Sunday, February 11th Well, at last I shall be back on the road again from tomorrow, Monday, February 12th ... thank gawd!
Although a break from riding has been good - as it has allowed me to catch-up on all sorts of chores - I must, however, confess that I've grown more than a little bored with being essentially laid-up here in Ruakaka Township for 2-3 weeks, when there's still so much to see over Northland's southern horizon ... which is exactly the reason why I'm here, of course.
So tomorrow morning I shall head on back to Auckland's North Shore region - the Glenfield area in particular - where I'll meet-up with an ex-pat friend called Mack, who I again met 'virtually' online at the Kiwi Bikers forum (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz) where Mack's alias membership handle is "Macktheknife".
Mack has offered to provide me with some overnight accommodation before the TransAlp gets its 12,000 km-service, and a new set of boots, the following morning - Tue-13-Feb - at the same Auckland-based Honda dealership where it had its first service, under my tenure, back on Thursday, December 21st.
I am extremely grateful for Mack's kind offer of accommodation, especially as I am running slightly over my pre-planned monetary budget - bearing in mind that I still have two whole months ahead of me here in Kiwiland before I return to Cornwall in mid-April.
On Friday, Feb 9th, I slipped into the nearby City of Whangarei and bought a tent from 'The Warehouse' [one of a huge chain of store selling almost everything] and, as their main headline slogan says, " ... where everyone gets a bargain"
Well I definitely got one! A brand new half-decent two-man tent for just NZD $35.63 (GBP £12.26). BUT, as we're now in the midway-headingtowardsAutumn part of the year down here, there was a 30% discount available .. :o) .. So I picked-up this tent for just $24.94 (£8.58) ... huh?!
Incredible value!! And if it only lasts me a few nights, then I shall have no complaints. AND it opens up a whole new set of options for me as I travel around NZ more 'off-the-beaten-track' from now on
And reason number 117 why you just can't beat touring on a motorcycle. Here's my view during lunchtime in Whangarei. Right in the heart of the City, with apparently nowhere available to park-up a car, a biker can ALWAYS find a convenient corner of road or pavement to leave his steed - invariably for free. There are no exceptions to this ... EVER! .. :o)
But as for the immediate future:-Apart from meeting-up with Mack in Auckland; in addition, I might hook-up with an American fellow called David who arrives here in NZ tomorrow from Seattle, in State of Washington. Dave, who I also 'virtually' know from the ST-Owners website http://www.st-owners.com (member alias "Foilrat"), will be down here for 3-4 weeks riding around both North and South Islands on a rented BMW R1150RT, which is the same model bike as I hired here in January last year ('06).
David has never driven/ridden on the LH side of the road before. This mixed with a strange [to him] country and road customs should make for an interesting time. It is unlikely, however, that our paths will cross for too long, as my intended itinerary for the next week or so will be like this:
[Dave's will almost certainly be quite different]
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Tomorrow, Mon-Feb-12
Make my way south, via as much coast-gravel road as possible, to Glenfield, Auckland, to meet-up with 'Macktheknife'
Tuesday-Feb-13
Bike service, plus new tyres fitted, in the Newmarket area of Auckland; and maybe hook-up with Seattle-Dave aka 'Foilrat'
Wed-14, Thu-15, Fri-16
Make my way across eastwards to the Coromandel Peninsular. I want to shoot some video footage and in turn make another short movie of the fabulous motorcycle roads around that corner of NZ.
Sat-17, Sun-18
Ride southeast across to Whakatane Township where I hope, weather permitting, to catch a boat ride out to White Island (Whakaari), which lies 48 kilometres off the Bay of Plenty coastline.
White Island is an active volcano and is unique insofar that visitors can walk right inside its main crater, which is just above sea level. I have heard that the surroundings are quite surreal and the scenery spectacular. Apparently it is like walking on an active volcanic moonscape with no plants or vegetation inside the crater. Should be quite an experience.
Mon-19
Make my way around the 'mystical' East Cape to the Lighthouse, and (again weather permitting) be there at dawn, to hopefully be the first person in the world to see the sunrise.
[The East Cape Lighthouse is the first place in the civilised world west of the International Dateline]
Tue-20
Make my way down south along the Tomokaru & Tolaga Bays to Gisborne, which is a city that I enjoyed visiting so much last time we were there on Fri-05 & Sat-06 January.
Wednesday, February 21
Well, I'll make my mind up when I get to Gisborne. But thereafter I anticipate arriving in Wellington, right at the bottom of NI, by around Sat-24 to Sun-25; meaning that I'll be catching the ferry back to SI around the 25th - 26th February.
Thus I should be landing on John & Pip's (Jones) doorstep again, (if they can put up with me for a second visit .. hope so ..:o) around the beginning of March.
That's my outline plan, thus far
