Jatz's travels

**JATZ** · 9th June 2015, 17:14

This is what Far Away looks like. I'm on the south coast somewhere at the end of a goat track

I have thunder and lightning, internets(untill the battery goes flat) and a couch under a leakey roof.
Catch y'all later

Oooops, forgot to mention... I also have rum :-)

Sent from my ZTE R83

**NordieBoy** · 9th June 2015, 17:36

Sounds like home...

**Moi** · 9th June 2015, 20:29

Bet it has a million dollar view...

BTW, got your clean hanky? And is George enjoying the ride? asks Kit...

**Tazz** · 9th June 2015, 21:07

South, goats and rum? You'll fit right in!

**JATZ** · 10th June 2015, 12:22

Lunch in Riverton.... What else but a cheese roll, among other things

Sent from my ZTE R83

**_Shrek_** · 10th June 2015, 23:14

Originally Posted by JATZ

Lunch in Riverton.... What else but a cheese roll, among other things

Sent from my ZTE R83

you calling in?

**JATZ** · 11th June 2015, 08:13

Originally Posted by _Shrek_

you calling in?

Be rude not to big fella

I'll call ya.

Yes Moi... I have a clean hanky, thanks. It's even dry again now

**Zedder** · 11th June 2015, 10:32

It's always enjoyable to read about your travels JATZ.

I've just got back after a few days away on a V-Strom 650 and am looking at buying one shortly for some more off road adventures.

**JATZ** · 11th June 2015, 17:43

Hey Zedder... They're a good choice of bike for cruising round the back roads. I was tempted to get one myself, but the styling didn't really do it for me. Besides which, the GS fits better.
Interesting afternoon

just because there is a road on the map, and a dotted line on the GPS... It doesn't necessarily mean there's a road there

**Zedder** · 13th June 2015, 15:29

Originally Posted by JATZ

Hey Zedder... They're a good choice of bike for cruising round the back roads. I was tempted to get one myself, but the styling didn't really do it for me. Besides which, the GS fits better.
Interesting afternoon

just because there is a road on the map, and a dotted line on the GPS... It doesn't necessarily mean there's a road there

Fair enough. I haven't ridden the 800, only the G650 GS, plus other brands of 650cc but think a V-Strom is a good start too.

Heh, it's that "This could be a road or not" situation that interests me quite a bit.

**Monstaman** · 13th June 2015, 18:58

Originally Posted by JATZ

Oooops, forgot to mention... I also have rum :-)

Sent from my ZTE R83

...told you it would comfort you down the track ... great catching up mate ... gonna come and invade Mot at some stage!!

Sent from my couch using my new wifi

Cheers A

**JATZ** · 14th June 2015, 21:27

Originally Posted by Monstaman

...told you it would comfort you down the track ... great catching up mate ... gonna come and invade Mot at some stage!!

Sent from my couch using my new wifi

Cheers A

indeed

Was good to see you two too, however your both looking stressed, I think a holiday is in order

Thanks for the hospitality

I think you may have converted me to soy milk though

here's a wee taste of the south coast

**JATZ** · 15th June 2015, 20:02

How in Gods name do I stick a map of my route in here

Now I know why I drink

**JATZ** · 15th June 2015, 22:13

Well.... Seeing as how I had a weeks holiday organized, and thanks to the wonders of modern technology I'd fixed the busted heated grip on the bike, I figured it'd be rude not to give it a test out

Leaving home at a reasonable hour, we headed off through Wakefield. I was having a mental tussle with myself all the way there

I couldn't decide whether to go and rescue Bacon (remember him ?) from Nordie or leave him to gorge himself on Nordie's muesli. In the end I figured a grown man with 1 soft toy was slightly wacky... 2 soft toys would just be downright disturbing

so left him there.
Not too many pics from the first day as I had my winter gloves on, which are a pain to take pics with. Anyway... we headed through the Buller gorge

Always nice through there

and hung a left after Inangahua and headed down to Greymouth, where the heavens opened up on us. A quick servo pie

while sheltering from the downpour and we made our way further South into clearing weather. A quick side trip into Lake Kaniere, because George hadn't been there, infact I hadn't been there either

Nice spot

We did a loop of the lake, crossing this river...

