Headbanger Heads South.

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 10:20

Alrighty, Condensed version

South Island, Full of mountains, Lakes and Goldwings, Roaring around it on a motorcycle is almost as good as wanking.

Long Version.

The oldboy mentioned a few days back he had to be in Invercargill for a meeting on the 15 of Feb and he was thinking of riding his bike down, I said I'd be keen on that and no more was mentioned untill Friday arvo when I rang him and asked if we were all set to leave the next morning, Apparently not as he had bought a plane ticket. Fuck that says I ,and I make a booking for us to be on the 7.30am Ferry in Wellington and arrange to meet the oldboy at 5am on the main road out of Wanganui.

Knowing it was going to be a huge day I sorted the bike went to bed at 10pm, At midnight I was still awake and starting to stress about the time, at 1 am I got up and logged onto Kiwibiker while I enjoyed a cool glass of milk and then headed back to bed, at 2am I'm thinking this is fucked, I have to get up in 2.5 hours. At 4.30am the alarm went off and I killed it and decided to lie in bed for a few seconds, at 5.16am the phone rang and the oldboy wanted to know where the hell I was, In a time honoured tradition of letting him down I informed him I was asleep in bed.

At 5.22am we were out on the open road, The trip was underway, we were running late, and I was yawning all teh way to Wellington as dawn broke and the night turned to day.

More to come....

**sinfull** · 25th February 2010, 10:42

............

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 10:45

We made the ferry on time and the trip over to the SI was uneventful, The coffee was alright the food was foul. We came off the boat in blazing Sunshine which would stay with us for the entire trip and headed to Blenheim at which point a young lass on a Blue Thruxton pulled in behind us at some road works, greetings and destination info was exchanged and we headed off as a small group.

The three of us blasted down the coast to Kaikoura at a decent clip and it was a fantastic ride, awesome roads and scenery, Stopping for lunch just south of Kaikoura for some grumpy service and a really really bad Fish burger.

Back on the road we headed to Cheviot where the Thruxton rider was going to stop, seems she was enjoying the ride as she tagged along with us to our fuel stop in Amberley where we decided to take the scenic route to bypass ChCh, we bid farewell to the Thruxton in Oxford and carried on our way.

This ride was just getting better and better, Very little traffic, Huge interesting roads, Bikes were humming, sun was shining, We were passing through mind-blowing scenery, huge cliffs, Rivers so pristine and huge they didn't seem real, people out there enjoying the day. After many miles we arrived in Geraldine, met up with a couple of others traveling down for the same meeting (in a truck) and found there was no accommodation, The entire town was booked out. The others set out to find a motel while the oldboy and I had the steak meal at the Village restaurant, It was crap. A piece of meat not worthy of a BBQ.Luckily it was expensive.

We were about halfway through our meal when a now familiar Thruxton roared through town, saw our bikes, stopped, and joined us at the table. Seems the lass had decided to make full use of the day and carry on. The phone rang, we had a motel sorted so we once again said our goodbyes and hit the road.

The motel was located in Winchester about 10km down the road, It was old but clean as a whistle, and after 13 hours of traveling on very little sleep it was a god send, Plus they had a garage where we stashed the bikes. I had just removed my boots and stripped down to my sweaty underpants when a now very familiar Thruxton rolled into the car park, Looking for a bed as all the accommodation was booked out and she had nowhere to sleep, At this point I think we had a stalker.

A bottle of rum was produced, Drinks were poured, And I laid on the bed and had a snooze because that's how fucking hardcore I am.

**KelvinAng** · 25th February 2010, 11:18

.....

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 11:29

Morning rolled around, we once again said our goodbyes to the stalker, I got a handshake, the oldboy got a hug.....hmmmmm

Anyway, we headed inland, a fog had settled which drenched us and visibility was about 80m, at the servo in Geraldine we were told it was only local so we continued onwards, and sure enough only a few minutes down the road the fog cleared and we were again drenched in blazing sunshine, and we rolled on towards lake Tekepo, Lake Pukaki and a breakfast stop in Twizel.

