Hi from the UK. Kia ora tatou (Dakarnoway‎)

[Dakarnoway]

Hello everyone,

I live in the UK and in the process of planning a holiday in March 2012. I have put a shout out on ukgser.com for info with replies from NZ, so i`ve taken a look in here and signed up today.

It will be a full month away from the UK with 28 days touring on a Yamaha XT600E`s, hiring from BANZ. We ( 2 so far ) will touring both islands hopefully 2 weeks on each and be on a low budget staying at Hostels/Backpacker accommodation.

Thought i`d say hello, Dakarnoway.

[unstuck]

Sounds like an awesome trip you have planned,keep in touch because if i can help in anyway I will.Hope you have a great time in our beautiful country. P.s I was born in bradford yorkshire, where you from? :woohoo:

[Dakarnoway]

... unstuck :)

I live in The Ribble Valley in a small town called Clitheroe, Lancshire. I`ve worked in the valley most of my life.
So between Preston and Gisburn along the A59. I had a lucky break and I did work in a wine shop in Skipton Yorkshire for 10 years. :drinkup:
Bradford is not so far away from here, it`s about an hour if you judge the traffic at the right time of the day :scooter:. Bought most of my motorcycle kit in Bradford at Hein Gericke a few years ago. The other lad that is also coming to NZ is from Settle, North Yorkshire.

I`ll start a thread on here somewhere about my plans. It will take a while to look through the megga amout of info on Kiwi Biker :blink: .

Catch you later, Dakarnoway.

[rapid van cleef]

ey up. uk expat here from newcastle. i live in the eastern bay of plenty, if your coming that way, let me know. i can show you some good roads round here

good luck with the trip

[Garfield]

Watch ya'

Good luck with the trip..yep that's right another expat living over towardsd Taranaki....you will love the country, the people and the scenery.

[Dakarnoway]

Ta muchly for your replies folks :woohoo:

rapid van cleef :yes: as it happens I will be in your area as I will be visiting a friend and her family at Te Puke.

I`ve been searching for info on BANZ.co.nz as i`ve enquired about hiring a couple of bikes from them and had a reply but not found anything at all on this site or anywhere else on the www.
Also interested on info about XT600E`s, things like fuel economy, how does the standard seat comfort fair over a couple of thousand miles/klms, tyres for this trip. Just general stuff as then it will be sorted before we take on some of your wonderful roads.

I`ve been looking through lots of info on KB but confused of to where do I start a post/thread like "coming to New Zealand info much appreciated" ? :blink:

Catch you later, Dakarnoway

[FJRider]

how does the standard seat comfort fair over a couple of thousand miles/klms,

Catch you later, Dakarnoway

Invest in a sheepskin ...

[rapid van cleef]

hey, te puke is around 40 minutes from me. messageme when your over if you like, i can take you through the waioeka gorge. one of the best roads in the north island apparently.heads to gisborne....or whatever you fancy.

anyhoo. anything you want to know, i ll try n help. just msg me

all the best mate

[wysper]

yeah that is nice that gorge, I have only been through it once and unfortunately it was in a car. I would love to go back and do it on the bike some time.

[Taz]

XT600E

18 km/l average, 200km to reserve, 150+ a little km/h top speed.
Sheepskin an advantage but seat not too bad once you get used to it.
Did some 6-800km days on mine and could still walk at the end of the day.
Tyres - Any dual purpose tyre will do the job on the seal and gravel, trailwings etc.

Taz.

[Dakarnoway]

Firstly thanks for the idea of a sheepskin FJRider. We will need 3 now as i`ve just got the nod off someone else wanting to do the trip.

Taz :) just the info I needed, Ta.

And ... unstuck I have spent a night out in Pudsey at a surprise 40th Birthday bash. At The Royal. The landlord has a Harley and bike garages advert on the notice board. Three party goer`s got a free drink as the gas had not been delivered and the Guinness was not available till later on. Not sure where he got gas at 7pm on a Sunday night though. :)

rapid van cleef ... again thanks for your offer through the Waioeka gorge, we may just take you up on that.

Cheers Dakarnoway

[dogsnbikes]

Look us up if your coming through Wanganui and need a bed we have plenty spare


I recommmend you do forgotton Hiway (I may even join you on that ride) and there is plenty of back roads around here too and bugger all traffic

[Dakarnoway]

Howdo folks ...

