Touring the South Island, Nov 24th-29th

[doc]

Expect to see a lot of bike traffic and a full ferry as I think quite a few heading down for The "BURT" Rally at Invercargill. I'm crossing wed evening returning wed lunch. Some of the best roads in NZ looking forward to dry roads probablly heaps of sandflies on the coast side at least its protein. Its either that or face the gauntlet of HP down the guts or east coast. They are worse than the Nth Island. Except maybe Taupo to Waiuoru. Have a good trip.

[sunhuntin]

im hoping to head to welly sunday afternoon and spend the night, to catch the ferry at 9.35 monday [dumbass me didnt factor 4 hours between here and welly when booking the ferry.] im planning on heading down the west coast, staying in invers for the rally, and heading back up the east. im planning on shopping a bit, thats why i decided to go the way i did...more shops on the east. lol.

*finds map* so far, im heading south via nelson and murchison, where ill take 6 and hit the coast. ill then turn inland at haast and down past wanaka, avoiding q/town and straight down 6 to invers. does anyone who lives on the west have any advice on backpackers etc? im riding alone, unless i pick up others along the way.
coming back, ill head up caitlins coast. ive got arrows pointing to alexandra, then to ranfurly, back to the coast and then inland again towards mount cook [ i might scrap that though.] ive gotta meet a friend in chch, so will be going there for sure. from there, its up to kaikoura, blenheim and back to picton.

again...any advice on good backpackers would be much appreciated. cheers!

[jumma]

Sounds like you've got a tonne of riding planned Sunhuntin! Hope you enjoy it, and i bet i'm not alone in hoping for some good weather.

Thanks for the HP warning doc, gonna try to avoid contributing to the governments wallet.

[sunhuntin]

Sounds like you've got a tonne of riding planned Sunhuntin! Hope you enjoy it, and i bet i'm not alone in hoping for some good weather.

Thanks for the HP warning doc, gonna try to avoid contributing to the governments wallet.

cheers jumma. im also hoping on good weather. the north island is meant to be getting what south has just had, so hopefully the change over will be nice and smooth.
ill be on the look out for any other bikes, and any i "pick up" along the way, im happy to ride with, but wont stay with anyone for the whole duration.

[idb]

Sounds like a few might be round my way next weekend.
I'm away to Auckland 23/11 and back Sunday 26 or more likely Monday morning 27 (miss out on the Munro weekend - including a free grandstand at the streetrace d'oh!).
Anyone's welcome to stay at home Monday onwards.
A couple of spare beds and some lawn or garage space is available.
Plenty of inside parking too.

PM me if you need a place.

[scumdog]

The Magpie Rally is at Winchester (about 110km south of Christchurch) on Friday24th and saturday 25th if ya wanted to pop in. PM me for contact details if interested.

[jumma]

Sounds like a few might be round my way next weekend.
I'm away to Auckland 23/11 and back Sunday 26 or more likely Monday morning 27 (miss out on the Munro weekend - including a free grandstand at the streetrace d'oh!).
Anyone's welcome to stay at home Monday onwards.
A couple of spare beds and some lawn or garage space is available.
Plenty of inside parking too.

PM me if you need a place.

Cheers IDB, may PM you if we're gonna pass through Monday. Planning on passing through to Queenstown on Sunday but our plans still might change. Appreciate the offer

[jumma]

Plans are getting a bit clearer now, so this is our most probable intinerary:

Fri 24th: Picton to Christchurch, stopping at Kaikoura for gas and a feed.

Sat 25th: I'll be heading out to Akaroa, hopefully a few Chch KB'ers will tag along.

Sun 26th: Christchurch to Queenstown, stopping at Fairlie and Tarras.

Mon 27th: Queenstown to Greymouth, stopping at Haast and Franz Josef.

Tues 28th: Greymouth to Motueka, via Buller Gorge and stopping at Murchison.

