TT2000 - A golden weekend.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 17:45

Friday 25th.

I had a very pleasant ride down to Dunedin, arriving there around 2:00 pm. The bike was nice and clean for a change, and I was only carrying minimal gear. Stopped in at MCR for a coffee for myself, and tyre, chain and sprocket for the bike. That small job that I expected to take 45 minutes seemed to go on forever, however after a couple of hours Nighthawk turned up to keep me company. Finally at close to 5:00 pm the bike was ready, so Nighthawk and I shot up to his flat for another coffee and to catch Xaria without her cap.

From there I checked into the Manor House Backpackers, almost right behind Nighthawk and Xaria’s place then down to Hells Pizza for dinner, then into bed shortly after 9:00 pm.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 17:45

Saturday 26th.

After such an early night, I was awake at 5:00 am, so after a coffee and something to eat I decided to hop on the bike and see what was happening around town. Imagine my surprise to find McIvor and Veitch open at such an early hour, and around 100 bikes parked outside. Naturally I had to venture in and see what was going on. Not much there took my fancy, but I did fill in a form and receive a nice T-shirt with a TT2000 logo on it. By a sheer coincidence I just happened to have a coat hanger taped to the inside of my top box as a result of an idea given to me by KoroJ. The T-shirt fitted the hanger perfectly and, as there was a general mass exodus from M&V, KoroJ and I decided to set off for a scenic ride.

OK, it was still dark, but so what? We headed up Rattray St, but the Speights Brewery was closed, so carried on up towards Three Mile Hill. Near Ashburn Hall, where the fixed speed camera is, I slowed down to exactly 50 kmh when two other bikes shot past. I recognised one of them as Mr Triple’s Tiger, and sort of confirmed it as he was two up. We followed in a tidy procession down the hill, but at the turn off to Outram, one bike carried straight ahead on Dukes Rd while Mr Triple, KoroJ and I turned right. I decided Mr Triple was setting the speed just a tad low, so I passed and upped the pace to something just a bit faster. At Outram KoroJ and I turned right up George King Memorial Drive, but Mr Triple carried on straight ahead. At the Hindon Rd corner there were a number of bikes all parked up taking a photo of the sign post, so KoroJ and I stopped and took a photo of other riders taking photos of the sign post. We headed up to Lee Stream, but one look at the fog forming in the Valleys and I knew that my usual route through Mahinerangi would be at a snail’s pace, so down to the Taieri Plain, through to Berwick and on to Henley. I had a bit of a heart in the mouth moment as we were leaving Berwick. There was what I thought was water across the road, but both tyres lost grip as we went through. As it was next to a dairy farm, I won’t try and guess what it was that turned tyres into skates.

From here it was down boring SH1 to Milton then onto one of my favourite roads, the Manuka Gorge and onto Lawrence. We stopped at the entrance to Gabrials Gulley and took a photo of the two bikes, and were just getting ready to Leave when Mr (and Mrs) Triple turned up. Obviously they were out for a scenic ride as well. It was still early in the day (not yet 08:00) so we turned south on the Tuapeka Rd. I had to lead KoroJ onto a bit of Gravel at Tuapeka just so he could experience it, and we stopped at the Punt for another photo. Once again Mr (and Mrs) Triple turned up. Were they following us?

OK, time to give that triumph Tiger the slip, so we headed off at a good pace down to Balclutha for some petrol. Once here there was no choice but to go further south down the Catlins. I gave Daffyd a toot as we passed his house at 9:00 am. A short detour seemed to be in order to visit Niagara Falls for a photo stop. There were a couple of bikes already here including Shannon, from Roxburgh, on a Suzuki Bandit. This must be a popular route for motorcyclists.
Once again we headed south, but we didn’t really feel like going through Invergumboot with all those traffic lights and 50 kmh areas, so just after Fortrose we turned north once again and headed to Wyndham. Once there we saw a few bikes parked next to the war memorial, but the only thing of real interest in Wyndham is the entrance to the park with its massive archway, so KoroJ and I headed around the block. Other riders must have agreed with us as there were around 10 bikes already there as well.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 17:45

This was too busy for us so off we went thinking Winton would be good to visit. There is an interesting cemetery at Winton. It is the resting place of Minnie Dean, the first (and only woman) to be hanged in New Zealand. The day was still young, so onward we went to Otautau to have a look at the war memorial. Here I discovered that my radar detector speakers weren’t working. Too bad, I still had visual warning, just no sound. Then as we headed off the speakers started working again. I hate intermittent faults like this. Southward once again and onto Riverton for more fuel, then around to the fishing marina for a photo opportunity and some light refreshments. OK so it wasn’t quite lunchtime, but 11:30 is close enough.

