My South Island Journey

[Kinje]

14 Days- 12 riding days- 3682 kilometers

1- Masterton to Wellington
2- Wellington to Hanmer Springs
3- Hanmer Springs to Timaru
4 & 5- Timaru non riding days
6- Timaru to Papatowai
7- Papatowai to Dunedin
8- Dunedin to Timaru
9- Timaru to Brass Monkey
10- Brass Monkey to Wanaka
11- Wanaka to Timaru
12- Timaru to Greymouth
13- Greymouth to Wellington
14- Wellington to Masterton

[Kinje]

Pretty uneventful part of the journey.

Spent the day at work, with thoughts pretty much soley on getting home, packing the bike and leaving that night.
The time to leave finally arrived so with nothing else to do but get on and start riding off I went.
Quiet night staying with a mate before catching the Bluebridge in the morning.

[Kinje]

Woke up early and excited to get down to the ferry for my sailing- then proceded to wait around while they loaded the boat.
Off the boat first so no getting caught up in traffic :2thumbsup Not that it realy mattered as I was only going to Blenheim before stopping for lunch with my Uncle and Aunty.
Off down the Waiau Valley after lunch. Pretty boring from Blenheim to St Arnard with long straights, but after that it got interesting and twisty. Quick gas up at Murchison.
Wee photo stop at Maruia Falls on the way through to Springs Junction. Original thoughts were stop at Maruia Springs, but light was still good so continued on throught the Lewis Pass. What a great piece of road. Dry, clear, no grit, some wonderful corners all the way through to Hanmer Springs.
Pitched my tent, then had a soak in the hot pools...aaahhh.

[Kinje]

Organised to meet my little brother in Christchurch around lunch time so no need to get away too early so a slow start to the day. Quiet ride through to Christchurch with lots of :Police: around and most of the road boring straights except for a few nice turns through Weka Pass.
After lunch through to Timaru along SH1 :zzzz:
Met the folks and stayed at home for a couple of days to catch up with them and a few other rellies in Timaru.

[Kinje]

Now theres only so much time you can spend in Timaru at once so I was rearing to get going again. Headed off down SH1 to Dunedin for a quick pitstop and photo outside the Uni.
Carried on down to Balcutha then turned off onto the Catlins Coast road. mmm thats a nice road and stunning scenery. Had spent a fair few uni field trips down there so mostly just rode through. Stopped at Papatowai and set up my tent before going for a walk down to the beach at sunset.

[Kinje]

Awoke to the sounds of raindrops on my tent. Not entirely unexpected but not really what you want to hear on a motorcycle tour. Just over the hil from Papatowai I found my Great Grandads scenic reserve which I had been told to look out for. A nice spot for some quiet time.
Carried on down the Catlins road through more spectacular scenery and challanging roads. Given the damp conditions there was some nana riding going on, but this did give me a chance to take in what was around me much better (well, whenever I wasn't busy negotiating the many series of tight bends)
The road opened up eventually to some straighter sections and sweeping bends through to Invercargill. Although the rain had stopped the roads were still damp and greasy so still had to take it easy, and could feel the bike squirming under me when I didn't!
From Invercargill a trip to Bluff was in order.
After lunch in Invercargill was off to Dunedin. Turned off just past Gore to go up through Tapanui and Raes Junction. Some lovely sweeping bends along there, and great looking countryside. Roads still damp.
Heading through Manuka Gorge between Lawrence and Milton had a real OH SHIT moment. Caught behind traffic, chopped down a couple of gears to pass, twisted, hit the white line/catseye and the bike stepped well out of line. Though oh crap...hey I'm still alive...I'm in the right hand lane...oh yeah, passing the cars, right...that wasn't very much fun!
Thankfully made it back to SH1 without any more mishaps and into Dunedin to catch up with some friends and rellies.

[Lissa]

Awesome write up brent... wanna hear about the Brass Monkey.. and the ear piercing though. Sounds awesome... next year the rapa crew will try and make it.

