10,000km, 4 weeks, 2 islands...

[gegvasco]

Well, the time has finally come. After 6 months planning, and having to reorganise my bike hire after the first company closed up shop, I'm 2 days from heading off. Arriving in Christchurch Sunday arvo, hitting the road about Midday Monday. Have had to revise the trip a couple of times to allow more rest stops but it comes out at about 9000km in 4 weeks now (was 10500 at the first cut). Missing out a little bit of the North Island but the South Island was the priority and that will be well covered. Probably needed 5 weeks to do everything I wanted but maybe that will be for another trip.

If you see a V-Strom 650 touring around with full panniers, top box, big tank bag and Andy Strapz pillion seat bag, with a big bloke wearing an all White Shoei, red and black Dririder jacket and dark draggin jeans, that'll be me.

[Moki]

Sounds like a blast. You should plan to hit the Burt Munro while your down there

[kit]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Sounds like a blast. You should plan to hit the Burt Munro while your down there

Agreed!

[Jantar]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Well, the time has finally come. After 6 months planning, and having to reorganise my bike hire after the first company closed up shop, I'm 2 days from heading off. Arriving in Christchurch Sunday arvo, hitting the road about Midday Monday. Have had to revise the trip a couple of times to allow more rest stops but it comes out at about 9000km in 4 weeks now (was 10500 at the first cut). Missing out a little bit of the North Island but the South Island was the priority and that will be well covered. Probably needed 5 weeks to do everything I wanted but maybe that will be for another trip.

If you see a V-Strom 650 touring around with full panniers, top box, big tank bag and Andy Strapz pillion seat bag, with a big bloke wearing an all White Shoei, red and black Dririder jacket and dark draggin jeans, that'll be me.

I'll also be in Christchurch on Sunday night, but headed in the opposite direction. Returning via Christchurch Wednesday night. Try and keep a commentary running about where you are each day and your plans for the next day or two and I'm sure you'll find riders prepared to join in and act as guide.

[gegvasco]

After 6 months of planning, I'm finally here. Just knocked off the first day's riding. Christchurch to Akaroa then some backroads to Ashburton for an overnight. Just a short day to get in the swing of things, get used to the bike and to scrub the brand new tyres.

Was great riding down to Akaroa. I took the Dyer's Pass Rd up the hill before coming down through Lyttleton which was a great run. The ride through the hills to Akaroa is fantastic. Hardly any traffic either. Bit of boring flat stuff through the flatlands into Ashburton which looks almost identical to many parts of Victoria east of Melbourne.

Tomorrow is the first signature day. From Ashburton, tracking North West through Mt Somers up to Erehwon. The motel manager was good enough to explain the origin of the name Erehwon, makes sense. When the road runs out, back down the hill to Mt Somers, then the 41/44 through to Fairlie and up to Lake Tekapo on the 44.

[gegvasco]

Thanks for the PMs offering a place to stay. I now find myself in Palmerston after another 3 days of glorious riding. The weather has been very nice to me (so far) and it hasn't rained at all. After Ashburton, tried to get up to Erehwon but I found out that you don't have dirt roads in NZ. You have gravel roads. The road up that way was thick loose gravel about 10cm thick in places and not much of a wheel track of shallower stuff. With a big bike with a big bloke with lots of gear (350kg all up) with more road oriented tyres, after 5km I gave up. Even at 15kph maximum I almost put it down twice when the front wheel got into some deep stuff and went it's own way. Somehow managed to keep it upright. Considering I was on about km 200 of 9000 I thought I'd better admit the road beat me and turn around. Seems most of the unsealed roads I have seen are the same so I don't think I'll be taking it off the tarmac. Especially considering my insurance doesn't cover the bike off-road.

On the way back down I finally realised why none of my pre-planned distances were working out. The speedo on the hire bike is in mph! It has a smaller kph scale but it hadn't dawned on me that the odometer would be working in mph as well. Bugger, 27 day plans all in kilometres and a speedo/odometer reading out a different scale. Guess I'll be doing some pen amendments.

After that it was a run up to Lake Tekapo and an overnight in a cabin on the shore. Wow, what a place.