With half the day gone, and now as far south as we intended to go it was time to start thinking about heading back north. Mr (and Mrs) Triple must have had the same idea as they turned up at the same time. The southern Scenic route to Tuatapere seemed like a good idea, so we let Mr (and Mrs) Triple set the pace and just followed along behind enjoying the sun. We all made a brief stop at the Yesteryear Museum in Tuatapere, then KoroJ and I decided to make another detour to the Bluecliffs Beach turnoff on the Hump Ridge road, while Mr Triple just carried on north. We followed on north about 20 minutes later. Just south of Te Anau my radar detector showed us the presence of Plod on the hunt, so we checked our speed, yes still legal, and headed into Te Anau for fuel.

It was still early afternoon, not yet 2:00 pm, plenty of time for a quick jaunt through to Milford sound. On the way into Milford we saw heaps of bikes coming back out. They were well strung out, but there must have been well over 60, and I’m sure I recognised more than a few. Then, once we reached Milford there were more bikes already there.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 17:46

However the time was now moving on and the sandflys were getting aggressive, so it was time to head back. We didn’t time it very well at the tunnel this time, and there was a line of vehicles ahead of us. I filtered past a few cars and campervans to where another group of bikes were waiting and soon we were on our way. The pace was just too slow, and as I’m not aware of any road rules that prohibit overtaking in the tunnel, I just moved right, and filtered my way to the front. Well almost to the front. There was one tourist bus that just wouldn’t leave enough room to pass, so we followed him all the way up the tunnel, then all the way down the S bends on the other side until finally a chance to get past. What is it with Bus Drivers who hog the road with no consideration for other users, while truckies are normally courteous and helpfull.

On the way back to Te Anau we saw over 20 bikes still heading in, and again I’m sure I recognised a few. One group was very distinctive with Mohawks on their helmets. We refuelled in Te Anau and headed east, but with the time not yet at 5:00 pm there was still a lot of riding left in the day. At Mossburn we turned south to explore the Southland Rivers. We stopped at Aparima river bridge for a photo shoot, but as we were starting to ride off again I noticed something suspicious. A Holden Commodore heading in our direction slowed down to let us onto the bridge first. As we increased speed to something slightly over 100 kmh so did the Holden. I slowed down to the legal speed limit, so did the Holden. I increased to 109 kmh, so did the Holden. I slowed down to under 100 to let him pass, but No, he just wanted to sit in behind. So it looked like 103 was to be the speed we would sit on. Slightly over the limit, but not enough to get a ticket. After almost 20 km the Holden slowed down, did a U turn and headed back the other way. Finally KoroJ and I could up the pace a little and head into Wreys Bush for a brief pub stop. Dipton seemed to be good choice for the route home and the Memorial Hall allowed for a short refreshment and toilet break.

These Southland roads are a bit straight and boring, so we upped the pace a little as we headed north, and just short of Frankton on that loonngg straight I saw another bike coming up rapidly from the rear. We were stopped briefly at the Kawarau Bridge, and I saw that the other bike was Gremlin. It didn’t look right to see him on something that wasn’t orange. Frankton also meant fuel. It’s amazing how much fuel one can use on a simple day ride. Mr (and Mrs) Triple were there looking a bit glum as his rear tyre hadn’t lasted the distance. I put him onto Two wheels in Alexandra who I knew would still be open and would have a suitable tyre in stock.

It was still daylight so we headed onto another of my favourite roads, Glenorchy. This time it wasn’t to go to Glenorchy itself, but rather to continue on to the site on one of the most famous scenes from Lord of the Rings, Isengard. About 3 minutes short of Isengard Gremlin passed us in the opposite direction. We stopped and took a photo of Isengard with Mt Alfred in the background, and just as were leaving Shannon arrived for the same photo. Heading back towards Queenstown there were the same mohawks we saw going to Milford, now headed for Isengard in the fading light.

At Queenstown we took the back road past Arthurs Point to avoid the traffic and suddenly we were at the bottom of Coronet Peak. This was too much of an opportunity to pass up as I’d never before done this hill climb in the dark. I took the lead and set a moderate pace as last time I came up this road there was new seal and heaps of grit. It was much better this time, although I did slow down for the cattle stop that is set too low in the road. It would have been a great view from the top in daylight so I took a photo of the building instead. Once back down the mountain we headed through Arrowtown and onto the Crown Range. KoroJ took the lead and set a good pace all the way over to Cardrona where we made another pub stop.

