Day One

Friday 17 November.

At 6 am the alarm went and it was end of my beauty sleep. (Perhaps that is where I go wrong...) But I had problems getting up. "I lie here just a little longer. Unil the next song is finished..." (Clock radio tuned to The Rock) and then the next, and... 6.40am I managed to get up. Sort out the boys school lunches and then get them up.

At 8am they were all gone with a big cuddle each and promise I see them in a week, and I could focus on completing the task I had started last night. The packing went well. I rolled Stella (My BMW K1) out from the garage in to the sun. And realised that she was dirty. No way would I want to take her on the trip looking like she had just been ridden on a dirt road for hours. So it was time to give her a wash. 30 min later she was presentable and I packed the two bags on her. Back in and leathers on. Then lock up and away. It was now just after 9am and the ferry would leave from Wellinton at 2.05pm. "Easy" I concluded. "No need to ride faster than my demerits can handle" (I currently have 85 saved up...).

I had contemplated not to put the long-johns on as it was hot and sunny in Hawke's Bay. One hour later I was very glad I had put them on! As I passed Norsewood I could see snow on top of the ranges. And there was a strong freezing wind that just kept on blowing more as I got closer to Palmerston Nth. (You know that strange feeling when you, on a straight piece of road ,are getting rid of the chickenstrips...)

The gorge to Palmerston Nth is still closed so I decided on the Paihiatua Track to get over the ranges. A quick "hello" stop at Sandras (who had planned to also do the ride, but after a ski accident now sported a hurting knee) and I was away with enough time to get my ticket and ride on to the ferry.

Coming in to Welly I am not sure where my head was and I missed the ferry turn off and ended up in town. Lost approx 15 minutes I recon in the labyrinth they call a city. But there was 40 minutes before the ferry was to leave, so "all well" I was thinking.

That was before I walked in to the terminal and spoke to the girl selling tickets. "There is no passenger places left" she proclaimed in a well trained "I could not care less re your problems" tone. "But I can get your bike on the ferry". I looked at her in disbelief. Surely she could fit one more person on the ferry? "No, sorry. The ferry is full" she said with a straight face. We are talking about a boat that is, what, 120 meters long and has somewhere around 10 levels, and she is trying to get me to believe that there is no space for me. But there is space for my bike...

I declined her friendly offer of sending Stell over alone. She has personality but I did not trust her to be able to start up and ride out of the ferry without me. And there was no way I was going to let a stranger tie her up on the deck! (Nobody, apart from me, ties any of my girls up!!!) So I bought the ticket for the 6pm ferry. As I was watching bikes with the riders who had booked their tickets on line (cheaters!!!) disappear to the loading area of the ferry, I decided that this was a good time to catch up with my oldst boy who lives in Welly. He works as Bar Manager in a pub, and after some grtting lost I managed to find it. Well, he did find me: as I was riding past his pub someone ran up to me and slapped me on my shoulder. It was DD. Afterwards I convinced him that I knew where I was and I was just going to ride and turn around... He might actually have believed me...

At 4.30pm his shift started, and by then I had managed some food a drink and a good catch-up. (Amazing how they grow up fast and I have gotten no older!) As I was riding to the ferry I was glad I had missed the earlier one and therefore had time to spend with him.

Apart from a delay of 1 1/2hours because of too heavy cargo resulting in the ferry staff having to re-distribute some railway carriages, the ferry trip was uneventful. (Glad I bought my own strap-downs as the ferrys ones were, as always, crap).

When we got to Picton it was 10.30pm and dark. And I needed to get to Blenheim where the accommodation was. I made it there by just past 11pm. And after stopping at Shell (soon to be Z) asking the way, I found the "Top Ten Holiday Park". But their reception had closed at 10pm. I rode aound the cabins and found where there was a bunch of bikes. But I had no idea who was who. So I parked the bike in front of the locked up kitchen, took out my sleeping bag, and went to sleep on the concrete (there was logic in this; it might have been hard, but the concrete held the heat from the sun, so I did noy end up sleeping on a cold ground).

My concrete bed.

Day 1: 410Km's.