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QueensBirthday Weekend and a trip to the Brass Monkey 2005 By Carl. |
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My Queens Birthday Weekend was longer than usual.
Thursday June 2nd 2005 � Finaly I more or less finished packing for the weekend. I had the day off
work which was lucky because it took the whole day. I wasn't really sure what i'd need because this
year I was going by dirt road and the weather wasn't looking so good. Ok, so extra clothes it is, but
now that i'm carring spare tubes and a few extra tools... well let's just say my bags were extra full to
overflowing. I was just releived to have the job done before midnight.
Friday June 3rd � I woke early, half an hour before the alarm was due. Hmm, I had better get up, it will help me be some where near on time and if i went back to sleep for that half hour getting up would just be a hole lot harder.
Around 9:50am i pulled in to the Rolleston BP Garage where Pete was waiting for me with his
BMW F650 Dakar. |
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We were suppose to be a group of four but one dropped out earlier because of
mechanical troubles and when the third person arrived she decided to travel on the main roads
because the weather forcast was not looking good and she felt she lacked the dirt road experience to
go into the unknowen in the wet. And so today we were now just two.
With a full tank of gas each we headed off inland toward Aylesbury, then through Hororata, the
Rakaia Gorge, Geraldine, then Fairlie with a Fuel top up and lunch. |
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-Carl & Pete at Fairlie- |
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Off we went again to Burks Pass where we turned south onto Rollesby Valley Road and our first
patch of easy dirt. |
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We continued along into the Mackenzie Pass, took a couple of photos at the Mackenzie
Memorial and before we knew it we were crusing down Haldon Road and blasted past our turn off. I must point out Pete was in front at this point but the day was so nice, no wind etc, that we kept on going and found ourselves at
the entrance to Haldon Station. Pete decided he wanted another short diverson to see the Camping Ground down Haldon
Arm Road at the North end of Lake Benmore. After a pieceful rest at the Camp (which is closed at
this time of year) we headed back up the road the 30Kms and turned in to the Hakataramea Pass.
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Pete taking his own photo |
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Now the views were looking better.
We expected some fords along the way but all we found were puddles. Infact some of them were
completely dry.
We finshed our day in a cabin at the Kurow motor camp, all snug and sound just before the sun
went down.
Tea at Kurow consisted of a walk downtown in the dark for a drink at the Pub and then Fish and
Chips taken back to the Cabin. |
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Somewhere in the Hakataramea Pass |
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And so ends Day 1 of the trip. |
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Carl and Pete at their cabin in the Kurow Motor Camp |
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