[scumdog]

You stopped in Balclutha and went through the Manuka Gorge and never stopped to see RuralMan or myself? Shame!

Probably DID see you but wouldn't have known who it was.

[dogsnbikes]

sounds awesome soo far keep it coming

[doc]

You stopped in Balclutha and went through the Manuka Gorge and never stopped to see RuralMan or myself? Shame!

Probably DID see you but wouldn't have known who it was.
Not able to get a fix. Huh

[Kendog]

Great write up so far, looking forward to the rest.

[zadok]

Good stuff:niceone: I'd like to do that myself one day.

[merv]

Great trip mate.

[Ms Piggy]

Fabulous write up! Makes me jealous! Beautiful roads & country down there aye.

[Kinje]

Just a short riding day back to Timaru so no rush to get away. Was off from Dunedin in some rain, but that cleared soon into the ride. Pretty uneventful journey. I did feel like I was going the wrong way though as I passed heaps of well loaded bikes coming south.
Arrived back in Timaru and went to meet up with _intense_ to formulate a plan for the Brass Monkey. He had another mate from Timaru also riding along, and another couple of friends driving up as 1 was pregnant.
So with the details sorted we awaited the next morning with great anticipation...

[NighthawkNZ]

Well i waved when you passed my flat in dunedin and yah didn't wave back...

[Kinje]

The morning finally arrived. Met up at the petrol station, went and dropped our gear off with the girls in their car, then hit the road. Pretty easy trip down SH1 with a quick stop in Oamaru then a coffee stop in Moeraki.
About this time the rain started. We shot through to Palmerston for some fuel and a hot McGregors Mutton Pie.
By now I was bursting to get back on the road despite the rain and get up to the site. Eventually we were back on the road up to the Pigroot and rode past my old house on the way out of Palmerston. Was a bit surprised at the number of bikes coming back down, and felt a bit sorry for them as they were to miss a good night.
Despite the rain I had a good ride up and enjoyed the Pigroot road.
We turned up at the rally site looking like a bunch of drowned rats and was welcomed to the Brass Monkey :D There was a big smile at that point as this was my first BM.
We found a spot to pitch our tents and started a drum fire to try and warm up and dry out. It worked quite well, apart from the odd burnt glove, jacket and boot. When the rain stopped just on dark and we'd had a few celebratory scotchs we all warmed up nicely.
As the evening progressed more drinks were consumed, people met and an apparant tradition adhered to- piercing ears with badges. With scotch as an antiseptic and badge as needle and jewelery away we went. Perhaps it was the drink or the cold but it didn't really hurt at the time, but a badge hanging from your ear is surprisingly heavy.
Eventually we had all had enough and called it a night thinking it won't get too cold overnight as there was still cloud cover overhead to keep the frost away.

[Kinje]

Well overnight the clouds cleared and the frost came. Woke up the next morning and could hear people walking round on what sounded like gravel but there wasn't any of that near our campsite, oh, right, its frozen grass. Went to open my tent, look, the fly is frozen and crunchy- awesome!
Battled my way out of my tent and got my boots on to see the campsite covered in frost and some fresh snow on the hills in the distance. With the fires burning, cooked brekky in my belly, and the sun coming up, it didn't take long to warm up again.
Everything thawed and we (_intense_ and I rode the rest of the journey together) packed up and hit the road for Dunedin being cautious of ice in shady places. Thankfully we didn't strike any and the roads were clear for the whole day.
Organised chaos was the best description of Ranfurly petrol station as bikes of all shapes and sizes tried to fill up on their way to wherever they were going.
After gassing up, off we went through the Middlemarch Outram road to Dunedin. That was some stunning riding with beautiful sweeping bends that you could see through well and pick lines several corners in advance :) As well as the road quality, the landscape up there takes your breath away with the vast open expanses and the hundreds and hundreds of rock stacks.
Some more time in Dunedin, and kinda wishing I still lived there, before getting back on the bikes bound for Wanaka.
So back down to Milton and up Manuka Gorge we went. It got dark around Roxburgh and by Alexandra I was sure my hands were going to drop off. A pie and some inner liners in my gloves soon fixed that and away we went again up to Cromwell and Wanaka where we stopped and spent the night.

