Levin motorbiking family Gary, Yvonne, Justin and Dayna Stenersen and Dylan Blackley have made friends for life after rescuing three stranded Tauranga riders recently.
Levin motorbiking family Gary, Yvonne, Justin and Dayna Stenersen and Dylan Blackley have made friends for life after rescuing three stranded Tauranga riders recently.
A trio of travelling motorbike riders bogged down in flood near Levin say they will never forget the help they received from like-minded locals.
Mike Williams, 70, Kevin McLarnon, 78, and Dennis Hey, 58, were passing through Levin on their way to Tauranga early last month and rode straight into a massive rainstorm.
There had been 126mm of rain in 48 hours. Much of the Horowhenua region was saturated, and one of the worst affected areas was a stretch of State Highway 1 near Kuku, where the men came to grief.
Road reflectors were washed up along State Highway One once flooding had dropped.
Williams said they were following cars that were safely going through floodwater, so they naturally followed with their bikes. But a huge truck coming the other way created a series of waves and McLarnon was blown from his bike.
McLarnon and his Ducati disappeared under the water. Hey was out in front, so was unaware what had happened, but Williams saw it all happen in front of him and immediately stopped to help, his Harley Davidson now drowned in water, too.
McLarnon was pinned for a time under the weight of the heavy bike before being helped to his feet by other motorists that had also stopped.
Levin woman Dayna Stenersen had just finished work at a Manakau hotel and was following the men in her car. She saw the whole thing unfold and pulled over to see if she could help.
Williams said Sternersen told them she would be back soon with her brother and a trailer to pick up the bikes. Soaked to the bone, all the stranded men could do was stand on the side of the road, and wait.
True to her word, she returned. With darkness falling, the heavy bikes were loaded on to the trailer. They had fallen over while still running, so their engines had taken in water and to start them again could have done irreparable damage.
It was serendipitous that their rescuers were true motorbike enthusiasts. Between Dayna's brother Justin, her fiancē Dylan Blackley, and father Gary and mother Yvonne, they had eight motorbikes themselves in the shed at home.
Williams said he couldn't believe they were helped by such avid motorbike enthusiasts.
"I think they knew more about bikes than the three of us put together," he said.
The rescuers knew exactly what needed doing. They stripped the engines, cleaned the spark plugs and air cleaners, drained the water out of the cylinders, and put the bikes together again.
An Open Country Dairy Company truck didn't make it to the cowshed at a farm along Kuku Beach Road due to flooding early last month.
Williams said at 10.15pm he got a text message to say the Harley Davidson was going again. Shortly before midnight he had another text message to say the Ducati was going, too. By 2am the bikes were back together.
All the motels in town were full. It was getting late, so Dayna and the men knocked on the door of the Levin Holiday Park camping ground in Parker Avenue, where owners Debbie and Repi Wright put them up for the night.
"They were very good to us too," he said.
The three men were dumbfounded to be reunited with their bikes the following day and were able to resume their journey, grateful for the help they had received from perfect strangers.
"We didn't know these people from a bar of soap," he said.
"The next day we went to get breakfast, they picked us up and wished us a good trip home. We couldn't believe the amazing kindness they showed us."
"We would like to acknowledge that kindness and generosity of spirit. We were gobsmacked and can't thank them enough."
"It was one of those things you will never forget and something we will talk about for the rest of our lives."
The rescuers declined to be rewarded for their efforts, so the men secretly left some money in the glove box, and also sent down a Christmas hamper as a thank you.
Levin motorbiking family Gary, Yvonne, Justin and Dayna Stenersen and Dylan Blackley have made friends for life after rescuing three stranded Tauranga riders recently.
Stenersen said helping was simply the right thing to do.
"My father is 70. If he was in the same position I would want someone to help," she said.
