What a journey, I had just finished Saturday night a work and got home at 1 am, felt a wee bit bored, how better to occupy myself than to go for a night-time blat? well i needed to know how good the headlights on my new bike are.. new bike you say? yes, a sleek 02 CBR 600 F4i apptly named Black Betty (thankyou Karla).
So i threw the tent fly and some grub togeather with the sketchpad and thermals, and was on the road to Rolleston by 2am, hit rolly at 3... yes it was a quick trip thank you very much.... filled up and headed for the hills, the plan was to meet friends over at the Hokitika food fest, never made it thet far though as the rain was quite heavy by the time i made ti to ArthursPass, so i bivvied up in some beach forrest, bed roll under the bike and the tentfly over both of us, Betty kept me toasty warm and dry in an otherwise filthy cold wet mountain night. after a breaky and a stretch i was on the road at 8am (sleep is for the weak) and the Rozzers stopped me at the checkpoint at the end of Arthurs, i mades sure they could hear her singing on the way out of the Pass -nice guys. sadly the rest of the pass was in mist so il hafta do it again in clear weather, stopped here and there to poke around, made another brew of teea to warm up, amazing engineering on the roads there. after a quick refill in Kumara, i shot down to Hoki, coffeed up amongst swarms of illl looking tourists (wild food fest/booze up)
To many people there for my liking though so i went south... Words cannot describe the increadible beauty and serenity of the west coast, As the first time there, it was another world to me. my first real stop was FranzJoseph , beaut C4 coffee, and the surrounds made it even better i didnt walk to the glacier though, my riding gear wasnt best suited to it. i could see my self working there for a while, what a place to escape to. just south of FJ was a great wee road sign "25km winding roads" -this place is bike heaven. numerous stops were made, i gotta get a digital camera now for the return ride. Knights Point Lookout was a highlight, a clif top stop with a monument to the opening of the Haast pass road. stayed there for an hour gazing into the vast Tasman Sea. Very Zen. more windy roads, (complete with 20 odd sheep in the middle of a road... almost got me one. filled up in Haast, what a surreal place on the back end of an island in the middle of nothing and nowhere. so quiet, then up into the mountins again, the signs on all the wee bridges were great, the coast is perverse though i rekon, "Bonar st", gay stream, dicks creek, abut head, random creek was good. Imp Grotto (i shit you not -its in the Haast) the winding beech lined road of the Haast was amazing, -stopped to help a cyclist in troube (bag failure) as i know what its like to be stranded in the back of beyond alone... made it to Hawea to fill up again and let
my sis know i was an hour from QT, gunned it over the Crown Range-insane road, not for the faint of heart.. and hit Queenstown in high spirits, 850+ kms down in one day, time to relax, had very cruisy tea and a well apreciated shower & bed. breaky at Joes garage was awwesome (as good as their national nz cafe award best in country blah blah) and coco was a wicked spot to, good coffee all round and bike friendly to bot (both coffee chick and kitchen dude were honda peeps) a wee poke around QT was enough, so filed up and mentally prepared for the monday ride home, uneventfull as i was a bit knackered from sundays effort, but fun nonetheless, had a sweet ride through the sweping lindis pass road, and coffeed up in Twizerl (shawtys is the ONLY good coffee in the MacKenzie bar none). gassed up and homeward headed. what a mission.
1211.8 kn in a day and a half, a spiritual journey for me as it opened my eyes to a whole other world we have here in our stunning wee island. good therepy for me to bond with my new bike, and get to know our beautiful we country better. if you do nothing else in your time on this plane, make sure you spend a few days riding down the coast, i know il be back. soon.
Ride safe peeps, il have the camera next time so can post some pics hopefully.
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. PM me if you want the name of it and how to get there.
Originally Posted by slimyxylofone
) so I can keep up with Black Betty. I'll add you to contacts list and might send you a random message in a few months, prob when you don't remember me anymore 
oke:
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