Shed Raid!

9am, and already seeking shelter from the heat

Coffee stop in Otaki

Yum!

Sir Al loves his heavy metal!

A very nice 180

Much maligned

A Pointer

Still the King

Still a great ride

Last of the single cammers

How many learnt to ride on one of these?

Barrys ride to work bike

Not the most economical motorcycle around

Two nice Yamahas

Dions trusty NS400

Kims economy bike. His H2!

Looking forward to the CBX being on the road

Barrys very tasty Z1

It was a busy place!

BBQ cooks extraordanaire!

Just because its called a Pointer doesn't mean its a dog!

The Waikato CB500. A great restoration

Hard to kill one of these! 

Last of the single cammers

Bruces lovely K. About to be joined by a J shortly!

One of the Welly lads Zeeds

....and another

A smorgasbord of bikes! 

Times have changed!

One of these won the Castrol Six Hour (for a while!)

Thanks Grant

Replica fairing from China! 

Who could ignore a lunch date with Barry? Especially one that involved checking out his ever changing collection of bikes in his 'museum'. (Otherwise known as Barry's Shed!) Many of us may insist to those who will listen that we run a museum in our garage as well. Except, Barry actually has the paper work and plate to prove it. Not only that, but he has the bikes to prove it as well. It has been a wee while since the last visit by some of the Blue Haze and this was my first. I had heard all sorts of stories about his collection and seen a few photos, but there is nothing like actually 'being there'. Some one mentioned the number thirty as to the number of bikes he has and that is probably very accurate. What strikes you though is not necessarily the number of bikes but the condition of them. Barry obviously has a passion for these old bikes and stepping into his garage his workbench, tools and lathe spoke of a man who has a the skills to restore them. He seems to have used every nook and cranny in bottom level of the house to store his collection and outside he has even more shed spaces. I also hear Bruce has allowed some of his 'overflow' to find its way into his garage as well.
Whilst viewing the bikes was great it was also good to be able to chat with some of the Wellington VJMC crew who came along. It was neat to see a VJMC stalwart from the Waikato turn up on his very nicely restored Honda 500 four. It sat next to a range of bikes people had also arrived on and as can be seen from the photos Barrys place was very full. The BBQ was fired up and Bruce Sager and his boys helped Barry and Kim D cook up a storm and the masses were fed in style whilst watching highlights from the Boxing Day Races in Whanganui. Mention needs to be made of Grant bringing his unwanted magazines over for people to grab. I am enjoying the 1970s Two Wheels magazines I used to pore over at the time, so thanks Grant!
Unfortunately this all had to come to an end and Kim, Dion, Rich, Ian, Alan and myself had to leave and point our bikes back to Palmy. After filling up with petrol we made our way through the thirty degree heat on State Highway One. Definitely not my favourite piece of road and the heavy traffic both ways kept us on our toes. Richs T500 wasn't enjoying the heat at all so we stopped off in Shannon to give it rest. Whilst waiting we spoke to another motorcyclist who suggested we go back via Opiki as the the road just before Tokomaru was very slippery because of the tar melting! Boy was it hot!
We had a great day out and a big thank you to Barry for being a great host. We would also like thank Debbie, Barrys wife for allowing us to take over the place. A big thanks to Grant for the magazines. It was neat having Bruces wife Helen and their two boys there as well. We enjoyed spending time with the Wellington VJMC crew and hopefully we can do a few more things like this in the future. After all we are only just down the road from each other!