After many of those "I'll have to do that one day" conversations, "One Day" finally arrived and it was off for a tour around the South Island on the mighty Hayabusa. The GF had never been to the South before, so this was a good time to show her some of my old stomping grounds and revisit some the roads that I had driven years ago, but had never ridden.
Day 1 – Auckland - Wanganui, 445kms
Rolled out of bed and loaded up the bike, heading south via the familiar roads past Pirongia and on toward Te Awamutu etc, nothing to out of the ordinary so far, this is a pretty regular ride for many Aucklanders, down past Taumarunui and still nothing unusual, just another trip down toward Ruapehu etc. Passed the turnoff toward Ohakune and then it was all new and exciting! I’d never ridden Highway 4 to Wanganui before and wow what a great piece of road, twin yoshis echoing off canyon walls and with the extra weight of the panniers the busa felt really planted through the corners. It felt to me like this was where the trip really started
Arrived in Wanganui, I’ve never been there before and it seems like a nice town, very ‘pretty’ riding by the river on the way in. I had read a review somewhere of the Andion Lodge on High St, the guys there are very bike friendly so that was enough for one day, dropped off my gear went into town for food and all was sorted for the night.
Day 2 - Wanganui – Wellington 195kms
Heading toward Bulls, mufti cop - patrol car – patrol car – mufti – patrol car … wtf? All giving me dirty looks, paranoia setting in, pulled into Bulls for (a huge) breakfast, had a chat with a Bandit riding local about the joys of riding on these sunny days, then I carried on toward Highway Yawn and the run down to Wlg.
Note to self, next time ride via Palmerston North and Highway 2 over the Rimutakas .. Highway 1 does my head in.
I’m not sure why, but Wellington seems to hate me, whenever I plan on doing more than just passing through, the weather turns to custard and this trip was no exception. Blue skies and sunshine until Porirua, then I had to stop, layer up, wets on and winter gloves for the final run into the capital.
Had the a quiet arvo lurking about in Wlg by myself, supported the locals by buying a buff from a Wellington bike shop, then off to the airport to pick up the GF (work commitments meant she couldn’t join me till now).
Day 3 Wlg - Picton – Hanmer 415kms
Situation Normal, I’m leaving Wellington so it warm and sunny, rolled up to the Ferry (Bluebridge) and got greeted by name, “guess I’m the only bike today eh?” “yep!”, thanks to some good advice from kiwibiker
tieing down the bike was a breeze and it was clear sailing across the straight with dolphins greeting us as we entered the sounds.
Gassed up in Picton and headed inland, getting progressively cooler down to St Arnaud, thinking “gotta stop and put another layer on” but toughed it out and by the time we got to Murchison was absolutely sweltering hot! The ride through the Buller Gorge was stunning and fortunately traffic was minimal, one sour note just outside of Reefton a u-turning 4x4 did a SMIDSY on us and tried to put us in a ditch (seriously? Bright orange Hayabusa with a headlight the size of a dinner plate and you didn’t see me? Yeah right!)
Picked up another couple of bikes in Reefton, a Ducati Monster and an older GSXR and we played leapfrog with them as we stopped for photos and they stopped for gas in Springs Junction. Lewis Pass was another dream ride, long smooth sweeping corners and then a final easy spurt to the Hot Pools in Hanmer Springs for the night.
Day 4 - Hanmer – Christchurch 160kms
Just a short run from Hanmer to my old hometown. Couple of hours and done, stayed with a mate just out of town in Tai Tapu, dropped off the baggage and rode back into the city for lunch at the Arts Centre, the obligatory wander through the botanical gardens and other touristy stuff for the GF. Earthquake damage was ‘interesting’ at first glance the city seems as it ever was, but then trying to navigate down Manchester St and Sydenham made you realise how bad things are. A quick ride up to the Sign of the Kiwi and down the other side to Lyttelton then back through the tunnel (just to hear the pipes echoingmwhahaha!)
Chilling back at my mates place, he offers me a ride on his Ducati Hypermotard .. “mmmm .. oh allright then, if you insist”, watching his forlorn face as I back out of the garage I hear “I’ve never watched someone take my Ducati away before”, a quick run toward Akaroa puts a big smile on my face, this bike sure isn’t suffering from a lack of power or torque, I was quietly impressed, even compared to my busa this bike feels strong!
Day 5 Christchurch - Oamaru, 470kms
From Tai Tapu out to Darfield, passed a welcoming sign “Rubberneckers F**K off!”, charming eh? guess they are sick of people coming to check out the cracks in their fields, Breakfast in Darfield then on to Geraldine via Rakaia Gorge and on past Lake Tekapo, awesome views of the mountains including a look at Mt Cook still dusted with snow, blue skies and quiet roads … niiiiiice.