[Kinje]

The morning dawned bright and sunny in Wanaka. The original plan was to go over Haast Pass and up past the glaciers. I was really keen on this as I've never travelled this road, but intense wasn't quite so keen. I went and checked out some weather reports on the net while he visited a friend and I pretty quickly changed my ideas too.
The options were go up the West Coast and get washed away, or go up the East Coast and get blown away. We chose wind- over the Lindis Pass, McKenzie Country to Timaru it was.
Had a great trip through the Lindis. Road was dry and clear mostly so you could enjoy the corners. We had a couple of nana riding periods where there was still heavy frost around under the shade of the hills but mostly pretty good riding. And it was oh so satisfying to bounce up through the lines of traffic caught behind campervans :yes:
Refuel in Twizel and stretch the legs before the final burst through the McKenzie. It is quite hard to stay focused on the roads when you've got mountains like those as the backdrop, but somehow I managed. We cruised up alongside the canals which was a welcome break from the main road.
Another turn off the main road near Cave allowed for another wee play in some twisties, but with patches of loose gravel on some corners you had to watch yourself.
Back to see the folks for another night, and a chance to have a decent shower and sleep in a bed was very welcome.

[Kinje]

With a long day riding ahead we tried to get away reasonably early. Conditions were good leaving Timaru so had a nice wee push through to Geraldine for some coffee and breakfast.
Continued up the inland scenic route through the Rakaia Gorge where we got some great views and interesting roads after the long straights from Geraldine. By this time the winds were up, but not too bad as to cause any problems.
A quick fill up in Springfield, then a small delay while the power went out, and we waited for it to come back so we could get more coffee before taking on Arthurs Pass.
While waiting we asked a cage driver if she had come from the Pass, and apparently it was pouring with rain and small patches of grit! With this info, coffee in our systems and fuel in our tanks we set off.

What a stunning road. Every piece threw up new challanges. The heavy rain must have moved on as we only had light drizzle, though the road was damp throughout. Wind was an issue at times, and only had a few small patches of grit. The road is magnificent with challanging bends throughout the entire length of it. And the scenery...I spent the entire time absolutely spellbound by the mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. The images will remain in my mind, and the photos I took don't even begin to capture the dramatic landscape.

At Arthurs Pass village we had a pie stop, and while munching on those an inquisitive kea came and landed on my bike. I quickly ran out of the cafe to chase it off the bike, and then it quite hapily stood around on the ground to let me take some pics :)
Eventually we made it out of the alpine wonderland into the lowland forests of the West Coast. That may as well be another world again with the lush forests extending from mountains to the sea. We rode through this and small pockets of bright green pasture to Greymouth.
The plan was to camp by the sea, so stocked up on food and marshmallows in Greymouth and headed a wee bit north looking for a campsite. The right spot was found, camp set and fire started on the beach. Some beautiful colours in the sunset, then settled in for dinner, toasted marshmallows, and later bed listening to the crashing waves of the sea just meters from the campsite.

[Kinje]

A couple more pictures

[Kinje]

