Valentino Visits St. Lucia

Valentino with Daddy on the Dyna Superglide we went to St. Lucia on.

The public holiday in August 2012 gave us a four day long week-end (if you took the working Friday off), which was a perfect opportunity for Valentino to visit St. Lucia, the sleepy seaside village on the KwaZulu-Natal North coast, with Mommy Daddy and my brothers Paul & Jason. Paul & Jason had to follow the Harley in their car (which meant we had somewhere to put the luggage, laptops, .....hairdrier...........hair straightener..................snacks, etc). The ride from Durban isn't that far, only about 240km's, but it is nice to be able to stop half way for coffee and a snack. The Hearty Meals restaurant in Umtunzini provides a beautiful view, and is run by a good, decent South African family who always provide a welcoming smile with homemade, generous portioned, tasty food. Paul & Jason loved their huge burgers, but I was waiting for the fish in St. Lucia.

Paul, Mommy & Jason with a view in the St. Lucia Reserve.

Arriving at St. Lucia, one has to cross a bridge over a river to get to the village. It is very tourist visitor orientated, with the main road flanked by many restaurants, hotels, Bed & Breakfasts and self-catering holiday flats. We had booked at The Boma Lodge, which has self catering flats overlooking the hippo and crocodile filled river.

After unpacking and having lunch, we went on a boat ride to see some of the wild animals in their natural habitat. The boats captain was very knowledgeable and knew the birds and animals and where to find them.

Hippo's in St. Lucia Estuary

We also went through the St. Lucia reserve, where we saw Warthog, Zebra, Monkeys (some of which just must have been Samango Monkeys according to the sign - see pic below), Rhino, and different buck.

Samango Monkey...no...Paul - Securing foodstuff by eating it!

We were amazed at how close we got to two Rhino's - they were right next to the road, and just ignored us.

Two Rhino's

Long Horned Rhino

We don't understand how anyone would want to kill these magnificent creatures for their horns. Shame on the hunters.

We managed to have lunch one day at the St. Lucia Ocean Basket restaurant, where they have the best Fish and Chips in KwaZulu-Natal. We have tried this meal at six different branches of the franchise, and this one wins hands down. Well worth the visit.

On the return trip on Sunday (it was Mommy's birthday - we all spoilt her a bit - she deserves it), we stopped again at Hearty Meals, where they had prepared a home made bread for us.

Huge Home-made Bread -Yum!

While we enjoy our visit to the reserves of our country, where we can see the animals in their natural habitat, one can't help but wonder at the cruelty and greed of some who call themselves "people", and kill these creatures. We have wars where people commit the most unthinkable attrocities, and then we have these inhuman savage killings of Rhino, for their horns. I blame the lack of education, which surely must elevate the human consciousness to a level where one has a conscience, realising what is wrong and choosing to go the way that is right. No one can believe that they need to kill these animals for food. It is purely financial greed, driven by the demands from the uncivilised Far East. Money & buildings don't make a civilisation. Is globalisation going to be the cause of the unnecessary extinction of these magnificent creatures? Support a Rhino saving organisation!

A wonderful week-end with a lovely family, in our beautiful KwaZulu-Natal. 

Harley Riders - War and Peace

"Public Image" is a significant part of what Harley riding is about. It has its pro's and con's.

The average person see's a Harley and thinks of all the "Hells Angels" stories he or she has heard. The first instinctive reaction is to avoid the Harley because it represents "danger". The riders are all painted with the same brush - leather clad, weapon wielding, foul mouthed, drug dealing low-lifes. BUT - they love the sound of the bike. So, this means that when riding, other traffic can hear you, looks for the noise, and probably gets out of your way. That's good, especially if you ride with safety in mind. When they see you are riding a good looking, chrome covered, shiny bit of rolling thunder, they will then remember when they saw a group of the official Harley Clubs riders (HOG - short for Harley Owners Group) doing a breakfast run or a rally where the group did a charitable donation; or arriving en-masse at a shopping centre to support a Christmas Carol evening (yes, the singing is loud and horribly out of tune, but unarguably loudly enthusiastic).

Every HOG rally in South Africa will donate to a local charity wherever the rally is held. I was part of the committee that donated a jet-ski to a life-savers group in Margate.

Not all the bike riders clubs are this charitable, but it is possible to get positive reactions from the public if you behave in a decent way. Is it worth it? I see more people smiling after they see my Harley, than otherwise, so yes, it is very much worth it.

Get a Harley if you don't have one yet - the life-style is awesome.

Broken Throttle Cable

I've seen it happen to my friends bikes, but this is a first for me. My mommy, daddy and I had got a little more than a block away from home on another brilliant sunny Saturday Spring morning in Durban, when turning the throttle suddenly had no effect. The motor just idled. According to daddy, there was no warning, no slackness or difficulty in turning the throttle, no nothing. Just working fine one minute, then nothing.

A couple of 'phone calls (first to the Harley dealership, then to our good friend Monty), determined how we were going to get this fixed. Monty fetched mommy 'n me and daddy idled the blue Harley along the roads to Monty's home. The Harley dealership were their normal helpful selves, offering to fetch the bike on a trailer and then order new throttle cables as they had none in stock (as usual). Our other Harley (a Black Sporty called Joli) was standing at the Harley dealership, so Monty offered to take us there to fetch it. We decided to stop on the way at The Biker Store to see if they had cables in stock, and, just like the tyre story, they did. Good ones too, the wire braided type. So with our new cables in hand we fetched Joli and went back to Monty's to fit them. After rubbing a bit of salt in the wounds of our friends at Harley (Jason, Chris & Mike) about their not having stock again, we found that they had done a great free cleaning of Joli before we collected it. A classy set-up.

Monty went to a lot of trouble to help fit the new cables. We had to dismantle the throttle grip mount on the handle bars, take off the air filter, the seat and lift the petrol tank. Doing a great job of fitting them, meant oiling the cable inside first (to avoid fraying) and checking that the correct opening and closing fittings were used, then making sure they were adjusted correctly with no play in the cable so the throttle could open and close fully. This took about three hours, but the bike is going better than before, with more feel in the throttle.

Finished just in time to watch the Bokke thrashing the Aussies on the Rugby field - YAY, go Beast.

Bye for now.