair

What did you write? I think it's a great mag (cos they sometimes print my stuff too!!)

Hello Lynda. Yes I've seen a couple of your articles - very good. I wrote a thing about the Brass Monkey Rally for Issue 14, Aug-Sept 03. Theres a picture of me doing an Elvis Presley lipcurl after many Speights.

LB · 14th February 2004, 08:12

Originally Posted by mccool

Hello Lynda. Yes I've seen a couple of your articles - very good. I wrote a thing about the Brass Monkey Rally for Issue 14, Aug-Sept 03. Theres a picture of me doing an Elvis Presley lipcurl after many Speights.

Hey McCool - a great article!! I've just re-read it. One of my mates has done 12 Brasses (apart from that he's a really lovely guy - must have a slight brain disorder that kicks in annually round early June I think.....). I have registered to go to two and chickened out, though when I was young and silly I went to 7 Cold Kiwis.

Must get to meet you one day!

**Draco** · 14th February 2004, 21:47

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

Hot & sunny here - I just gotta get back on that road!

Hey Celtic glad 2 hear your now officially one of us antisocial bikers having embarked on your maiden voyage, On Ya!!
Hope you haven't had too much of

or

and plenty of fun

Look forward to the tale when your home safe.

**moko** · 16th February 2004, 04:51

I went to Turangi year before last,left Hamilton and got soaked through within 10 minutes,up to Rotorua then headed to Taupo.Sat in some burger place there with all my wet gear spread all over the place,still hammering down.No problem as being a Brit it was what passes for a pleasant summer`s day here.Plan was to loop around Lake Taupo but by the time I got to Turangi it was getting worse and worse so I figured better to head back where I at least knew the road,turned around in the Army museum car-park.Desert Road was awesome and I`d love to head down that way again some time only a bit of sunshine would be nice!
I had a CB250 a few years back,you wont go far wrong with one of those.

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 15:10

Originally Posted by Draco

Hey Celtic glad 2 hear your now officially one of us antisocial bikers having embarked on your maiden voyage, On Ya!!
Hope you haven't had too much of

or

and plenty of fun

Look forward to the tale when your home safe.

Hey Draco,

Not sure about the antisocial bit but, only one

so far & he backed off, lots of

, a little

but all off it has been fun!!!

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 15:27

Well I'm actually in Murupara today but, I shall try & start at the beginning.

Set off from Wgtn feeling really good about things. There had been a HUGE storm the night before & I was a little worried that it may not let up but, it was clear & calm just a little damp on the roads.

So after gearing up & checking tyres etc I was off. I saw lots of bikes when I was heading out of Wgtn (comuters I think). The traffic was not too bad between Wgtn & Levin, no flooding either (which had been reported). So after a dissapointing cup of caffiene at Levin McD's (nothing else was open!) at about 8.30am I was off to Bulls.

Again no complications, traffic steady. I was able to keep up a good pace on the Bitchin' Mobile (well for me it was!) around 100-110kms/hr. To be honest I had thought I would be in Levin much sooner but I hadn't really thought about all the small towns you pass through. All good though. I arrived in Bulls about 9.40am & stopped to fuel up at the Mobile. I saw another rider and his female passenger stopped there for fuel, I said "Hello" but I was a bit shy to engage them in conversation seeing as they were on a big Harley road bike (I think) & I was on my little 250 girl. At this point I was getting a little worried that Sir Ching Ching would have been waiting a while for me at Taihape.

Off I zoomed to the Brown Sugar for lunch & a chat with Ching Ching. I saw quite a few big bikes but also mostly BIG snobs - not waving back. Hmpf! Fine!

Arrived in Taihape with a little bit of moisture on my visor but nothing really bad. Parked up by Ching Ching's mighty stead & went in to say "Gidday" and get me some lunch. I must say I was surprised that Brown Sugar don't do the traditional bacon & eggs feed! Sorry matey!! So after a bit of a rest & a chat we were off.

Btw - my first bug splat was between Levin & Bulls. Eeewwwww!!

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 15:48

I decided to break it up a bit b/c it's much easier to read smaller chunks of writing.

I still can't get over how great the weather had been for me!

Ching Ching did such a good job of covering this part of the ride I won't blather on too much. Suffice it to say that I was so great having Ching riding shot gun, looking in my mirror & seeing him there was quite a comfort & whenever we stopped for road works there were lots of encouraging words - thanks matey!!

There were quite a few road works on this part of the journey. We stopped in Waiouru for fuel and then onto the Desert Road where there were the road works. Patches of gravel & new chip, all good stuff though & the traffic seems to be really sensible too. I got a little nervous on ther sharp bends on the Desert Road but Ching reckons I did ok.

It was all pretty plain riding really. No rain a little wind and the my little girl was going really good. Had a few minor problems with her not going into neutral. The only whinge I have so far is cars (here we go!!) that drive at speeds of up to 120kms so I can't pass them and then down as slow as 80kms on places I can't pass them. Throttle up, throttle down, throttle up...I guess if that's my only complaint then it's all good.

We stopped again in Turangi for a coffee for me & thick shake & chocolate sundae for Ching.

Back on the road - sweet as! Arrived in Taupo where I was staying the night, so I got to get all my riding gears off & have a well deseved cuppa, farewelled Ching & settled for the night.

My mate here in Murupara has just arrived home so I'll post the rest of my journey later.

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 18:25

Well having just watched telly for the 1st time in several days I have discovered that it's possibly going to be impossible to actually get home tomorrow, so I've decided to travel back on Wednesday - hopefully the weather will be ok.

