Cabin fever!

I haven't ridden the Triple for nearly 3 weeks and I'm like a bear with a sore head and a bit stressed too!  It's winter Down Under and although it doesn't get particularly cold where we live, boy - we've had some rain. Today, this is all we can see of Coromandel Harbour from our deck..... it's early afternoon, dark as heck and liquid sunshine is falling like there's no tomorrow.  Of course, it doesn't help that a lot of our overseas blogging mates are all together currently enjoying great weather at the moto-blogging convention in Oregon.  I wish.....

Rain, rain......go away

It hasn't just been the weather which has put paid to riding recently.  Jennie and I are volunteer tutors for SeniorNet, a nationwide voluntary organisation which provides support for senior citizens wanting to learn about computers or needing tuition in particular computer topics.  The workload has been pretty heavy for a while now and as we've been doing it for the last 4 years, it might be getting close to the time when someone else in our region has to step up.  Immensely rewarding but there are only so many hours in the day.....

All this non-riding activity has added to stress levels as next weekend, there's a 2 day intensive Institute of Advanced Motorists training camp for trainee instructors (Observers).  It's a mixture of theory and practical riding under the eagle eyes of some of the very best riders anywhere - IAM Examiners and experienced IAM Observers. I feel extremely rusty and way below the top of my game which is a real worry.  Just going to have to bite the bullet and get out in the atrocious weather for some practice if  conditions don't improve.  As mentioned in previous posts, there is never any compromise in IAM standards.  Having battled so hard and for so long to meet the membership standards, none of us would have it any other way but sure is a worry when you feel out of sorts.  Fellow mate and blogger Rogey is on the course too so I dare say that there will be a public report in the next couple of weeks!

Anyway, enough of the grizzling!  There was a break in the weather yesterday so Jennie and I drove down the coast road in her sports car with the top down (and heater on to generate a hot air cocoon, haha). It's a good time for planting so we visited a specialist garden centre down the coast.  I'm a great fan of bromeliads which grow well in our garden with varieties for both deep shade and full sun.  The colourful leaves are really attractive and some have flowers which look like they're an alien mutation! All of them grow "pups" which you simply cut off and plant elsewhere.

For fellow bloggers who are keen on gardening, here's what we bought......

Alcantarea Vinicolour - grows to nearly 800mm high and across with crimson leaves.  Currently about half that size.

Viresia Dark Knight.  Has really attractive leaves and grows to about 800mm.

Guzmania Lingulata.  Grows to about 500mm and centre leaves turn bright scarlet.

And I've saved the weirdest for last!  This is Aechmea Blue Rain.  It has plain green leaves but throws out a crimson near-metre-long flower stalk with the most intense blue profusion of flowers.  This is a close-up of the top of the flower stalk.

After the buying spree, we stopped off at a waterside cafe for lunch.  I had grilled Portobello mushrooms topped with blue cheese and served with a spinach and chilli salad.  Jennie had creamy button mushrooms served with bacon and a mixed salad - simply wonderful.  No photos as our moto-blogging mates from the Americas photograph food so much better!  I'll just settle for a shot of the C.E.O reading magazines on the verandah of the cafe whilst waiting for lunch!

Blissfully unaware......

Addendum:  Bugger!  After 260mm of rain in the last 48 hours, our village is cut off from the rest of the world with landslips.  Wonder how long it's going to take to clear them???

A lovely afternoon on the road

As regular readers will know, Jennie and I take turns to organise annual vacations to celebrate our wedding anniversary, keeping the destination a secret from each other for as long as possible - sometimes as late as the airport check-in desk which has led to the odd bit of merriment  for one party and consternation for the other!  Anyway, next year is our 40th anniversary, it's my turn and as procrastination is my middle name on these matters; I decided pull finger for a change and do a bit of early research on destinations.  Having got as far as possible without expert advice, it was time to visit the nearest travel agent some 40 minutes from home.

Going on the bike was a perfect way of stopping the CEO inviting herself along, so with a "Going out for a practice run Honey", I was off to Whitianga!  Actually, there was another errand I was keen to knock off too and it involved this:

Spare Street Triple key

Y'see, I'm down to my last Street Triple key.  Lord knows where they go, but I'm blaming the Automotive Key Elves which are cousins of the Spectacles Elves, both of which live just out of sight in our house and come out at night to wreak havoc when we're asleep. Their malign influence would warrant a tale on its own, but back to the present.....

