The Ride Stuff

  My 1993 Triumph Daytona 750 - Otherwise known as the 'Project' Hello again - It's been quite some time since I last wrote a blog, almost 2 years in fact. As you might imagine a lot has happened during that time and I've been through quite a lot in one way or another.  Firstly I've now left the RNZN full-time and am now either semi-retired (If you ask me) or between jobs (If you were to ask Emma). I am still an active Reserves member and as such I am doing bits of work for the NZ Defence Force from time to time. This keeps me occupied and the extra money helps top up my other income. The picture above is that of a 1993 Triumph Daytona 750 which I bought back in late 2021. The intention was to partly restore the bike and then decide what to do with it. This particular model is one of the rarest modern Hinckley-era Triumphs with only some 225-245 ever being made. The exact number seems to vary depending on what you read but either way there aren't many of them ar...

  One of the giant 'Trees' in the Gardens A couple of weeks back I managed to take a day off and go and visit the Gardens by the Bay. It was somewhere I'd been wanting to see and we managed to time it just right as being a week day meant that the crowds were remarkably thin. Plus we got there late afternoon so we managed to see the skyline at sunset. The famous Marina Bay Sands hotel Although I won't get to go and stay in the Marina Bay Sands hotel I'm told it's as good inside as it is outside. it is certainly a striking looking place which has an infinity swimming pool on the top floor as part of the 'Boat' section of the building. Room prices start at $400+ per night and go a lot higher than that. I think perhaps a simple walk past might be the best thing! The Gardens at ground level with some of the cartoon characters on display When we visited there was some form of cartoon character festival with these giant characters on display. Not really my thin...

  As you get older things change. Not right away you understand but in a creep-up-on-you kind of a way until one day something happens that makes you realise that things, that is you, have moved on.  I once heard the actor Timothy Spall being interviewed post a big cancer scare which he'd recovered from after plenty of unpleasant treatment. He said that you knew when things were normal again when, on coming home from the hospital all the little things started to bother you again. It's a lot like that when you are away from home with a ship on deployment. When you get home it's as though someone has pressed your personal reset button as all the usual tings don't bother you as much. Then you acclimatize once more and things go back to normal, much in the way Timothy Spall described. We're now just over halfway through our time away here in Singapore and thoughts of returning home have bubbled to the surface once more. Being away doesn't become any easier the older...

  Yours truly waiting for the tour to start Hello again! It's been an interesting few weeks since I last posted. The number of daily COVID cases here in Singapore have been increasing steadily and we have experienced a couple of the dockyard workers on board having tested positive as well. Whilst all the ship's company have thus far tested negative this latest episode has reminded us all just how close to home the whole COVID piece is and the effects it can have on us all. As for what effect it has on our programme between now and getting home remains to be seen. On a more positive note we managed to get to do the Tiger Beer brewery tour and it was a good day out. The highlight was the 2 hours we had in their 'Pub' at the end of the tour with a fair few freebies (Included in the price of the tour at any rate) thrown in for good measure. It's a big old place and I am becoming rather fond on their product now too.  Just in case you were wondering what you were there f...

  The view from our back window As promised here are some more photos of where we are here in Singapore. We are staying close to the Sembawang dockyard in accommodation used primarily by Expats and other nations' Defence personnel. It's fairly basic but is much the same as serviced apartments back home and does the job quite nicely. The Sembawang dockyard isn't very far away where there's an American Naval Exchange (NEX) store as well as a social club (Called the Terror club after HMS TERROR) where you can get something to eat as well as have a swim in the pool. Just not today though as it is throwing it down as well as flashing and banging just for good measure. My bedroom I'm sharing the apartment with the Command Warrant Officer who is nice and quiet so things are nice and peaceful. Indeed I'm writing this to you on the first full day off I've had since we arrived as things have been busy pretty much from the word go. Having said all that it's good th...

  One of the floating dry docks here in the yard - That's not us in there in case you're wondering Greetings from Singapore where we are now firmly embedded within the Tuas Dockyard undergoing a maintenance package as part of HMNZS CANTERBURY's 15-year docking programme. It took us some 2 weeks to sail here from Auckland where we had a delayed start owing to one of the ship's company (That'll be me then...) testing positive for Covid... Thankfully the second test proved to be negative (As did the retest of the first sample they took) so we managed to set sail and 'Go West!' (With quite a lot of North thrown in too for good measure). It made for an emotional rollercoaster 24 hours though! As some of you will remember I was taking some Leave Without Pay a little while back but the sitting Engineer Officer on CANTERBURY has gone off to take some well earned parental leave and as such I was asked to step in and take the reins for a few months. This I was quite h...

  Em with the MG on Queen Charlotte Drive A few weeks ago I embarked on a bike trip up to the North Island which was cut short owing to an issue with the Moto Guzzi. Although the snag was fixed promptly by the dealer where I bought it from in Wellington I'd missed the the event I was going to attend in Auckland - A shame but such is life and I was actually glad that nothing went seriously wrong and I lived to ride another day. In a way it actually allowed me to do some more rides closer to home and enjoy a few of the other things on offer to us here in Marlborough, one of which is enjoying our lovely little MGTF which I bought last year. Buying the car realised a long-held desire to own one of these which were launched in the mid-1990s when I was an impoverished student at Southampton University. It's funny how when you have little or nothing to your name such things stick in your mind so vividly - Just over 10 years ago I nearly bought one in the UK but instead bought a Merced...

