It Starts

Having crated up my KLR650 and waved goodbye to it in early May (well, in spirit, I was at work but No.1 son was at home supervising), I settled down to work out my contract for the rest of May.

Queen's Birthday is the time for the Brass Monkey Rally in Central Otago, so the first weekend in June, I'm off down South for another beautiful run through the spectacular MacKenzie country with some good mates. We got rained on at the rally site, which was a bummer, but I met up with people who have done the Alaska run and soaked up all the advice I could.

More importantly though, Peter Mac and Peter J attened their 20th Brassy in 21 years - good on them. I've only got 18 because of my insistence on spending time out of the country.

Ironically the week after the rally Central Otago was closed down with ice and snow! Been there, done that and got the primerpaint to prove it.

Bill and Pete J repairing the Beemers oil leak in the wilds of Waimate. The bike had just had a $1000 service the week before!

Frost and Primer!

The night of the rally istelf was wet, but then we had a hard frost overnight, freezing all the rain on the bikes. Never had to deal with frozen ignition locks and stuck starter switches before! Boy am I glad it's Summer in North America.

7 June

The day has finally come, I'm dropped off at the airport by my most supportive wife and middle son Rob, to begin a gruelling flight, far too long and far too far. Sydney(!), Hawaii , with a little unpleasantness from overzealous Security and finally to Vancouver.

Vancouver is a nice town, and I clear some of the Customs paperwork with no drama and off to Kelowna the next day, where I spend the next week clearing other guff and waiting for the bike to turn up.