4th March 2017
I sleep well. This is an old and budget hotel, but the owners have done it right. Everything is spotlessly clean, the shower is new and has loads of hot water and the mattress is excellent - everything that the Breeze Motel got wrong, basically...
I look out of the window and see that it's a bit of a dull day and that there has been some rain overnight. I recheck the forecast and it's going to be dry all day, with the sun coming out around noon. Sounds perfect.
I ablute and dress, then stuff the toxic waste that is the content of my left tank pannier (dirty laundry) into place and pack the rest of the bike. A young Sikh couple, on a ten day visit from India, come and say hello and take selfies by the bike - I invite then to sit on it and they take more pictures - beaming. It's nice to be able to do something so simple to make people happy...
I get packing and I press the starter just after 1015, then turn right out of the motel and head through town and south on Highway 1...
It's Saturday morning and the roads are quieter as a result. These gnarly old trees line the road for a while, their pink and red blossom vivid against the drab grey sky...
I bet this guy's a bundle of laughs to live next door to...
Further south, I can see the morning low cloud is still clinging to the shore. This is old ground to me, as I travelled it yesterday, and I know the road will soon be putting me up into the range of hills to my right...
Sure enough, I'm soon heading inland, where the clouds are still obscuring the hilltops...
These (Birch?) trees, which appear monochrome and uninteresting in a still photo, have silvery leaves that vibrate and turn in the breeze and look quite beautiful...
There's very little traffic and the roadworks on this section are infrequent - I don't come across any stoppages...
I'd love to know what is being grown in the vividly green field to the left of this pic...
The road evens out into a gently undulating, straightish road with views over grassed hills and valleys...
I'm comfortable keeping up a steady 100-105kph, and just watching the scenery go by...
The cloud is burning off now and blue sky starts to sidle into view...
The road throws the motorist an occasional bone by coiling up or down a steep hillside...
...before normal programming is restored...
Kiwis do like to paint a mural. God knows what this was meant to be - a very porky rat?
I make the descent into Cheviot...
...where I feel it may be time for a spot of Brunch...
There were a couple of interesting looking vehicles parked there already...
...including this Grinnel kit car - powered by a BMW K1100 engine and drive line...
...and built at home by the owner...
It is set up for hand controls as the owner (who's name I didn't catch) is wheelchair bound. Despite this disability, he made the vehicle himself...
I order the steak sandwich off the menu and ten minutes later this arrives...
Yes - that's one steak, on top of another steak, on top of some token greenery and two pieces of bread...
I waddle back to the bike, reflecting that eating like this is going to save me money in the long run - I won't have to make any plans on how to celebrate my 61st birthday, for example...
I head south out of Cheviot and continue heading towards Christchurch. Today is going to be another short day, as I want to do some admin and planning this afternoon...
I see that the sunshine has brought out a few more bikes...
I enter another range of low, rolling hills...
...and then wine country...
...with acres of vines swathed in netting...
Remember these?
This one says V8 on the back - a mate of mine used to have a convertible V8 (Rover 3.5 litre engine) version - it was ludicrously fast for its day...
Saw this old S-Type Jaguar coyly peeping out from under its tarp a little further on...
...and followed this pretty BSA (I think it was an A65) on its trailer until it turned off...
I arrive at the Pegasus Gateway Motel at about 1330...
...where Calvin, the owner, makes me very welcome and shows me round my huge two-bedroomed apartment...
...which I feel lost in...
I start uploading today's modest 104 pictures on the fast internet provided, put my laundry into the machine and get it going, and relax drinking a cold coke I'd bought just before I stopped.
Good day - but where to tomorrow?
I sleep well. This is an old and budget hotel, but the owners have done it right. Everything is spotlessly clean, the shower is new and has loads of hot water and the mattress is excellent - everything that the Breeze Motel got wrong, basically...
I look out of the window and see that it's a bit of a dull day and that there has been some rain overnight. I recheck the forecast and it's going to be dry all day, with the sun coming out around noon. Sounds perfect.
I ablute and dress, then stuff the toxic waste that is the content of my left tank pannier (dirty laundry) into place and pack the rest of the bike. A young Sikh couple, on a ten day visit from India, come and say hello and take selfies by the bike - I invite then to sit on it and they take more pictures - beaming. It's nice to be able to do something so simple to make people happy...
I get packing and I press the starter just after 1015, then turn right out of the motel and head through town and south on Highway 1...
It's Saturday morning and the roads are quieter as a result. These gnarly old trees line the road for a while, their pink and red blossom vivid against the drab grey sky...
I bet this guy's a bundle of laughs to live next door to...
Further south, I can see the morning low cloud is still clinging to the shore. This is old ground to me, as I travelled it yesterday, and I know the road will soon be putting me up into the range of hills to my right...
Sure enough, I'm soon heading inland, where the clouds are still obscuring the hilltops...
These (Birch?) trees, which appear monochrome and uninteresting in a still photo, have silvery leaves that vibrate and turn in the breeze and look quite beautiful...
There's very little traffic and the roadworks on this section are infrequent - I don't come across any stoppages...
I'd love to know what is being grown in the vividly green field to the left of this pic...
The road evens out into a gently undulating, straightish road with views over grassed hills and valleys...
I'm comfortable keeping up a steady 100-105kph, and just watching the scenery go by...
The cloud is burning off now and blue sky starts to sidle into view...
The road throws the motorist an occasional bone by coiling up or down a steep hillside...
...before normal programming is restored...
Kiwis do like to paint a mural. God knows what this was meant to be - a very porky rat?
I make the descent into Cheviot...
...where I feel it may be time for a spot of Brunch...
There were a couple of interesting looking vehicles parked there already...
...including this Grinnel kit car - powered by a BMW K1100 engine and drive line...
...and built at home by the owner...
It is set up for hand controls as the owner (who's name I didn't catch) is wheelchair bound. Despite this disability, he made the vehicle himself...
I order the steak sandwich off the menu and ten minutes later this arrives...
Yes - that's one steak, on top of another steak, on top of some token greenery and two pieces of bread...
I waddle back to the bike, reflecting that eating like this is going to save me money in the long run - I won't have to make any plans on how to celebrate my 61st birthday, for example...
I head south out of Cheviot and continue heading towards Christchurch. Today is going to be another short day, as I want to do some admin and planning this afternoon...
I see that the sunshine has brought out a few more bikes...
I enter another range of low, rolling hills...
...and then wine country...
...with acres of vines swathed in netting...
Remember these?
This one says V8 on the back - a mate of mine used to have a convertible V8 (Rover 3.5 litre engine) version - it was ludicrously fast for its day...
Saw this old S-Type Jaguar coyly peeping out from under its tarp a little further on...
...and followed this pretty BSA (I think it was an A65) on its trailer until it turned off...
I arrive at the Pegasus Gateway Motel at about 1330...
...where Calvin, the owner, makes me very welcome and shows me round my huge two-bedroomed apartment...
...which I feel lost in...
I start uploading today's modest 104 pictures on the fast internet provided, put my laundry into the machine and get it going, and relax drinking a cold coke I'd bought just before I stopped.
Good day - but where to tomorrow?