For some unfathomable reason, the Triumph spare key is a stunted affair without a handle to get a decent grip on.  Trying to grip the ring through thick gloves to turn the ignition on whilst very bad words hang in the air is an everyday occurrence and my patience finally snapped last week.  My friendly Triumph dealer mailed me a Triumph blank to get cut locally.  In my humble opinion, it was outrageously expensive even with no security chip and I shudder to think what a Ducati or MV blank would have cost.  The phrase "Got you by the short and curlies" comes to mind.  There's no key-cutting service in our village that I know of so first stop was at a Mitre 10 hardware store which we've used before for house key spares.  My heart sank when the lady said "That's a double-edged left-hand double DNA helix whatchamacallit".  Actually, she didn't say that at all but it was something similar which meant that for some reason, she wasn't game to have a go despite their profiling machine looking pretty high tech.  She was, however, anxious to help out and told me about a "real" locksmith who had a business in the next block.

Pulling up outside, I just knew that I was going to love the place!  A converted home called Arlingham House with lavender bushes, a nice covered porch and glimpses of old clocks through the open door and windows - WOW, hints of an old-time craftsman!  Here we are:

Arlingham House, complete with 1954 Dodge outside

There was an elderly gentleman sitting in a cane chair on the porch.  He told me that the owner was away at lunch and he was just minding the place for him.  Would I like to join him and wait?  I would indeed and sat in the other cane chair to chew the fat with him.  Turns out that he was the owner of the beautifully-restored Dodge saloon outside and had a classic British Ford at home too, both of them getting regular use and I listened to great tales of his trips in them.  Now isn't that light years better than going to a modern hardware store and just doing the business?  Simply no comparison!

 View from outside down to the beautiful harbour

Lovely entrance to the premises

After 15 minutes or so, the business owner showed up and was only marginally younger than his "minder".  Another absolute delight who had a 20 year old mind trapped inside an older body.  It was certainly no effort for him to cut the blank in a matter of seconds.  I didn't actually see him cutting the key as I was too busy gawping at the treasure trove of stuff inside.  He graciously allowed me to take some photos which I'll share with you.....

Clocks and barometers of every shape and size

stuffed everywhere

Turns out that he sold clocks and barometers too and also did some restoration - what a joy to behold!  He also had photos hanging on the walls from the gold rush and kauri tree logging days from NZ's history in the 1800's.

A gallery of social history

When he'd cut my key (the insanely low price of NZ$3), he asked me whether I'd like another "decent" spare with a handle as he thought he had a blank somewhere from aeons ago which might do the job.  I simply couldn't resist taking the next photo as he grovelled among the thousands of boxes looking for it! Amazingly, he found it inside a minute and moments later, I had another key at 1/3 the price of the one with the Triumph logo on!

 "Now I remember seeing a suitable key about 30 years ago...."

I was really sorry to leave these 2 delightful gentlemen and sincerely thanked them for making my day (making my week more like...) - don't encounters like this lift the soul?

After that, it was round to the travel agent and what might be described as a very productive meeting but that's all I'm going to say for now.  Jennie doesn't read this blog but to spill the beans right now would be tempting fate!

Heading back on the coast road between Whitianga and Coromandel, some dark clouds due to afternoon heat build-up were forming and the chances were that I was going to get rained on at some stage.  No worries though as I was wearing Gore-Tex rather than leather.

Uh-oh...  a heavy dump coming this way!

Not much nicer in the other direction either

I did indeed get rained on for a wee while but it didn't even come close to wiping the grin off my face.  An anniversary trip largely sorted, spare keys cut and what a wonderful way to get them made AND a genuine bit of practice for my next IAM test.  Unplanned events like these really don't get much better, do they?

Spring in Coromandel

Just a few days into spring, a gorgeous warm day, perfect for getting the Street Triple out - so did it happen?  Nah, had promised Jennie that we'd go fishing so wasn't that disappointed! 

