skelstar
2nd February 2006, 08:00
A couple of Sunday mornings ago five Aucklanders and one token Wellingtonian (Hyosung 250GT) met at a blustery grey Wellington Ferry Terminal. Keystone19 (SV650S), motobob (GSXR1000K4), Zapf (CB900 Hornet), Liz and Paul (non-KBers: 2up VTR1000F) had all ridden down from Auckland via Wanganui the previous day. We were on our way to Wanaka via the East Coast, and returning via the West Coast.
Day One - Wanganui
KS19 says: The trip from Auckland was largely uneventful. A casual lunch at Boscos in Te Kuiti followed by a quick blat toward the Paraparas. It got a little interesting through the Paraparas when Keystone19 hit some gravel roadworks with Zapf following close behind. Once round the corner, a quick check in the rear vision mirror revealed an absence of following rider. Oh oh, Zapf decided that his bike needed a rest in the gravel. Fortunately the damage was minimal and after some help from some passing motorcyclists (thanks guys) he was back on the road again.
After an overnighter in Wanganui courtesy of Paul's sister, we hit the road early to meet skelstar in time for the 1045am ferry.
Donkey of the day: Zapf (gravel)
Day Two - Kaikoura
First mission for Sunday was riding over the Queen Charlotte Drive. We had decided on the ferry that the road through to Kaikoura was going to be a little too straight so a late-lunch stop in Havelock was in order. A left, and a right and we were on possibly the most windy peice of road that we would encounter on the trip. I immediately took a spot at the back of the group and enjoyed the ride. A stop in Havelock and I decided to check my front tire as the steering had felt a little sluggish. 15psi later and I knew that I had some issues (pumped up my tire in welly that morning). After a brief trip to Blenheim and tire recheck I discovered a screw embedded in the centre of the tire. Bugger. Pumped the tire up and hoped for the best. A good blast down the Kaikoura Coast including a crayfish feeding frenzy and we were in Kaikoura. One exhorbenantly priced meal later and we headed back to our nice accomodation.
Donkey of the day: skelstar (flat tyre - I mean....COME ON!?!?)
Day Three- Christchurch
Monday started with me getting up a bit earlier than others to find a gargre that would fix my tire. Caltex were less than helpful so I ended up in a ATV/mower shop with a enthusiastic young lad that tried to convince me that my bike was italian. Ooookkkkaaayyyy :weird:. $45 later my bike was safe[er] to ride. Got back to the motel to find that mbob's GSXRK4 had a 'flat battery'. A flat battery that was magically fixed by taking it out of gear...unbeknownst to the AA guy that had been called in to fix the problem. I bet he was giving himself a 'high-five' on the way home, whereas mbob was avoiding KS19's ribbing. Suzuki owners huh?
We got our shit together and headed for the inland Kaikoura road that runs through to Hamner Springs. An interesting road that at one stage was coated in cow's poo (actual cow's poo, not dodgy Waiararapa share-milkers). There was a mysterious spray drifting across the road that I was later informed was 'mist from a shit-spreader'. Im glad I turned my helmet and closed my mouth. Hamner came up eventually and we settled down to spendidly decorated lattes etc. A plan was then hatched for a ride through to Springs Junc over the Lewis pass road. 90kms later and I had passed the bulk of the group (on the side of the road) and am bearing down on springs junc. KS19 nuts past me going in the opposite direction obviously perplexed as to why the 250-guy was infront of the others. Almost everyone got to Springs Junc and then return to Hamner for gas. Woo it was hot. Hottest day this year apparently. I enjoyed the LPass road...it was nice and fast with plently of 75, 65 corners. Had a good little ride out infront of the big bikes on the way back (tail-wind, what can I say?).
We all bike swapped our way to CHCH (me-Hornet/SV650S) where we unpack in a fanastic townhouse in the middle of the city. Awesome. A few txt's later and the KBers go down and meet Dangerous, ZZR, OAB, TonyB, and Speedygirl in a local pub. Ta for the lift Penny. It was 'comedy' night that night and even though we were down the back of the pub we were constantly told to keep quiet. ITS A PUB FOR F^&K SAKE!!! Kicked OAB's new GSXRs tires a bit and chewed the fat with the locals. Great meeting you guys!
