Day Five (Wednesday 24 November)



Sorry, running behind here. Let's see if I can get some done now.

Travel Time		Distance		Departing		Arriving
0700 > 0705	1km		Inn Paradise, 13 Leith street, Gisborne, 06 8633504				Event at Gisborne Boys High School, 80 Stanley Rd, Gisborne
0900 > 1100	140km		Gisborne Boys High School, 80 Stanley Rd, Gisborne				Event in Main Street, 128 Church St, Opotiki
1300 > 1345	45km		128 Church St, Opotiki				Event at James St School, James Street, Whakatane
1515 > 1615	66km		James St School, James Street, Whakatane				Event on Main St, Cnr Jocelyn & Jellicoe Sts, Te Puke
1700 > 1715	12km		Main St, Te Puke				Accommodation at Pacific Park Christian Holiday Camp 1110 Papamoa Beach Road, Papamoa Beach, 07 542 0018

Last night I was planning to stay at the House of Breakthrough where we would sleep on the stretchers from the trucks and be able to have the bikes inside. Perfect I thought. But Mahu was determined to get me to sleep at the motel. So I followed him there. We got lost a couple of times (never realised that Gisborne is quite spread out actually). In the end we got there and all was good. The three others in my cabin settled in for the night, but I had a MOE proposal to complete. I started work on it but at 1am I did run out of steam, so the plan is now to sort it out when at Papamoa tonight.

I put all gear I did not need for the ride in to the truck. figured there was no need for me to carry it on the bike. Should have sussed that out earlier! I also checked the oil level on the bike and realised it was  below the glass so time to find some 4 stroke bike oil. How hard could it be I figured. We would leave at 7am to Gisborne Boys High School. I had 15 minutes to find oil. "No wurries" I thought. Right... After having visited Shell, Caltex, BP and Mobile and only finding 2 stroke oil and 4 stroke motor mower oil I came to the conclusion that all bikie gangs in Gizzy ride two smokers (or mowers...). I was running out of time (and as I had already had more than one "telling off" by the Patriots about my ability not to be on time and coming to briefings... I was determined to be on time! So I grabbed a litre of the most expensive car oil I could find at Shell and raced to the meeting point. As I arrived the briefing had just started (naughty boy!). I then poured in 1/2 a litre and we are back in business. (Normally I would not use car oil in a bike as car oils are not made for wet clutches, but 1/2 a litre should not do any harm. And I will have done the 5,000 Km's when back home since last oil change anyhow so she will need another one.

We rode to the Boys school where a big mobile BBQ was set up. As soon as we arrived it started to rain but only for a few minutes. The students started to arrive and we spoke with them promoting the White Ribbon Message. (At times I wonder about this all: We look like a bikie gang, we act like a bunch of religious nutters harrassing people and then we talk about women...). The students are in middle of their exams and at their age that is enough to keep them worried so they were not too interested in what we had to say. But the free sausages and bread went down well. I spoke with quite a few and asked them what they had for brekkie. 9 out of 10 said that they had nothing for brekkie... So I used my vast knowledge base and informed them that the brain uses 70% of the energy they have ion their body and if they have nothing to feed the brain with it will not function as good as it should. And considering that they need all the brain power they have to pass the exams it was clearly not a well thought through plan on their behalf. (Would have loved to compare their results from today with another day when nobody gave them anything to eat. Wonder if we could see a difference?) I also took the chance to pass on some of my secrets from passing exams:
1. Do all the questions you find easy first.
2. Do all the questions that do not require a lenghty explanation first.
3. Once you have done these and you feel comfortable that you have them right, check if you have over 1/2 of the questions completed. If you have that, then you have already passed the exam!! That means the pressure is off and you will find that suddenly you can answer some of the really tricky ones too!
4. If you have the time, answer every question even if you have no idea re the answer as who knows, you might pick up a point or two...



From here we headed towards Opotiki. A little rain on and off but no real problem. We hit Matawai, the highest spot on the the road and I was looking forward to the desend down following the Waioeka Gorge. But in the little village there was a serious police checkpoint. We were all pulled over (somehow I felt like they were there only to check up on us...very few cars were stopped and when some rain came the police disappered under their covers) and all bikes rego's and WOF was checked.

