Living the Dream

 Barry (the Seagull) thought it was about time The Haze had a BBQ and he and his better half, Deb's sent out an invitation to 'come forth' to the Horowhenua and partake of there hospitality. So a few weekends ago Memorial Park saw a group of us assembled and ready for a quiet meander south. Our cafe stop was going to be at Sam's Cafe and Bakery at Foxton but with a little bit of time on our hands we decided on a westward meander before heading south. We were soon on our way through our usual haunts of Colyton and around the back of Feilding and onto Makino Rd. We had decided on a stop at Stanway Hall and a time check. A shorter route to Foxton was decided on and after passing through Halcombe and Mt Stewart we arrived in Foxton.

It was here that we were joined by Warren on his recently roadworthy Suzuki T20. He has decided on keeping its original patina and it certainly looked the part in the carpark outside the cafe. After our cuppa we were on our way to Shannon and it was here one got to see the T20 in its natural habitat. It looked so small! Warren is a tall chap and this certainly emphasised this, but amongst the other bikes on the ride it looked petit. It was also very spritely and had little trouble keeping the speed limit. It was a great segue into the BBQ and the treat we were in for. Most of us hadn't been to Barry's new place, but had heard interesting reports. We were about to see for ourselves.

Barry has been a passionate member of the VJMC for many years and his collection of bikes is legendary amongst the community. He currently has a number bikes on show in the Pero museum in Christchurch and has always shown many of his bikes over the years in shows up and down the country. The last record of his collection was from a previous BBQ/shed raid a number of years ago when he was living in Wellington. And how things have changed! Besides all of us being a smidgen older, Barry has well and truly found a place and space where he is able to indulge his passion for heritage 'objects'. The last visit saw all sorts of things squished into all sorts of nook's and crannies His new place has allowed him to spread out and display all sorts of treasures. He well and truly deserves his 'museum plate'. The photographs above only show a part of what we saw. Yes, a real treat.

Then there was the BBQ! He invited a wide range of people from the north and south. It was great to catch up with a number of Wellington VJMC members and there partners. Some of them brought along there older bikes and very soon the driveway was awash with people and bikes with plenty of discussions around the finer points of Vintage Japanese motorcycle restorations. It was interesting to see Warren after spotting some T20 bits on Barry's workbench take the opportunity to compare the carbs to his own. He found out one of the carbs was incorrect and this nicely illustrates one of the great things about belonging to such a group. The mixture of helpful expertise and camaraderie around a common interest definitely adds to ones quality of life, and Barry and Debs BBQ was a nice way to celebrate this. 

After being well fed and watered it was time to head north and to home. A big thank you to Barry and Debs for the 'bit of a do' and keep on living the dream Barry and sharing it with us from time to time.