Donkey of the day: motoBob (bike in gear but brain wasnt :))
Day Four - Wanaka
Learning fairly early on that mbob had to be kept on a short leash we managed to navigate out of CHCH and headed for Darfield. Despite a 20km long roadworks the trip was fairly routine through to Tekapo. Knocked out by the heat again we lounged around watching NZers towing boats giving tourists driving lessons. A cop turned up a little later to hammer the point home a bit more. Dont know what the trangression was but Im just glad that he didnt pay too much attention to my back tyre :whistle:..Zapf demonstrates a penchant for german tourists by offering to take a photo of a lithe but lonelly cyclist. Not the last one I wager. ;)
A stop at Pukaki for a gander at Aoraki we continued on to Twizel. Hanging out in the park we were immediately surounded by local children. There were the obligatory photos on bikes of course (KS's - she didnt know). We even saw a red-bull coloured Busa ride in with the plate 'PIGB8'. Obviously asking for trouble...is this the only thing the motorcycle youth can do in the Big T? We again headed off, this time through Omarama, onto the melting Lindis Pass (ta for the warning LBTWin) and through to Wanaka. Excellent accomodation again (2km out of W on the Crown Range Road). A really nice house with three bedrooms, grassy lawn, and BBQ area.
Donkey of the day: motoBob (carry-over champion)
Day Five - Wanaka
Wednesday was a bit of a rest day for the group. I had to ride through the Crown Range Road to Alexandra to visit my grandparents. The others were to ride to Glenorchy where some would hang out in the sun for a couple of hours whereas KS and mbob would ride down some rapids on floating board things. The others then rode up a gritty Coronet Peak road for some photos while I was heading home via the CR. Man that road was awesome! The route up from the Arrowtown had very tight/steep 35,45km/h posted turns and the Wanaka side was more 55,65km/h posted turns and FAST! I got trollied waiting for the others to turn up.
A nice southerly promised cooler/settled weather for the West Coast for the next four days. :niceone:
Donkey of the day: motoBob (carry-over champion)
....continued soon
Day One - Wanganui
KS19 says: The trip from Auckland was largely uneventful. A casual lunch at Boscos in Te Kuiti followed by a quick blat toward the Paraparas. It got a little interesting through the Paraparas when Keystone19 hit some gravel roadworks with Zapf following close behind. Once round the corner, a quick check in the rear vision mirror revealed an absence of following rider. Oh oh, Zapf decided that his bike needed a rest in the gravel. Fortunately the damage was minimal and after some help from some passing motorcyclists (thanks guys) he was back on the road again.
After an overnighter in Wanganui courtesy of Paul's sister, we hit the road early to meet skelstar in time for the 1045am ferry.
Donkey of the day: Zapf (gravel)
Day Two - Kaikoura
First mission for Sunday was riding over the Queen Charlotte Drive. We had decided on the ferry that the road through to Kaikoura was going to be a little too straight so a late-lunch stop in Havelock was in order. A left, and a right and we were on possibly the most windy peice of road that we would encounter on the trip. I immediately took a spot at the back of the group and enjoyed the ride. A stop in Havelock and I decided to check my front tire as the steering had felt a little sluggish. 15psi later and I knew that I had some issues (pumped up my tire in welly that morning). After a brief trip to Blenheim and tire recheck I discovered a screw embedded in the centre of the tire. Bugger. Pumped the tire up and hoped for the best. A good blast down the Kaikoura Coast including a crayfish feeding frenzy and we were in Kaikoura. One exhorbenantly priced meal later and we headed back to our nice accomodation.
Donkey of the day: skelstar (flat tyre - I mean....COME ON!?!?)