Its hard to describe this ride, Its possibly one of the best things I have ever done, Awe inspiring. Stunning,Just a total...nope, fuck it, Don't have the words. But that's what limited intelligence gets ya. Lmfao. Anyway, Lakes,mountains,lakes,mountains,and some lakes and some mountains,and a constant stream of Goldwings. Words and pictures could never do it justice. Go ride it if you never have.

The cooked breakfast in Twizel was also alright.

We carried on South past Lake Dunstar, Clyde, Gore and into Invercargill about 3pm, all in all a stunning day of riding. By this time though my arse was in serious pain and the last 1 1/2 hours had been torture.

After finding the house we were staying at in Invercargill and having a shower I went off to find my younger brother, as luck would have it he was down the pub, so I ditched the bike and bought myself a beer, Met a few of the locals, spent all my money, Got shitfaced,The night became a blur as I quenched my thirst with an endless succession of sweet sweet alcohol though I remember we were all evicted at closing time and it was a pleasant surprise to wake the next morning right where I was meant to be.

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 11:54

I had planned to spend the day riding Milford Sound while the oldboy went to his meeting but he had it rescheduled earlier in the day with the hope of leaving to head North around lunchtime. So I headed into Mcdonalds for breakfast, which seemed to be staffed by some slack jawed locals, If they were any more laid back they would have trouble breathing, I nearly went spare at the giant fuck around they had going (3 idiots talking and ignoring their jobs and customers, Then the one who served me just plain disappeared out the back somewhere) however I have noted in the past that generally when I have made a giant wank out of myself I tend to be hungover so I bit my tongue.

I then headed out to Riverton with the intention of doing some skids in front of the police station but I couldn't find the damn thing, The town itself is drab and full of unattractive simple people who are no doubt the result of generations of inbreeding. So I headed back to Invercargill for lunch which consisted of a stupidly expensive and bland Kebab. Luckily it had very little meat.$12 ffs, I could have bought an entire chicken for that amount of money.

Caught up with the oldboy around 1pm and he was ready to hit the road, but not up the west coast as intended, he had scheduled another meeting into the trip, 7am the next morning in Timaru.

So we hit the road and kept going for 5 or 6 hours, It was an enjoyable ride but and my arse was again killing me. Timaru looked to be a very cool town, I would have liked more time to explore it so perhaps on the next trip. We got an excellent motel, In fact it was a house on the motel grounds, $130 for the night, beds and couches everywhere,out of sight parking for the bikes, a few cold beers in the fridge and every single Sky Channel you can get.

Awesome.

We then headed to http://www.customshouse.co.nz/ for a meal. My iPhone came in handy in Timaru, I was viewing the resturants website on the phone, tapped the number on the page and it rang the place so I made a booking, then I tapped directions and the phone bought up a map of Timaru showing where we were,where the restaurant was, and directions to get there.

The food was excellent, I had Seafood Chowder, A steak, and Date pudding, all of which ranks alongside the best food I have ever eaten. And being a big fat bastard I remember that shit. Retired back to the motel to watch Death Race and then turned in, The bed was excellent and I had a great nights sleep.

Two thumbs up for Timaru.

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 12:32

The next morning we headed up the coast for a couple of hours, Stopped for breakfast at a Bakery (that makes its own fudge,wowee!!!) in Ashburton, and then turned inland somewhere in the vicinity of Norewood? and headed towards Arthurs Pass. Again this was just a stunning stunning ride, I can't think of anything that could be better, apart from going through again when the river is flowing and the hills are under snow. After a bite to eat at the village at Arthurs Pass we carried on, tucking in behind a couple of bikes carrying passengers for the next couple of hours. This part of the country isn't just like another Island its like another planet.

We headed to the coast and then headed north again, Stopping in Greymouth for fuel the oldboy got out the motel book to make a booking for us in Westport, at which time I mocked him severly, we didn't need no booking.

So the motel book was stashed away and we carried on, arriving in Westport in the early evening, Tired, sore, hungry, smelly and...............The entire town was booked out.

LMFAO.