A kind hearted member of the International Association of Flashers alerted me to the presence of the filth lurking behind the “Welcome to Twizel” sign so I dropped from my dastardly 110km/h to a mocking and slightly rebellious 104 as I went pastand on for another fuel stop in Omarama.
It was turning into a longish day, with another 120kms before arriving at my folks place in Oamaru so we didn’t linger. There was a plan to check out Riverstone Kitchen (the Restaurant of the Year) but since they earned their award they apparently don’t need to open every day anymore! So it was down to the Portside for a fantastic meal, then a visit to the penguin colony afterwards (it feels weird playing tourist in NZ).
Day 6 Oamaru – Queenstown 320kms
Bit of a late start, the folks doing the “but you’ve only just got here” guilt trip before leaving to confirm that the Moeraki boulders are in fact giant alien eggs from space, on to Palmerston, then inland to Alexandra .. Hot! Blazing sun all the way through, vents open, jacket unzipped looking for a bit of shade to hide in, stunning scenery again and apart from an occasional road maggot (camper van) hardly saw any other traffic? People don’t know what they are missing obviously.
Should have kept quiet tho, the road between Alex and Cromwell, was well busy, great fun with the water on one side and the mountains on the other, the GF was making all the right ooh/ aaahh noises in the intercom as we passed by Cromwell and into the Kawarau Gorge then on to Queenstown.
Found a motel on the lake front (Peppers – pricey, but nice) with secure basement parking then it was back into town for a bit of an explore. It’s been 15years (showing my age) since I was last in Q’town, and I can’t believe how much its grown. Amazing how your memory plays tricks on you, I was trying to match up how I thought it should look with what was now there and it just didn’t match!
An attempt was made to go up the gondola, but a bus load of tourists had just unloaded and there was a heated debated going on at the front of the queue and zero forward momentum, then another 2 bus loads unloaded behind us so we flagged it, saved $50 and went to the Lone Star for a meal instead.
Day 7 Queenstown – Franz Josef 355kms
Another late start, the GF couldn’t go to Q’town and not do a bungy jump, and of course she had to one up me and did the 134m Nevis, when I did mine 15years ago I did the Pipeline Bungy which at the time was the tallest … still, she was giggling all the way back to town so that’s all good.
Headed out of Q’town up the highly rated Crown Range Rd and then on to lunch at the Cardrona Hotel, I have read a lot about how great the Crown Range Rd is, so I spent most of the ride berating myself for being such a sucky rider, and not going fast enough … until I caught up to a pair of BMW tourers who honestly might as well have taken the bus! The Cardrona is worth a stop, great food in the beer garden out the back, sitting in the sun, really could have lingered there longer!!!
Gassed up in Wanaka at a whopping $2.17/l for 98oct then on to Haast, had to stop at one point and put another layer on, it was getting cold and the forecast was for deteriorating weather and rain on the coast.
The ride though to Haast was just incredible, all those that rave about the Crown Range Rd need to go ride to Haast then come talk to me. Once we’ve finished that little chat go ride up to the glaciers ... that’s how all roads should be built, although the one lane bridges take some ‘adjustment’
Stayed the night in Franz Josef, another pricey motel but the Glacier Hot Pools are a must. Trust me on this, Do not go to the west coast and bypass these, they are worth the trip all by themselves.
Day 8 Franz Josef - Greymouth, 170kms
Finally the weather gods turned nasty, woke up to rain and immediately started having gear failures, my waterproof winter gloves are apparently only waterproof in Auckland rain, West Coast rain must be somehow wetter because they just turned into soggy wet sponges on the ends of my arms, I think I would have been warmer and dryer if I’d thrown them away.
Stopped at the ‘Wild Food Restaurant’ at Pukekura not realising it was now a tourist trap, we were looking at the menu board and the girl behind the counter snapped “if your going to order I suggest you do it now, there is a tour bus pulling in”, okaaaay … carried on to Hokitika and found gear failure #2, I’d just bought a ‘new’ HJC FS-10 carbon helmet and I had equal amounts of water on both the inside and outside of the visor, apparently West Coast rain can defeat helmet technology as well. Kinda tricky clearing water off the inside of a visor with wet gloves … in the rain … at speed.
Hokitika, sitting in a café, watching the rain sheeting down the street, consulted the metservice website which advised, fine in the east, clearing in the west .. sure didn’t look like it was clearing from where we were sitting and it was a literal coin toss as to head back to Christchurch and apparent sunshine or up to Greymouth to wait it out.
The coin of destiny spoke and said Greymouth, so off we went, passed a Honda shop and did a quick u-turn and bought a new pair of hardcore westcoast waterproof gloves … much more comfortable.
Found a place to stay in Greymouth and discovered gear failure #3, the waterproof covers on the panniers work brilliantly, they work brilliantly like buckets and each had about a litre of water sloshing about inside them!