Can anyone in the know PM me with weather reports in their area.

Cheers

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 22:49

Lovely clear & sunny morning on Friday. I left Taupo at around 9.30am after fueling up.

Wow! What a great ride! Nice stretch of road - pretty simple really. As mentioned previously, I had a guy tailgate me briefly but then back right off

between Taupo & Tirau.

I stopped in Tirau for coffee at a little place called Poppy's cafe (in honour of my 4 legged, tail wagging baby I had to leave in Wgtn). I actually hadn't realised how short a distance it was from Taupo to Hamilton. All good ridng again, a few road works & a few cops but none of it was a problem.

I arrived in Hamilton at my friends place around 12.30pm to a warm greeting & a cold beer - excellent!

Oh yeah, my friend took me to 3 bike shops in Hamilton - lovely stuff! Yum, yum, yum!

He & I were both amazed to discover that the bike shop that sold Harleys also sold Harley accessories. Yeah so what, you may say. Well among them was none other than Ken (as in Barbie's boyfriend) Harley rider! And none other than 3 different types!

I didn't see a Bitchin' Biker Barbie though.

**Ms Piggy** · 16th February 2004, 23:19

Well no rain but a lot of dark cloud this morning (Monday) and it had been raining the night before in Hamilton. Wet roads but clear & not a lot of traffic today.

After fueling up I left Hamilton around 11.30am and had a nice easy ride with no problems, I actually had a

behind me for quite a distance one part of my ride. He was parked on the other side of the road just out of Cambridge & I knew he was coming up b/c a cage driver had flashed his lights. He turned around when a line of cars & I went past. I'm sure he was directly behind me one part of it too and followed me through to Tirau. I rode at 100 kms & even passed a truck one part of it with my 'L' plate flapping happily in the breeze! Go figure!!

I stopped again at Poppy's Cafe and this time had lunch, while I was in there a guy had a chat to me who rides a Yahmaha 1200 ?? sorry I'm just learning so not too hot on bike make & models yet. He was really encouraging too. He & his partner weren't riding that day but he had a chat to me about my gear, where I was headed etc, etc.

After lunch I headed off to Rotorua, I hadn't been that way before. On the way up (which I didn't mention in my previous posts) I had ridden entirely up SHW 1. So this time I went down SHW 5 from just after Tirau through to Rotorua. It is a really pretty stretch of HW, lots of trees & some nice windey bits that would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't got stuck behind a cage driver who drove at 80kms/hr the whole way & who I couldn't pass. I didn't strike them immediately but man did it make it frustrating, it wasn't even like they had the excuse of driving an old dunga of a car. So I just had to take a deep breath & enjoy the scenery!

I arrived in Rotorua at around 1.30pm and stopped for fuel and had a bit of a stretch, although my butt hadn't gone numb at all.

On the road again and my destination is Murupara. The wind on this next part of the journey was the most challenging so far, I also encountered a lot of big rigs, logging trucks etc. Sometimes the trucks wouldn't effect me at all & other times when they drove past going the other way I would get a quite a gust after they had passed. The worst cross winds were form the turn off onto SHW 38 until I reached Murupara. It was also the only stretch of road where I had no other traffic behind or in front of me - except for 2 large tractors on 2 separate occasions.

I arrived in Murupara at around 2.30pm and headed off to Murupara School where my friend is a teacher. It was quite cute really, all these little kids in her class were in awe of me in my riding gear and a couple of them escorted me back to my bike so they could have a look - like a good biker I gave them lots of encouragement to learn to ride.

It was certainly a lot colder today than I had felt it before but, all in all another good ride. As far as I can tell from the news SHW 1 is still closed at Bulls & so is the HW round Wanganui. I couldn't get into the Transit N.Z website to check the roads so I may have an extra days holiday in the metropolis of Murupara.

**Milky** · 17th February 2004, 00:12

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

I rode at 100 kms & even passed a truck one part of it

just be glad u aint on my lil CB125, for it wouldn't accomplish anything remotely like that.. i went the long way down to whangamata on that and had the same problems as u but worse, considering it tops out at 120ish, and has absolutely no power above 100ks, compared to pretty much no power everywhere else in the rev range

Gotta hate those peeps who drive at 120 along the straights and then decide to slow down to 60-70 thru the fast corners... u just have to sit tight and enjoy the scenery as u say

glad u seem to be having fun, despite the awful weather predicted... keep getting out there and ride safe

LB · 17th February 2004, 04:42

Hi there Celtic. You're going great guns!!!! Wgtn weather is not the best today, but I think tomorrow it's supposed to be a bit better. Try to watch the tv weather tonight (for what it's worth, sometimes they cock it up big time).

You could always think about coming back through Napier if SH1 is still closed.

**Ms Piggy** · 17th February 2004, 07:30

Originally Posted by Lynda Blair

Hi there Celtic. You're going great guns!!!! Wgtn weather is not the best today, but I think tomorrow it's supposed to be a bit better. Try to watch the tv weather tonight (for what it's worth, sometimes they cock it up big time).

You could always think about coming back through Napier if SH1 is still closed.

Thanks Lynda. I've decided to stay in Murupara today (great chance to catch up with my mate) and ride back tomorrow.

Lets hope those weather Gods have mercy on me like they have so far on the journey.

**riffer** · 17th February 2004, 07:31

Yikes... today is supposed to be the good one

Tomorrow is going to be the shocker in the Welly region .. according to Morning Report this morning.

Let's hope you still got the bug when you get back lily...