  Oscar at the top of Mount Vernon Hello to you all and welcome to my latest blog. I know it's been a little delayed in getting to you but I've been both out and about and I suffered a couple of technical hitches which held things back a bit. Firstly let me introduce Oscar, my soft toy mascot/travelling companion. Oscar has been with us for a while now and is named after the Great Dane we owned back in 2003/2004. Sadly we were forced to give the real life Oscar up for adoption when we were both posted away from home so this little guy is the soft toy memory of that lovable big doofus and I try to take him along on my rides to share what we see. View from the pathway inside Wither Hills Park As part of my desire to explore Blenheim a little more I recently went to Wither Hills Park and did one of the day walks on offer. t took me to the summit of Mount Vernon which offered a fabulous view across both Blenheim (The Wither Hills are located to the South of the Town) as well as Clo...

  The Enchanted lookout As promised I've been out and about in the local area since being on my LWOP. Attached are some photos of the local area on the route up to Mount Patriarch which is situated in the Mount Robertson range here in Marlborough.  Above is a spot called the 'Enchanted Lookout' which is some 1160m above sea level. It's accessible by public road though it's unsealed and best tackled by something with some decent ground clearance or, in my case, a Suzuki DR650. A biking buddy of mine and I went up there earlier this week and it is, quite frankly, life affirming. It's quiet, beautiful and all within 80-90Km of our house. Ideal! It also reminds me very much of a spot I spent some time in as a youth growing up in South Africa. Ngodwana (Google it to get the full lowdown) and the surrounding area is remarkably similar and my only regret from living there is that I was too young to go out and about dirt riding in the local forestry area in territory su...

Hannah in normal fast asleep pose  It's now just over 2 years since we took Hannah into our family and she's made quite an impression. Distinctly different in nature from the two boys we already had (Mitch and Fraser) she is very independent and she lives life on her terms. The oldest of our three she's 11 this year whereas the boys are 7 (Fraser) and 9 (Mitch). Having said that she's often has the most energy of the three and she likes to lead the way when we go walking. Not a bad characteristic for a Greyhound I guess! She's now showing signs of arthritis in her hind legs, not uncommon in Greyhounds as they get older we're told, and she certainly seems to feel the cold a bit more than she used to I think. Still, she makes her presence known when it's late afternoon and tea time comes around as well as coming into our bedroom in the mornings when it's time to get up and let them out. I think she has a better life now than she would have normally had whi...

  It's as lovely and peaceful as it looks - Just look at the clearness of the water A couple of kayakers about to make their way out A little hidden gem of a view between the trees which I spotted on the way down and just had to stop at on the way back Me and my trusty DR650 - Ideal for this sort of travel

  This Seals the deal! - The seal colony at Ohau Point en-route from Kaikoura to Blenheim Hello again - Apologies it's been a little time since I last posted but - Well a few things have been going on which have delayed me sitting down and writing some prose. A bit more on that later but first I wanted to tell you about my latest bike trip - My first since proceeding on my leave. I rode down to Hanmer Springs via the Molesworth station (Pictured below) which is a route of just over 200Km from home and which goes via the Molesworth station, most of which is dirt or unsealed road. There are faster ways to Hanmer but this is by far the most scenic and really gets you into the land of the big blue sky and shows you some of the real NZ. The gate to the Molesworth station itself - You have to make sure the gate is closed after you as there's all sorts wandering around! Note the cattle road sign - It wasn't wrong! This was a chance for me to travel through the station before the r...

  The mighty Suzuki M109 with a beautiful Cloudy Bay behind - Not a bad part of the world all said! Well hello folks and welcome to some more random mutterings here from the top of New Zealand's fabulous South Island. What a few weeks we've had with settled weather, warm temperatures and a fair few activities to keep things interesting - More on that in a minute. Firstly I'm soon to start my Leave Without Pay (LWOP) after having to ensure yet another rollercoaster of emotions at work this past week. In short I was asked to put myself forward for an upcoming promotion position which, it was thought, I had a really good chance of being chosen for. I have the qualifications, seniority and recent HQ/Staff Course experience which I thought was what they were looking for. It turns out that wasn't the case and so it feels like I'm back to square one in terms of getting ahead. On a positive note it has now solidified my plans to proceed on LWOP and so I'm going to take ...

  The 'Lunar Rover' in all her glory So - It's March already and I'm left asking where the hell February went to? One minute it was leading up to my 48th birthdy and the next... Well... Above is our trusty Elddis motorhome which we brought over with us when we moved to NZ. Bringing it from the UK was a really good idea and we had visions of seeing the marvels of NZ in it. Alas life has simply gotten in the way and as such we just haven't used it anywhere nearly as much as we would like - Or as much as it needs to stay in good mechanical health. Having the dogs is a major factor in this too as they are pretty restricted in where they can go and so taking them with us in the motorhome is problematic. So it's up for sale and we've had quite a bit of interest in it. More than I expected if I'm honest. Poor old Emma has been fielding calls about it whilst I've been away at work and as such we now have 3 sets of people who've said they'd like to ta...

As you can see above the summery weather has been bringing with it some interesting sights. Here's Fraser on the sun lounger with Emma on the swing seat next to him. Fraser follows Em pretty much all over the place and he seems to thrive on human company. Especially when they provide him with food and treats! Fraser turns 7 this year so in dog terms he's now middle aged but he seems to act like a teenager most f the time. In fact we often refer to him as 'Dufus' because of the daft things he does...   We are blessed here in Marlborough to have some cracking scenery and spots to go and visit. Quite a few of these are only accessible via dirt (Unsealed) roads which f course means the use of an off-road style of bike to get there. The picture above shows the picnic table at a spot called the 'Enchanted viewpoint' en-route to the summit of Mount Patriarch which I went to earlier today. It's a lovely little spot and I just sat there with my cup of coffee for a fe...