New Zealand - Wellington, New Year at Martinborough .. where Sylvia breaks her arm.

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31st December 2007 - 5th January 2008

New Zealand - Wellington, New Year at Martin borough .. where Sylvia breaks her arm.

We did our night at the ’Top Ten’ in Wellington and woke up early to a very windy and wettish start. I likened the noise in our tent to that I’d reckon you’d experience inside a large crisp packet …:D which made Sylvia laugh.

Before doing much else, I rang BMW Mottorad (who I‘d emailed from Picton yesterday) in the hope they’d received my e-mail and could spare me the time to look at the bike. They were short of their main BMW mechanic but were prepared to have a look anyway, for which I was very grateful. :thum2

After a very quick breakfast and wash we drove into town, and despite a few problems finding the street, were able to drop the bike in. They spent about 3 hours in all looking at the bike and me test driving it. At the end of all this effort, the problem still wasn’t resolved and Sylvia and I were just about to resign ourselves to a repeat visit after the new year for their main mechanic to check it out. However, one of their guys, Brendan, suggested that they could trying an exchange one of the in-line coils(contained within the HT cap for those new to such things..:augie) with one of their new bikes to see if that cured the problem. I wasn’t optimistic but grateful for any suggestions. The coil exchanged I went off for a test ride. After one lap I wasn’t completely sure, so I did another and a few tests to see if the low rev engine pull was working as normal, and a hard acceleration test too. Both went well and I returned relieved that any further off-road riding would be possible and relaxed. :thumb2 (Even so, I found myself doubting the completeness of the fix for a while after.) Fortunately the bike was still under Guarantee and so all the work was paid for by BMW for which I was also grateful.

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A rather bizzarre tribute seen in Wellington to film directing if I remember rightly. :rolleyes:

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Whilst chatting to the guys in the shop we got some recommendations of where to spend New Year. We weren’t impressed with many of them until we heard of Martinborough, which was situated in a vineyard district. :augie And more to the point, had a beautiful ride out that a lot of Wellington riders especially go to Martinborough to experience. That was it ! :D We set off and had a great ride through more turns and undulations than I think I‘ve experienced since riding the 200 in Mexico with John back at the beginning of 2006. Fantastic stuff !!

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Some of the farm land surrounding Martinborough.

We found the Tourist Information office in Martinborough and set about trying to find somewhere self-contained not too expensive to stay for New Year. We visited one place but the cooking facilities were too basic and returned to Tourist Information again. After a while the situation was looking a little bleak and we started to wonder where we would spend New Years eve. One of the woman working there remembered some accommodation that wasn’t advertised and may be free. It was as it turned out, and at a fair (but not cheap) price.

The cottage/house was massive for us. It had a large living/dining room area with a log fire at it’s centre :D, three double bedrooms and quite a lot of garden around it. It was really quiet-we were delighted !! :D

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Our 'pad' for New Year :D

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Sylvia relaxes inside with a glass of something-or-other.....:D

After a quick shop to get us through a few days we were settled in and chilling the various drinks we’d bought. We had dinner and watched TV until late, finally going to bed at around 5 am, just before which I took a photo to commemorate the first light for most of the world in 2008 and the last new years day I will see on this trip. :eek ...on this trip :augie

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The first light for most of the World in 2008.

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Surprisingly enough, we get up late(r) on the 1st, although not too late at around mid-day. Whilst tired from last night we didn’t want to fall into the trap of a nice days sleep followed by not being able to sleep at night. We have an easy afternoon and watch a bit of TV. We also mange to do a bit of planning for our time on the North island during the afternoon.

The following day is another easy(ish) day and we manage to finish our planning in the afternoon for our time on the North Island. We also do a bit of shopping and start to clear the house up for leaving the following day. The log fire was lovely but the chimney looked like it could do with a good sweep as a lot of the smoke form the wood ended up in the room, along with the ashes which made for a nice cleaning job. :eek:

With a lot of our leaving preparations made yesterday, packing this morning was fairly easy, however just as Sylvia was going back into the house to collect her bike jacket and helmet, she tripped on the middle of 3 stairs, falls up them and hurts her arm very badly. As Sylvia falls against the wall she hears some very unpleasant noises coming from her arm and extreme pain sets in-(she described the noises as the sort you’d get when you twist a wet-rope !! ... :yikes :yikes :yikes )

She was in terrible pain and I felt so bad for her. Initially we weren’t sure what she’d done but from the pain she was having to bear, I thought she’d either broken something or had dislocated her shoulder. We waited for a while to see how the pain subsided. Meanwhile I extended our stay at the cottage a further night so we could find out what was wrong unhurriedly.

When the pain was a little more bearable we rode in to Masterton hospital where her arm was X-rayed. The X-ray confirmed a broken shoulder, fortunately, according to the Dr, at the best point as other types of shoulder break are very hard to heal and very(read: even more) painful. The hospital were very generous and helpful with the costs. :thumb2 Sylvia was given a sling to keep her arm rested in and we returned to the cottage with peace of mind that now we knew what had actually happened to her arm, and how to treat it/look after it. I decided to spoil Sylvia a bit and so we had a nice dinner with some very nice wine in the evening.

I am concerned as to how Sylvia will feel tomorrow as her body starts to recover and deal with the break and suggest we stay another night. Whilst initially not that pleased as it was an expensive house(for our budget) Sylvia finally agrees.

Sylvia’s sleep is not great but she does get some. The following day, the 4th, she spends a lot of the day resting her arm and has a few cat naps. As you would expect, we do little apart from a bit of shopping and go for an early night as we have to be out of our cottage before 10am, and as I will now naturally have to do most of the packing, it will take longer and so we need to be up earlier.

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Sylvia standing on 'that' middle step. Less than 7 months ago she'd climbed to Everests Base camp. :nod

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Despite my concerns over getting packed in time we actually manage to leave by around 09:30. It’s the first day of me doing the majority of packing/preparations but it goes well and we go back to Masterton Hospital to collect an appointment letter for Sylvia to have a second x-ray a week after her fall.

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Moving house New Zealand style :yikes ..... No need to pack your things away, just secure them down !! :D

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...now that's what I call a 'Jack' :D , seen just across from the Hospital at Masterton.

We continue and drive to Hastings ( :eek would you believe !?!) where we hope to see one of the World’s largest gannet colonies. Upon arrival, we discover that the only way to access the colony is across private land first thing in the morning for which you need a tour operator to take you. The cheapest tour was $NZ33 per person (sitting on a tractor cart) and we thought it too expensive and disappointedly decided not to go. :(

As our dirty washing bag is stretched to over-full, Sylvia sets about loading the washing machines up - I do the pegging/unpegging afterwards.

We’d far overspent our budget with our lavish (and necessary with Sylvia’s arm) time in Martinborough and decide to cut our food costs for this evening by having 2 cans of soup with plenty of bread and a yoghurt to finish. We were hungry early and so had the soup at around 18:30-by bed time we were starting to feel hungry again ! :yikes, however we managed to sleep ok. Before bed though, we also managed to watch a few films in the TV lounge provided at the campsite, which whilst nice, it meant we didn’t go to bed until about 01:00 am in the end. Doh !! :blast

Mike
 


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