As of last week I have now only two UK riders for this trip.

Flights have been booked and paid, bikes have a deposit on`em.
We arrive on the 1st of March and leave on the 30th :(. One day either side of the bike hire (if everything works out Ok) of 28 days to explore both islands. I hope to meet a few of you guys whilst out and about. Thanks for the offers of beds if we are passing your way but have not really any plans of where we are going to first.
I`ve got a lot of planning to do and I know I won`t get to see and do everything.

I have got a base close to where we are hiring the bikes to start with in Paerata.
And that is about it.

Catch you later, Chris (Dakarnoway)

[Daffyd]

The other lad that is also coming to NZ is from Settle, North Yorkshire.



I spent a night at Knight Stainforth when I was over there for the '09 F1 GP. Lovely spot!

[baptist]

More Northerners :facepalm: :innocent: Anyway welcome you lucky buggers... enjoy the trip, some of the roads over here are special:yes: so I am sure you will have a lot of fun and some great memories to take home with you...

[TheRealWolf]

hi there,
we did the forgotten highway by car and it was great, should be much greater by bike, even it is gravel road and i havenever ever bevore driven on gravel road by bike.
greetings, wolf

[chanceyy]

Welcome to KB and your going to have a fantastic time travelling the country, the bikers on here are a blardy great bunch so when you have a plan post it up, more often than not you will find the locals have "must ride" roads that will be the biking nirvana you're going to love and nothing like company of the locals to lead you astray :blip:

Take the offer of beds if they come available, nothing like kiwi hospitality. :woohoo: (As Dogsnbikes has done the country he will have a ton of "must ride roads" :laugh: he leads us astray every opportunity he gets and we always have a blast :yes: and then there are ton of others who will offer the same )

You have posted in the correct forum, so all good and if you want to post up pics (mandatory) and ramblings of your adventures under forum, meeting & events there is a sub title The Ride / Tour Report for this :)

[Dakarnoway]

Thank you for all your welcoming messages folks. :)

I have many maps and websites to search for where and what to go and visit. Lots of my interests and hobbies are either grown or made in/on both islands. Mainly the food industry has been a big influance to those hobbies.
I work as a cook/chef at the moment. Though 14 years ago I used to be in the wine trade and when I left school I joined the family business at the fruit and vegetable market.
I suppose the problem I will have is which, how and when to get to those places I want to see :woohoo:
Long time ago my family had a speed boat and so i`ve a hankering to do a Jet Boat ride up a river. Those caves that I can float down in a rubber inner-tube. Swim with the dolphins and go and see the whales snort their stuff :gob:
Wondering if we`ll have time to do everything ... probably not. But going to have a jolly good time trying.

There is mate coming over to my house tomorrow who has been over to NZ a few times. He gave me the use of the Hema Motorcycle Atlas 2nd Edition and a book called Land of The Long Wild Road. I have an idea of some of the roads I want to try, it`s linking those up to get to somewhere to stay that evening or maybe a couple of days rest within the area of many roads. :scooter:

Well, back to my research and catch you all later.

Cheers Chris (Dakarnoway)

[Grant`]

If you going to head North of Auckland, more than happy to host you guys for a night or two so you have a nosey around, plus take you on a few back roads heading up to Cape Reinga.

Cheers

G

[Dakarnoway]

Hi Grant,
Yes we will be coming up your way hoping to see the views of The Bay of Island. Plus I know someone from your town/city who came to where I work for part of his Gap year. It looks like there are lots of tracks across that area, we will certainly need a guide up front. Could Cape Reinga be done within one day from where you live Grant? And can we ride down this 90 mile beach? (Though it`s not 90 miles is it?) I`ve got so many places I want to see and do.
I`ve been told to go visit a forest sanctury as the guy in my last post has been a couple of times and will go again as it is always changing. I`m thinking it`s not so far away from Whangarei.

Catch you later, Dakarnoway

[Gremlin]

If you're wanting to backpack/hostel, might pay to check out this site: http://bbh.co.nz/

If you buy a card, it's valid (per person - no extra people) for 1 year. $45 gets you the card, $20 of phone credit, and minimum savings per night of $3. One month should represent a saving (especially if you use the calling minutes) but also it's a great way of looking up accommodation.