Once again woke to the sound of raindrops on the tent, though they weren't nearly as heavy as they had been during the night. Packed up the bikes and off we went to Punakaiki to have a look at the pancake rocks. With a good swell rolling in they put on a good display, but I'm sure there are still much bigger swells that come crashing in with spectacular results!
We outran the rain on our way up to Westport for some lunch and fuel. This road was flanked with the lush forests, and I still felt like I was in a whole other country. The rain caught us back up in Westport, so we took off again up through the Buller Gorge.
Again I was blown away by the road, forest and landscape. A river knows the best way to carve through a gorge, and building a road alongside the river- genius! Road was still damp so mostly nana riding, but if you could strike that in the dry...mmm :love:
Out the other side and the roads dried out so we blasted through from Murchison to St Arnaud and up the Waiau Valley to Blenheim. Unfortunately my navigation skills deserted me and I couldn't find the short cut from Renwick that cuts out Blenhiem to Picton, but we made it to Picton in time for a coffee before the ferry.
There we met a few other riders who too had been to the Brass Monkey and had since been touring around. One had been over the Lewis Pass on the day we had planned to and encountered seven hours of rain, so we were pretty pleased to have changed our plan.
Arriving in Wellington was like stepping into yet another world with the hustle and bustle of the city after the peace and quiet of small towns and alpine passes. I must say for a while I was a little over awed by it all!
Safely back to intenses place and passed out in the lounge.

[Kendog]

I am getting more envious the more you write.

Excellent photos as well.

[Kinje]

I must have been pretty tired, coz even when people were walking through the lounge in the morning I didn't even hear them and wake up. Eventually woke up, packed up and got on my way.
Down to town for some brekkie and coffee to see me through the last wee bit of the journey. The strong winds had me a little concerned about the takas, but when I got there it wasn't too bad and I enjoyed getting back up onto that road. Down the other side and up through the rapa to Masterton, even bumping into a fellow Rapa Rider as I was coming through town.
Made it home safely, then began the process of unpacking, cleaning and drying my gear...and planning where to go next...:yes:

[Lissa]

Absolutely envious! Only been to the south island once... in a car. Would love to do it on a bike. Kinje you are head organiser for trip back :)

Awesome photos too!

[Kinje]

Kinje you are head organiser for trip back

OK, I think even just a few days going Wgtn-Greymouth-ChCh-Wgtn would be awesome. Though that does miss out the bottom half :( which is just as awesome

[Lissa]

OK, I think even just a few days going Wgtn-Greymouth-ChCh-Wgtn would be awesome
Yep... I say in the summer time though, give some of us a chance to save up, and wouldnt want to do it in the cold... not hard like you :p

[NZsarge]

Absolutely envious! Only been to the south island once... in a car. Would love to do it on a bike. Kinje you are head organiser for trip back :)

Awesome photos too!

Ditto, ditto.

[scumdog]

Great write up and cool pics too!:niceone:

Nice to see a good safe enjoyable trip being covered well, good one.

(Now you see why I live waaay down here eh?)

[Paul in NZ]

Some of those pictures are KB picture comp winners mate - BLOODY GOOD job!

[MyGSXF]

AWESOME writeup & pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & definately enter a pic into the photo competition!!!!!!! :Punk:

Yep.. we suuuuure got it good, living down here in paradise!!!! :innocent:

Jen :rockon:

[Terminated]

OK, I think even just a few days going Wgtn-Greymouth-ChCh-Wgtn would be awesome. Though that does miss out the bottom half :( which is just as awesome

Excellent wrtie up and pictures Kinje.

The short few days ride would be great come spring.

Heads Up and Enjoy

[mbazza]

Great write up and impressive pictures. You covered many of the roads which make up my weekend favourites, Catlins, Tapanui to Reas J, Middlemarch to Dunners, anywhere to the Brass Monkey. You even parked up beside the William King Reserve, on the hill! World's top view, Tautuku beach. Great riding country! Thanks very much for your excellent report. Cheers.

[_intense_]

PS: what Kinje said x2 :headbang:

Helluva a ride, helluva a week, you write up puts me to shame man ;D

[Taz]

Great write up . And that's a neat looking CBR250RR :)

[Kinje]

Cheers. Was a really enjoyable trip. Thats not my CBR250RR, thats my CBR600RR that I used to have but don't any more :crybaby: Now I'm back onto my 250.

[Taz]

Cheers. Was a really enjoyable trip. Thats not my CBR250RR, thats my CBR600RR that I used to have but don't any more :crybaby: Now I'm back onto my 250.

I know..... I was taking the piss :banana: