In the 12 days of fall since I left you, quite a bit has been achieved. I am now on my way to Melbourne and the penultimate Belfast – now known as Port Fairy.
When I left, I was trying to arrange for the return of myself and the bike to Dunedin; then the plan changed, and instead I was returning to Pukekohe.
The Bike and Other Things:
I arranged with Croft Transport to have the bike shipped to Pukekohe and this was done in a most informal way, with no paperwork at all! It arrived, at a transport yard about 6 km from the house a few days after me, and when Darryl and I went to pick it up there were no formalities either. “I guess you’re here for the bike,” the man in the office said. “Yes,” I replied. “There she is,” he said, waving a hand in its general direction. Darryll and I – well Darryll really – loaded the bike onto his bakkie, took it home and that was that!
I must note here that I was not charged for this removal, so a huge thank you to Hamish Croft at T Croft Ltd in Stillwater.
Next day I removed all the broken bits and discovered the only additional damage, that had always been a possibility but wasn’t evident, was bent forks. The bends are not great, and they are definitely repairable. Oh, and the battery was flat, very flat! At 1,6 V it is not recoverable.
Over subsequent days, I ordered the parts required, some coming from Japan, some from Australia and others sourced locally. With the help of Darryll’s contacts I also found a workshop willing to straighten the forks, check out the frame, straighten up the steering stops, which are bent on both sides, and give the bike a good once over. Tony, the owner, has kindly offered to try to complete the work in one day, so 🤞.
The hardest things to source were the replacements for my damaged luggage. I was able to repair one part of the fuel container mount and eventually found the other, coming from the US, on a NZ online shopping website. Shipping was free, which was a big bonus, because shipping from the original manufacturer for two parts costing $160, was $270!
My jacket is being repaired by Lesley at Blue Moon Leather in Rosemount and my jeans await me in Melbourne. I have found a printer who will do some stickers for me and I have identified a supplier of a new helmet, leaving only a new pair of gloves and a wind shield needed.
Me:
Only?, Well, not quite!
I have spent the period trying to regain some strength and energy, helped greatly by being so well looked after by Daryl and Helenna. They even took me out for a day to visit a gannet colony, and then we had an excellent lunch at a local(ish) bar.
The original idea had been to take the train to Auckland and then a boat tour of the harbour; unfortunately the trains were not running that day, and the boats were fully booked; hence the (very smelly) gannet colony. So, it is not just my plans that don’t always work! 😁
During these days the pain in my hip started to become something of a problem. Until now I have only had pain towards evening or when carrying something heavy. Now he pain is more or less constant; not severe, unless I walk too much, but there all the same. I’m convinced there must be some damage to my pelvis that has not yet been identified.
Before leaving Greymouth an x-ray had showed satisfactory position of the fracture in my hand. This was repeated in Christchurch during my stopover there, some two weeks later which confirmed things were OK. Another week and the cast can, hopefully, be replaced with the splint, which should allow me to work more easily on the bike; I already have a physiotherapy appointment booked in anticipation!
I also had a pelvic x-ray here, which to my mind shows some damage, but this was not noted by the radiologist. In any case no treatment other than pain relief and rest 😆 is required.
To replace my specs, I needed an eye test, which, with my new specs set me back NZ $848. Specsavers here give a free hearing screening test as part of the eye exam 🤔 and as a result of this, I now have an audiology appointment to see about my hearing loss.
21 Mar 2025
As I said at the beginning I’m now, after a 4:00 am start, on my way to Australia’s Belfast. For reasons I won’t go into now I’m going via Christchurch and will only fly to Melbourne tomorrow. Not the most direct route but it allowed me to spend the evening with Elizabeth and Noel, who I met briefly in Christchurch on my way down South. An additional plus point is that there as a concert with Piers Lane, a pianist, playing Chopin’s nocturnes which just happen to be some of my favorite classical music pieces.
Next day it was another early start to catch my plane from Christchurch to Melbourne. An uneventful flight got me to Melbourne, where I experienced an arrival process even more painful than the one I had gone through in Auckland. Filling in the arrival forms presented a challenge; whether the left-handed result is legible is another matter. Then, after some difficulty finding my way on public transport, I finally arrived at Owen and Annika’s house, where I was met up with my friends Mickey and Elizabeth.
So the plan now is that on Monday we, Elizabeth, Mickey and myself, will go to Port Fairy by train – another early start – where we will spend a couple of days doing whatever old farts do when they go on a bit of a holiday to a seaside town.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 