DeeKnow’s Grotto

The weather seemed to be holding out OK yesterday morning so at midday I popped upstairs to see if the Sethmeister wanted to head out for another lunch-hour ride, which he did. We threw on our Jackets and cruised round to re-fuel in Hillcrest then at my suggestion barreled out Scotchmans valley Rd

This time I was 500cc up on Seths powerplant so took it easier on the throttle so the two of us could ride in attack formation through the glorious never-ending twisties of the valley Rd. Everthing was going swimmingly until we turned around to come back to Hamiltron.

The 1st bad omen appeard as we were cornering on a reasonably commited lean and a bloody Hawk popped up out of the roadside drain and launched itself into Seths path, he ducked and swerved nicely to avoid it and as I was following I had a bit more time to do the same.

Next bad omen was literally a couple of hundred metres later when we opened out onto a straight, picked up some speed, and out of a paddock wanders a squadron of Pukeko who didnt seem to be in any hurry to cross the road, and were blissfully unaware of our rapid approach.

Seth got on the picks fairly casually, I think he thought they were birds with a brain and that they would get out of the way, but no such luck. Next thing... BAMMM!!!!! ... a cloud of Black feathers... and a Pukeko carcass gets launched off the side of Seths bike and into the grass on the verge as I pass by.

I pull up beside the now cautious Seth whos inspecting the front-end of his bike as he slows down and we both notice that there's another Puke parked in between his front forks and the radiator. We stopped in a driveway to clean off the remains which included a headless body, a full set of entrails, lots of sticky feathers, and Seths blood-splashed Jeans. A few nervous laughs, a couple more photos, and back on the road.

Bloody classic, two Pukes with one Bike, so to speak. And no thrid-time-unlucky thank heavens. Apparently others are also of the opinion that Pukes are a little short on Road sense...

I have come to the conclusion that Pukeko are suicidal. I so often see them on the side of the road, dithering, darting backwards and forwards, looking for an opportunity to cross, only to come back later to see them squashed on the road. They seem to have no road sense at all. However, the ornithologist WRB Oliver had other ideas when he said, "The Pukeko is a bold and fearless bird. It has learned that trains and motorcars are harmless and takes no notice of them."

8:12:19 PM