IMG_1312_1_sml.jpg

Given I arrived early thanks to blowing off the dirt sections, I tried to run along the hydro canal running south from the Lake but it was closed after a couple of k's unfortunately. Some great photos ops though. Touched this one up a bit....

IMG_1293_1_sml.jpg

After Lake Tekapo, it was up to Mt Cook village. Now there is something we don't have in Oz. Some proper mountains! So there I was thinking the rest of the day would be ho-hum, to only find some phenomenal riding and scenery down the Waitaki River valley with Lake Aviemore.

IMG_1353_1_sml.jpg

Overnight in Oamaru which is quite a town. I guess they make lots of films there around the old part of town. I know there is a place in Tasmania which has similar old buildings and it is always appearing in films.

Then today it was back up the valley to Omarama then down the 8 through Lindis Pass, to Cromwell, Alexandra and on to Palmerston. Lindis Pass was good fun riding but the scenery wasn't quite as good as the last few days. Had a little encounter with some roadworks today which I wasn't real impressed with. They must have just laid the stuff and the sweepers hadn't been through yet. It was like riding on marbles. Bugger the 30kph speed limit, at 20kph I was getting hit in the helmet by rocks getting picked up by the front wheel while being tailgated by some dumb bint in a 4WD. Now there are rocks in every nook and cranny of the bike. The hire company is going to love me!

[Pixie]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The road up that way was thick loose gravel about 10cm thick in places and not much of a wheel track of shallower stuff. With a big bike with a big bloke with lots of gear (350kg all up) with more road oriented tyres, after 5km I gave up. Even at 15kph maximum I almost put it down twice when the front wheel got into some deep stuff and went it's own way.

The trick is to ride faster.The bike will be more unstable in the thick stuff,below a certain speed.
It's hard to overcome the urge to stay at a low speed when the bike feels uncontrollable

[gegvasco]

Day 5 was from Palmerston to Dunedin via the 85, Macraes Flat Rd, the 87 to just after Clarks Junction, then a left turn to do a loop along George King Rd, then back onto the 87 to Dunedin. Because this only took half a day, I headed north on the 1 to Evansdale, then took the Coast Road to Karitane, rejoined the 1 heading south, got off the 1 at Waitati, took some back roads to Aromoana, then back to Dunedin and a loop through the Otago Peninsula.

Some great riding in that lot. Especially the Otago Peninsula. I did the Harbour run up to the point and then headed up Highcliff Rd to run the ridge to the souther coast and into Dunedin via the racecourse. Absolutely phenomenal riding through that area.
IMG_1370_1_sml.jpg
Gotta watch the loose gravel in corners but that is the sort of riding you have too look long and hard for in Oz. And in Oz when you do find roads like that there is normally a whole lot of traffic. You guys really are blessed for motorcycling roads.

The ride through Central Otago was reasonably good. While the rain stayed away, the wind really picked up which made it a bit tricky on the higher ridge lines.

Sure needed the day off when I got into Dunedin though.

[Gremlin]

Great shots... glad you're enjoying it

[gegvasco]

Made it to Queenstown. Man it is busy here. Couldn't get up to Milford Sound yesterday because it was bucketing down with a low cloud base - I was just getting wetter, couldn't see anything and the wet narrow roads with umpteem buses and campers didn't make for fun riding. Got a couple of shots on the way up though before it turned to custard.
IMG_1431_1.jpg
Today it was a leasurely push up through Queenstown to above Glenorchy. Weather was the exact opposite of the day before thankfully.
IMG_1481_1.jpg
Tomorrow, shotover jet boat in the morning, followed by a short run into Wanaka and up towards Mt Aspiring.

Reckon I've knocked off about half of the South Island so far. It's all north from here.

[Hinny]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Made it to Queenstown. Man it is busy here. Couldn't get up to Milford Sound yesterday because it was bucketing down with a low cloud base - I was just getting wetter, couldn't see anything and the wet narrow roads with umpteem buses and campers didn't make for fun riding. Got a couple of shots on the way up though before it turned to custard.
Attachment 152328
Today it was a leasurely push up through Queenstown to above Glenorchy. Weather was the exact opposite of the day before thankfully.
Attachment 152329
Tomorrow, shotover jet boat in the morning, followed by a short run into Wanaka and up towards Mt Aspiring.