The day didn't start out on a promising note though.  Woke up with a prickling forearm and saw a purple area about 5mm diameter under the flesh.  On closer inspection, there was stuff oozing through 2 tiny little holes.  Bugger, almost certainly bitten during the night by one of these suckers:

The White Tail Spider (2x scale)

(source: Landcare Research NZ)

I HATE spiders unless they're practically microscopic.  The White Tail isn't aggressive but will bite if it gets into clothes or in my case, it might have crawled onto the bed *shudder*.  It isn't even a Kiwi spider but an import from our Aussie cousins across the pond.  How is it that 90% of the fauna and marine life in Australia is hell-bent on killing the human inhabitants???  Anyway, it's generally thought the White Tail bite isn't poisonous to humans but the bacteria on its fangs can cause necrosis in a bad bite.  I bit the bullet, gave the wound a good scrub with disinfectant, applied antihistamine cream and it hasn't got any worse - just aches a bit.

Anyway, on to the happier part of the day.......

There's a boat ramp at the end of our road which is perfect for launching in sheltered conditions although the sea was flat as a mill pond today.  It's a well-oiled machine with me reversing into the water and Jennie unhooking everything.

Getting organised by the ramp

Here we go......  tide still coming in

The big fish don't start moving inshore for a week or so yet and we normally only fish a couple of km out from our house among the commercial mussel beds which are convenient to hitch up to without dropping anchor.  Pickings might be a bit lean but most of the pleasure is simply being out there.

Leaving the harbour, we passed our neighbours Brian and Mary in their U.S-designed Bristol Channel Cutter keelboat.  Not enough wind to fill the sails, but perfect for a bit of motoring.  Regular readers may remember this post I made on the stained glass windows Brian made for our house.  Brian is a true Renaissance Man.  Not only did he build the boat, but the woodwork inside is exquisitely carved and he even cast the bronze fittings on the boat!

Our neighbours in their keel boat

Heading out of Coromandel Harbour to the mussel beds

The first hour out there was dire in terms of catching fish but unbeatable in terms of location.  Warm, no-one else around and magnificent scenery.  The water was so clear and still that you could see down several metres.

Jennie - a study in concentration (with no success, hehe)

Commercial mussels growing on ropes - beautiful clear water

After an hour, we shifted location. The fish finder showed a few swimming about, but they weren't biting.  No big deal, a great time to just chill out.......

It doesn't get much better than this

(although pink Crocs might have lured the fish)

Just 10 minutes from packing up for the day, a modest-sized snapper took pity on me and offered itself as a meal - whoopee!  All in all, one of those truly great days when one is at peace with the world, although we could have done without the spider.

Just enough for a meal.....

Sincere (almost) apologies to those who had to be at work today.  Your time will come :-)

A sense of community.....

Among the motorcycling fraternity anywhere on earth, the sense of community is pretty strong.  Two complete strangers on bikes meeting up at a remote spot is almost always a cue for a friendly conversation, irrespective of background and the type of bike.  About 10 years ago, I came across a patched gang member miles from anywhere whose bike had broken down.  Thought hard about stopping but did anyway, not without some worry.  Turned out he had a broken throttle cable and I was able to make a temporary repair and get him going again.  He was desperate to pay me with money or drugs (!!!) but we settled on him paying it forward if he found anyone in a similar position.  It made me think at the time that with the pace and culture of modern life, outside of motorcycling; perhaps some of that spirit in the world has ebbed away over time.

It was a post today by fellow Kiwi blogger Nick which made me think about the subject again.  He remarked that his elderly Mum and Step-father have been volunteers, delivering Meals on Wheels to senior citizens for several decades.  Jennie and I are volunteer computer tutors for senior citizens in our area of the Coromandel Peninsula and sometimes, we struggle to run courses because it's so hard to get more than a couple of people together at a time.  Must admit that it's been extremely frustrating and we recently tried to find out the reasons for the apparent apathy.  The reasons were rather humbling actually!  Despite an average age of maybe 70, virtually all these people belonged to several community support organisations of one sort or another and time certainly didn't weigh heavily on their hands with all their commitments!  The old saying, "Give a job to a busy person to get it done" was never more true.

We've only lived permanently in Coromandel (pop.1500) for just over 3 years and it's taken a fair bit of that time to realise that the huge amount of voluntary work behind the scenes is what makes it such a special place to live. 

Community BBQ at our place

Coromandel Community Xmas parade

Coming back to motorcycling and the sense of community among us, I wonder if that makes us more predisposed to voluntary work (even in the motorcycling field) as we get older and our lives become more settled?  Food for thought maybe....