If you remember, I told you that I would come back to my license and my visit to Hogged... Well, yesterday evening I had a text from Louise teling me that I had forgotten my license in the bike shop, and she now had it. I looked at the police. There was easily 6 - 8 of them, but they had no clear strategy and all of them were like ants over a sugar lump. So I figured that they would have no idea if anyone had checked my license. With this clear revelation in my head I promptly parked my bike and went to the shop to buy some V (had run out of my stack of them in the small pack boxes on the bike). From the shop I could see two of them eagerly fussing around my bike. But as I had rego and WOF and she was all sweet I know there would be no worries. Thou they had some issues with them and poked and prodded. (Could be the way the WOF was mounted to cover parts of the rego as I tend to put the rego on hold now and then after the new increase but keep the WOF up to date...) Anyhow, as they left to fuss over another bike I went back to the K1 and noticed that they had managed to rip open the WOF holder so I would now loose the sticker. Nice work constable! I opened one of my new V cans and had a sip, then I wiggled the tab off, used a phillips screwdriver to get the screw out that held the WOF, put the screw through the small hole in the tab, and screwed it back in. The tab now functioned as a oversized washer and I would not loose the WOF sticker. Suckers!!

It looked like that was their days work done and we carried on down towards the next destination. I love this road. It is challenging but has nice long sweepers and the road is good. A real pleasure to ride. And once again following Raz and Willy. Love riding behind these guys!

Once in Opotiki we realised that we were just in time! The parade against family violence had just started so we tagged on at the back and slowly moved with them. Cool!

Opotiki children

Opotiki

We did our normal things with the welcomes, the speeches, the waiata and then talking to people re White Ribbon. We are by now getting quite good at this! There are 20 of us here. Some left yesterday but we picked up a few new ones.

Off we ride again. This time to St James School in Whakatane. As we get closer it starts to rain. The rain is really heavy as we arrive and park the bikes. All kids are sitting under a roof in  middle of their school yard, but we stand in the rain waiting for the welcome. We hear a teachers voice say: "Quiet children! We will not welcome the riders before you sit down and are quiet." And the rain keeps on falling... A couple minutes later the children are quiet enough and we are wet enough for the teachers to start the welcome.

We sit at the front of the children and watch the welcome. Speeches, haka's and waiatas. By now I have seen enough of them to know how it all functions. As 80% of this always is done in Maori and my Maori extends to a handful of words and some phrases I have picked up from a few movies, I have problems following it all. But I am more interested in the kids anyhow. And they have lost interest in the proceedings long before me. I turn around and look at them

 A sea of small brown faces smile at me. I make a few funny faces and straight away have their attention. I find myself the loosing party in a face duel with them. There is approx 10 that would have been rejected by their mums at birth if what they show me had been their daily looks. Scary! Then I roll  my eyes, cross my eyes and try to wiggle my ears. Again they outshine me. Now more have joined in! So I bring out my best party trick: My 360 degree tounge twister, and they all realise they have been had by a pro! They try but all fail. 1 - 0 to the white man! Now the teachers want to join in. But they do not follow the rules! They start by removing the most actively participating kids. Not fair! And then I get some stern looks from the teachers. I am clearly in trouble... After all the official stuff the kids are all around the bikes and they come up and want our autographs! Last time that happened was when I was riding Solo Speedway at Western Springs. (I was far from the best on that night, but I had the cool leathers with flames!)

The bikes at Whakatane

The rain has stopped as we ride towards Te Puke for the next event. I also like this road. Much of it is by the seaside and there is many looong straights where you can see for miles, so if there is a "fun-killer" waiting for you they can be spotted in time.

We arrive at Te Puke and get lost again... (A town with one street and we get lost...) But soon figure out where we suppose to go. We are told that this is a "low key event" and our mission is to tie white ribbons around the trees on the main drag through town...

After that challenge is completed we are heading towards the Christian Holiday Camp in Papamoa. Confusion as we loose the truck somehow. Only to find that it is already there when we turn up. (Some small cracks are starting to show up in the setup and between personalities...)

What a brilliant camp! A huge hot water spa is available for us. The cabins have heaps of space and beds. Widescreen TV's and all modern coms.

This is the last night I have to complete the MOE proposal and I give it my best shot. But at 2am I have to admit defeat. Not even half way there and I need info and stuff from work. I do what I very seldom do: I give up and decide not to complete the proposal. I send a email to my Childcare manager telling her I just could not get it done. Sorry! And so I crash on the sofa for 3 hours before it is time to start a new day.

Another long day and 300 KM's.