South Island Passes Ride 2008

[RedKLR650]

0034 Mt Cook from Haka Pass
0035 Timg and the Tranzalp
0036 tri boy
0037 helenoftroy
0038 Delphinus
0041 tri boy taking the scrambler the most direct route.....

[RedKLR650]

0044 Delphinus passing the KLR........
0045 .........closely followed by helenoftroy and timg
0047 Helenoftroy rounds a corner near cattle creek.......
0054 ...... only to later discover her missing number plate ( luckily found
by timg )
0055 Delphinus says his goodbyes before skipping Meyers pass to head south
0056 The rest of the crew saying their goodbyes.....

[RedKLR650]

After Haka we headed East into Meyers Pass minus Tri boy who headed directly south to save tire wear again ( sort of defeats the purpose of riding really ?? ) After Meyers we had a fun seal ride ( apart from when Helen went on a wee detour by herself up a shingle road by mistake ) to Waihou forks where timg and myself headed north to get through Waimate before they shut the gates, leaving Delphinus and Helenoftroy to head south to Oamaru and Palmerston hopefully ending up in Naseby for the evening where they were expecting Jantar to turn up for a beer

Thanks for a great day out team, and nice to meet another 3 new faces from the KB site

Ride safe, aand hope the rest of the passes ride goes well.....

0058 The remaining crew at the historic bridge in Meyers Pass
0060 Spot the bikers......
0064 Delphinus waiting for the others to catch up......
0065 Helenoftroy leading timg in catchup.....
0066 Delphinus arriving at the Waihao Forks Corner......
0069 Followed by Helenoftroy.....

[clint640]

Nice Pics, good to see the passes crew are going well!

Have Fun
Clint

[Transalper]

The river in the middle of the Lees Valley run is up about 5.85cumecs and dropping slowly so may be an interesting crossing.
I am txting them to try get an idea of when they think they will be through Oxford and i may try join them there for the home run... even though the forcast isn't great.
Hope they check their phones next time they have a signal.

[tri boy]

Quick update on the wandering Waikato dude.
Tonight I will park up in Cromwell after doing some of the Dunstan rds, and the awsome Thompson Gorge. (even got the scrambler to the top of Bendigo peak).
The weather has closed in a bit. (1/2 a Mars bar Malcohlm), and the Lake level is too low to put the scrambler on the Earnslaw, so i will reassess the route this evening.
Loving this ride.

[Transalper]

Is anyone other than Helen still riding the route then?

[timg]

Well that was an awesome wee adventure. With tri boy deciding to stay in Picton to conserve his tyres, the two intrepid adventurers (timg & delphinus)stayed at helenoftroy's ready for a prompt start on Monday morning. Thanx for the bed & tucker. On arriving at Hanmer someone decided he needed another breakfast. Having departed from Jantars excellent route sheet we discovered that Jollies Pass Road does not lead to Jollies Pass! After a wee 'challenge' section Plug would have been proud of we were back on course. I think that was the only navigational error we made. The breakfast man had a wee incident at the very appropriately named Jacks Pass. Incident at Jacks Pass – sounds like a new Robert Ludlum novel. Despite the weather elsewhere we has a glorious day going thru Molesworth.
Going thru Redwood Pass Road I scored a puncture that tore the tube badly. Fortunately I was carrying a spare tube borrowed from XF650 and there was time to change it and get to Blenheim in time to pick up another spare. Picton and the end of a pleasant day's ride. Great to meetup with tri boy.

Tuesday saw tri boy head for Christchurch and a soaking while we took the longer way around. MyGSXF came out to meet us and escorted us to Nelson for a coffee and then on out, leaving us when the road turned to gravel again. A bit of rain over Lewis Pass saw us stop to get the wet weather gear on, but it cleared around Hanmer for a crusy ride to Sumner. Sorry Lemans, we were out feeding our faces when you called around

Molesworth
Awatere Valley
Bugger
Camp KB

[timg]

On Wednesday helenoftroy joined us for the rest of the ride so our tour of two was now four. After a buzz along the Summit Road and the long stretch across the Canterbury Plains with foreboding overcast skies we met RedKLR650 in Fairlie for lunch. As we headed to the Hakataramea the weather got better and better until we were stripping off the extra layers making for an awesome ride through, but not without it's losses. Seems some bikes just keep dropping things: Delphinus a jersey, tri boy a sandal and helenoftroy a number plate tri boy took a short cut over Danseys Pass to avoid the next seal section. At Meyers Pass I had to head for home leaving helenoftroy & Delphinus heading for Ranfurly via some Oamaru back roads and the Pig Route.