Autumn in Coromandel, New Zealand

Today is Mother's Day in NZ.  The crappy weather cleared this morning, presents from the kids duly opened then Jennie and I went and had a leisurely lunch in the sun at a cafe in the village - magic.  It's also the first of 3 arts weekends in the Coromandel district where the many artists living here open their studios to the public.  Pottery, silk, paintings, woodcraft, jewellery, you name it, it's available and all beautifully made.  Jennie and a mate of hers spent yesterday and this afternoon on tour, enjoying themselves.

The highlight of my day was wandering up to the lookout near our house an hour ago and taking a series of sunset photos looking north west over the Rat Island area of the Firth of Thames.  No retouching of the colours, just changing the zoom on the lens.  It was one of those days when it's such a privilege to be alive to see it.

The little dots in the water are commercial mussel beds in about 20 metres of water.  This is where we moor the boat to fish.

Not in any particular order - hope that you enjoy them.  Click to enlarge.

There are some clever people....

Motorcycling is a passion but as I get older, I'm becoming increasingly interested in what might be termed as "traditional skills" to make things of beauty.  It would therefore be poor form not to share and acknowledge the amazing talents of our retired friends Brian and Mary who live a few doors away from us.  Both are true "Renaissance people", supremely talented at whatever they choose to interest themselves with.  Brian is an ex-motorcyclist and breathtakingly good wood carver. Both of them are similarly outstanding with stained glass work.  Their 30 ft home-built Bristol Channel Cutter keelboat is as much a work of art as it is a beautiful yacht.

Getting to the point, our main living area has a high, sloping ceiling with two tapered windows up high on one wall.  They're a pain to clean as it involves getting the steps out of the shed downstairs and also, direct sunlight through them in the mornings is dazzling .  We were grizzling about this one day and Brian reckoned that stained glass would look great.  Furthermore, he said that he wanted a winter project and that if we'd like to come up with a design, he'd love to make a pair for us.  An incredibly generous gesture.

Top windows are a pain to clean!

Give me a technical problem to solve and I'm your man but when it comes to arty stuff, I have zero talent; sub-zero in fact.  Fortunately, Jennie has a great eye for design and colour so we both sat down at the computer with Photoshop to ponder some design basics.  We wanted a design to represent the Coromandel Peninsula where we live in NZ and Jennie's idea of a nautical theme was great.  First attempt was an impressionist one of sails and spinnakers which was pretty cool as a rectangle, but looked awful once we tried to fit the idea to the true shape of the windows.

First try and doomed to failure

Several other iterations were tried over a month or so and went nowhere (apart from mutual droopy bottom lips and silences when we couldn't agree) so eventually, we sat down with Brian and Mary to get their input.  Here's where artistic talent really shows and Mary quickly whipped up a couple of sketches with sailing boats, a rowing boat and some NZ native Clematis flowers. 

Mary's sketches

Now we were getting somewhere!  Over a bottle or three of wine, the Clematis flowers got dropped, substituting them with NZ flax in flower, a native Nikau Palm tree, and islands like those just offshore from us - we had a winner!  Delighted to say that I was at last able to make a minor contribution by scanning and scaling Mary's final sketches on the computer to get  them to full scale and to be eventually used as glass cutting patterns.

Next step was a trip to Hamilton to choose some stained glass and lead from a specialist supplier.  What a mission but great fun at the same time - every texture and colour imaginable but after a few hours, we had something which looked like it would work.  Brian couldn't wait to get started and talking with him about the method of approach, it was clear that stained glass work is incredibly complex to get it right.  What a buzz it is to learn about cool new stuff!!!

Watching the windows taking shape was an utter privilege.  Actually, watching a master craftsman at work was what was really a privilege.  Here's some shots of Brian at work on them. Sadly, the photos simply don't show the detail, colours and textures adequately but they're still pretty good. Click photos to enlarge.

Template cutting for flax flowers

Building up the small window

Brian checking soldering on rear of large window

Brilliant use of texture and colour

Amazing level of detail

After sealing all the joints and blackening the lead strip, it was time to install them.  The Health and Safety Nazis wouldn't have approved of Brian and me teetering at the top of step ladders but that gave a bit of extra pleasure!

For God's sake, don't drop them!

A perfect fit and here's the finished windows........

Texture, colour, local theme - wow!!

The windows have been in place for just a few days and we can't take our eyes off them.  As the light changes with the passage of the sun, so do the ripples in the water and sky effects.  Moonlight will be interesting too. Always something new to be discovered.

In these days of instant gratification and mass production, people with traditional skills are in decline.  May there be people in each generation who are able to give us all joy from producing something which has a bit of their soul in it.