It was just showering now instead of the monsoon we’d just experienced, so thought we’d head up to Punakaiki (more tourist stuff for the GF), bad idea got about 20kms north and caught up with the rain. At this point I woosied out, figured I was supposed to be enjoying the ride and just wasn’t, so tail between my legs back to Greymouth and somewhere warm and dry to hide.
Day 9 Greymouth – Christchurch 250kms
Weather forecast didn’t look good, Rain clearing in the West, with gale force Southerlies driving up the East Coast. Coin of Destiny my ass. Still, suck it up and move on, just showers through to Otira with a quick stop to see some Keas, over the hill and down to Arthurs Pass village for a pie, got chatting to a lovely couple from Invercargill doing a tour of their own on a Bandit, they had come from the east coast and looked dry so we confidently set out but got slammed by the rain before we even got to the Bealey!
The good news, new gloves working well but bad news was still getting sheets of rain on the inside of my visor, which no amount of jiggling seemed to rectify.
Heading through the pass and I’m trying to point out Castle Hill / Lake Lyndon etc and all I hear through the intercom is chattering teeth and a whimpered “my visor is all fogged up”, over Porters Pass and down the other side and now its windy as well as raining, riding straight into the teeth of that gale force southerly with 350kgs + of Hayabusa, rider, pillion and luggage getting blown across the road like a leaf .. yippee .. are we having fun yet?
Stopped in Springfield (No Simpsons?) for a hot drink and then the final run back to Tai Tapu and our accommodation for the night.
That was a bit of an adventure
Day 10 Christchurch - Picton, 355kms
Day dawned cold and rainy, “oh good”, we thought, but with a bit of procrastination and dithering it was just a little showery as we left Christchurch, then as we hit Cheviot, finally the sun came out again … and I discovered a possible solution to gear failure #2, the FS-10 helmet has an internal sunvisor, which promptly started dripping on my nose when I lowered it, I suspect water was coming in the top vent and running down the inside of the helmet and onto the visor, bit of a design fault there if I am right.
I’ve done the Hundalee’s and Kaikoura coast on a bike before so I knew I was in for a treat with the roads drying out, great fun over the ranges and down onto the coast road, but how long has that been an 80km/h zone? Another card carrying member of the International Association of Flashers warned me of filth lurking in the bushes beside the road … not that I needed warning cos I am such a mature/responsible/law abiding individual (on a Hayabusa).
A quick stop at Nins Bin so the GF could sample a whitebait fritter (blurrrggk!!!), then another pause at the Seal Colony for a photo op. heading inland and the wind was picking up around Seddon, but at least the sky was clear and despite being a bit chilly the sun stayed with us all the way to Picton.
Day 11 Picton - Wellington - Auckland, 650kms
7:30am, a lovely text from the Interislander, your 9am checkin delayed until 11am … great, I’ll go back to sleep then, instead of a leisurely breakfast on the boat, had a leisurely breakfast in Picton. Finally got loaded onto the ferry with a few other bikes, including another orange/black busa (common as mud those busa’s eh?), and another calm crossing into Wellington. Of course, as I was just passing through the weather was warm and sunny in Wellington, ditched the GF to find her own way to the airport and her flight home and hit the road.
Another diabolical run with every single car/truck/road maggot in NZ up Highway 1 (why do I do that to myself?) finally the traffic thinned out just before Bulls and I made a last minute decision to go home Desert Rd instead of the way I came down. I haven’t ridden the Desert Rd for a few years, seems like they haven’t done any roadworks along there since last time I rode it either, for the first time this trip I found myself wishing for softer suspension!
Taihape had to stop to top up the last of my South Island petrol, then Turangi/ Taupo/ Tokoroa all passed in a bit of a blur, realised I was pretty close to home so shovelled down some fast food, gassed up and carried on home.
Seemed a shame to end the ride, woke up the next morning and unpacked, washed the busa and just wanted to jump on and do it all again … already looking forward to the next trip and figuring out what I will do smarter/ better next time, I’ll probably invest in a throttlemeister to give my right hand a rest, maybe a radar detector so I don’t need to be so paranoid when the speed creeps up. Definitley have to sort out my gear failures, especially the river running down the inside of my visor!
I’d had in my mind since I started the trip … the mantra was: “Its all about the ride, not the destination” and I told myself that as often as possible, to slow myself down and make sure I appreciated where I was and what I was doing, and it worked!. Just a hair under 4000kms total, 90% glorious weather, no tickets and no major dramas. If your having the "I'll have to do that one day" conversations with yourself, book your time off, book the ferry and go, you won’t regret it.
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There is not a hell of a lot of gear out there that won't succumb to the west coast rain hehe.....expecially over a prolonged period....but its still an awesome ride!!!!!
Originally Posted by ishkur
(thinking about next winter aye....)
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