Bugger!

Keep on reading and you'll find out the reason for today's title. I think that the last time I wrote I was in Blenheim, up in the Marlborough wine world. Well since then I have travelled down the beautiful east coast and I am now in Christchurch. I stopped off in Kaikoura on the way through for a couple of nights, which is a small town now famous for it's ocean trips. From Kaikoura you can go out whale watching, swimming with seals or swimming with dolphins, as well as the ususal fishing trips, surfing etc etc. I stopped off partially because the trusty steed had started to play up, it was getting difficult to start from cold. So after having the compression checked, I gulped and headed straight for the one big city in the south.
As is turns out, the compression has suddenly dropped on three of the four cylinders on the steed. For those who don't know, this is not a good thing and potentially expensive. Since I am coming home next month (!) it's not worth me spending money on it. Fortunately a chap I met on the interislander ferry in January had given me his address in Christchurch and told me if I needed a place to crash for a few days, to come and see him. So I took him up on his offer and descended on him at his place of work yesterday, before popping round to a couple of local Kawasaki specialists for second opinions on the bike.
Gordon, the excellent Kiwi guy who is now putting me up, has been a diamond. We went out last night for a bit of food and then popped to his local for a quick beer. He instantly gave me a bed for as many nights as I need it and supplied me with a key to the door and told me to make myself at home. Sometimes Kiwi hospitality and trust is quite overwhelming!
Anyway, it looks like I'll have to try to find a buyer for the bike earlier than anticipated, but I should be able to keep travelling on it for a while. In some ways the timing is convenient, since I had planned to be in Christchurch next week to meet up with Andy and Sarah anyway. But there you have it, not an exciting few days, more of a pain in the proverbial. Of course, I'll let you know what happens and I'm sure that one way or another, I'll be off again in a few days. More to see and do as always. Take care everyone and see you in April.