Reckon I've knocked off about half of the South Island so far. It's all north from here.

One day too early to Milford. That's a shame. It is a spectacular piece of road.- next time eh?

Great photos. Love the Panorama shot. Keep 'em coming.

[gegvasco]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

One day too early to Milford. That's a shame. It is a spectacular piece of road.- next time eh?

Great photos. Love the Panorama shot. Keep 'em coming.

Milford will definitely be high on the list next time. Pretty happy with the way the photos are turning out considering it is a 6-year old 6.5MPixel Digital SLR with just an 18-55mm lens. Will sure keep them coming. Have to keep on making sure I take the time to stop and take some photos. Having too much fun riding!

Unfortunately, didn't get to do the jetboating. Of all days my back decided to play up and Shotover was warning people with back injuries because the river was really high. Maybe next time. As a result, it was a very casual ride from Queenstown through Arrowtown, then via the Crown Ridge Rd to Wanaka. Crown Ridge Rd is an outstanding bike road. Almost turned around at the bottom to do it again. Once in Wanaka, it was up towards Glendhu Bay. Not bad country up there.
IMG_1509_1_sml.jpg

Today was up the SH6 from Wanaka to Hokitiki. Oh man! The road from Wanaka to Haast almost had me wetting myself it was so good. Glorious weather, as you can see, and great roads. Almost no roadworks and very little traffic.
IMG_1519_1_sml.jpg

IMG_1526_1_sml.jpg
Almost the whole way today I was passing the flood of riders heading south to the Burt Munro Challenge. Hundreds of bikes all loaded up. Great to see. One bloke even started pointing the other way ie. "you're going the wrong way!". Had a bit of a chuckle at that. One similarity between Australia and NZ was made very apparent today though. On the road south of Ross, there is a really windy narrow section of highway. It was here that some idiot pushbikes decided to get dropped off by their support vehicles and go for a ride. About 20 of them were clogging up the narrow bends riding in the middle of the road and causing all sorts of mayhem. The campers, who were too scared of collecting them when passing, were coming onto the other side of the road in corners to avoid them and in doing so almost having head-ons with opposing traffic. F'en idiots the lot of them! (And before the over-sensitive start screaming, I ride as well. But I'm smart enough to not ride such that it causes a serious accident. Common sense goes a long way but unfortunately can't be legislated for)

Now a day off with a short trip up to Greymouth and back to get the bike spruced up after 3000+km.

[Hinny]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Crown Ridge Rd is an outstanding bike road. Almost turned around at the bottom to do it again. Once in Wanaka, it was up towards Glendhu Bay. Not bad country up there.

Today was up the SH6 from Wanaka to Hokitika. Oh man! The road from Wanaka to Haast almost had me wetting myself it was so good.

There's two of my favourite stretches of road in NZ.

For your next trip you should take in the Burt Munro rally and ride the road to the top on the West Coast to Karamea.

[Jantar]

My two favourite roads as well.

The area you are in is due for some very heavy rain on Saturday morning. I would suggest you head on to Nelson tomorrow, or else where ever you are when the rain starts just find shelter and sit it out for 8 - 12 hours.

[gegvasco]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

My two favourite roads as well.

The area you are in is due for some very heavy rain on Saturday morning. I would suggest you head on to Nelson tomorrow, or else where ever you are when the rain starts just find shelter and sit it out for 8 - 12 hours.

Thought about it, especially considering I was feeling pretty good and could have riden some more. The next route is from Hokitika via Arthurs Pass to Sheffield, Oxford, Woodend and then Hanmer Springs. So if it is really crap tomorrow, I might stay here another day and then not have a day off in Wellington when I get off the ferry. I've got a really good book that I can finish off tomorrow if need be. That would in fact be like someone on holidays ie. sitting around doing F'all. Now wouldn't that be a novel idea!