Thanks Jen, Rik & Stu for looking us up and your company. tri boy, Delphinus and helenoftroy are great riding companions maintaining an easy relaxed pace over a nice mix of wonderful roads. Great ride, great company, and a big thanks to Jantar for the planning & organising. Roll on next year, I might be able to do all of it next time!

Delphinius and helenoftroy should be in Oxford around lunchtime tomorrow (Friday) if any of the Canterbury crowd want to catch up for the final leg thru Lees Valley. PM me for a contact ph#.

The Wednesday crew: tri boy, RedKLR650, helenoftroy, timg & Delphinus

[timg]

Is anyone other than Helen still riding the route then?

Delphinus is doing the whole ride, others are doing bits to fit around other commitments;

Monday: Delphinus, timg
Tuesday: Delphinus,timg & MyGSXF
Wednesday: Delphinus,timg, tri boy, helenoftroy & RedKLR650
Thursday: Delphinus, tri boy, helenoftroy & oldrider
Friday: Delphinus, helenoftroy & Transalper?

[oldrider]

Well, Delphinus and Helen of Troy arrived and had a coffee and a wee snack this morning and then the four of us set off over the Lindis Pass to Hawea.

The weather was great and we had a very enjoyable ride over.

We left D & H at the Hawea service station as they set off for Franz Joseph via Haast Pass and Fox.

The weather ahead of them looked like it was going to be kind to them, it will be interesting to hear what it was actually like.

Mrs O/r and I rode on into the mountains at the back of Wanaka and Glendhu Bay, to visit our younger son and his family.

We rode home after the evening meal and had an exceptionally interesting experience as we approached Omarama.

It was approximately 9:40pm it was as black as the inside of a cow over Omarama and the pressures in the air were up and down and our ears began to pop and we were both feeling quite weird!

Suddenly all hell broke loose and we witnessed one of the most intense forked lightning displays either of us have ever seen.

It was as scary as hell, great forks dancing all around us and the night filled with blinding light then as black as pitch, then just as suddenly it was teaming with rain.

This carried on right through Omarama and on to sailors cutting, then it all stopped and cleared up.

There are not a lot of tall things alongside the road around here to attract the lightning and sitting tall (Mrs O was sitting taller than me!) and it left us both sort of trying to squat lower onto the seat and be smaller!

It sure was nice to cross the Otematata saddle and see the lights of home glowing down in the valley, home sweat home, yes!

The whole day was really enjoyable, the bike ran like gem and the company was good, what more can we ask for.

Hope the rest of the day was as good for Jack and Helen. Cheers John

PS: Had my camera in my pocket and never even thought to take a pic! ......

[Transalper]

Tiss persisting down here in ChCh, the big river in Lees Valley is up to 9.51cumecs and climbing, I don't think any motorbikes will be crossing it today.
To do both passes in there it could be a case of riding in and back out from each end... lol, I wonder what they will decide when they/we? get a look at it..

[Crisis management]

Great write up(s)? guys & gals, I can only sit here seething with envy! If it's any help its raining here as well.

Enjoy the ride next week all of you, and please spare a though for us keeping the wheels of industry turning!

Cheers Iain.

[Jantar]

Stromfrau and I headed down to Naseby to meet up with the group on Wednesday evening. The route I sent them on should have seen them arriving at Naseby around 6:00 pm. Stromfrau and I arrived just after 6:00 but no sign of any bikes. We checked into the hotel and orederd our first beer, and before we had our first sip we heard a bike arrive. It was Triboy, and only 5 minutes after the time I had expected.

However when I asked hi where the others were, I learned that they had split up in the Hakataramea and Triboy took the short route. From that I figured that HelenofTroy and Delphinus wouldarrive at around 7:30 pm. We checked with the Hotel manager as to when the kitchen would close, and figured there was plenty of time for the others to arrive so we could all oreder dinner together. The beer was pleasant and the evening was warm.

When 7:30 came and went, then 7:45, then 8:00 and no sign of any other bikes we started getting worried. By 8:30 we figured we would order dinner for ourselves, and the hotel manager said that they would shut down the main kitchen but leave the fryers etc on, so that the two latecomers could still get something to eat.

By 9:00 pm we were really getting worried and started ringing around to see if anyone had heard anything from them. At 9:30 they finally arrived, having stopped for a 2 hour dinner in Oamaru.

On thursday morning they headed off into improving weather for the ride up the west coast.

[SDU]

Thanks for the great reports & piccies of the tour, it is good to hear that everyone is having a good time- bit of adventure for most.
Hey TA glad you checked out the river levels- amazing how much water we've had in a day or two- seems more than what we had all winter!
Would luved to have met up at oxford but work gets in the way. Have fun.
Is everyone going to end up at the Marine tonight ?