After numerous phone calls we were advised a motel a few KM's south may have something so we roared out the way we came and secured the very last room they had, which was part of their house, No worries, As long as there was a bed and a bath I'm happy.

After a rest we headed into Westport and decided to eat at the Speights pub at the top end of town, It took awhile as the kitchen had an entire School trip to feed before the bar meals could be done so we had a few Macs Golds to fill in the time.

The oldboy got the Steak meal and I had the pork roast and by all accounts both meals were excellent.

And yep,as per the photo my oldboy toured the SI on a GSXR1000 with no luggage, all he had was a plastic bag under the rear seat cover that contained a toothbrush and a pair of underpants....

Click image for larger version.

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**240** · 25th February 2010, 12:51

Keep it coming mate this is fucking hilarious.

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 13:02

Wednesday, last day of the trip we hit the road before 7am and headed towards Nelson,again just stunning country to ride through, If it weren't for the road the place would seem to be untouched by man, You could feel teh age of the hills,rivers and forest. We encountered a crazy fucker in a truck, after we caught up with him he signaled for us to pass so the oldboy shot around him, only for the truck to nearly go right over top of him at the next corner, The oldboy went out of my sight and it gave me a bit of a fright, So it must have been close.

I picked a much better spot to pass, had a good length of clear road when I started the maneuver,But fuck me, That truck was going hard and he must have sped up as I ended up in the wrong lane round a blind corner clenching my arse so tight I thought I was going to suck the gel out of my gel seat.

I was pissed off at the time but on reflection I have to hand it to the fucker, He had that truck pumping, we should have been sharper if we were going to play the game.

Stopped for petrol in Nelson and then straight back on the road, caught up with some traffic including 3 adventure bikes as we went over the big hill. Coffee and pie when we got to the other side.

We then continued on until Havelock where we stopped and phoned ahead for a booking on the 1pm ferry, we then took a left down Queen Charlotte Dr which takes you through to Picton via the coast, This was a fantastic road and really topped off the day for me, It was all sharp corners and up and down hills, sometimes opening up into pristine bays. On this road I was stung on the leg which upset me no end, But after the 1000's of bees/wasps that had committed suicide by colliding with me over the last few days I suppose one had to get their revenge. Hell, a couple times I was amazed by the sheer amount of yellow bee and wasp carnage spread all over my helmet,face,jacket and bike.

Anyway, we rolled into Piction at exactly 1.10 and straight onto the boat behind a large contingent of H.O.G members.

Off the boat at 4.55 and straight into peak Wellington traffic, fuck sake, That's a wake up call.Thats not commuting, thats suffering. We made reasonable time and carried on towards Wanganui, Only to find SH1 closed at Foxton and the diversion they had in place directed us back South, Just what I didn't want, I was tired at this point, my body was sore as hell and an extra hour was just added to our trip, so we went off through Shannon, Rongotea, Awahuri, Onto the main road and rolled into Wanganui last night around 8pm.

All in all a stunning few days, and one of the best things I have ever done.

**Headbanger** · 25th February 2010, 13:08

I'm going to try and insert a map of our route.

Day 1-Blue
Day 2-Green
Day 3-Pink
Day 4-Yellow
Day 5-Purple

**Hopeful Bastard** · 25th February 2010, 13:19

Fucking well done man! I am soo wanting to do that ride now!

Thanks. Looking forward to hearing more

**carbonhed** · 25th February 2010, 13:55

Inspirational mate. That's some serious mileage.

I followed a fuel tanker through the Buller Gorge in a car once. The rig was absolutely flying. They must know it like the back of their hands... very impressive

**Swoop** · 25th February 2010, 14:03

Great write up!

Originally Posted by Headbanger

...headed towards Arthurs Pass. Again this was just a stunning stunning ride, I can't think of anything that could be better, apart from going through again when the river is flowing and the hills are under snow. After a bite to eat at the village at Arthurs Pass we carried on,

The last place on the right (heading west) is superb for a beer and a meal! Most of the tourists stop further back in the township, making this little gem more enticing.