Cary and I had been planning this tour for around three years. We both had applied for time off well over a year ago but with me changing jobs we thought our tour would have to be deferred for another year. But.... long story short got two blocks off and we set out on Feb 9th at 8:30am from the caltex station at the bombay crossroads heading south on SH1 and bypass hamilton thru the back roads to cambridge and onto Tokoroa. Stopped at Tokoroa for a wee we stop then took SH32 to Lake Whakamaru and headed down the west side of Lake Taupo to Turangi. Stopped for lunch at Turangi then straight down SH1 over the desert road (was quite cold up here) to Levin where we stopped for a brew. Then on to the ferry terminal arriving at the interislander at 5pm for the 6:15 pm sailing. There were alot of bikes waiting to get on the arahura and more bikes than bike spaces so a chain was put along the floor for the rest of us to secure our bikes to. After a bit of sweating managed to get the bmw strapped down for the trip across the straight. The boat was well under way by the time most of us had finished......
The sailing was fairly smooth with only a little rocking and rolling from the wind and swell. We made good time and got into Picton on schedule. Disembarked bikes first and then off a K up the road to mum's place where we stayed the night
End of day 1.......
To be continued.
Pic 1. Route planning in Tokoroa
Pic 2. Disembarking in Picton at 9:15pm
Pic 3. Cary 'cruisin on the Interislander'
Pic 4. Only a little overcast as the sun sets.
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. Back on the bikes we retraced our tracks and went in search of the Maungatapu track. Still raining heavily as we passed thru Canvastown and on to Pelorus. Found the road heading to the maungatapu track and decided too give it a go. The gravel road winds on for a ways then turns to a gravel track that was in ok condition considering the rain. But I struggled once the track had turned to a mushy clay and the rear tourance was not up to the job and slid out causing the GS to have an unplanned lie down in the mud...... Decided it would be prudent to turn back at this stage as we were not sure whether it got worse further up the track. Once back on the main road we splashed our way to McDonalds in Nelson where we left muddy puddles on the floor while we waited for our lunch which we ate out front in the rain while the lad mopped the floors and cursed us 
. Then on to my sisters in Motueka where we stripped off our gear and hung it out to dry. Decided to give golden bay a miss for today, too wet. Sun came out mid afternoon and we managed to get most of it dry. Glad that BMW panniers don't leak.
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