**Gremlin** · 3rd March 2011, 17:58

awesome reading!!

**Latte** · 3rd March 2011, 18:01

Originally Posted by Jantar

Saturday 26th
Sunday 27th
Monday 28th

Originally Posted by Gremlin

awesome reading!!

Reckon - sounds just like my ride report of the TT2000 (and I didn't do it).

**FJRider** · 3rd March 2011, 18:24

Sooo ... Jantar ... you don't have SKY tv ... right ... ???

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 18:30

As we had just been up Coronet peak, and we were so close to Treble Cone, it just didn’t seem fair not to visit that as well, so we turned left at Wanaka and headed past Glendhu Bay and out to the base of Treble Cone. The stone pillars at the start of the ski field road are quite something, and worth a photo even at night. Heading back to Wanaka we saw gremlin going in and a short time later a group of Mohawks as well.

It was now getting late so we only made a brief pub stop at Luggate. I was watching my fuel closely and stopped briefly at Mt Pisa to Tell KoroJ that I was hoping Cromwell would still be open, but if it wasn’t I thought I would have enough fuel to get home. Luckily Cromwell was open, but it looked like we were the last customers as they were shutting things up while we were there. We arrived home just after midnight having completed a pleasant 1514 km to find my wife had a light meal hot on the stove waiting for us.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 18:33

Who set that bloody alarm for 5:30 am? That’s only 4 ½ hours sleep. Oh well, we were awake, and my wife was busy cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast so a new day starts. Daylight was just breaking as we headed out at 6:30 am for quick jaunt down the road to Poolburn and our first pub stop of the day. I was glad I’d put on an extra icebreaker layer this morning as the fog was quite cold. We nipped through patches of fog and clear air all the way down the Ida Valley then had a nice fast cruise in crisp cold air to Ranfurly, more fog as we headed south and stopped to admire the war memorial in Patearoa. KoroJ and I went our separate ways here.

There is a nice fast gravel road to Waipiata then the Road of Bones from Waipiata to kokonga, and I just love that ride. KoroJ was going to take the sealed route via Kyeburn which would put him 7 minutes behind me at cruising speeds. That was OK, because he would soon catch up as I made an additional fuel stop later in the morning. Once at Kokonga there is the famous Hyde hill with its great 65 kmh sweeping bends and the bike just gets into a rhythm. It’s absolutely fabulous riding and worth the experience. Approaching McRaes I saw another bike catching up, and thought to myself “It can’t be.” But it was. As I stopped in McRaes KoroJ pulled up right alongside and the grin on his face said it all. Someone hadn’t been sticking to the speed limit. His comment was “looks like I’ll need petrol in Oamaru as well.”

The sun was coming up nicely now as we headed into Palmerston for a photo of Puketapu Hill before the long boring section of SH1 to Oamaru and fuel. We made a short stop at the Pukueri Freezing works, before deciding that the east coast is boring, let’s go west. We maintained a gentle pace up past Papakaio, then upped it a little as we moved further away from the donut shops. A short stop at Omarama was in order to take a photo of a merino ram, then off we went to Lake Ohau.

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 18:35

Once off the highway we opened it up a bit on a narrow winding fully sealed road. It wasn’t easy getting right to the water’s edge, but we did manage to find a nice piece of gravel to park on and have morning tea. Fruit Juice and fisherman’s bread was the choice for me while KoroJ had a banana and some water. The Mohawks arrived as we were there, and we commented that they had finally caught up with us. However we set off before them and after all it isn’t a race, especially as we aren’t actually taking the exact same route. Over another of my favourite roads, the Lindis Pass, and we were making really good time. At Luggate Bridge we turned right and took the back roads through Hawea Flat. There is very little traffic this way and no donut patrols.
At Hawea itself, I made a mistake. The normal route is along cemetery road which has about 1 km of gravel or the alternative is through lake Hawea township. But I remembered the new subdivision was opened that showed a new road connecting cemetery road with the lakefront road. Unfortunately that new road isn’t finished, so we had to back track a little and take KoroJ’s ST1300 along the gravel.

