Ok, so I'm home now and have proper internet so it's time for some proper write-ups of the trip.  Here goes day one...

As per my usual routine before a trip, I did not sleep well so got up early and was on the road by 5:30.  The roads were pretty quiet until Paraparam where the traffic became its usual nightmare ? there were parts were I was idling along and having to slip the clutch?
That extra half an hour definitely came in handy as I finally hit the ferry terminal just before 8.  Already waiting were two other bikes and I discovered that one of them was Adrian (on a KLR650) and that he was on his way down for his first TT.
After loading I parked myself up to get comfortable and was soon joined by Adrian.  On the way across I discovered that he was intending to do the Molesworth so we decided to ride it together. Off the boat we made our way across to Blenheim where the plan was to fuel up for the trip across the Molesworth.  Unfortunately the petrol station had other ideas as their pumps were out and the operators had no idea how to get them going.  We flagged it and instead made for Seddon for fuel.
Leaving Blenheim the bike?s temperature display was showing 30o so it was a reasonably hot ride down to Seddon.  We did manage to find fuel in Seddon and then backtracked a couple of km to turn up the Awatere Valley.
I was pumped to finally be getting the chance to ride the Molesworth but behaved myself and followed Adrian up the valley ...