A quick trip South

Over the long weekend I made a wee decision which resulted in a very quick trip to Blenheim on Sunday afternoon followed by an early ferry home on Monday.  The trip started with a lift to Paraparam with my sister and her tribe and a short 25 minute hop over the straits to Blenheim.

I left in sunlight but arrived in Blenheim at dusk

And left Picton before the sun had really got its act together...

Yes, less than 24 hours in the fabulous South Island and not much riding...but there was a reason for this quick trip...

Phoar!  Look at that nice Nissan!

Yeah, I'd finally made a decision about my next Adv bike.  Rather than buy new I found this '13 Tenere on Trademe.  She had just under 24k when I met her and is very tidy.  The Givi luggage is a definite bonus.

My first ride took me around Blenheim for a bit - I got lost as I had incorrectly thought I knew where I was when I wasn't...A good thing Blenheim is considerably smaller than Auckland...

The ride over to Picton where I was staying was offered up the opportunity to test the headlights (pretty good) and to rediscover what riding an S10 is like, hint: pretty damn fine.  On arrival in Picton I checked in to my accommodation and then shot out again to secure some vittles.

With an 8am sailing to catch I was up and on my way down to the terminal before 7am.  There I met a guy from Motueka on his Beemer heading to work (in the 'naki).  We had a brekkie together on the boat and found plenty of stuff to yak about on the trip across.  Another nice highlight was spotting a couple of Orcas off the front of the boat - they look smaller from the ferry than from a 22' boat (my last experience of them in the wild).

Arriving in Wellington, I got off the ferry and then went to meet up with Julie and family again to show off the new toy.  It looked pretty good parked up on the waterfront while we chatted and enjoyed a drinkee.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye and make my way up to Feilding where another critical eye could be run over the new beast (he hasn't ridden it yet).  I was fairly happy with the economy on the way up - it was fairly slow going in the traffic but I still reckon I should be looking at a 400km range fairly easily.

Yes, it was in sports mode all the way too...

And now I have to look forward to getting used to the blue beast and of course the farkling (first farkle already on the way).  First up is going to be crash bars (and probably a bash pad) and a GPS mount.  There's also some other bits and pieces off the Vee to find their way onboard too.

Watch this space...