Spoke to Niki on Skype this morning, her last night. Still impressed on how easy it is to keep in contact and actually see faces rather than just writing letters – not a strong point of mine, writing letters…

Checked the mail on the way out – we now both have valid NZ driving licences – not only that but they’re “clean” too!

Something that Louise had asked me to wait before posting here was her decision to make the most of the time we have available here to maybe look at re-learning how to ride a bike. We’d already had a long talk about her trying to learn on mine, and had decided that it might be asking a little bit much for her to take on! We’d looked at a couple of bikes in the local area – Suzuki GN 250s – and they seemed a bit over-priced in comparison with the rest of the country. Having checked out the good old TradeMe website though, we did find a more sensibly priced one in Waiorou. I mailed the owner, and asked if we could come and have a look – no worries!

So, we packed up my wets n stuff in the car and headed North. It’s probably fair to say that the weather conditions further north today were not very promising – the lightning symbols and black clouds on the weather map sort of gave it away. However, never to be shy of a little rain, I agreed to think about bringing the bike back down if she bought it. We left about midday to go up to Waiouru, agreeing to maybe stop in Levin for a coffee etc on the way.

We didn’t stop at Levin after all, the weather was good so we pressed on. We got as far as Flat Hills, Mangaweka, before the rain started, so we pulled in at the Flat Hills Cafe for a spot of afternoon beverage.

We set back off and straight away the promised thunderstorms appeared. Not so bad in a car though, so we pressed on and arrived at Waiouru an hour early. We stopped for a coffee in a “chinese come cafe” opposite the military museum. The coffee tasted of burnt coffee beans, so we won’t be taking a stop there again. As we left, a couple turned up on a Suzuki DL1000, like mine, quoting greasy, wet and windy condition on the Desert Rd just to the North.

We took a trip around the military base quarters, passing two house moves – literally, two houses on the back of transporter lorries – going on. They had just unplugged them from the ground and lifted them onto lorries – I did wonder if they’d packed first… We found Amelia’s house, the bike owner, and arrived just before Amelia and Michael getting back home from work. They were a lovely couple – she’s a NZ Army Sgt training new recruits at the base. We had a little chat and a looksee at the bike, which wasn’t quite in an “excellent” condition, but pretty good all the same. I went off to road test the bike, leaving Louise to chat. I just popped onto the first bits of Desert Road to see if the engine sounded as good as it looked, and confirming that it was wet, greasy and none too safe at the moment – the road, not the bike!

We chatted over a coffee when I got back and managed to knock off a fair few dollars from the reasonable price already asked for. Agreed and paid a deposit, got a receipt, and decided that the thunderstorms rolling south weren’t exactly nice to ride in! We agreed to phone later in the week when the weather was a little more promising. If it helps set the scene, you can normally see Mt Ruapeho from the quarters, but I could hardly see the end of the road 50 yds away! Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the wet conditions, or the cold (I was prepared for that) and don’t see myself as that much of a warm weather biker given the easily changeable weather in New Zealand, but the concentration to get down off the mountain plateau was not something to look forward to!

Typically as it turned out, after an hour or two of thunderstorm conditions, the weather from Levin onwards was pretty good, just a few small showers! However, I’d have been leaving at 7pm, in the wet, so decided it had been the right decision anyway. We also got home in about 2 1/2 hrs – a lot faster than it would have taken on the 250 bike!

We stopped in Bulls for a pee on the way back. The sign quoted “Relieva-bull” facilities, but obviously I didn’t use the “Disa-bull-ed” toilets!

We didn’t get back in time for the cinema tonight, but got to watch the first two episodes of the new series of House (less the first 20 mins) – great!! We had wondered how he was going to get on in the mental asylum….