Just ask if you want route advice... we can send you down all manner of roads :devil2:

[Grant`]

Hi Grant,
Yes we will be coming up your way hoping to see the views of The Bay of Island. Plus I know someone from your town/city who came to where I work for part of his Gap year. It looks like there are lots of tracks across that area, we will certainly need a guide up front. Could Cape Reinga be done within one day from where you live Grant? And can we ride down this 90 mile beach? (Though it`s not 90 miles is it?) I`ve got so many places I want to see and do.
I`ve been told to go visit a forest sanctury as the guy in my last post has been a couple of times and will go again as it is always changing. I`m thinking it`s not so far away from Whangarei.

Catch you later, Dakarnoway

Cape and back in one day is possible from Whangarei, but its probably close to 600k's round trip from here, travelling main highways.

Would suggest doing it in 2 days.

90 mile beach can be ridden on, but never done it and don't know the rules or regulations with doing so at all, believe standard speed limit etc still applies.
Flick me a PM closer to the time and I will offer what ever assistance I can to you.

G

[Dakarnoway]

44 days to go and we will land on your islands of paradise. Well, that is what folk are telling me ...

We, Colin and I arrive on the 1st of March :woohoo: but now leave a day earlier on the 29th of March :blink:. Flight times have changed since we booked `em :angry2: .

I`ve asked BANZ if we can have the bikes a day earlier and he says NO Problem, :woohoo: so we get our full 28 days hire. We have our first day and evening sorted and the very last evening (28th March).

I have got in-touch with Grant with an idea of heading north for our first weekend and to get used to distances and your road system. On the Monday I hope to dive the Poor Knight Islands, i`ve been taking a diving course just to do a couple of dives in NZ. The temprature of our open water is 6*C, yours will be somewhat tropical i`m hoping.

Gremlin, I have got an up-to-date copy of bbh.co.nz :) so will be using that for some of our accommodation needs, cheers.

So from Tuesday 6th, we are heading south for a night in Auckland, 7th and 8th around the Coromandel and Te Puke, Bay of Plenty. 9th and 10th around the East cape. A quick dash down to Wellington for the 11th maybe 12th. South Island, 13th in Marlborough ... and that is all i`ve looked at so far. Though we will be back on the north island by 26th heading up the west coast certainly to find the Forgotten Highway, if something we should not miss before Egmont National Park :brick: Waitomo Caves is a must do for me. 27th time to chill on Lake Taupo. 28th return the bikes :bye:, 29th I really don`t want to think about it :no: :no:

Thats all folks, ttfn Chris

[Gremlin]

We, Colin and I arrive on the 1st of March :woohoo: but now leave a day earlier on the 29th of March :blink:. Flight times have changed since we booked `em :angry2: .

I think you mean the 29th of Feb? :lol:

[Dakarnoway]

Howdo Gremlin ...

I can see now how i`ve written that but we fly out of Manchester on the 28th of Feb. We loose a day somehow the 29th of Feb. Arrive on the 1st of March with about 30 hours of travel.

It is the 28th of March being our last full day and the 29th of March is the day we fly out of Auckland to South Korea. This is where I gain the day we lost on the way out but still have 19 hours in South Korea on a stop over.

I`m confused too ...

[Gremlin]

It's ok, we steal it as an entrance fee, then refund when you go home (coz if you didn't go home, we'd keep it).

It's all very logical.

[Mrs Shrek]

If you're coming through central (south island) then there's a bed here for you.... shrek won't squeeze the jelly from you're eyes :devil2:

[Dakarnoway]

My Journey to the other side of The World starts today.

Just a quick Thank You to all that i`ve been in contact with over the past year.

As I look out of my window to a very dreary wet Lancashire morning I hope that i`ve not packed too much into my Panniers ... Ooh No ... suitcase :Oops:

My Moto is "Go The Extra Mile ... It Is Never Crowded" I hope to meet some of you there.

ttfn Chris

[Dakarnoway]

We have made it to Wellington from Havelock North today. The Mega trip was yesterday from up in the forests above Opokiti to North Havelock around the East Cape. Tomorrow we take the 8.25 ferry from Wellington to Picton. No set route as yet but hope to get as far as Dunedin at least.

Time for bed, Chris.

[Dakarnoway]

Hello to anyone who might be reading ... :gob:

Tomorrow we are doing The Molesworth Road. We are really looking forward to that.

Weather looks good and has been dry for a few days too.

:scooter: Chris