Wed 29th: Motueka to Takaka to Nelson. Will spend a while playing on the hill I think, then will take Queen Charlotte Drive to Picton.

So, a few big days in there but we both feel up to it. Feel free to PM me if you want to tag along at any stage, the more the merrier

I'm assuming there's gas available in all these towns? Someone please let me know if not, ta.

[idb]

Plans are getting a bit clearer now, so this is our most probable intinerary:

Fri 24th: Picton to Christchurch, stopping at Kaikoura for gas and a feed.

Sat 25th: I'll be heading out to Akaroa, hopefully a few Chch KB'ers will tag along.

Sun 26th: Christchurch to Queenstown, stopping at Fairlie and Tarras.

Mon 27th: Queenstown to Greymouth, stopping at Haast and Franz Josef.

Tues 28th: Greymouth to Motueka, via Buller Gorge and stopping at Murchison.

Wed 29th: Motueka to Takaka to Nelson. Will spend a while playing on the hill I think, then will take Queen Charlotte Drive to Picton.

So, a few big days in there but we both feel up to it. Feel free to PM me if you want to tag along at any stage, the more the merrier

I'm assuming there's gas available in all these towns? Someone please let me know if not, ta.

There's not much at Tarras except for a cafe and garage.
I'm pretty sure they still serve petrol there but Omarama is a good stop just before you hit the Lindis.

[jumma]

There's not much at Tarras except for a cafe and garage.
I'm pretty sure they still serve petrol there but Omarama is a good stop just before you hit the Lindis.

Thanks for the heads up, Omarama it is.

[sunhuntin]

whatever ya do, dont stop at those "independant" i think theyre caled servos that are in the middle of nowhere! youll be paying at east $1.50/l at those places! check the pump price first.

i rode from picton to chch on monday, stayed in chch yesterday and part of today, and then rode from chch to here in dunners, where im staying the night and riding out to invers tomorrow. heading back mon or tuesday.
the road from picton to kaikoura/chch is amazing...lots of very tight corners that only get tighter. if they say 25k, then you better for 25k! lots of roadworks too, but nothing too major.

enjoy your ride, and hopefully will see you down here!!

[jumma]

whatever ya do, dont stop at those "independant" i think theyre caled servos that are in the middle of nowhere! youll be paying at east $1.50/l at those places! check the pump price first.

i rode from picton to chch on monday, stayed in chch yesterday and part of today, and then rode from chch to here in dunners, where im staying the night and riding out to invers tomorrow. heading back mon or tuesday.
the road from picton to kaikoura/chch is amazing...lots of very tight corners that only get tighter. if they say 25k, then you better for 25k! lots of roadworks too, but nothing too major.

enjoy your ride, and hopefully will see you down here!!

Cheers for the petrol tips, should be filling up in Picton then Kaikoura again before we hit Chch.

We're heading inland after Chch so may spot you in Central Otago or on the West coast. Keep an eye out for a silver bandit and a blue GSX 250 in tandem.

Safe riding.

[MTW]

That's typical...a chance to go on a good group ride with some new people and the front end is out of the bike getting new fork seals.

Was over Akaroa last weekend in the car and thought to myself I must do this again on the bike REALLY soon. Just a bit too soon for me.

Have fun on the travels.

[SDU]

Check out JWalkers post for a Akaroa ride this weekend under meetings.
Quite a few of the chch folk are heading to the Magpie/burt munro rallies so Keep an eye out for them on the roads down south.
Enjoy your trip

[jumma]

Check out JWalkers post for a Akaroa ride this weekend under meetings.
Quite a few of the chch folk are heading to the Magpie/burt munro rallies so Keep an eye out for them on the roads down south.
Enjoy your trip

Thanks, already keeping an eye on that post. Hopefully there'll still be a few bikers left in Chch.

Expecting to see quite a few bikes on our journeys by the sound of it. 17 hours to go and I'm on the ferry!