And popped out back on the main drag to continue South. Along Bold Head rd and down past Lake Ianthe

It was getting on a bit by this stage so we made the decision to drop into Okarito and the campground there. It was a nice spot and I'd never been there before either. Quickly pitched the tent in the dusk, cooked up a feed and chatted to young couple from the U.S. of A. about life and stuff.

Day 1

I got up earlyish and wandered down to the beach to take in the sunrise ...

and soak it up... there's something about West coast beaches that I like

After pulling this apart to find out why it wasn't going so flash, and cleaning it all up

I broke camp and headed back to the main rd. One last look at Okarito lagoon...

We carried on down to Franz. Passing Lake Mapourika on the way

I decided to have a nosey at the Franz Glacier. I couldn't be bothered with the 2 day walk to get to the glacier so wheezed my way to the top of little hill for a look

Thats as close as I got... So we carried on further down the road to Fox and hung a right out towards Gillespies beach. This was supposed to have been the destination the day before, but time seemed to just slip away, and I wanted to log this one on the GPS and take some pics.
Here's some farmland

And a little bit of the road into the campsite

A sort of arty one... of the beach

The weather was turning to crap the further south we got, a little bit wet and starting to cool off

Here's a selfie of the 2 of us "living the dream"

on the West coast

A quick stop for a toasted sammie in Haast then saddle up and head for the pass

It was getting kind of very wet by this stage, so it was just a case of hanging on and hoping it would get better on the other side....
It did

so I put the hammer down a little bit and made tracks to Wanaka

and contacted Mr and Mrs Monstaman, who kindly opened their home to us. It was good to see them again and find out about their trip to America.... ALL of it !! (details here >> http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=789269 )

Day 2

More Tomorrow

**JATZ** · 16th June 2015, 20:30

After a nice evening with the 2motokiwis I dragged myself out of bed at a reasonable hour and had a nutritious brekie. The rain looked like it was still hanging around out west

Just aswell we weren't going that way

We packed up and got away eventually, heading through Cardrona and over the Crown range

No ice this time

just a bit of grit.
I haven't been to Arrowtown for a while, so figured I detour there and see what was happening. There was a few people arround

I replenished caffeine levels and made a new friend

Now, normally I dislike cats intensely and wouldn't piss on one if it was on fire, but this one was so chilled out and brazen I just let him have his way

Eventually he realised I was a lost cause and buggered off to where ever cats go when they're not being shifty and eating native birds and lizards

so I went for a wander down by the river. I finished looking around and hopped back on the bike and wobbled off towards Queenstown. The temp was a balmy 18 deg when I got there. I had no interest in skulking around there so grabbed some gas and headed off South again. Part way down the lake I noticed a few little whirlwinds on the lake and quite a bit of spray being whipped off the tops of the waves

The pics don't really do it justice, it was quite impressive

I struggled to hold the bike up when I stopped to take a couple of pics, and a fellow traveller was holding onto his missus to stop her being blown over

Carrying on, with the wind behind me

I noticed fuel consumption was about 1/2 where it usually is at open road speeds

one of the benefits of having a fat arsed bike. I got to 5 Rivers and found a quiet spot to have a look at the map and roll a durry. the bike sat there rocking away on the side stand and I wondered when it would blow over

The plan was to head into Mavora lakes and a little hut I'd heard of there, so I swung west towards Mossburn

Now... On the map it looked like a straight road there, but I think it must've been a long right hander, the bike was leant over, alarmingly at times, to the right most of the way there. Fuel consumption had also gone through the roof

I reached Mossburn and figured Mavora lakes would be getting a hammering from the wind and the sky looked pretty angry that way too. So in the interests of my saving my health and the planet I turned the bars left and let the wind blow me South again. Down to Tuatapere and then onto Papatotara rd and along Papatotara coast rd and Hump ridge track

I'd got the skinny from Monstaman on a track/road that went through a farmers yard and carried on. I figured I was in the right place and carried on. I like signs like these

I didn't take to many pics on the way in as it was getting late/raining and I was to busy holding onto the bars and wondering where the hell I was heading and where I was.
The track eventually stopped at Waikoau river mouth, where there was some cribs. The sky had really opened up by this stage, with thunder and lightning thrown in. I made myself comfortable in the veranda and settled in for a wild night, glad to not be spending it in a tent.

Day 3

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