The Search Begins

Time to hit the road, to seach for the semi-mythical Aunty Bill, who hasn't been sighted for about two years (by me anyway". So it was load up Daisy, the trusty BMW F650GS and head out on the highway! It was a dark and stormy night....err it was lovely sunny windless day and I left at about 11.30am. Behind me was a crying dog, poor Dot. She knows what it means when the bags are getting packed. I dropped in to see a friend, Phil, who works for Pegasus Bay winery, then hit the road proper. What a day to be on the bike! Near Engineers Camp, just before lewis pass, I decided to explore a track that looked promising. I could see a 4WD had been down recently so gave it a go. It soon got steep, rocky, muddy and slippery. It soon became a choice of staying upright or stopping. Stay upright won but it was close. Then the track leveled, dried, and narrowed to a walking track that ended vertically. It took a 17 point turn to get facing back uphill. The uphill ride was trickier. When I reached the wet rocks, the back wheel hooked the side of a big boulder, skipped downhill and turned the bike 90deg across the track and into a tree. Rolling back put the back wheel very close to the edge but some sweating and swearing and lots of clutch-slip got me moving. It was good to get to the tar again.
It was less than 10km up the road when an unseen lump of steel in the form of power pole cut-off rocker arm laying on the road in the shadow of a bush kicked up under the bike, jacking the rear wheel up and sideways, bought my heart upwards to the region of my tonsils. I went back to find what the hell I had run over.
The rest of the trip to Nelson was much less eventful. I arrived at Peter and Mandy's house to a wonderful welcome, not the least from Nina, who is one of Dot's puppies. A glass of stout, a couple of wine, dinner, chatting, a visit to the man cave where the model building is done, and then we watched "the hangover". Thanks guys!

RATINGS:
Me: 9/10. Happy to be on the road but a bit worried about the dog.

Daisy: 9/10. Purring like a kitten but mods to mount GPS not working

Pie: N/A. No pies consumed today.

Location:Trafalgar St,Nelson,New Zealand