The Hawea petrol station is a 7 day service station, but Trev (a Chatto Creek MC member) who owns the place must have forgotten that “service” means actually being there to serve. While we were filling up via the card pump a couple of elderly ladies arrived in their cage and were totally confused. They could see us filling up, but the place was closed. We gave them some assistance, and while I placed the nozzle in their fuel tank, KoroJ washed their windscreen for them. While we were there the Mohawks went by, so they had finally passed us, well almost.

We had another great ride through Makorora and on through Haast Pass. At Haast we saw the Mohawks stopped for fuel and as the time was only 14:00 it seemed like a good idea to make a detour down to Jackson’s Bay. The sandflies were particularly vicious so we didn’t stay there very long before heading back north, just as the Mohawks were pulling in. Are they following us?

This time we stopped for fuel at Haast, then decided north was the way to go. The West Coast is certainly much better for motorcycling than the east coast, or it would be if there wasn’t so much grit on the bends. Both KoroJ and I had some interesting moments in unmarked loose grit on bends. The last weather data I saw (about 2 days earlier) gave a slight chance of afternoon drizzle in the Haast area, so I was glad to get all the way to Fox without any rain. The roads showed that it had rained at some stage recently, but we’d been lucky enough to miss it, until Fox.

Between Fox and Franz, on some of the best winding road in the country it rained. Not heavy, just enough to be a nuisance and slow us down a tad. The rain stopped for a bit as we reached Mt Hercules, and at last we could experience the nice tight curves. Well KoroJ could, I sort of missed out. As we headed up the first part of the hill I was keeping around 4 seconds behind KoroJ, when a camper van appeared in front. It was just approaching a slow vehicle bay so i though “great we’ll get by here.” However the maggot driver had other ideas and didn’t keep left. KoroJ managed to get passed him anyhow, and gave him a salute of some sort. This must have upset the maggot driver as he suddenly swung hard left, then just as hard right, almost taking me out at the same time. He did manage to block me from passing at that point, but I knew I’d get past on the first non blind corner with no traffic. Well theory was good, practice, not so. That van driver did everything he could to stop me from passing, even to the point of driving on the wrong side of the road. I followed him all the way to the top, and had a wee giggle when he pulled onto the wrong side of the road once too often and almost had a head-on with another vehicle. After that he gave up his game and I managed to get by, but had a bit of a chase to catch up with KoroJ.

We soon came to the Okarito turn off and made another detour out to Okarito. This was my first time out here as I usually bypass it. However the road is so good to ride, I will probably do it again sometime soon. We stopped and took a photo of the shack on the end of the jetty, had afternoon tea; a banana and some water for KoroJ while fruit Juice and fisherman’s bread was the choice for me.
Soon we were back on the main road and heading north to Hokitika. We had heard there was an interesting old ship and anchor here, so we found it and took another photo. Fuel was required, so we stopped at BP to fill up, and who should be there but the mohawks. Now we know they are following us.

The day was starting to get late, so it was time to head back over to the east coast. KoroJ took the lead, and he must have been hungry for food or something because he upped the pace quite a bit and we made great time over the passes. At one point near Porters Pass I saw the lights of another bike about 1 km behind us, but then he seemed to drop back in the tighter stuff. Once on the straight section though, he caught up and passed us. The sight of that dreadlocked rider on his Africa Twin enjoying the ride was heart warming. We arrived at Yaldhurst for another pub stop at 20:45 and stopped for a well deserved beer and meal. That was another great day out on a bike, 1350 km in 14 ¼ hours. Overall, a Golden Weekend.

**banditrider** · 3rd March 2011, 19:28

A great read! Looks like you had good weather too - not sure if it's going to be quite so nice for the Southern Cross...

**Jantar** · 3rd March 2011, 19:32

I stayed overnight with my sister in Christchurch. She is in one of badly hit areas of Christchurch and although her house has come through with some damage, there are many around her that are condemned. I have suggested that she get the EQC assessor back as it appears to me that there is a substantial crack in the concrete slab under the carpet that wasn't picked up on the first assessment. there was one reasonable aftershock overnight that woke me up. In the morning I called round to visit my Mother in Parkwood. For a 93 year old she is managing great and just taking everything as it comes.

I had a pleasant uneventfull trip south, just sticking to the boring routes. Until just short of Burkes Pass, a mower working at the side of the road kicked out a large rock which collected me right in the shin. I stopped and had a few pleasant words with the mower operator before continuing on my way. But by Lake Tekapo the pain was getting too great so I had to stop and take some pain killer. Once the pain had settled down I continued on home, arriving at 5:00 pm.

Now I just have to hope I am right for the SC in a few days time.