Friday 16th October

Up bright and early as the day of the trip had finally dawned.  had the trailer packed with bikes already waiting just for macGyver to arrive to tie it all down.  In the van with me to the airport was MacGyver, The Cook, Dozer, Bugs, Tinkerbell, and Silverfox.  Hooked up with Phatboy, Junior, Mellonfarmer, Sandels and helmut at the airport.  Got boarding passes and labelled the bikes before presenting them at baggage handling.  All good and underweight.  Then a bit of a wait before loading ourselves on the planer for Wellington.  Once there 3 of us headed out to collect vehicles while the others unloaded and got the bags and bikes.  vehicles were good.  A van (a bit underpowered) and a small truck.  off to the accommodation which was adequate if not flash.  We unpacked and rebuilt the bikes before heading into town for some grocery items and food.  Back at the motels we geared up before a short ride up Mt Victoria.  Steep grind up to the top before following a track down.  It was steep and loaded with roots.  By halfway we had to groups going the fast and the not so fast.  The fast forgot to regroup before heading up a hill loosing the rest of us.  They did their thing (which they say was not all that good) incurring the first injury of the trip as Phatboy began to destroy his beautiful knees. The rest of us found our way down and headed back to the motels.  Showered and waited. When everyone was ready we headed on the bikes across to Aro Valley and a tour of Garage Project brewry.  Great event with lots of samples.  Loaded some beers into the van (Sandels had kindly driven over) before another blast back through the traffic. Into town for dinner ending up at a few  differing places.  Back to motels and a few drinks before bed.