Day Three- Christchurch
Monday started with me getting up a bit earlier than others to find a gargre that would fix my tire. Caltex were less than helpful so I ended up in a ATV/mower shop with a enthusiastic young lad that tried to convince me that my bike was italian. Ooookkkkaaayyyy :weird:. $45 later my bike was safe[er] to ride. Got back to the motel to find that mbob's GSXRK4 had a 'flat battery'. A flat battery that was magically fixed by taking it out of gear...unbeknownst to the AA guy that had been called in to fix the problem. I bet he was giving himself a 'high-five' on the way home, whereas mbob was avoiding KS19's ribbing. Suzuki owners huh?
We got our shit together and headed for the inland Kaikoura road that runs through to Hamner Springs. An interesting road that at one stage was coated in cow's poo (actual cow's poo, not dodgy Waiararapa share-milkers). There was a mysterious spray drifting across the road that I was later informed was 'mist from a shit-spreader'. Im glad I turned my helmet and closed my mouth. Hamner came up eventually and we settled down to spendidly decorated lattes etc. A plan was then hatched for a ride through to Springs Junc over the Lewis pass road. 90kms later and I had passed the bulk of the group (on the side of the road) and am bearing down on springs junc. KS19 nuts past me going in the opposite direction obviously perplexed as to why the 250-guy was infront of the others. Almost everyone got to Springs Junc and then return to Hamner for gas. Woo it was hot. Hottest day this year apparently. I enjoyed the LPass road...it was nice and fast with plently of 75, 65 corners. Had a good little ride out infront of the big bikes on the way back (tail-wind, what can I say?).
We all bike swapped our way to CHCH (me-Hornet/SV650S) where we unpack in a fanastic townhouse in the middle of the city. Awesome. A few txt's later and the KBers go down and meet Dangerous, ZZR, OAB, TonyB, and Speedygirl in a local pub. Ta for the lift Penny. It was 'comedy' night that night and even though we were down the back of the pub we were constantly told to keep quiet. ITS A PUB FOR F^&K SAKE!!! Kicked OAB's new GSXRs tires a bit and chewed the fat with the locals. Great meeting you guys!
Donkey of the day: motoBob (bike in gear but brain wasnt :))
Day Four - Wanaka
Learning fairly early on that mbob had to be kept on a short leash we managed to navigate out of CHCH and headed for Darfield. Despite a 20km long roadworks the trip was fairly routine through to Tekapo. Knocked out by the heat again we lounged around watching NZers towing boats giving tourists driving lessons. A cop turned up a little later to hammer the point home a bit more. Dont know what the trangression was but Im just glad that he didnt pay too much attention to my back tyre :whistle:..Zapf demonstrates a penchant for german tourists by offering to take a photo of a lithe but lonelly cyclist. Not the last one I wager. ;)
A stop at Pukaki for a gander at Aoraki we continued on to Twizel. Hanging out in the park we were immediately surounded by local children. There were the obligatory photos on bikes of course (KS's - she didnt know). We even saw a red-bull coloured Busa ride in with the plate 'PIGB8'. Obviously asking for trouble...is this the only thing the motorcycle youth can do in the Big T? We again headed off, this time through Omarama, onto the melting Lindis Pass (ta for the warning LBTWin) and through to Wanaka. Excellent accomodation again (2km out of W on the Crown Range Road). A really nice house with three bedrooms, grassy lawn, and BBQ area.
Donkey of the day: motoBob (carry-over champion)
Day Five - Wanaka
Wednesday was a bit of a rest day for the group. I had to ride through the Crown Range Road to Alexandra to visit my grandparents. The others were to ride to Glenorchy where some would hang out in the sun for a couple of hours whereas KS and mbob would ride down some rapids on floating board things. The others then rode up a gritty Coronet Peak road for some photos while I was heading home via the CR. Man that road was awesome! The route up from the Arrowtown had very tight/steep 35,45km/h posted turns and the Wanaka side was more 55,65km/h posted turns and FAST! I got trollied waiting for the others to turn up.
A nice southerly promised cooler/settled weather for the West Coast for the next four days. :niceone:
Donkey of the day: motoBob (carry-over champion)
....continued soon