It's the journey, not the destination

Yeeehaaa!  Sure sign that spring is approaching..... 17 degrees C late morning, buds bursting out in the garden and a Rosella busy eating the buds of one of our flowering cherries!

 Beautiful, but greedy!

We won't have many buds left at this rate!

Between Rosellas and the Kaka, (a large native parrot) from a nearby stand of native bush, our flowering shrubs and fruit trees take a bit of a hiding but I reckon that's a small price to pay for the pleasure of having them in the garden.

We are also getting the nectar-eating Tui songbirds in another flowering cherry and flocks of tiny Waxeyes waiting for the food scraps and honey water we put out for them .

Tui after nectar

Waxeyes waiting for a feed

The improved weather means time for a trip halfway round the Peninsula for a scallop burger.  Well, it's the journey really, but as the Coroglen Tavern was closed last time I came past, a burger packed with local scallops makes the destination worthwhile too!

The journey didn't start off on a promising note .  The beautiful weather always brings out a few cage drivers who use one brain cell for breathing and the remaining few for gawping at the scenery. Driving ability is apparently left to divine intervention.  Regular readers will have seen my previous rants about cage drivers crossing the centre line to straighten a bend irrespective of oncoming traffic but this one took the prize for biggest knuckle-dragger of the season so far! Ascending the Coromandel Range, I spotted a Toyota Corolla several bends away creeping downhill towards me.  This normally signifies that all occupants including the idiot driver have their brains at half-mast and are staring at the stunning vista over Coromandel Harbour, so my brain was on maximum alert.  As the car hove into full view, it was completely on my side of the road and actually within a foot or so of the Armco barrier on the edge of the steep drop!  Whether it was a sudden awareness of the Armco right next to the driver's wing mirror or my headlights just down the road, the car gave an almighty over-correction back to the proper side of the road and I was left with an impression of bulging eyes and mouth open in alarm!  Although it wasn't really a close call, a momentary thought was entertained about turning round and delivering a pointed sermon to the elderly guy driving the car.  However, this would have got the ride off to the wrong start and the wrong frame of mind, so I simply filed it into the "yet another dickhead" category and got on with enjoying the ride.  Just so that you can see the cause of the distraction, I momentarily stopped on the way home and took a photo (click to enlarge).  We live in the small group of houses just right of centre on the narrow peninsula.

Coromandel Harbour and outer islands

Traffic was very light on the eastern side of the Coromandel Range, so a short photo opportunity was taken at the roadside where there are several acres of pampas grass growing.  Really pretty, but can be quite invasive in our climate so it probably won't be long before it gets sprayed.

Roadside pampas grass

Dry roads, warm, light traffic and no more idiot cage drivers - what more could one want?  The perfect conditions for dropping into Zen Riding State, where control of the bike seems effortless through heightened perception.  Doesn't happen all that often but when it does, what an absolutely sublime experience.

Arriving at the Coroglen Tavern a bit early, I was the first customer and after ordering the scallop burger and a big mug of latte, it was off outside to join the owner and his dogs on the deck. The dogs are real characters - they don't scrounge, just try and soften you up with a big grin!

Trying to grin me into dropping a bit of scallop burger

Weekdays and the only bike at the Tavern

The Coroglen Tavern is a cool place and in the summer, outdoor concerts are held in the grassed arena behind the main building.  They get a great attendance from all the local beach resorts, so attract some great acts.  Jimmy Barnes, the great Aussie rocker is appearing here this summer, as well as other well-known local acts.

Relaxed and at one with the world, it was time to return home.  An absence of traffic meant that the pace was a bit more spirited than originally intended, but an unplanned burst in ideal conditions is all part of a perfect journey. I normally don't react when a cage wants to join in the fun but this time, a guy in an Audi saw me coming, put his foot down and was driving really safely, so I just hooked in behind at some rather naughty speeds until he turned off with a wave about 20km up the road - nice and it's good to have someone running interference in case the Highway Patrol suddenly appears!

A quick stop at our local wharf  to see if anything interesting was happening and then back home to complete a wonderful ride.

Coromandel wharf

A poor attempt to reflect the harbour edge!

 Looking forward to this coming Sunday.  Our full 1000 miles in 24 hours team are meeting up for the first time at a central spot down country to grab a meal, do a bit of planning and have a ride so looking forward to it and reporting in due course.